Bright Lights Review: Effects of the New Set

It's time for a new Flesh and Blood set. We have new mechanics, new heroes, and all players are excited to upgrade their decks or build new ones - but something different has happened this time. So far, all draftable sets (those with which you can play Limited formats) brought a few classes at a time (usually three to four classes), but this set brings only one class: it's a new set dedicated entirely to Mechanologist!

Today, we'll check out the new set, Bright Lights, analyze how it impacts the game and see which new cards this class will get.

Bright Lights brings something new to the game. For the first time, we have a draftable set that is 100% focused on one class, and the class selected was Mechanologist.

This choice brings a few immediate consequences: Sealed and Draft formats get an extra layer of complexity. Considering the entire pool is available, this class gets a wave of new cards all at once and there aren't generic cards nor other classes in the main set (we'll explain this thoroughly later on).

Because of this structure, the Sealed format for this set changes from 6 boosters to only 4, besides bringing a new way to play called Crack, Shuffle and Play, in which the player opens up 3 boosters, shuffles the cards and already has a deck ready to play (similar to the Jumpstart products in Magic: The Gathering).

With these new features explained, let's dive right into the new mechanics and cards that this set filled with machines and gears has brought to Flesh and Blood.

Just like in Outsiders, many heroes released are hard to understand if you aren't familiar with the set's mechanics first, so let's check out what each of these mechanics do, so we can look at the heroes later with a better understanding of the whole set.

EVO Equipment

One of the first steps before we begin a Flesh and Blood game is choosing our equipment, and that we're all very familiar with - but what if our equipment is in our deck? EVO Equipment is based precisely on this idea, and brings something new to the game.

EVO Equipment are Action cards like any other: they have a cost, Pitch value, Block value and consume an Action Point, but they are also equipment pieces - so, when they're played, they become our equipment like any other card.

To play them, we must start the game with "base equipment", so no Teklo Foundry Heart or Achilles Accelerator.

Do you want to equip Evo Sentry Base Head (1) from your deck? So, start the game using Proto Base Head and, by playing the EVO card, you'll transform this simple base into an equipment piece with Battleworn 2. This set brings several equipment pieces of this type, and, in addition to some being very powerful and making you a true war machine, many cards care about the number of EVO cards you have equipped.

The best example of this mechanic is with the weapon Teklo Leveler. It doesn't do anything without an equipment piece, but with an equipment piece in play it can already attack. As you equip yourself, it gets better, and when we have all equipment pieces, it becomes one of the best weapons in the game.

The idea of the decks that use all EVO pieces will be to have weaker game starts, but once they are completely equipped, their end game is guaranteed, and you'll become a true war machine.

Crank

When we play an item (be it Teklo Core or Teklo Pounder), our turn is finished, as these items consume our Action Point.

But, what if we could continue our turn? What types of plays would be possible?

The new Crank ability allows us to do that. Crank means that, when an item with this ability goes on board, we can remove a Steam Counter from it, and if we do so we get an Action Point. That means: when you play an item at the beginning of your turn and use Crank, we can continue with our turn with no other issues, but it is important to remember that, at the beginning of our turn, if these items don't have Steam Counters, they will be broken.

This mechanic and the new items bring new possibilities to heroes that care a lot about items, such as Dash and even Data Doll MKII, but a new hero that will use this mechanic and these items thoroughly is coming along in this set.

Scrap

Your items have been broken and your new EVO Equipment pieces are in the graveyard. What if we could recycle them?

Scrap allows you to exile an item or equipment piece from the graveyard, and, if that happens, the card with Scrap gets a bonus. It is a simple mechanic, but, when it is used well, it can improve several other cards and get the most out of them.

Galvanize

The new Galvanize ability is quite simple, but very efficient when played. A card with Galvanize usually doesn't have a high Block value, but when it defends we can destroy an item we control to make this card defend an extra 2 points.

Cards with Galvanize are already quite aggressive on their own, but the ability to have a high Block value in exchange for an item (which at times isn't all that expensive) makes this mechanic one of the best in this set.

A New Type of Card: Block

Bright Lights brings a new type of card to the game: Block.

Block cards have a Pitch value (so they can be used to pay for other cards) and a defense value. They are made exclusively to block attacks when you're in the blocking phase, just like you'd do with an Action card, for instance.

Note that Block cards don't have a cost, so they can't be played and they are also not Defense Reactions. So, if you play this card into your arsenal, it will get stuck in that zone for the rest of the game.

Even though they seem "useless", Block cards have a good defense value and have another ability when they block. Firewall (1), for instance, blocks as well as a Sink Below (1) and it will even filter the top card in your deck.

A new wave of new heroes is being released to the game. In this set, we have three new heroes, and, among them, and old friend, revamped. Each has a unique proposal and brings new ways of playing with this class.

Teklovossen

Teklovossen was already familiar to players as both the founder of the Teklo industries and because of how this name was mentioned in cards, and now he comes as a playable hero.

The new EVO mechanic makes him a real control deck. With him, we can equip at Instant speed, which makes it possible to both equip pieces in our opponent's turn or equip them twice in the same turn.

Besides the various other aforementioned cards that care about EVO equipment, its specialization, Singularity, makes us a Demi Hero in the ways of Levia, Redeemed, and brings an almost guaranteed win. Teklovossen is the equipment deck and the class' defensive wall.

Maxx Nitro

Maxx Nitro is a card for those who like speeding things up and aggroing the opponent as if there were no tomorrow. Besides being focused on the old Boost mechanic, it brings with itself the return of Hyper Driver (1) and the return of mechanics focused on this item introduced in Dynasty that never had the expected success.

Besides the return of Jump start (1) and Crankshaft (1), new cards are showing up to give this mechanic the support it needs and show that Hyper Driver (1) is the new trend. Cards such as Big Bertha (1), Rev Up (1), Re-charge (1) and Gas Up (1), besides the new weapon, Bansky, show that this hero is the best way to be aggressive with this class, making it the new Mechanologist Fai.

Apart from these ideas, its ability allows you to bring Construct Nitro Mechanoid more consistently, which makes the 'oh-so-dreamy' Construct finally playable, and like so can be a second option more geared towards Combo.

A New Dash

Tired of playing with Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire? Tired of exiling key-cards from the top of your deck such as High Octane and Maximum Velocity? Tired of using the same Teklo Pounder every match? Sick and tired of bringing Teklo Plasma Pistol and needing blue cards to get the most out of it with High Octane? How about a new upgrade?

Dash, Database brings, besides a new fresh upgrade for this favorite from Arcane Rising, an intriguing ability. Besides being able to look at your top deck whenever you want (this way predicting what will be drawn or exiled through Boost), its ability of playing items from the top allows for some very unusual plays.

The first that comes to mind is playing Teklo Core on your opponent's turn, but the new items from this set with Crank expand these possibilities, making this hero a big puzzle. Her weapon, Symbiosis Shot, is identical to Teklo Plasma Pistol, but even more upgraded, once it doesn't require resources to place counters down.

Besides new mechanics, various cards that were announced boost strategies we already have today. Let's take a look at some of them.

Twin Drive is, in my view, the best Majestic card in the set. Even though it isn't intuitive to grasp the need to bring Boost twice, this ability allows you to play cards such as Maximum Velocity more consistently and less dependent on cards in your hand.

Other cards that care about the quantity of Boosts also extract benefits, such as Meganetic Shockwave, High Octane and Pulsewave Harpoon.

Fabricate is a very welcomed Instant in decks that will frequently use EVOs. Its various modes allow it to be extremely flexible and fit perfectly into any situation in the game.

Is your opponent very aggressive? Give all your EVOs 1 extra defense point and place it below an equipment piece. Did one of your EVO pieces break? Get a Proto Base from the arsenal and banish an EVO card from your hand. Its flexibility makes it an almost mandatory card in these types of decks.

Adaptive Plating is a curious card. Firstly, it can be equipped into any slot, allowing you to equip up to three of them in a single match (if you're playing Classic Constructed). Its second ability allows you to swap the equipment from its slot in the middle of the game (which isn't that useful today, but might be in the future), and, lastly, it has the Galvanize ability.

Currently, it shines when swapping a weaker slot in this class (which usually means feet or hand equipment) for a Blade Break that defends up to 3 in exchange for an item. Heroes like Data Doll MKII and Dash, Database, which carry numerous items, can use this equipment really nicely.

Alongside the several new mechanics, some spot-on reprints were released to make the whole set more cohesive.

Besides the commons Jump Start (1), Crankshaft (1) and Over Loop (1), an excellent reprint was Maximum Velocity - so far only printed in Arcane Rising, which was a very welcomed inclusion in this set.

But, by far, the best reprint of all was the legendary Teklo Foundry Heart. This equipment is already a known favorite in this class and is almost mandatory in any competitive list. Reprinting it not only gives the support new heroes so desperately need, but it also makes this class more accessible to new players that want to start playing it.

Another great highlight in this set are the Expansion slots. At approximately each 15 boosters, one of the cards will be in this slot, which covers basically cards that aren't related to this set, and in this slot several new cards appear for the other heroes.

One of the biggest highlights was the excellent reprint of Fyendal's Spring Tunic - one of the best generic equipment pieces in the game, and which will always be welcomed any time it is reprinted. Another new card that brings a new revolution for Dromai, Ash Artist is the new card Tome of Imperial Flame. This article isn't the best place to discuss it, but this slot allowed some heroes to upgrade their lists even though this set is focused on a single class.

After this brief glance at the set and the new mechanics, let's analyze what will really change in practice for these decks and a nearby future meta.

The Support This Class Needs

Mechanologist, even though it is an excellent class, desperately needed support. The number of cards in this class, so far, was one of the smallest in the entire game (even smaller than Assassin, which is a relatively new class) and it only had one playable hero in Classic Constructed (in that case, Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire) That made us worry that, whenever Dash hit Living Legends status (which will happen very soon), this class would simply disappear as well.

With Bright Lights, not only Classic Constructed got 3 new Mechanologist heroes, but this class also became one of the classes which has the highest number of heroes in the entire game (4 in Classic Constructed and 6 in Blitz, also counting with the new hero, Professor Teklovossen). Besides that, the card pool for this class went from one of the smallest to one of the biggest in the game (only losing to Runeblade).

This set not only brought support and new decks entirely, but it also injected an extremely long new life into this class in competitive formats, this way making many players' dreams come true.

Dash Hasn't Gone Over the Edge

One of the players' biggest fears was that, with an entire new set dedicated to her class, Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire would go through the same thing Lexi, Livewire went through: new cards would make this hero's deck oppressive in the meta, but that hasn't happened.

With a very precise, well-designed power level, Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire gets a few of the new cards for her own, but her deck and play style are still the same, both in Blitz and Classic Constructed. She is stronger, but only slightly upgraded.

The Class' Time is Closer

Unfortunately, as long as Lexi, Livewire is still here, no heroes in this class can be relevant in the meta. This archer puts on so much pressure and so many on-hit effects that no other class can play them as she does.

However, with this archer leaving the format soon, Mechanologist might rise in the meta. Maxx ‘The Hype’ Nitro and Dash I/O are excellent aggressive decks that might check mate other strong heroes like Dromai, Ash Artist and Iyslander, Stormbind. Teklovossen, Esteemed Magnate is an excellent control-inclined option that might catch several other slower decks off guard. For Worlds, we can expect a reasonable presence from this class in the meta.

What about you? What did you think of the new set? Was it a good choice to focus on only one class? Will the new heroes be strong enough to compete?

Thank you for reading and see you next time!