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 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 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 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. 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 packPhantom 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 for their ability to be Special Summoned through DARK monsters in the graveyard.

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, 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 monster, Lone Silver Wing, 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, Lone Silver Wind 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 randomly discard monsters and draw Spell and Trap Cards. 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.

Weaknesses
Blackwings have a fair amount of problems in 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 awry (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, so preventing the card to hit the field would severely hinder the strength of the deck.