A beginner's guide to Blackwings.

[Kira Yoshikage]

Today I am giving you all a noob's guide to Blackwings!
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To those of you who are unfamiliar with the Blackwing deck, Blackwings are an attribute of DARK, Winged-Beast type monsters that specialize in quick, swarm tactics and aggressive, controlling plays. This deck was top-tier for a while before the end of Konami's long crusade to make them as crappy as possible. Now that they have a new arsenal of cards, tricks and their other support is off the banlist, anybody can play the deck with enough practice and knowledge!

Part 1: the deck

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This new birdie is the star of the show right now. Once per turn, you can spam him from the hand if you control another Blackwing not named Kris. Also, his second effect allows him to avoid destruction by card effect once per turn. He helps to circumvent the biggest flaw in the deck, as he helps pave the way for your other birds to summon themselves from hand.
3x Bora the Spear.
This card was the original Kizan. Coming straight out of Crimson Crisis, this card was one of the Blackwings released in their debut. Similarly to Kris, he can special summon hhimself from the hand if you control a Blackwing not named Bora. HOWEVER, this can be done multiple times per turn. Also, he has a second effect that allows him to deal piercing damage to the opponent. This card is the second most flexible card in your deck as it can be both a normal summon and an additional special summon depending on your hand.
3x Shura the Blue Flame.
Coming from Raging Battle, this card is one of the cards that took Blackwings to the top spot. She's the main starter card of the deck, and is one of the best beatsticks as well. She can summon Kochi the Daybreak from the deck as well as most of the Tuner monsters.
3x Kalut the Moon Shadow.
"When I draw this card, I have to wear my Gale mask to hide my excitement." ~ me
This card alongside Gale the Whirlwind and Shura made the deck top tier for years to come. It allows you to get around many problematic monsters that you generally dont have enough atk to run over. He is the Honest of the deck, and is probably mandatory at 3.
2x Blizzard the Far North.
This card is another big combo starter in both builds. The fact that he is a Monster Reborn on your lv 4 or lower Blackwings in grave is great, but he is also a lv 2 Tuner monster! This card allows Synchro plays ranging from lv 5 to 10, depending on the non-Tuners. He also sets you up for rank-4 Xyz plays.
3x Gale the Whirlwind.
You guys have no idea how hyped I was when this card was brought back to 2, and ultimately unlimited over 2014. This is my favorite card in the game, and one of the best Blackwings, not including that he's a special summonable lv 3 Tuner!
1x Zephyros the Elite.
He's a lv 4 body with decent atk that can revive himself from your graveyard by bouncing a face-up card to your hand at the cost of 400 lp! He's a must-have for any Blackwing deck!
1x Steam the Cloak.
This little guy is insane. When he leaves the field he gives you a free token to make Synchro plays with! He can also tribute a monster(including the token) to special summon himself, and his token summoning effect is not once per turn!
1x Oroshi the Squall.
This little guy is probably the most underrated monster. He's a special summonable level 1 tuner that can be added to your hand off of any normal summon with Black Whirlwind, allowing for more explosive Synchro plays!
3x Black Whirlwind.
This card is the heart and soul of the deck. It lets you add a Blackwing monster when you normal summon a Blackwing, but it's atk MUST be lower than the summoned monster's. This card, along with Kalut and Gale were blasted down to 1 after their several-year reign of supremacy. However, in the Dragon Ruler format, they brought it back to 3 at the end of it all. This card is essential to any Blackwing strategy.
3x Pot of Duality.
This card is mainly used to filter through the deck and get what you want, primarily Whirlwind.
1x Allure of Darkness.
Use this to unbrick, or to dig for Whirlwinds, combo pieces and traps.
3x Icarus Attack.
This card is the main trap of the deck that everybody fears. You tribute 1 Winged-Beast monster to destroy 2 of their cards. This card disrupts most combos and loops, and also lets you push for game. Isn't that awesome? Blackwings work together even in the end, to make sure their friends can reach their goals.
2x Delta Crow.
This card is another feared trap. It nukes all set backrow the opponent controls if you control a Blackwing monster.
2x Black Sonic.
D Prison meets Mirror Force for Blackwings.

The extra deck:
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1x Catastor, 1x Nothung, 1x Armor Master, 1x Hawk Joe, 1x Beelze, 1x Leo, 1x Star Eater, 1x Castel, 1x, 1x Abyss Dweller, 2x Raidraptor - Force Strix, 1x Gagaga Cowboy, 1x Abyss Dweller, 1x Utopic Future

Basic combos:

Hawk Joe + Nothung
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Normal summon Blizzard, effect to bring back a lv 4 Blackwing. Search for Oroshi. Synchro into Nothung and use the effect to burn for 800 and/or normal summon again. Special summon Oroshi, Synchro for Hawk Joe. Hawk Joe effect to bring back Nothung.

1 card Leo + token
Attack over an opponent's monster with Shura and use hr effect to bring out Steam from the deck. Synchro for Armor Master, generate a Token, and bring Steam back by tributing the Token. Synchro using Steam and Armor for Leo.

2 rank 4s:
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Normal summon Shura, and use Black Whirlwind to search out Bora. Special summon Bora, and Kris from the hand with their effects, and overlay 2 monsters(including the Bora) for RaidRaptor - Force Strix. Use it's ability to grab another Bora, and special summon Bora. Overlay Bora and the remaining lv 4 for another Strix, and search. This ends on 2 bodies and a Blackwing in hand for next turn. You can go for any other rank 4 over the Strix if you value another rank 4 in whatever match up or situation you may find yourself in over the guaranteed follow-up.


Blackened Star.
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Normal summon Blizzard, and use his effect to bring back a lv 4. Search for Oroshi. Synchro into Nothung, and use his effect to burn/reduce, then get the second normal summon of another lv 4. Search for whatever is desired, then special summon Oroshi, and Synchro into Star Eater. You can find ways to build on this, like the other combos.
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That's all for now. I hope that you all found this informative or helpful in any way!

[α27theDemonKnight]

Love the tutorial as a whole. You made it a fun read. Now I finally know How to Blackwing T^T
Never knew there was an XYZ focused variant until I read this. Definitely want to work on that.
Please tell me you guys have a page dedicated to your best quotes
Hope to see more fun tutorials like this in the future XD

[Stardog]

These deck guides are a good idea. I might mimic this deck idea for Gem-Knights or Ritual Beasts.

[Flip Flapper]

personally i use a sirocco focused build with 3 sirocco and 3 of that card i forgot its name that summons a monster of the same type but one level higher by tributing a card to easily bring sirocco, 1-2x bora on the field, gale, and any other blackwing for an OTK, i love blizzard a lot to but for me sirocco makes the deck wich is funny becuse i didnt even run it untill shadow kicked my ass with his blackwings and told me to run 1 XD

[Nosferatu Alucard]

So i played bw right all this time according to Shadow Nii-san XD

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