Welcome back my fellow duelists! Today we're going to be taking a look at one of my favorite (in terms of art/concept). I've been wanting to build an effective Light/Fire deck for the longest time and I've always been a fan of Skyforce Champions. So when Dragon Knight Volaron was revealed I was ecstatic! It's an aggressive card that offers cunning and protection all in one!

Name: Dragon Knight Volaron
Civilization: Light/Fire
Type: Creature
Race: Skyforce Champion/Armored Dragon
Level: 9
Power: 7000+
Flavor Text: N/A
Rarity: Super Rare
Set Number: S7/S10 l 9SHA
Abilities:
(This card enters your mana zone tapped.)
Fast Attack
Powerful Attack +4000
Double Breaker
Armor of Dawn- At the end of each of your turns, if this creature is tapped, you may put the top card of your deck into your shield zone face down as a new shield.

One of the first interesting things I noticed on Volaron is the text for his effects; they're not described in detail. It's simply, Fast Attack, Double Breaker, and Powerful Attack +4000... I guess Wizards decided that we finally know what effects mean without the redundancy of being redundant and just repeating what I already said earlier... I know... I'm doing it right now!

Volaron is a slightly higher cost version of Bolt-Tail Dragon and a less secure version of Andromeda of the Citadel. You can throw this card out on turn nine or less depending on your deck type and surprise your opponent. He can easily revenge kill most creatures outside of the bigger Dragons and Monarchs out there. The benefit to having Volaron snipe off your opponent's creatures, is that you are safe to gain his "Armor of Dawn" ability and give yourself a free shield!

Probably the biggest downside to this card is that it has a static 7000 power for a level 9 creature outside of when it's attacking. This card itself is pretty easy to take out for paying nine mana to put it in the battle zone in the first place.

This card combos well with both its subtypes. In Armored Dragons you can go aggro and bring this guy out early with a successful attack from Herald of Infernus or you could play a bunch of Firebirds and bring him out by turn 6-8 instead of waiting til turn nine. In Skyforce Champions the goal is generally to tap down your opponent's creatures and swing over them. If you already have Starlight Strategist out, you can play Volaron, tap down any creature you can target, and then swing freely at it and allowing you to obtain an additional shield!

This card is great that it can come out of left field and potentially win you the game. I wish it was a level or two less, but it's acceptable at nine as well. With some of the new cards coming out in Invasion Earth, I suspect that Skyforce Champions will start seeing more play in the near future.

Constructed: 3.25/5.00 (A great card but it hasn't really had its opportunity to shine just yet...)
Limited: 2.75/5.00 (Get this guy out and you can take out just about any creature in limited and gain some shields back in the process!)

I hope you enjoyed today's review! We look forward to seeing you all again tomorrow! So until next time we meet my fellow Duel Masters, keep calm and game on!