Note from Kugane:

Today’s Dash article was provided by @Scary987 over on Twitter, so be sure to give them a follow when you have the chance! I did edit the article prior to publishing to improve the readability and flow. So if you spot any inconsistencies, feel free to reach out to me! Regardless, a big thank you to @Scary987 for their stellar work providing us with a solid core to build and play Dash for at least the next 6 months! If there is any match-up you’d like in-depth info about that wasn’t covered in this article, reach out and I’ll see to it to hire somebody to cover that strategy section for us!

Dash Guide

One deck that you will often see in Armories or bigger Tournaments doing quite well is Dash. To understand Dash, we will look at Dash’s flexible Hybrid build. The deck can be found over at: https://fabrary.net/decks/01GQK004H9F37D2N7VQ6H1530K

What does Dash do?

The Mechanologist class is known for its unique mechanics: Boosting and their items. Boost is a keyword on Mechanologist attack actions that grant the attack ‘Go again’ under the condition that the player banishes the top card of their deck. The banished card does need to have the Mechanologist keyword, though! Keywords like Go Again usually have a price attached to them, either in stats or cost, but not Boost. Most Boost cards have vanilla stats, which means they tend to lack on-hit effects but are over-statted for their cost compared to other Aggro decks. This allows you to create wider combat chains and to outvalue the opponent’s damage presentation.

Reasons To Play Dash

Dash is an easy-to-pick-up Deck that received some upgrades in the recently released set, Dynasty, and can be built flexibly to fit within different meta games. The mechanologist class is also home to some of the game’s strongest cards. The deck is also cheaper to build as an entrance into the CC format because you do not need the expensive staples like Command and Conquer, Enlightened Strike, or Fyendals Spring Tunic (even though Teklo Foundry Heart is starting to get a bit expensive with Dash’s popularity as of late).

And most important: She is fun to play!

Reasons Not To Play Dash

Although unique, Dash is well-known and explored, and more often than not, she does not surprise people with her build or damage potential. There are lots of tech cards that specifically punish Dash hard. (Hello, Item destruction.) If you go all-in on the Aggro plan, your opponent can even deck you out by blocking every attack.

Hybrid Dash can switch between two packages: going the aggressive boost path or control/midrange with the Pistol and items. You want to play the boost-heavy version against other aggressive decks and play control against defensive decks like Guardian. Later on, we will dive into the difference between these sideboarding plans. But before that, the Equipment:

The Weaponry

Hybrid Dash plays Teklo Plasma Pistol as their weapon; this is the only mecha weapon with access to items that support it. You want to use it in your defensive games, but it also provides value versus aggressive decks. Thanks to Dash’s hero ability, you start the game with an Induction Chamber in the Arena. Of course, you can choose other items, but generally, Induction Chamber is the optimal starting Item in most situations.

The Equipment

Dash’ Chestpiece. Her most important Equipment. It can block twice, which helps preserve three life total. On top of that, Dash’s most important piece of Armor to stop breakpoints. In most cases, activating it gives you +1 resource if you run the aggressive build, which is key to outvaluing your opponent in Aggro mirrors or accessing certain big lines – but do keep in mind that activating burns two of your cards and decks you out quicker, so use it sparingly.

The Achilles Accelerator card is Snapdragon Scalers on Crack. Because your boost attacks already have Go Again, you can use this to get free action points to play Spark of Genius or put down multiple Item cards in one turn.

Crown of Providence is a staple due to its unconditional block and Sink effect. It can help find what you need to finish the game, sink the Arsenal to prevent Command and Conquer’s on-hit effect, or potentially filter a dead card to have a 5th blocking card in hand on a big blocking turn. On top of that, it provides a 2-block. (Arcanite Skullcap is a good budget alternative, though.)

Galvanic Bender is your go-to arm piece. You want these to be protected from on-hits from decks like Fai or Briar. One life is also pretty good against Guardians. The contender of old is the Goliath Gauntlet, which we do not include anymore because it requires two-cost attacks, and due to Dynasty, we cut off several of those.

The Mainboard

This Main Board contains a rainbow set of Zero to Sixty and Zipper Hits, various blue boosts, and your essential cards, Teklo Core, High Octane, Spark of Genius, and Pulsewave Harpoon

Sideboarding

Iyslander

• +2 Tome of Fyendal
• +2 Yellow + 3 red T-Bones
• +3 red High-Speed Impact
• +2 Payload
• +1 Induction Chamber
• +2 Teklo Pounder

This match-up is in Dash’s favor. With Achilles Accelerator and Viziertronic Model i, you get natural access to Arcane Barrier 3 to Block their Waning Moon with leftover resources. You replace Galvanic Bender with Nullrune Gloves in this Match-up. This has multiple reasons: You can pay out the yellow Ather Icevein to prevent the additional discard/pay trigger. Also, you can prematurely break your Accelerator to put a Teklo Pounder/Core into play or play Spark of Genius/Tome of Fyendal and continue the game while still having AB 3. It would be best if you went first when you can. You interact similarly with Iyslander, as Bravo would.
The first thing you want to play in any turn is a big attack, red Throttle, or Zipper Hit to give Iyslander fewer options to tax you with frostbites. Calculate how many resources you will need for your turn and use leftover resources for Arcane Barrier 1 when Iyslander presents. Follow up your attacks with either the Pistol or another Boost card. Key Cards to look out for are Channel Lake Frigid and fused Aether Iceveins. If you get Aether Icevein’ed and cannot stop the full damage, make sure you have two resources spare to pay for the discard cost. Try to push damage whenever they have no arsenal. Do not try to push Damage during CLF; instead, play one attack and preserve your life total. Playing a two-cost with six power is more than enough to keep the tempo. Teklo Core is important in this match-up; you can use the activation to generate extra resources to play around Frostbites or Blizzard.

We include a second induction chamber in this MU to prevent fatigue strategies. When Iyslander is behind in Life, their strategy is to block out until you cannot boost anymore or your threat density becomes low. You can also include a Plasma Purifier alongside the Induction Chamber. However, adding one additional Item is my preferred way of playing this MU. The extra purifier is a solid plan against defensive Iyslander variants.

Briar

• +3x High-Speed Impact
• +3x Maximum Velocity
• +2x Payload
• +3x T-Bone
• +2x T-Bone
• +2x Tome of Fyendal
• +2x Teklo Pounder

This match-up is slightly unfavored for Dash, yet winnable. Briar’s biggest Strength is getting the Embodiment of Earth and turning their blue three blocks into four-blocks. The way to win this match-up is to play efficiently and high-roll them. You do that in various ways: set up a Maximum Velocity, Spark of Genius into Teklo Core, or Teklo Pounder. Or you can cheat out Spark of Geniuses and Tome of Fyendals in your High Octane Turns. When Briar has an off-turn with just one attack, try to deny their Embodiment of Earth using a spare card and some Equipment to block. That should give you some tempo back. Grabbing their only Attack Action with Pulsewave Harpoon is also quite valuable because they will come back with nearly nothing and won’t threaten an Embodiment of Earth trigger.

Good Briar Players will be patient about their big turns and block until they can outvalue you, so if they do go big with Channel Mount Heroic, try to deny them some value by waiting to block attacks with on-hit draw effects like Snatch, Coax a Commotion, etc., instead of blocking vanilla damage attacks.

Both parties want to go first in this match-up:
Briar going first can result in them getting a Channel Mount Heroic out immediately or even an Embodiment of Lightning + Arsenal for the next turn. If you manage to go first, setting up a Pounder/Core and loading your Weapons with steam counters is best. Do not attack them because it gives them a window to mulligan their hand and increases the odds of them drawing into their combo pieces.

Fai

• +3x High-Speed Impact
• +3x Maximum Velocity
• +2x Payload
• +3x T-Bone
• +2x T-Bone
• +2x Tome of Fyendal
• +2x Teklo Pounder

Since the Belittle ban, this match-up is usually pretty good for Dash. You play for value. Both decks deal roughly the same amount of damage, but Dash can block better, while most of Fai’s attacks block just two damage; they generally do not want to. Your game plan is to get more incremental value by Boosting significant attacks + Pistol, playing value generators like Spark of Genius or Teklo Core, and trying to destroy their Equipment early using T-Bones and Mechanetic Shockwaves. Remember that unless you are in the endgame, blocking for three is generally better than attacking for one or two, so use your leftover blues to block unless you can use the resources to load up your items to shoot twice. Playing out Teklo Cores in your off-turns is generally pretty good, too, since they give you four resources instead of three in a relatively short game. Setting up bigger turns using High Octane, Pulsewave Harpoon, or Maximum Velocity is usually suitable if you have a reasonable amount of life left; 24+ if they have Mindstate of Tiger in play; if not, 20+ is fine. Having one big Maximum Velocity Turn or a three-chain link turn with Pulsewave Harpoon (this lets you remove threats from their hand) is usually enough to secure the game. When your opponent is down to 5 to 10 life, keep pressuring them, so they must block. The sooner you force Fai into the endgame, the higher your odds are of winning that game.

Fai’s out to Dash is to have one or two big turns with 20+ dmg using Spreading Flames and/or Art of War(s). Unless the Fai player knows what they are doing and which breakpoints to go for, they usually need to see 2 Art of Wars to win the game. When playing, remember that you are effectively starting on a 5-7 life difference since Fai does not want to use the Mask of Pouncing Lynx to block. The Pouncing Lynx can, however, fetch them a Lava Burst or Salt the Wound on demand which can equalize that life difference. Which one they will grab depends on the number of chain links that have hit in their turn. Usually, if it’s three or fewer or they have Spreading Flames on the combat chain, they will fetch Lava Burst; if not, Salt the Wound becomes the better option once four or more hits give them a higher damage output than Lava Burst would. Knowing this will help you predict how much more damage Fai can present. If they telegraph fetching Salt the Wound, you can mitigate some damage by blocking small attacks like Phoenix Flames with Equipment. Each hit you stop will simultaneously reduce the potency of Salt the Wound by one damage.

Dromai

• +3x High-Speed Impact
• +3x Maximum Velocity
• +2x Payload
• +3x T-Bone
• +1x T-Bone (Yellow)
• +2x Tome of Fyendal
• +2x Teklo Pounder
• +1x Induction Chamber
• +2x Plasma Purifier

This match-up comes down to the variant you’re facing. There is the pure redline variant, and then there are dragon variants. In both cases, you need Induction Chamber to clear the essential dragons. Against Redline, you have to block more, as they attack with multiple attacks like Scar for Scar, Blaze Headlong, Ravenous Rabble, Snatch, and finish playing a Dragon. Redline is usually less nasty since you have less incremental damage, and it is easier to disrupt; you need fewer Phantasm poppers too. Unfortunately, unless you know what kind of deck your opponent is running, you might want to bring more six-power attacks because it could be a Dragon variant. Dragon-heavy variants try to play giant dragons and block a lot. They can set up a board of Miragai, Cromai, Azvolai, Kyloria, and Passing Mirage. Nekria has a nasty on-hit effect that can steal your Pistol items. Never forget to block that particular Dragon when it attacks. You cannot purely race Dromai; one or 2 Dragons will outvalue you if you don’t clear them, even if your game plan is setting up multiple big turns with High Octane or Maximum Velocity to push damage. The Dromai deck has too many three blocks and incremental value; you will likely be blocked out and fatigued. If you accidentally bring the Aggro Dash build into a Dragon build, make sure never to boost to clear their Dragons if you don’t have to; use your Pistol instead to keep their board state in check. To avoid fatigue, a popular strategy against Dromai is bringing in more pistol items to build into a game-winning board state with Plasma Purifiers and Induction Chambers. Be sure to play patiently! Check how the meta is evolving; if Redline Dromai is popular, go the Aggro route; if Dragon Dromai is popular, bring Pistol Dash instead.

Bravo

• +1x Induction Chamber
• +2x Plasma Purifier
• +3x Sink Below
• +2x Unmovable
• +2x Reinforce the Line
• +3x High-Speed Impact
• +2x Payload

This MU is horrendous if your opponent knows what they are doing. Therefore you are going the bring the full control package with 7-9 Defense Reactions at all times. Keep Defense Reactions in your Arsenal to play around Dominates and telegraphed Pummels. That is also why you include Reinforce the Line; it being an instant means it beats Command and Conquer’s no Defense Reaction clause and bypasses Dominate because it boosts the defense of a card already on the chain rather than becoming a blocking card itself. You must preserve your Armor to prevent on-hits from Command and Conquer, (Dominated) Spinal Crush, (Dominated) Crippling Crush, or Erase Face in critical Situations. Zealous Belting and Rouse the Ancients are other threats that make this MU miserable. Remember, you can use your Crown of Providence as a one-time trick to avoid Command and Conquer’s on-hit effect destroying your Arsenal; you block with the Crown and cycle your Arsenal away. You cannot go full control against Bravo forever, though; they won’t deck out easily. Try to set up 1-2 pistol items and work your way to two Induction Chambers and at least one Plasma Purifier; leak Damage in small portions with the Pistol pitching your leftover blues and yellows where possible. Try to block a lot; trading down to lower Life Totals benefits Bravo more than Dash because he can finish the game from a higher Life total. Never overestimate your life advantage; Bravo also has a lot of armor block available. Usually, you win this match-up when Bravo bricks or starts finding his threats too late. Try not to boost for low equity. A warning: A boosted attack will likely banish a non-Mecha card since we run so many Defense Reactions. Calculate that into your risk analysis when you decide to go in with your attacks. Sometimes it is better to, for example, load up the Pistol and Chambers/Purifiers, shoot, give your Pistol Go-Again, load up your items again, and only then boost with an attack. That way, if you brick, you still have the steam counters on your items for a future turn.

Oldhim

• +1x Induction Chamber
• +3x Plasma Purifier
• +3x Sink Below
• +2x Unmovable
• +2x Reinforce the Line
• +2x Teklo Pounder
• +2x T-Bone (Yellow)
• +2x Payload

The Gameplan against this Decḱ is similar to Bravo; the good news is that Oldhim is usually less aggressive. Because of this, the match-up is better than Bravo. They usually pack Rampart, which makes shooting with your Pistol inefficient because every time we close the combat chain to load up our weapon, they can block and activate the Rampart again. Remember the defense bonus rampart gives until the end of the turn! So the +1 triggers stack every block. That is why you don’t fire your weapon multiple times in this match-up until you have all three Plasma Purifiers on the board and can attack thrice. Otherwise, Rampart gives them six life over three Attacks (1+2+3 = 6), paying just one blue. If you attack with a complete set of Purifiers, your Pistols threaten fifteen damage so that you can leak nine damage; they have to block with cards instead of just pitching. If fatigue Oldhim is popular in your Area, bring Remembrances in your decklist. Oldhim threats include Endless Winter, fused Oaken Old, Rouse the Ancients, and red and blue Glacial Footsteps. Try to keep an arsenal Defense Reaction for those. Watch out for Command and Conquer + Pummel when they pitch a blue and have their Spring Tunic at three. If you play patiently against Oldhim, you tend to be favored in this match-up. If they happen to play Smashing Good Time, it can be problematic, though. You can rarely prevent it from hitting completely. Keep Track of how many cards you have left in your Deck; Oldhim can fatigue you if he wants to. Also, regarding item destruction, remember that Teklo Pounder can be used as a noble sacrifice to protect your other items from an Imperial Warhorn. So if they play hard fatigue instead of Aggro Oldhim, they are likely running that card, so make sure to play a pounder before anything else!