Blitz Deck Tech: Dash Database

Dash, Database is Dash's second version, which, unlike her first version, needs more planning. The reason behind this is her new ability; it has an entirely different game style.

Dash, Database (which I'll call DataDash for short) lets you look at the top card in your deck and play it if it's an item, at instant speed, for just one more resource. It is considered one of the strongest hero abilities in the game, so, to make her more balanced, DataDash starts out with less health points than the OG Dash. Instead of the traditional 20 HP, she starts with 18.

It might seem little, but 10% less HP in a fast format like Blitz could mean the difference between losing and winning.

If you've been keeping up with this format, you must have realized that OG Dash is much more efficient for Blitz' metagame than Datadash. However, OG Dash has almost 500 points in Blitz, so she might become a Living Legend after the first Skirmish week. And no other heroes in her class comes close to her play style apart from DataDash herself.

DataDash shines when the top card in your deck is an item, as she lets you play turns as if you had 5 cards in hand, or even 6, if you have any cards in your arsenal. Furthermore, her specialization, Symbiosis Shot, needs items entering your board to attack.

As a result, we'll obviously want several items in our list. However, we need to keep in mind that items can't block, don't do much alone, and are more valuable when played straight from our top deck, not from our hand.

We also have to consider that most mechanologist cards are quite aggressive, considering all have boost and let you attack multiple times on the same turn.

With this in mind, the most logical conclusion is that we need items that help us bring our opponent to 0 HP as fast as possible, but not too many of them.

An important factor to consider is that DataDash's ability only works for items that cost 0 or 1. This means we can exclude, at least initially, items like Teklo Pounder (3).

Considering this and the fact we want to be as aggressive as we can, the item that probably stood out to you right away is Boom Grenade (1). Its red version deals 4 damage if you deal damage with any mechanologist card - the yellow version deals 3 damage, and the blue version deals 2 damage. And, as you can play it from the top of your deck, at instant speed, it basically works like an attack reaction. Your opponent will need to decide whether they should risk letting one damage through that my quickly become five, or overblock to be safe.

Even if you don't play it from the top of your deck, just by being on the board it threatens one extra damage, which significantly changes the dynamic of the game. So, we'll add 2 of each color to our deck.

To complete our aggressive game plan, we added Penetration Script (2). The disadvantage of using it is that it costs 1, so it doesn't make sense to use more than one copy. However, if you play it from the top, it might give your cards the 1 damage you needed to go through your opponent's defenses and create new breakpoint attacks. It might even help you destroy a Boom Grenade that was already on the board.

Out of the most obviously aggressive items, these were the most relevant ones. However, we still have at least two items that make our game plan even better: Backup Protocol: RED (1) and Teklo Core (3).

The first card comes in yellow and blue. However, our deck will be mostly red, and, as we have no intention to bring back blue cards from our graveyard to keep attacking, it only makes sense to use its red version. This means we'll transform any extra blue cards in our hands into a third copy of Zipper Hit (1), Pulsewave Harpoon (1), or Soup Up (1).

Finally, Teklo Core (3) needs no further explanations. Having two free resources, one turn after another, lets you get as much as you can from your hand.

Considering the items we choose, our Boom Grenades will be our main source of damage, but, for that to work, we need to make sure all our attack actions will go through our opponent's defenses.

So, to make that happen, we'll add cards that let us use breakpoint attacks multiple times. Breakpoint attacks are those that go over the standard defense value, that is, 3, so attacks with 4 to 7 attack power are considered breakpoint attacks.

As mechanologists, we don't have many ways to use an attack with 7 attack power or higher. On the other side, we have several attack cards with 4 attack power that cost 0 or 1, which means we'll be able to create long combat chains and make our opponents sweat.

A Zero to Sixty (1) costs 0 and will force your opponent to defend themselves with two cards (or a card and an equipment piece) if they don't want to get hit with a surprise Boom Grenade.

Furthermore, equipment pieces are our biggest enemies, as they let our opponents defend themselves from our breakpoint attacks with only one card in hand. That's why we included cards like Out Pace (1) and Fender Bender (1).

Soup Up (1) is an excellent combat chain finisher if you didn't "pop" any item on that turn, and is also an excellent starter for Backup Protocol turns.

We use one copy of Heist (1) so we can eventually retrieve a Grenade or Teklo Core. Nonetheless, Blitz is too fast for us to risk playing two copies of it, particularly since it's not that efficient without an item in your banish zone. The rest are just great cards that cost 1 or 0 and that OG Dash also used.

We picked Spark of Genius (2) to get any item from our deck, and High Octane (1) to attack several times with it. As it doesn't cost anything besides removing a counter, it's really easy to set up an effective play with High Octane.

As our main equipment pieces, we have 2 Adaptive Plating, Crown of Providence, and Teklo Foundry Heart.

In our "sideboard", we have Achilles Accelerator, Balance of Justice, and Viziertronic Model i. They are quite straightforward, as they're basically the same equipment pieces OG Dash would use. The difference is in the two Adaptive Plating. In Blitz, it's very common to use Goliath Gauntlet to put more pressure on the game, and Achilles Accelerator as your main leg piece.

However, DataDash has less HP, uses many cards that don't block anything, and Blitz is an extremely aggressive format. So, we need to use more defensive equipment, such as Achilles with Viziertronic, to avoid Arcane Damage from an Emperor, or to deal with Briar's runechants.

The Briar matchup is a bit more arbitrary. If you feel confident you can be more aggressive, you can just play Achilles for Arcane Barrier 1 to deal with their runechants. Or, you can play Vizertronic to deal with Rosetta Thorn. However, keep in mind that it has Arcane Barrier 2, which will force you to use 2 resources for each runechant you want to stop. Personally, I wouldn't give up the Crown or the Plating, as Briar is extremely aggressive, and we start out with less HP - the extra HP they give us is really helpful.

We'll use Balance of Justice against Ninjas and Brutes. It's great for turns with Art of War (2) and Bloodrush Bellow (2).

You need to keep in mind this is one of the hardest decks to play, and it punishes you quite a lot if you play wrong. So, don't be scared if your first few matches don't go well.

Here are a few important details to make this list even stronger: