Let Feathers Fly!
 
The deck to beat just not so long ago was one featuring a laundry list of DARK Winged-Beast monsters that could handle a barrage of different situations as well as pull out wins that nobody thought it could. Of course I am talking about the Blackwing deck. Not so long ago the deck was neutered by having it's two best cards limited to one, Kalut the Moonshadow and Black Whirlwind. Now that we have Kalut at 2, I have taken a closer look at the deck. It plays a lot of synchro summoning, and can often come out of nowhere for victory. Players are setting monsters more than ever, with Ryko and Snowman Eater leading the charge, not to mention the battle position switching Geargia cards. Fortunately the Blackwings are kings of piercing damage, and with Sriocco they can pierce for massive damage while your spell or trap cards keep off your opponent.
 
They are also great about using their graveyard for massive swarming with Vayu and Blizzard. Sirocco is truly the king of the deck, allowing you to power through monsters that your opponent would otherwise feel safe. I cannot stress the importance of Bora and Armed Wing though. Many a duel has been one by a top-decked Sirocco and a Bora for game through a defense position monster like Treeborn Frog. The other synchro monsters in the Blackwing Arsenal are nothing to sneeze at as well. Armor Master can decimate whole fields if an opponent doesn't draw an out for it and with a few Lances or My Body As A Shield, it can actually stick around to do some considerable damage. Silverwind is a bit of a dark horse. I think that there are better level 8 Synchros out there (Like almost all of them) but he can be helpful in a pinch, destroying more cards than Scrap Dragon at the cost of your Battle Phase. The true miracle of the extra deck has got to be Black Winged Dragon.

 

Now I know that about 2/3 of the people who read that last sentence just shouted obscenities and are starting to write me angry emails now. Go ahead if you want to. But I will point out that although lee 8 is not SO hard to make in a Blackwing deck, it's effect is unusually effective. Many players are turning to burn cards in order to finish an opponent off, like Ceasefire, Magic Clyinder, Chain Burn Cards and even D.D. Dynamite. This card stops ALL burn effects in their tracks and then allows you to burn them back in turn! And there is no limit to the counters that can go on it, even if its ATK is 0. So I say at least side deck the Black Winged Dragon, if you decide to play the deck, you will be very happy when that one guy who plays burn just to mess with people shows up at your regs and faces you on the bubble for top 8.

 

I was actually very surprised at how tight the Blackwing Skeleton really was. I found almost no place for Zephyros the Elite, and even decided against Icarus Attack in favor of Compulsory Evacuation Device. I even did not find a place to maindeck Cyber Dragons and Black Luster Soldier. I side deck them instead. Many of the newer players have never even seen a Blackwing card, so they would be a little stumped on how to beat it, or at least have not prepared for it in full. 3 Mystical Space Typhoons are a Blackwing players best friend, as they often need to force htorugh their Normal Summon in order to bring their combos forward. Shura the Blue Flame is still an all star of the deck, but not quite as important as it used to be, so drawing out defensive options with it is a good idea. Sirocco and Bora are your best friends, with Kalut and Gale at a close second. Gale is still the best Tuner monster in the game, able to attack over 90% of monsters played in the game or at least weakening them enough that they are not a threat anymore.

 

So without further blabberingh on my part, I will show you my versatile Blackwings build: Angey Birds!

 

I Think We Have Established That Kaka Kaka and Tookie Tookie Dion't Work

 

Monsters-20

 

3x Blackwing Shura the Blue Flame

3x Blackwing Sirocco the Dawn

3x Blackwing Bora the Spear

2x Blackwing Blizzard the Far North

2x Blackwing Kalut the Moon Shadow

2x Effect Veiler

2x Blackwing Vayu the Emblem of Honor

1x Blackwing Gale the Whirlwind

1x Dark Armed Dragon

1x Gorz, The Emissary of Darkness

 

Spells-9

 

2x Mystical Space Typhoon

2x Pot of Duality

1x Monster Reborn

1x Heavy Storm

1x Dark Hole

1x Black Whirlwind

1x Book of Moon

 

Traps-12

 

2x Solemn Warning

2x Bottomless Trap Hole

2x Torrential Tribute

2x Mirror Force

2x Compulsory Evacuation Device

1x Solemn Judgment

1x Starlight Road

 

If You Were a Giant, Nasty Alien Bird In a Department Store, Where Would You Be?

 

The side deck is what can turn this deck into a killer. I left it up to most of your imaginations, but here are a few cards that could be useful in the side deck, or even some of them mained can mean the difference between defeat and victory.

 

Mystical Space Typhoon

This card is almost a staple at 3, but i fell a side decked copy is better as you can control your draws a little better while still having the flexibility to be able to deal with pesky macro cosmos and Dimensional Fissure cards as well as enemy defenses.

 

Thunderking Rai Oh

I almost feel he should be main decked, but it was so hard to find room for him without ruining the synergy of the deck. A solid pick against 75% of the commonly played decks, you should always side deck this card.

 

Doomcaliber Knight

This card is actually great in the deck, as many ofyour effects will not trigger his effect and can often stall a Wind-Up or Even a Lightsworn based deck without difficulty. I woul say that Rai Oh is better, but this is also a solid pick.

 

Skill Drain

This card shoul almost be main decked, as Sirocco is going to be bigger than anything your opponents can bring out without effects, and anything they do can usually be stopped by other back row cards. The card kills Wind-Ups, makes Gadget/Geargia/Karakuri sad and can slow Lightsworn based decks to a crawl. You do get hit without being able to use monster effects, but not quite as badly as other cards as Vayu, Sirocco and Bora can make life very difficult for an opponent even without effects.

 

Dark Bribe

While always a good side-deck card, it is especially effective here. Without Black Whirlwind, it is hard for a Blackwing deck to recover after a disastrous over extension. Dark Bribe stops most of those counter moves with there, and with the added bonus of being able to counter any othe rdisruptive plays your opponent might have.

 

Icarus Attack

 This used to be so powerful they put it on the restricted list, now Starlight Road, Darkl Bribe and other cards have made it almost impossible to play effectively, but mainy players still stand by this powerful card as it is able t odestroy most cards outright and at a low cost of only a Winged Beast Type monster. A fair trade, but risky in some respects.

 

Lingerie

 

So the deck is not particularly strong against any other deck, but is not especially weak to them either. Dark World and Samurai are fairly effectivce against them, although I will admit in testing the deck I misplayed against those two decks. Wind-Ups were almost a breeze if they did not get the Magician/Shark combo opening hand. Geargia tends to be a little slow for this deck when it is on the warpath, as powerful Sirocco boosts will often win you the game before they can search their key cards. Lightsworn and Chaos Dragon decks are a bit tougher, as they can beat over Sirocco in most cases, but Armor Master is a good counter to both of them and Kalut is a strong player in these match ups. Dino-Rabbit relies too much on Laggia to stop you, and can often fall victim to an early Armor Master ro the blackwing decks far superior top-decking ability.

 

Lesser played decks are almost an unknown against this deck. Although it is itself a dark horse, I have not tested against Frogs, Serpent Heroes or stall decks that much. I challenge you to build this deck (without staples it costs around $20) and test some. You might actually be surprised with the results. It's a scrappy deck that often just goes down swingin' and can topdeck so well that it astounds opponents. With some extra back row in your side deck, it can just weather away opposing strategies.

 

Well that is it for this article, so go ahead and send me emails of ideas, critiques, decklists, or whatever else you want to say. Please email me at alarbios@live.com as Pojo gets very annoyed with me when he gets my mail.

 

Thanks for Reading!

GZ