Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind

A bit of an addendum to ban list week, Gale has not been reviewed in 4+ years.

http://www.pojo.com/yu-gi-oh/cotd/2010/Jan/14.shtml

Back then it was given a generous score.  This was when Blackwings were new and overpowered.  Due to power creep, however, having Gale at 1 seemed like a vestige of an old era.

There's many reasons why Gale works with Blackwings.  It Special Summons itself with ease and its a LV3 Tuner for a Synchro Summon, two things that work quite well together.  With its permanent stat-reducing effect you can use every turn, it essentially is a 2600 ATK monster you can summon so easily.  It also has low original ATK, making it really easy to search via Black Whirlwind

Since splashable monsters have fallen out of favor, you'll find Gale mostly in Blackwings.  And to Blackwing decks, Gale is essential.  Run the 2 copies you're allowed, and no less.  If and when Gale gets laxed to 3, use the third copy as well.

Blackwings are a bit power creeped out but that extra Gale could give them the edge they need.

Ratings

Power -- 4

Versatility -- 4

Dependability -- 3

Advantage -- 3

Speed -- 4

Traditional – 1.5

Advanced – 3.5

Blackwing Gale the whirlwind

This has been one of the most interesting cards in advanced play for quite some time. The cards impact has dwindled since the earlier days of just using it to destroy Stardust Dragon. The card has made a return to push blackwings in today's format. Sadly, this card is not what it use to be.

Traditional 1/5
Advanced 3/5

Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
 
Once this card was highly relevant in not only Blackwings, but also in Stun for the pure and simple fact that it’s ability to lower an opponents monsters attack in half was potentially even a game changing effect.
 
Fast forward a few years and now poor o’l Gale has been essentially creeped into obscurity. It does however provide a decent boost to Blackwings, and makes that Deck more competitive… If going “Retro” is your style!
 
Gale’s first ability is that it can be Special Summoned from the hand if you already control another “Blackwing” monster, and this allows you to easily Synchro Summon or occasionally Xyz Summon with it.
 
Equally useful is that “Once per turn” you can Target one monster your opponent controls and then lower it’s ATK and DEF by half, this allows Gale to run over most “Boss” monsters and significantly weakens anything else. Even something as powerful as a Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning can be reduced to a piddly 1500 ATK weakling.
 
And as Blackwings at least should play Zephyros one option is that you could Summon Gale, ½ somethings ATK/ DEF, “Bounce” Gale, Summon Zephyros and then Special Summon Gale and ½ something elses ATK/DEF. You could also achieve this same effect by using Raptor Wing Strike to return Gale to your Deck, and then by that cards effect, add the same one to your hand again!
 
Adding Gale from your Deck to your hand also comes quite easily once Black Whirlwind is in play as plays for the turn normally start off by Summoning Sirocco or more ideally Shura as Shura can also Summon Gale (among several other targets) directly from the Deck if it destroys an opponents monster by battle.
 
And even after Gale is sent to the Graveyard it is still able to be retrieved, either by Dark Eruption or less ideally by Against the Wind so for the most part you should always be able to have access to Gale when you need it. This is of course made far easier by the fact that it is now at 2.
 
And because it’s at 2, if for some reason you are ever forced to Banish it via Allure of Darkness it’s not such an inconvenience to you, and especially less so because of the fact that many Blackwings are Level 3 and this allows them to Summon Leviair the Sea Dragon easily if they so need. Now while most Blackwing Decks don’t normally use Leviair as Deck space is so tight, it does combo very well because of several cards that the Deck does/ can use. And I’ve been on the receiving end of Leviair plays!
 
Traditional: 1.5. While it’s effects may be very useful, the problem is that Blackwings aren’t competitive here, and as such this effects this cards actual playability here.
 
Advanced: 3.5. Good card for Stun, great card for Blackwings (and why the slightly higher score than is relevant to it’s current standing in the Meta), and maybe useful for some Dark type Decks but apart from that it won’t be seeing much if any play.

Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
 
Today we look at one of the most infamous Tuners in Yu-Gi-Oh! Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind, used by Crow in the 5Ds anime, Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind made a massive impact on the game and it is now back to semi-limited because of the new Legendary Collection: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds which is going to be released soon.

Statwise it is a DARK/Winged-Beast like all Blackwings and is a Level 3 Tuner which is good, with 1300 ATK and 400 DEF, while stats aren’t that important for a Tuner, the ATK anyway is quite good for a level 3.
Of course it is its effects where Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind got its infamy. First like a lot of the early Blackwings you can special summon it from your hand if you control another Blackwing barring another Gale. This makes Synchro summoning a lot faster and it was one of the reasons why back in the synchro era, Blackwings were so powerful.

The second effect is just as dangerous, which allows you to target and half the ATK and DEF of an opponent’s monster. This allowed Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind to on its own destroy any monster who had 2600 ATK or less and of course if it was still stronger you could simply Synchro Summon and have that destroy the opponent’s weaken monster. Furthermore the reduction is permanent, so even if the monster survived you could the opponent wouldn’t be able to fight back with it.
 
Overall, this returning to 2 gives Blackwings a big boost, as well as any deck that either uses level 3 Tuners or DARK Tuners. Don’t underestimate this card.
Traditional: 4/5
Advanced: 4/5