Official Dash Discussion: Thread One
Standard forum
Posted on March 18, 2015, 11:58 p.m. by Chadtherest00
So with dragons of tarkir being right around the corner. I would like to start the first official Dash Discussion. It be very helpful toward each other to discuss deck techs, play styles, and what colors your planning on running or your currently running. Here's my build towards dashFeel free to share yours ask for Advice or anything else related to the thread...
Chadtherest's dash
beakedbard says... #3
I'm thinking Dash could be something as well the way you can answer all threats whilst chinking away at your opponents works well. None the less i still don't think it will make it anywhere but i do love these kind builds. Its a shame Warbringers Dash wasn't 1cmc less then some amusing combos could of happened. Here's what i tried to do with it Kolaghan Raiders thinking of bringing it to fnm for the lulz though i will be surprised if it makes it anywhere. I think Dash decks have potential but there's something missing from them.
March 19, 2015 8:24 p.m.
Chadtherest00 says... #4
Looks pretty good bro. I think swiftspear would be pretty good instead of heelcutter, in the sense of it not being flying, and it's dash cost being too high... Idk that's the swap I'd do. As for the rest of the deck it looks fine. Just wondering how kolaghan has been working for you? I was thinking bout main boarding one. But I wanna know how has it been testing for you?
March 19, 2015 11:17 p.m.
Chadtherest00 says... #5
ChrisHansonBiomancin I've been teching a few cards to help me keep control of the board state. I have about 7 board whips in my main deck to keep their board from growing. Then I pack 3x downfalls for any walkers or one threats. I'm actually trying an all dash deck. But this guy does know what he's talking bout early game kinda sucks for these decks. So I'm using Monastery Swiftspear and duress with despise In hopes of getting the early aggro. Idk what you guys think about this but if you wanna have a look your more then welcomed ;)
March 19, 2015 11:22 p.m.
Chadtherest00 says... #6
Prolly the biggest problem facing this deck would be whip of erebos... Once they go so high up they will never come down
ChrisHansonBiomancin says... #2
There actually was a thread about this not too long ago, and I'll mention the same thing here I did there. I am all for creative and different deck ideas but I honestly believe that Dash decks are a fundamentally unsound idea.
There is an excellent article by Reid Duke regarding the importance of pursuing tempo in the "early stage" (which he defines as the part where your lack of mana "bottlenecks" your production) and pursuing card advantage during the "late stage" (when you have plenty of mana but are limited by the number of cards you have).
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/level-one/tempo-card-advantage-delicate-balance-2014-11-17
While his article mostly addresses in-game decision making, he points out that it is vital to consider when building as well, as your deck needs to be able to play for both tempo and card advantage depending on the situation.
Typically, an aggro deck will excel at tempo in the early stage, a control deck dominates the late stage, and midrange decks are able to adjust to matchups and perform both fairly well. And truth be told, a Dash deck is weak in both regards.
I think everyone could agree that they don't do particularly well in the early stage. Utilizing the Dash ability during this stage is a bad tempo play unless you already have a comfortable board advantage or nothing else to do, and Warbringer is too slow to make a difference. So what to do when all of your creatures have Dash? You have to play some as regular creatures, where they pale in comparison to their same-cmc peers in Standard, or you will fall too far behind.
In the late stage, Dash decks do a little better since they can utilize the ability to dodge sorcery-speed removal and gain value from repeated etb triggers and the like. However, these are relatively incremental advantages when compared to the tremendous card advantage other midrange builds in the format produce, and of course it's not in the same league as control in this stage.
Don't get me wrong, I think Dash is a great mechanic for a couple cards in your deck to supplement the rest of your strategy. Use Mardu Strike Leader to make bodies in a Warriors/tokens deck, or Flamerush Rider in fatty aggro or a Cloning deck, etc. But a dedicated Dash deck is just not going to be very powerful since it goes against many of the basic tenants of deckbuilding.
March 19, 2015 5:14 p.m.