Blackwing



"Blackwing", known as "Black Feather" ( Burakku Fezā) in the Japanese version, is an archetype of monsters which mostly consist of DARK Winged Beast-Type (except "Blackwing - Aurora the Northern Lights" which is a LIGHT monster) monsters making their debut in "Crimson Crisis". In the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime, they are used by Crow Hogan and Robert Pearson. As far as looks, the "Blackwing" monsters generally have a very birdlike appearance, but seems to be more humanoid in the Level 4 and above monsters. Also, most of "Blackwing" monsters feature black in their design, usually on their wing feathering. Most are named after types of wind and air currents, except for the manga version, who are named after weapons instead. They are a Deck with swarming and speed capabilities. When Crimson Crisis was released, this archetype was very unsupported - only five "Blackwing" cards were released: "Gale the Whirlwind", "Sirocco the Dawn", "Bora the Spear", "Armor Master" and "Raptor Wing Strike". Later on, with the release of Raging Battle and Ancient Prophecy the set grew into a highly swarming and powerful Deck. The speed it gives with its swarming, along with its additional Synchro Summoning capabilities landed this Deck a place on the Shonen Jump Circuit, along with being known as one of the many Meta Decks. The Deck proceeded to win the 2009 World Championships and remained popular the following year. New "Blackwing" monsters and support are released in The Shining Darkness and Starstrike Blast, giving them alternative strategies. The cards relate to various types of birds and several types of winds.

Nomenclature
In the anime, the Blackwing monsters are named after geographical elements usually related to the sky, mainly winds (e.g. Sirocco, Mistral).

In the manga, the Blackwing monsters are named after weapons (e.g. Kris, Pinaka).

In both, their names always consist of "Blackwing - (name) the (geographical element)".

Playing style
"Blackwing" Decks focus on swarming. Because of that, they have an aggressive playing style. Also, because of their swarming capabilities, they give many opportunities to Synchro Summon (Note that their trump cards are Synchro Monsters). Their support cards rely on their swarm abilities such as "Delta Crow - Anti Reverse" which can be activated from the hand when you control exactly 3 "Blackwing" monsters. Some of them take an advantage from “Blackwings” swarming abilities and support it such as "Black Whirlwind". With the overwhelming amount of near forced synergy and powerful support cards, “Blackwings” are one of the easiest archetypes to play. This along with its overall power and relatively low cost nature makes "Blackwings" one of the most powerful archetypes in the current metagame.

The primary draw power used in “Blackwings” is represented by "Allure of Darkness", "Pot of Duality", and "Cards for Black Feathers". Because of this myriad of choices and ability to run many of them simultaneously, it is not surprising that “Blackwings” are known for impressive consistency.

Also, because most of the "Blackwing" monsters are DARK, Winged Beast monsters, along with "Allure of Darkness" for drawing power, you can use "Icarus Attack" for card destruction. Alongside that, many "Blackwing" Decks also run "Dark Armed Dragon" for its ability to be Special Summoned by having DARK monsters in the Graveyard.

“Blackwings” are one of the few top tier Decks that don't require their combo pieces to go off to win. Their toolbox allows them to shift their playstyle from being aggressive to passive. The Deck has numerous mind games forcing players to make less than sub-optimal plays to play against it. By setting a card in the Spell & Trap Card Zone with a "Blackwing" monster, the mind game and the illusion of the "Icarus Attack" being present is given off. Players will have to slow down their playing style, forcing any aggressive Decks to be crippled and unable to commence their plays recklessly.

Blackwing
Blackwing is a powerful archetype, able to quickly swarm the field, Synchro Summon, and do devastating damage in the first turn alone. Their specialty is their quick Special Summoning, allowing you to Summon multiple monsters in a single turn, then use effects of monsters such as "Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn" or "Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow" to build on one another and quickly wreak massive destruction. Blackwing Duelists also have access to "Rivalry of Warlords" and "Gozen Match".

Vayu Turbo
This Deck is based on getting "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" into the Graveyard and sending high-Level "Blackwing" monsters into the Graveyard, then Special Summoning ("Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" only Special Summons "Blackwing" Synchros). Because the effect of "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" Special Summons Synchro Monsters instead of Synchro Summoning them, the requirements on the cards do not apply, and as per the effect of "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor", their effects are negated. The strategy then devolves into spamming high-ATK Synchro Monsters followed by swarming the field with other "Blackwing" monsters. Recycling with "Burial from a Different Dimension" to perform another Special Summon is a recommended tactic. This also allows you to return "Necro Gardna" and anything else you might remove with "Dark Armed Dragon" or "Allure of Darkness" to your Graveyard. To go along with "Burial from a Different Dimension", you can add "Return from the Different Dimension" to Summon the same cards to your side of the field and attempt an OTK. Cards that send other cards from your Deck to your Graveyard, such as "Card Trooper" (or, to a lesser extent, "Veil of Darkness"), are suggested. Another possible strategy is to Special Summon "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" through the effect of "Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame", negating the Synchro Summoning restriction of "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor", and Synchro Summon "Ally of Justice Catastor".

"Crush Card Virus" (in Traditional Format only) might be a viable tool for ditching "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" to the Graveyard while destroying the opponent's monsters. "Deck Devastation Virus" and/or "Eradicator Epidemic Virus" work for ditching a high-Level "Blackwing" monster to the Graveyard and destroying low-ATK monsters. This strategy works very will with this type of Deck, since you will be able to rapidly swarm the field with high-ATK DARK-Attribute Monsters, since the key cards of this Deck ("Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor", high Level "Blackwings") make perfect targets for the "Crush Card Virus". When they are in the Graveyard, you can Summon even more monsters while leaving your opponent with nothing. Furthermore, you will be looking at your opponent's hand, allowing you to predict their actions. Another way to use "Crush Card Virus" is to Set it and wait until "Crush Card Virus", or the possible target, is targeted by one of your opponent's effects that might affect you negatively and counter it by using the monster as a Tribute to activate the "Crush Card Virus".

Another great card for this Deck is "Skill Drain" which can negate the effect of "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" while it is on the field (so it can be used as a Synchro Material monster on the field) while still allowing it to Special Summon Synchro Monsters by removing it from the Graveyard ("Skill Drain" does not negate effects in the Graveyard). As an added bonus, the effect-negating drawback on the Synchro Monster will be meaningless, since "Skill Drain" does the same to each other monster.

Synchro Summoning
Several of the "Blackwings", as well as their support cards, make Synchro Summoning fairly easy.
 * "Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame": Although not a "Blackwing" Tuner monster, this monster can Special Summon from your Deck a "Blackwing" monster with 1500 or less ATK after it has destroyed an opponent's monster during the Damage Step. Because the searched monster's effect is negated, Vayu will be able to Synchro Summon while on the field if Summoned in this way (which is normally unable to).
 * "Blackwing - Bora the Spear": Can be Special Summoned from your hand if you control another "Blackwing" monster besides another "Blackwing - Bora the Spear".
 * "Blackwing - Gladius the Midnight Sun": Can be Special Summoned if you control a single "Blackwing" monster.
 * "Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North": Upon being Normal Summoned, can Special Summon from your Graveyard a Level 4 or lower "Blackwing" monster.
 * "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor": Can Special Summon "Blackwing" Synchro Monsters by utilizing "Blackwing" monster as materials from the Graveyard instead of the field. Keep in mind that the effects of these Synchro Monsters will be negated as long as they are face-up on the field ("Book of Moon" is one of the cards that can remedy this problem) and this form of Summoning disallows them from being Special Summoned from the Graveyard or removed from play.
 * "Black Whirlwind": The key card of any "Blackwing" Deck. When a "Blackwing" monster is Normal Summoned, you can add a "Blackwing" monster from your Deck to your hand if its ATK is weaker than the Summoned monster.

Because of their potential to create Level 6 Synchro Monsters with such ease, "Blackwing Armed Wing", "Gaia Knight, the Force of Earth" and "Orient Dragon" are among the top choices for Level 6.

Level 7 and 8 Synchro Monsters are somewhat harder to Synchro Summon than Level 6 ones, because their star Level 3 Tuner, "Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind", as well as their best searcher, "Black Whirlwind" are limited. While you can play "Blackwing - Breeze the Zephyr", it cannot be Special Summoned as easily as Gale, making it less appealing. Furthermore, the best card to combo Zephyr with, "Black Whirlwind", is limited as well. Because of that, "Blackwing" players usually focus on Level 6 Synchro Summons. "Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame" can pull out Gale or Breeze if needed though, making the process for Level 7 a bit easier.

A way to make Level 7 or 8 Synchro Summoning easier is to play "Blackwing - Kochi the Daybreak". While it cannot perform a Synchro Summon if Special Summoned by the effect of "Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame" (or any effect really), you can Normal Summon it and Special Summon "Blackwing - Bora the Spear" or "Blackwing - Gladius the Midnight Sun".

"Blackwing Armor Master" and "Black Rose Dragon" are among the top choices for Level 7. "Black Rose Dragon" is a good choice to clear the field, if the field becomes crowded, to evade a Trap Card(s) that could ruin your strategy, or create card advantage. Armor Master is a good all-around pick, as it can protect your life points, cannot be destroyed by battle and is never afraid of attacking into cards that modify its ATK, making it a very reliable monster. If it can survive long enough to apply its counter-generating effect once or twice, you can also weaken your opponent's monsters for a comeback assault.

The top choices for a Level 8 Synchro Summon are "Stardust Dragon", as it can offer protection from effects that destroy cards and "Scrap Dragon" with its ability to clear the field. Other popular picks are "Dark End Dragon", "Thought Ruler Archfiend", "Void Ogre Dragon", and "Colossal Fighter".

Weaknesses
"Blackwings" have some problems maintaining hand and field advantage due to the overwhelming speed with which “Blackwings” are Summoned, a player can (and often will) find his/her hand depleting quickly, thus lacking resources in case his/her plans goes wrong (such as in the case the opponent counters a massive Swarming with a mass-destruction card like "Torrential Tribute" or "Dark Hole" but it can be countered once again by "Tyrant's Temper". by Tributing a card like "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" to not only stop your opponents Traps from affecting your monsters but also lets you use Vayu's effect to Synchro Summon the next turn. "Blackwings" can also fall to "Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror" as it will negate many of their powerful effects such as the effect of "Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind" to halve the ATK and DEF of an opponent’s monster. "Blackwings" swarming can be stopped by cards such as "Summon Limit", "Narrow Pass" and any cards that render Monster Card Zones useless (i.e. "Ground Collapse.") Also, an anti-DARK card, "Consecrated Light" is frequently a problem, and is best dispatched with cards like "Icarus Attack", although siding in "Skill Drain" prevents this to some extent. Most "Blackwing" support cards require a "Blackwing" monster to be on the field ("Icarus Attack" being the most important). A well-played "Trap Stun" or "Seven Tools of the Bandit" can shut down these traps and place you at a disadvantage. Also watch out for cards that remove cards from play like "Macro Cosmos" or "Dimensional Fissure" Thus rendering the effect of "Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North" "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" and "Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite" completely useless. To counter these cards, use "Mystical Space Typhoon," and have side deck cards such as "Dust Tornado" and "Twister."

“Blackwings” require the initial Normal Summon to the field to start field presence. Negating that Summon or immediately destroying that monster with a "Trap Hole" or similar card will prevent swarming for that turn.

Siding in "Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn" is also surprisingly effective against "Blackwings", since "Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn" can use the opponent's "Blackwings" for his effect.