Blackwing

Blackwings, known as Black Feather in the Japanese version, is an Archetype of DARK Winged Beast-Type (except "Blackwing - Aurora of 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. Most of these monsters are somewhat humanoid and have either a tengu or bird-like appearance. 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. They are currently a meta deck with swarming and speed capabilities. When Crimson Crisis was released, this Archetype was very unsupported - only 5 cards of Blackwing 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. New Blackwing monsters and support are released in The Shining Darkness and Starstrike Blast, giving them alternate strategies. The cards relate to various types of birds.

Playing Style
The Blackwing's effects are focused around Swarming and changing the ATK or the DEF of monsters on the field. Because of that, they have an aggressive playing style. Also, because of their Swarming capabilities, they are good for using 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 Blackwing's swarming abilities and support it such as "Black Whirlwind". Some of them rely on your opponent such as "Fake Feather" or "Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North" which needs a monster in the Graveyard to Special Summon.

Also, since most of the Blackwing monsters are DARK Winged Beast monsters, you can add "Allure of Darkness" for drawing power and "Icarus Attack" for extra card destruction, if you can't get "Delta Crow - Anti Reverse". "Dark Eruption" would also be a good support as it helps you to get back "Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow" and "Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind" from your Graveyard. It`s also possible to play "Mystic Plasma Zone" to boost their ATK only, although these cards are weak and give your opponent advantages as well, so it's better to play "Solidarity" for your ATK boosting needs. "Burden of the Mighty" can also help with high Level Monsters that you cant normally break through. You can also put in one or two "My Body as a Shield" to protect your monsters against field clearing cards like "Lightning Vortex". Their DARK Attribute also qualifies them for DARK support cards from the booster pack Phantom Darkness, and since a few of the Blackwing monsters require another Blackwing monster for their effects, you can use "Phantom of Chaos" to copy both the name and the effects. Alongside that, many Blackwing decks also run "Dark Armed Dragon" or "The Dark Creator" (both are considered DARK-deck staples but aren't needed) for their ability to be Special Summoned through DARK monsters in the graveyard. "Dark Armed Dragon" sees higher use in Blackwing decks because of his easier summoning requirements and destructive effect - it works well with the Blackwings' aggressive tactics. You can also run "Dark Nephthys" because it's both Winged Beast and DARK and will work with other cards included in a Blackwing deck.

Monsters
Blackwing - elphin the raven Plaugespreader zombie
 * Dark Armed Dragon
 * Blackwing - Bora the Spear
 * Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame
 * Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn
 * Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow
 * Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North
 * Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
 * Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor
 * Blackwing - Breeze the Zephyr

Spells

 * Black Whirlwind
 * Allure of Darkness
 * Book of Moon
 * cards for black feathers

Traps

 * Icarus Attack
 * Starlight Road
 * Dimensional Prison
 * Royal Oppression

Extra Deck

 * Blackwing Armed Wing
 * Blackwing Armor Master
 * Blackwing - Silverwind the Ascendant
 * Goyo Guardian

Vayu Turbo
The deck is based on getting Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor and getting other high-level Blackwing monsters into the Graveyard and then Special Summoning (Vayu only special summons Blackwing Synchros) (because Vayu special summons synchro monsters instead of synchro summoning them, the requirements on the card do not apply, and as per Vayu's effect, the effect is also negated) Synchro Monsters followed by swarming the field with other Blackwing monsters. Recycling "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" 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 to attempt an OTK. Cards that send other cards from your deck to your graveyard are suggested such as Card Trooper or to a lesser extent "Veil of Darkness". Another possible strategy is to Special Summon Vayu through "Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame"'s ability and special summon "Ally of Justice Catastor". Or use "Double Summon" to Summon Vayu and a Level 4-6 Blackwing out and use "Forbidden Chalice" to negate "Vayu"'s effect to Synchro Summon.

"Crush Card Virus" might be a good choice to add for ditching "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" to the while destroying the opponent's monsters. In addition to this, another possibility is to use "Deck Devastation Virus" and/or "Eradicator Epidemic Virus" for ditching a high level Blackwing monster to the graveyard and destroy 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 (Vayu, high Level Blackwings) make perfect targets for the viruses plus allowing you to summon even more monsters while clearing your opponent and giving you another advantage by allowing you to look at your opponents hand thus enabling you to foresee their strategy. Another possible way to utilize the viruses is to set them and wait until the virus, or the possible target, is targeted by one of your opponent's effects that might affect you negatively and counter it by tributing the monster to activate the virus.

Monsters

 * Dark Armed Dragon
 * Dark Grepher (Or to a lesser extent, Armageddon Knight)
 * Plaguespreader Zombie
 * Blackwing - Ghibli the Searing Wind

Spells

 * Allure of Darkness
 * Burial from a Different Dimension
 * Foolish Burial
 * Gold Sarcophagus

Traps

 * Icarus Attack
 * Return from the Different Dimension
 * Royal Oppression

Steelwings
The basic strategy of this deck is to assemble 3 Blackwings (along with "Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn" and "Blackwing - Fane the Steel Chain") and use Sirocco's effect to put all of the ATK onto Fane and attack directly with Fane. The easiest way to pull this off is to have a set "Ultimate Offering" or a "Double Summon" in your hand, and if your opponent has a Monster, Normal Summon Sirocco, then use "Ultimate Offering" (or "Double Summon") to summon Fane, then Special Summon 1 Bora and 1 Gale using their effects. Then, put all the ATK onto Fane and use a "Twin Swords of Flashing Light - Tryce" and attack directly past your opponents monsters. (500 + 2000 + 1700 + 1300 - 500) x2 = 10,000. Alternatively you could use "Swallow's Nest" on Sirocco to bring out another Sirocco and play its effect again: (500 + 2000 + 1700 + 1300) x2 = 11,000.

Monsters

 * Dark Armed Dragon
 * Dark Grepher
 * The Dark Creator

Spells

 * Lightning Vortex
 * Dark Eruption
 * Swallow's Nest
 * Double Summon
 * United We Stand
 * Allure of Darkness
 * Solidarity
 * Hand Destruction
 * Black Whirlwind

Traps

 * Icarus Attack
 * Phoenix Wing Wind Blast
 * Ultimate Offering

Extra Deck

 * Ally of Justice Catastor
 * Ancient Fairy Dragon

Eccentric Wings
This deck focuses on using "Eccentric Boy" to send any Blackwing monster (preferably "Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn") to the Graveyard to utilize "Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor" effect and Synchro Summon another monster. This build makes Synchro Summoning twice a turn easy. This build can also easily splash in "Dark Simorgh" because "Eccentric Boy" is WIND and all Blackwing monsters are DARK.

Monsters

 * Eccentric Boy
 * Dark Armed Dragon
 * Dark Simorgh
 * Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn
 * Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor

Spells

 * Book of Moon
 * Dark Eruption
 * Cards for Black Feathers

Traps

 * Icarus Attack
 * Phoenix Wing Wind Blast

Extra Deck

 * Ally of Justice Catastor
 * Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * Ancient Fairy Dragon
 * Goyo Guardian
 * Red Dragon Archfiend

Hundred Wings
This is a deck that focuses on quickly Synchro Summoning "Hundred-Eyes Dragon" and using its effect to gain the effects of Blackwing monsters in your Graveyard. For this deck it is a good idea to include Fiend-type monsters like the Infernity archetype since "Hundred-Eyes Dragon" requires a Fiend-type monster to be Summoned. The main monsters for Hundred-Eyes Dragon to use the effect of are "Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn" to power up your Blackwing monsters with over 3000 ATK, Blackwing - Bora the Spear to inflict piercing damage, and "Blackwing - Fane the Steel Chain" to attack your opponent directly. Cards that send cards from your hand to your Graveyard are also useful. Such as using "Common Charity" to destroy your hand sending Blackwing monsters to your Graveyard. Because it relies on getting cards to the graveyard quickly, another alternative is to use this deck in conjunction with Infernity monsters, since no non-Synchro monsters in this archetype are above level 6 and they can use various cards to empty the hand and send multiple cards to the graveyard, also, with no cards in the hand, many of their effects can activate.

Monsters

 * Blackwing - Fane the Steel Chain
 * Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn
 * Dark Resonator
 * Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
 * Blackwing - Bora the Spear
 * Blackwing - Mistral the Silver Shield
 * Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North
 * Gorz the Emissary of Darkness
 * Armageddon Knight
 * Infernity Archfiend
 * Infernity Destroyer
 * Infernity Avenger
 * Infernity Guardian
 * Morphing Jar
 * Plaguespreader Zombie

Spells

 * Allure of Darkness
 * Darkness Approaches
 * Swallow's Nest

Traps

 * Icarus Attack
 * Dark Illusion
 * Common Charity
 * DNA Surgery

Extra Deck

 * Hundred-Eyes Dragon
 * Ally of Justice Light Gazer
 * Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier
 * Blackwing Armor Master
 * Blackwing Armed Wing
 * Infernity Doom Dragon
 * Stygian Sergeants

Hand Wings
With the release of Starstrike Blast, Blackwings offer a new possible playing style which focuses on crippling on your opponent by surprising them with effects that can be activated from the hand even possibly resulting in OTK Situations. The key cards for this type of Deck are Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow and Blackwing - Etesian the Second Sword. The first one will help you to take out nearly every of your opponent's monster by just discarding it from your hand and even deal them a finishing blow when they are already low on life points. This works extremely well when discarding multiple copies of this card when attacking a defense position monster with Blackwing - Bora the Spear or Blackwing Armed Wing, while the latter one is used in combination with Blackwing Armor Master when attacking a stronger monster to not only place a wedge counter on that monster but also deal 1000 points of damage (if you discard multiple copies of this card, this might result in an OTK situation pretty fast (e.g. you discard 3 copies of this card: 3*1000=3000)). Alternatively, you can use Blackwing - Abroholos of the Megaquake, since it does not destroy your opponent's monster, but sends it to their hand, so this combo will also work against weaker monsters. It is even better to discard multiple copies of this card, which will inflict damage equal to the number of discarded Etesian the Second Sword times 1000 plus battle damage which made Abroholos of the Megaquake. This is also combinable with Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow for extra damage.

Monster

 * Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow
 * Blackwing - Etesian the Second Sword
 * Blackwing - Ghibli the Searing Wind
 * Blackwing - Bora the Spear
 * Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
 * Blackwing - Abroholos of the Megaquake
 * Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North

Spells

 * Black Whirlwind
 * Cold Wave
 * Solidarity
 * Against the Wind
 * Dark Eruption
 * Raptor Wing Strike

Traps

 * Black Back
 * Delta Crow - Anti Reverse
 * Icarus Attack

Synchro Summoning
Several of the Blackwings, as well as their support cards, make Synchro Summoning fairly easy.
 * "Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind": Can be Special Summoned from your hand if you control another "Blackwing" monster besides another "Gale".
 * "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 Remove from Play.
 * "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 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).
 * "Black Whirlwind": The trump 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.
 * "Blackwing - Breeze the Zephyr": Breeze will be another viable "Blackwing" monster as it can be Special Summoned by its own effect after grabbing it from the deck using Black Whirlwind. Since it's attack is 1100, it can be searched using all Blackwing staples (Sirocco, Shura, Bora, Kalut, Gale, Blizzard).
 * Another instant summon combo can be achieved with "Sangan's" search effect, as "Breeze will meet its Special Summoning requirement if "Sangan" is sent from the field to the Graveyard. Breeze can provide an emergency defense if searched out by "Sangan".
 * "Breeze" is also a good substitute Synchro Material Monster for "Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind", since Gale was recently declared Limited. The only drawback to this monster is its limitation to the Synchro Summoning of only "Blackwing" Synchro Monsters.

Because of their potential to create Level 6 and 7 Synchro Monsters with such ease, Blackwing Armed Wing, Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, and Goyo Guardian are among the top choices for Level 6, while Blackwing Armor Master, Dark Strike Fighter (banned from in Advance Format as of September 2009), and Black Rose Dragon are among the top choices for Level 7. "Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier" is a great choice to create OTK opportunities as it can clear the opponent's backfield while tossing Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honors to the Graveyard so they can Special Summon Synchro Monsters from the Extra Deck. "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.

Level 8 Synchro Monsters like are somewhat harder to Synchro Summon than Level 6 or 7 Synchro Monsters. The most common way to perform a Level 8 Synchro Summon is to Normal Summon "Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn" and then Special Summon "Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind". Even if you do not have "Gale" in your hand, it can easily be searched out with "Black Whirlwind" after Normal Summoning "Sirocco". Among the top choices for the Synchro Summon is "Stardust Dragon", as it can offer protection from effects that destroy cards and "Colossal Fighter", as it can consistently revive itself after it has fallen in battle.

Due to the requirements of its Synchro Summon, "Blackwing - Silverwind the Ascendant" (released in Stardust Overdrive) has been widely dismissed by many Blackwing duelists. However, once Synchro Summoned, "Blackwing - Silverwind the Ascendant" provides much support to the other Blackwings by granting them an effect akin to that of "Dark Resonator" and the clearing of your opponent's side of the field. If your strategy includes Synchro Summoning this card, you may want to include cards like "Quillbolt Hedgehog", "Level Retuner", and "Star Blast" in your Deck. The more popular choice is to Special Summon (not Synchro Summon) it using "Vayu"'s effect, sacrificing "Silverwind"'s effect and utilizing it as a beatstick. But the best way to summon this monster is to have Fane on the field, a level 4 Blackwing in the Grave, summon "Blizzard" and then bring back the Blackwing in the grave for Synchro Summoning "Silverwind". An even quicker way is to Normal Summon Blizzard, activate its effect to summon a "Fane", then Special Summon a "Bora" from your hand.

Draw Power
Blackwings have a lot of available draw power and deck manipulation. Because of their DARK attribute, they can use "Allure of Darkness" and "Veil of Darkness" to run through the deck faster. "Reckless Greed" can also be used to run through the deck as well. Because the Blackwings can be sent to the Graveyard quickly, by effects such as "Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow" (who discards himself to the Graveyard) and "Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind" (who can be used in a Synchro Summon, putting himself and another Blackwing in the Graveyard), "Pot of Avarice" is a great card to use. To help put Vayu in the graveyard, throw your opponent's game off, and restore a most likely depleted hand you can use "Morphing Jar" (not suggested against Zombie decks) and don't forget about "Armageddon Knight" to put Blackwings in the graveyard. To go through monsters even faster, you can use "Magical Merchant" to send monsters from the top of the deck to the graveyard until you draw a spell or trap card. With the use of "Allure of Darkness" and "Pot of Avarice", "Reckless Greeds" can be used to increase draw power of the deck so you will almost constantly be drawing new cards. Even though "Pot of Avarice" thickens the deck, you can prevent this by returning destroyed Synchro Monsters; also, cards such as "Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame" and "Black Whirlwind" to thin the deck out very quickly. And now with the new Blackwing spell Cards for Black Feathers in The Shining Darkness they will have even more draw power (albeit very punishing).

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 (however, in The Shining Darkness pack there will be a useful synchro for that situation "Infernity Doom Dragon"), 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 "Lightning Vortex"). Also, although the deck is capable in itself of winning with a simple Beatdown strategy, its most impressive Monsters are Synchro Monsters, meaning anti-Special Summoning strategies will often work to cripple a Blackwing player's strategy. Although this can be true, the "Starstrike Blast" Booster Pack offers a unique way to protect yourself from synchro stealing cards ("Tuner's Scheme") and massive synchro preventing cards like "Discord". "Blackwing - Aurora of the Northern Lights" is maybe one of the best ways to save yourself from those annoying tricks. Blackwings can also fall to Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror as it will negate many of their powerful effects such as Gale's effect to halve ATK and DEF. Blackwing's swarming can be stopped by Summon Limit or, even better, "Kaiser Colosseum". Koa'ki Meiru cards can also hinder Blackwings in many ways, for instance with "Koa'ki Meiru Drago" and "Koa'ki Meiru Guardian". Also, there is a new anti-dark card, "Consecrated Light". Royal Oppression can also negate the Synchro summoning of the Blackwings (however, it is unable to negate Shura's effect because it activates during Damage Step and while it can negate Synchro Summons due to Vayu's effect, you can simply retry the summon as Vayu's removal isn't a cost). 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 Royal Decree can shut down these traps and place the opponent at a disadvantage. Mask of Restrict is exceptionally good at stopping Icarus Attacks. Summon negation counter traps like Forced Back can prevent Blackwings from hitting the field and utilizing their Spell and Traps that require Blackwing field presence like "Icarus Attack", "Delta Crow - Anti Reverse", "Black Whirlwind" or "Swallow's Nest". 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 "Sirocco" can use the opponent's Blackwings for his effect and create an OTK with the help of the number of Blackwing monsters you and your opponent controls.