Dev Download: Dash Through Data

Learn how to play the new heroes from Bright Lights in both Booster Draft and Classic Constructed with hot tips and tricks straight from the game development team at Legend Story Studios! Today on Dev Download, we merge mind and machine with Dash I/O...

“Processing complete. Model ready for production.”

Dash knew it was just her imagination, but she could have sworn that Data Doll’s monotone voice had perked up. The crimson-haired prodigy aimed her Assembler at the pile of scrap she had gathered, releasing several magnetic beams that repositioned the pieces of junk until they slotted together to form a gyroscopic disk-like object.

“Your design is most extraordinary, Dash Teklo.”

“Just Dash is fine,” she said as the wind picked up, politely reminding her she was standing on the rooftop of a high-rise and should probably focus on not losing her balance.

She produced a small remote with a comically large radio wire from her belt, hitting an equally comically sized red button. The disk wobbled for a bit, then hovered into the air. It strayed past the ledge, scanning its surroundings, making small curious turns, until it settled in place about six metres away, bobbing gently.

“Optimal position reached. Ready for grapple deployment.”

“Use the proper name, please.”

There was a slight pause.

“Ready for Swing-o-Matic deployment.”

The streets below looked like thin lines of spaghetti, and suddenly she could picture herself as one of the meatballs.

“Let’s hope your specs are as good as I think they are…” Dash murmured, aiming her arm-bound Evo at the floating disk. She inhaled the crisp morning air, ignoring her thundering heartbeat. “For both our sakes…”

At the squeeze of a trigger, a cable sprang out from her forearm, veering towards the disk, latching on with a satisfying ‘clunk’. She gave it a few test tugs, then took a running leap off the ledge into empty space.

“Oh shi–”

As she fell through the air, Dash wondered if perhaps maybe, just maybe, she had been just a teeny smidge too hasty. But the cable went taut and sharply broke her fall, causing her to swing around in a wide circle as the disk rotated to support her momentum. Emitting a noise that was half exhilarated laughter and half terrified scream, Dash whizzed through the air, landing on the ledge of a nearby building. She teetered for a few seconds before regaining her balance, hugging the wall.

“Satisfactory?” came Data Doll’s voice, with just the slightest twinge of attitude.

“Oh good, you’ve learned what sarcasm is,” Dash snapped as she tried to control the rate at which blood was pumping through her veins.

“According to my records, it is highly illogical for humans to attempt untested hypotheses with such dangerous implications unless they have sound reasoning. You still haven’t explained why we’re doing this.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Dash replied, detaching the cable, rewinding it into the compartment affixed to her arm, and pivoting to aim at the disk a second time. “We’re doing this for fun!”

Have you ever sat there boosting along happily, only to see that premium card flipped over into your banished zone, then collapsing into despair? No more! This new Dash has unmatched potential processing power, but she needs to be plugged in with the right startup codes.

Draft

Bright Lights will differ greatly from your previous experiences with Flesh and Blood draft. It's a single class set with no additional talents in the playable card-pool, which means you can switch up the pace at the table whenever you wish. It's very easy to switch strategies mid-draft without trainwrecking your deck. No unearthly foresight needed, so why should you pick Dash over the mad bad lad Maxx or the father of fabricating Teklovossen?

Synergy.

Symbiosis Shot basically says "give me an item, I'll give you a blast!" and Dash makes this synergistic process easy! The power of cranking items cannot be understated. When we play an item as an instant from the top of our deck, we can crank it to net an additional action point (because it does not take an action point to play an item as an instant, but we still get the action point generated from go again).

But let us not forget the power of the items themselves. Playing an instant speed Boom Grenade after your opponent defends poorly has to be one of the most satisfying ways to end a game of Flesh and Blood! Even the threat of this looming from turn to turn is enough to make even the strongest of spines shiver spontaneously.

Though drafting Bright lights is very open ended, each hero has a baseline recipe to follow. For cooking up Dash, Database we need to combine a few things to really access that synergy.

As with every hero in Bright Lights, the first step is the boost cards. Every deck needs some amount of these efficient attacks. Dash’s favorites in this category are those with effects that disrupt the opponent's defense. Many items in Bright Lights offer strong on-hit abilities to your attacks, and since we are able to cheat these into play it's important we can get our attacks to hit.

This makes attacks like Out Pace or Lay Waste a premium pick. Dash also makes better use of attacks like Dumpster Dive or Dive Through Data than the other heroes in Metrix, as we want to play a lot of items and get value from manipulating the top of our deck to find them.

Next up is itemization, the number one reason to play Dash. She gets crazy value from so many of these items, and it's a fine balancing act getting enough boost cards to synergize with your items, while having enough threatening on-hits to reliably see them on the top of your deck. I would aim to have a third of your deck itemized by the end of the draft.

Good signals that Dash is open are things like late pick Boom Grenades, Backup Protocols, or Hadron Colliders. Each of these really pushes the spike potential across turns. Just don’t forget to pick up a few big overpower attacks too, as you can let some of the lower value items wheel back around the table.

Keep your eyes peeled for any of the yellow 0-cost Blade Break 2 Evos. They all have very relevant effects that synergize heavily with your items. Once used, the defense value can definitely clutch those few extra points you need to get your next round of boosting across the line. I would be looking to take these a little bit later in the pack after the premium boost and item cards have dried up. There's nothing like cheating out a Dissolving Shield using an Evo Cogspitter, preventing some damage, then galvanizing it for extra value during an opponent's turn!

Classic Constructed

In Classic Constructed the deckbuilding for Dash I/O is truly without limit. It's very hard to pin down all the exact archetypes you can play with Dash I/O, so let’s go with a simple one to start.

Each boost gives us a chance to see another item. So theoretically we could just pair the most efficient boost attacks with the most efficient items. But playing that turn by turn will just cause us to churn through our deck, burning all that rubber with not a lot to show for it. But with a bit of Dash’s insight and a sprinkling of innovation, we can achieve new unthinkable heights.

If we are trying to constantly assail our enemies with boost attacks it's important to set up properly before we step on the gas. Trading damage with our opponent while setting up some combination of Teklo Core, Boom Grenade, Backup Protocol, and Hadron Collider will make sure that when we boost we hit the ground running. So don’t be afraid to take a little damage to assemble all the pieces.

Building Dash I/O like this really benefits from cards like High Octane. Like her old Teklo Plasma Pistol, Symbiosis Shot can be fired off multiple times in a turn, provided you've got enough action points and steam counters. Another great synergistic card from the early Mechanologist days is Spark of Genius. Simply play any boost attack, follow up with Spark of Genius, fetch any 0-cost item with crank, refreshing your action point and replacing your spent card for free!

Don’t be scared of boosting items. You may not be getting the most value out of your deck but sometimes it’s better to just take the more efficient play to make sure you can maximize the value of the cards in your hand, rather than hodgepodge a turn just for the sake of using her hero ability.

Dash also has access to a very spicy infinite loop to stave off fatigue, that can be sideboarded in for relevant matchups. Citizens of Metrix, I present to you... Prismatic Lens!!! This magnificent little monocle can carry you to infinity and beyond when used in tandem with Backup Protocol and Scrap Harvester.

1. Play Scrap Harvester, using it to scrap Backup Protocol from the graveyard, putting a steam counter on Prismatic Lens.
2. Use Prismatic Lens to stack the banished Backup Protocol on top of the deck, using Dash's ability to put it back into play.
3. Destroy Backup Protocol to grab Scrap Harvester back from the graveyard! Rinse and repeat!

Once you work through the steps a couple of times it will feel smoother than a well-oiled machine. It's surprisingly easy to work this combo into Dash’s resource base and is an awesome tool to fall back on.

Bright Lights has much to offer plucky young inventors, and I hope this little tinkering session has inspired you to see what other hidden features and creative contraptions you can discover. Dazzle friends and foes alike with the power of ingenuity at a local game store near you. It's Show Time!