Blackwing

The Blackwing, known as Black Feather in the Japanese version, is an Archetype of DARK Winged Beast-Type monsters making their debut in "Crimson Crisis". In the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime, they are used by Crow. Most of these monsters are somewhat humanoid and have either a tengu or bird-like appearance. (Compare to other humanoid Winged-Beasts to a greater or lesser effect) All 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.

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 or "Raptor Wing Strike". 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 all 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, Harpies' Hunting Ground, or Mountain to boost their ATK and DEF. 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) for their ability to be Special Summoned through DARK monsters in the graveyard.

Vayu Turbo
The deck is based on getting Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor and other high-level Blackwing monsters into the graveyard and then Special Summoning (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 grave are recommended, as many cards must be in the graveyard to work, such as Vayu, and as removal fodder for Dark Armed Dragon.

Monsters

 * Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor
 * Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn (To make Blackwing Armed Wing)
 * Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame (If you summon Vayu by Shuras effect Vayu can be used as a regular Tuner)
 * Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind (this is an easy Special Summon then Synchro Summon, as well as a normal Tuner)
 * Blackwing - Elphin the Raven (If you want to make Armor master as fast as possible)
 * Blackwing - Bora the Spear (this card is the strongest swarmable Blackwing, and it inflicts Piercing damage)
 * Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North
 * Armageddon Knight (this sends Vayu or another Blackwing monster to the graveyard from the deck for fast special summons)
 * Dark Grepher (this complements the Armageddon Knight(s) by allow you to send Sirocco or Elphin to the grave from your hand)
 * Necro Gardna (this card is useful with Armageddon Knight, as it allows Blackwings to stall temporarily)
 * Divine Fowl King Alector (this card can special summon itself and negate 1 of your opponent's face up monster's effects)

Spells

 * Lightning Vortex
 * Foolish Burial
 * Dark Eruption
 * Black Whirlwind
 * Raptor Wing Strike
 * Against the Wind

Traps

 * Delta Crow - Anti Reverse
 * Icarus Attack
 * Dark Illusion
 * Fake Feather
 * Sakuretsu Armor

Extra Deck

 * Blackwing Armor Master
 * Blackwing Armed Wing
 * Blackwing - Silverwind the Ascendant
 * Goyo Guardian
 * Stardust Dragon
 * Black Rose Dragon
 * Red Dragon Archfiend

Synchro Monsters
Because Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind is incredibly easy to summon, and Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North automatically brings a LV. 4 or lower monster back upon being summoned, the Blackwings make Special Summoning Synchro Monsters very easy. With Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North you can easily make a LV. 6 Synchro Monster if you already have a LV. 4 or lower monster in your graveyard. The LV. 6 Blackwing Synchro, Blackwing Armed Wing, is a weaker Synchro than Blackwing Armor Master. If you would only be able to Synchro Summon a LV.6 Synchro Monster, then Goyo Guardian is usually the better choice. However, because of Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind the Blackwings can easily Synchro Summon Synchro Monsters. This is because the LV.4 Blackwings are Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame, who can summon a Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind from the deck by destroying a monster, and Blackwing - Bora the Spear who can be Special Summoned as long as there is another Blackwing on the field. Because of their potential to create LV.7 Synchro Monsters with such ease, Blackwing Armor Master, Dark Strike Fighter (banned from in Advance Format as of September 2009), and Black Rose Dragon are among the top choices. If your opponent has several more cards on the field than you do, summoning Black Rose Dragon to clear the field is a very worthwhile choice. LV.8 Synchro Monsters are somewhat harder to pull off with the Blackwings then LV.7s. The Blackwings are very strong in battle and Stardust Dragon can offer the protection from card effects. To Special Summon a LV. 8 Synchro Monster with the Blackwings, it is usually best to summon Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn and then follow up by Special Summoning Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind. Even if you do not have Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind in your hand, it can easily be searched out with Black Whirlwind after Normal Summoning Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn. This way is the easiest way for most Blackwing decks to summon LV.8 Synchros. The strongest Blackwing monsters, Blackwing - Silverwind the Ascendant, released in Stardust Overdrive, has been widely dismissed by many Blackwing duelists due to his exceptionally difficult summoning requirements. Specifically, the requirement for 2 or more Non-Tuners disallows the use of Sirocco+Gale forming him. However, once Synchro Summoned, Silverwind the Ascendant provides much support to his fellow Blackwing monsters by granting them an effect akin to Dark Resonator and the clearing of your opponent's field.

Draw Power
Blackwings have a lot of available draw power and deck manipulation. Because of their DARK attribute, they can use Allure 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 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. Pot of Avarice is recommended when you can search for monsters using Black Whirlwind, making it basically a "recharging" card.

Weaknesses
Blackwings have some problems mantaining 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 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. Even more so than their namesake Synchro cards, currently many Blackwing decks rely on the Synchro Monster, Dark Strike Fighter to achieve an amazingly fast One Turn Kill (It is suspected that this OTK is the reason why DSF has been banned), so preventing the card to hit the field would severely hinder the strength of the deck. Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror can also negate the effects of some widely used blackwings, such as Gale's ability to change ATK and DEF. To be more clear considering how much spells and abuse of blackwings are in play an opponent simply adding Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn, Magic Drain and Threatening Roar can even the playing field if he/she finds themseleves on the recieving end. Although it is considered a weakness of practically any deck, Blackwings may face some danger from decks that use Skill Drain, as they rely on their effects to (more than) make up for their mediocre base ATK. Since all Blackwings are Winged Beast type monsters, a Blackwing user may be running Swallow's Nest or Icarus Attack. DNA Surgery and Zombie World can prevent those cards from being used, which may throw the player off a little. Since all Blackwings are DARK attribute, a lot of Koa'ki Meiru cards or other anti-Dark cards could be used against Blackwings. Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn can be Side Decked against Blackwings because its effect will give it the attack of all Blackwings on the field, not just on the controller's side. Oftentimes players run Mind Crush to use when Blackwing users use Black Whirlwind to force the discarding of the Blackwing they just recieved.

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