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 have either a tengu or ravenlike appearance. 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 more members and support cards were added.

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 there are EXACTLY 3 Blackwing Monsters. Some of them taking 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 of the North Pole which need 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. It`s also possible to play Mystic Plasma Zone or Harpies' Hunting Ground to boost their ATK and DEF. Their DARK Attribute also qualifies them for DARK support cards from 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.

Defense
The Blackwing's also have a lot of potential when it comes to protecting themselves. Blackwing Armor Master cannot be destroyed by battle, so having him on the field along with a Stardust Dragon or a set My Body as a Shield he becomes practically indestructible other than other effects such as return to hand, top of the deck, and removed from play. For other Blackwing cards Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow is great for protection against battle. It is especially good if Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame is attacked by a stronger monster. Unless the monster is over a whopping 3200 attack then you can discard Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow to, not only take down the monster, but special summon a Blackwing monster with 1500 or less attack, such as Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind onto your side of the field from deck .

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 Blackwing's make Synchro Monsters very easily. With Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North you can usually hope to instantly make a LV. 6 Synchro provided you already have a LV. 4 or lower monster already in your graveyard. The LV. 6 Blackwing Synchro, Blackwing Armed Wing, is a more mild Synchro than Blackwing Armor Master. If you would only be able to make a LV.6 Synchro then Goyo Guardian is usually the better choice. However, because of Gale the Blackwing's potential to create specifically LV. 7 Synchro Monsters greater than most other levels. This is because the LV.4 Blackwing's are Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame, who can summon a Gale from the deck simply by destroying a monster, and 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's with such ease, Blackwing Armor Master, Dark Strike Fighter, and Black Rose Dragon are among the top choices. This goes especially for Black Rose Dragon. It will usually only take 2 Blackwing's (Gale and another LV.4 Blackwing monster) to summon a Black Rose Dragon, in the large view of things, thats just 2 card to blow up the entire field. If your opponent has several more cards on the field than you do, summoning Black Rose Dragon to clear the field is a very worth while choice. LV.8 Synchro's are a little bit harder to pull off with the Blackwing's then LV.7's, however, it is certainly not impossible. The Blackwing's are very strong in battle and Stardust Dragon can offer the protection from card effects, which is why it is important to use Stardust in the deck. To pull off a LV. 8 Synchro with the Blackwing's, it is usually best to summon a Sirocco the Dawn and then follow up by special summoning a Gale. Even if you do not have a Gale in your hand, he can easily be searched out with Black Whirlwind, especially after normal summoning Sirocco. Because Sirocco is the only LV.5 Blackwing, it may be worthwhile to add a Cyber Dragon into the deck for the sake of summoning Stardust.

Draw Power
Blackwing's 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, and select the cards the need. Because the Blackings go to the graveyard so quickly, such as Kalut, who discards himself to the graveyard and Gale who Synchro's, putting himself and another Blackwing in the Graveyard, Pot of Avarice is a great card to use to gain card advantage and also put Blackwings back into your deck and Synchro's that have died back into the Extra Deck. To go through monster's even faster, you can use Magical Merchant to run through your monsters and dump them into the graveyard even faster. With the use of Allure of Darkness and Pot of Avarice, Reckless Greeds can be used to bring the draw power of the deck full circle so you will almost constantly be picking up new cards. Even though Pot of Avarice thickens the deck, you can put Synchro's back to avoid it from becoming too thick and also, cards such as Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame and Black Whirlwind thin the deck out very quickly.