Deck Doctor: Blackwings

Hey guys! I'm back with another Deck Doctor article, submitted to me by Diamond over on the WBO forums. Blackwings are a deck that have remained competitive since their introduction to the game, and since they are my current main deck, this should be fun! However, the catch this time around is that Diamond only has access to OCG cards! Alright, let's get started.

First, here's Diamond's original deck list:

Monsters: (25)

Gale the Whirlwind x1
Shura the Blue Flame x3
Bora the Spear x3
Kalut the Moon Shadow x3
Blizzard the Far North x3
Kochi the Daybreak x2
Vayu the Emblem of Honor x1
Mistral the Silver Shield x1
Gust the Backblast x1
Fane the Steel Chain x1
Elphin the Raven x1
Sirocco the Dawn x1
Neo-Spacian Grand Mole x1
Spirit Reaper x1
Penguin Soldier x1
Breaker the Magical Warrior x1

Magic: (11)

Mystical Space Typhoon x2
Lightning Vortex x2
Black Whirlwind x1
Monster Reborn x1
Book of Moon x1
Swords of Revealing Light x1
Raptor Wing Strike x1
Nobleman of Crossout x1
Pot of Avarice x1

Traps: (14)

Magical Cylinder x2
Bottomless Trap Hole x2
Delta Crow- Anti Reverse x2
Solemn Judgement x1
Mirror Force x1
Dark Bribe x1
Call of the Haunted x1
Torrential Tribute x1
Icarus Attack x1
Sakuretsu Armor x1
Scrap Iron Scarecrow x1

First Impression:

My initial reaction to seeing this deck list was something along the lines of "Oh dear... This deck is all over the place!" Blackwings are typically a very focused and consistent deck, but this list has included all sorts of cards that don't fit the theme or the overall strategy, and it runs a lot of cards at 1, which kills any chance of consistency the deck might possess. We're going to fix all of that!

Proposed Changes:

- 2 Kochi, - 1 Mistral, - 1 Gust, - 1 Fane, - 1 Elphin, - 1 Grand Mole, - 1 Penguin Soldier, - 1 Breaker, - 2 Lightning Vortex, - 1 Swords of Revealing Light, - 1 Raptor Wing Strike, - 1 Nobleman of Crossout, - 1 Pot of Avarice, - 2 Magic Cylinder, - 2 Delta Crow, - 1 Dark Bribe, - 1 Call of the Haunted, - 1 Sakuretsu Armor, - 1 Scrap-Iron Scarecrow

+ 1 Sirocco the Dawn, + 1 Dark Armed Dragon, + 1 Allure of Darkness, + 2 Pot of Duality (Greederosity for you OCG players!), + 2 Book of Moon, + 1 Dark Hole, + 2 Icarus Attack, + 1 Royal Oppression, + 1 Torrential Tribute, + 2 Solemn Warning (Divine Warning for OCG lol)

Breakdown:

I'm going to risk sounding like a broken record here, but I really can't stress enough just how important consistency is in a competitive Yu-Gi-Oh! deck, which accounts for a lot of the changes I've made. Diamond's original build was playing FIFTY cards -- this is absolutely unacceptable in a Blackwing deck. There are some decks that benefit from playing more than forty cards (Lightsworn, stall decks, etc.), but as a general rule of thumb most decks should be run at forty or forty-one, simply for the sake of having a higher chance of seeing the cards you want to see. It's all probability people!

So, having said that, let's go over some of the changes I've made. I took out a large chunk of the monster count, and most of them are pretty self-explanatory. Penguin Soldier, Breaker, Gust etc. are really cards that don't belong in the deck. Gust is just a bad card in general, and so are Elphin and Kochi. I dropped a lot of the monsters and added in a second Sirocco and a Dark Armed Dragon. Blackwings play nothing but Dark monsters, so Dark Armed Dragon is a natural and perfect fit. They also have an easy time manipulating their graveyard with Vayu and Blizzard plays, so getting three Darks in the grave should almost never be a problem, especially if you play into DAD right. This brought the monster count down to 18, which is pretty standard for Blackwings, and it's actually identical to my own monster list for my Blackwing deck.

I also removed a lot of the more questionable Magic choices, like Lightning Vortex and Raptor Wing Strike. Lightning Vortex isn't a bad card, but it certainly doesn't belong in Blackwings, especially since the deck already has a hard time maintaining any sort of hand advantage. Raptor Wing Strike is just a bad card. Both Swords of Revealing Light and Pot of Avarice are great cards, but they don't belong in Blackwings. Blackwings don't fill up the graveyard with enough monsters to warrant playing Pot of Avarice, and as a control deck they should almost never need to play Swords of Revealing Light.

I replaced these magic cards with 2 extra Book of Moon, 2 Pot of Duality/Greederosity, a Dark Hole and an Allure of Darkness. I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Book of Moon is one of the best cards in the game right now, and every deck should be running at least two. Blackwings need three, however, to protect their monsters as they aren't exactly giant beaters that are going to stay on the field for more than a few turns. Pot of Duality and Allure are also more or less staples for the deck at this point, as they help you get to your good monsters, spells and traps faster, and the way that Blackwings play now as a control deck, typically only putting one monster on the board at a time, you want to do whatever you can to protect that monster, whether that be via Kalut or a defensive spell or trap. Dark Hole is a staple this format. It's a powerful card and you'd be doing yourself a huge disservice by not playing it.

I also removed a large chunk of the traps that Diamond was playing, as most of them were being run at one and weren't very good for the deck anyhow. Sakuretsu, Magic Cylinder, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow, etc are all decent cards in their own right, but they don't do anything to further the strategy of Blackwings. There are much better trap cards to be playing in Blackwings, namely ICARUS ATTACK. Icarus Attack is the sole reason that Blackwings are still able to compete with the rest of the meta-game. It absolutely has to be run at three, no exceptions. It may seem like a solid two-for-two trade in terms of card economy, but more often than not Icarus Attack turns into a solid +1. For instance, let's say you have a set Icarus Attack, and you summon a Bora. Your opponent chains Bottomless Trap Hole, and in response you chain Icarus Attack, targeting two of their other cards. Your opponent has lost three cards, while you've only given up two -- Icarus Attack and the Blackwing itself. The card is great, and is very literally the backbone of any Blackwing deck.

I also added in some more staple control traps, such as Royal Oppression, Torrential Tribute and 2 Solemn/Divine Warning. Blackwings are inherently a slow deck, especially compared to the rest of the current meta-decks (Debris-Plants, X-Sabers, Six Samurai, etc.), so a Blackwing player needs as many ways to control the board as possible. Torrential Tribute will help you reset the board if your opponent commits to too many monsters and you get overwhelmed, while both Oppression and Warning will help you stop the opponent from making any game-breaking Synchro or Special Summons.

So, here's our new and improved deck list!

Monsters: (18)

2 Sirocco

3 Shura
3 Bora
3 Blizzard
3 Kalut
1 Gale
1 Vayu
1 Spirit Reaper
1 Dark Armed Dragon

Magic: (11)

3 Book of Moon
2 MST
2 Pot of Duality
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Black Whirlwind
1 Monster Reborn
1 Dark Hole

Traps: (11)

2 Bottomless Trap Hole
3 Icarus Attack
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Royal Oppression
1 Mirror Force
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Solemn Warning

The deck looks much more solid now, no? This is a relatively cookie-cutter Blackwing build, but there's a reason that 99% of Blackwing decks look the same -- because they work this way!

Thanks for reading guys, if you have any questions or comments, you know what to do! Also, if you'd like to send me a submission for a future Deck Doctor article, you can do so by e-mailing me your deck list at: ssroan [at] gmail [dot] com.