Blackwing – Elphin The Raven
Dark / Winged Beast / Effect Monster
Level Six
ATK: 2200 DEF: 1200
If you control a face-up "Blackwing" monster, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. When this card is Normal Summoned, you can change the Battle Position of 1 monster your opponent controls.
Blackwing – Elphin The Raven is mediocre at best. It has no real place in a standard Blackwing deck since it is so slow and will usually be a dead card in your hand in standard Blackwings. The only deck this card is really worth playing in would be Vayu Turbo since you can use Dark Grepher to send Blackwing – Elphin The Raven and Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor to the grave and then Banish both of them to Special Summon Blackwing Armor Master with Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem Of Honor’s Effect. Also in the Vayu Turbo deck since they can so easily Special Summon Blackwing Armor Master and Blackwing Armed Wing you can easily Normal Summon this along with one of them making it a more live card in your hand than it would be in standard Blackwings.
Blackwing – Etesian Of Two Swords
Dark / Winged Beast / Effect Monster
Level Three
ATK: 400 DEF: 1600
If a "Blackwing" monster you control battles an opponent's monster, and that opponent's monster is still on the field at the end of the Damage Step, you can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard to inflict 1000 damage to your opponent.
There is no real point to Blackwing – Etesian Of Two Swords in Blackwings, all it does it burn your opponent for 1000 Life Points at best. In most cases it will just sit in your hand doing nothing since Blackwings usually don’t have a problem with Attacking over monsters due to their high Attack points. All in all Blackwing – Kalut The Moon Shadow is much better since that will let you actually get over the Monster you weren’t able to destroy in battle and it will help you deal more damage too, 1400 is much better than 1000.
Blackwing – Fane The Steel Chain
Dark / Winged Beast / Effect Monster
Level Two
ATK: 500 DEF: 800
This card can attack your opponent directly. When this card attacks your opponent directly and inflicts Battle Damage to your opponent, you can change 1 Attack Position monster your opponent controls to Defense Position.
In general Blackwing – Fane The Steel Chain should not see any play in Blackwings since all it does it Attack Directly for a little bit. There is one deck that this can see play in though; it’s a Blackwing deck that revolves around pumping this with Blackwing – Sirocco The Dawn and Attacking for game. Outside of that deck though this card isn’t very good, it’s weak and doesn’t do much.
Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind
Dark / Winged Beast / Effect Monster / Tuner
Level Three
ATK: 1300 DEF: 400
If you control a "Blackwing" monster other than "Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind", you can Special Summon this card from your hand. Once per turn, you can halve the ATK and DEF of 1 face-up monster your opponent controls.
Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind is one of the best Blackwings of all. Being over to attack over a Stardust Dragon or Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En is something that none of the other Blackwings can really boast, aside from Blackwing – Silverwind The Ascendant but that doesn’t see much play. On top of its ability to half Monsters it has the ability to Special Summon itself, which gives the deck a lot of speed. This card perfectly complements Blackwings, speed and aggression is what it does in spades. Being able to Summon Blackwing – Shura The Blue Flame and then Special Summon Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind, half their Monster and then Attack over it with Blackwing – Shura The Blue Flame is game breaking. And if you have to you can Normal Summon a Level Four Blackwing and then Special Summon Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind and nuke the board with Black Rose Dragon. Also it gives you access to Level Eight with your Blackwing – Sirocco The Dawn. One of the most devastating plays in the deck is to Normal Summon Blackwing – Sirocco The Dawn, Special Summon Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind, Special Summon Blackwing – Bora The Spear, use Blackwing – Sirocco The Dawn’s Effect on Blackwing – Bora The Spear, half their Monster with Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind, Synchro Blackwing – Sirocco The Dawn with Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind, Monster Reborn Blackwing – Sirocco The Dawn and pump Blackwing – Bora The Spear again. Very very good card.
Blackwing – Ghibli The Searing Wind
Dark / Winged Beast / Effect Monster
Level Three
ATK: 0 DEF: 1600
When your opponent declares a direct attack, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. Once per turn, you can switch the original ATK and DEF of this card, until the End Phase.
Blackwing – Ghibli The Searing Wind is basically Blackwings own mini Gorz, The Emissary Of Darkness. Unfortunately this does not have the same impact on the game state as Gorz, The Emissary Of Darkness does. All it Blackwing – Ghibli The Searing Wind does is give you a body to Synchro with which isn’t a big deal since Blackwings have no problem with producing non-tuners. The only real point to playing this would just to have another card to search with Black Whirlwind for your Blackwing – Blizzard The Far North plays, and that isn’t that big of a deal.
Blackwing – Gust The Backblast
Dark / Winged Beast / Effect Monster
Level Two
ATK: 900 DEF: 1400
If you control no cards, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. While this card is face-up on the field, if your opponent's monster attacks a "Blackwing" monster you control, the attacking monster loses 300 ATK during the Damage Step only.
Blackwing – Gust The Backblast is Blackwings own Cyber Dragon. But again like Blackwing – Ghibli The Searing Wind it just isn’t that good. Just like Blackwing – Ghibli The Searing Wind it’s just an extra body to Synchro with and once more Blackwing have plenty of those. No real point to playing this.
Blackwing – Hillen The Tengu-Wind
Dark / Winged Beast / Effect Monster / Tuner
Level Five
ATK: 0 DEF: 2300
When you take 2000 or more Battle Damage from your opponent's monster's direct attack while this card is in the Graveyard, you can select 1 Level 3 or lower "Blackwing" monster in your Graveyard. Special Summon that monster and this card from the Graveyard. Their effects are negated. Each player can only use the effect of "Blackwing - Hillen the Tengu-wind" once per Duel.
Blackwing – Hillen The Tengu-Wing is another one of those Blackwings the just has no place in standard Blackwings but is ok in Vayu Turbo. Level Five and higher Blackwings usually aren’t that good in Blackwings since they are fairly hard to summon and will usually just sit in your had as dead cards. Where as Vayu Turbo can dump these cards right into the Graveyard with cards like Dark Grepher and Armageddon Knight. But that is another problem because Vayu Turbo doesn’t usually play any Blackwings aside from Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor for Level Three or lower Blackwings. Unfortunately this Tengu is nowhere as good as Reborn Tengu.
Blackwing – Jetstream The Blue Sky
Dark / Winged Beast / Effect Monster
Level One
ATK: 100 DEF: 800
During damage calculation, you can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard to prevent a "Blackwing" monster you control from being destroyed by this battle.
Blackwing – Jetstream The Blue Sky is just a nerfed version of Blackwing – Kalut The Moon Shadow. While it is better than Blackwing – Etesian Of Two Swords it still doesn’t gain you any advantage like Blackwing – Kalut The Moon Shadow does. You lose a card just to prevent yourself from losing a different card, you are far better off just playing something to destroy the Monster threatening you like Dimensional Prison or Smashing Ground.
Blackwing – Jin The Rain Shadow
Dark / Winged Beast / Effect Monster / Tuner
Level One
ATK: 600 DEF: 500
If this card battles with a monster with DEF equal to or less than this card's ATK, destroy that monster immediately with this card's effect (without applying damage calculation).
Blackwing – Jin The Rain Shadow is an underrated card that as of recently has been getting more attention. Recently people have begun using this over Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor in standard Blackwings. While it is much better in your hand versus Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor it sure isn’t better when coming off of a Blackwing – Shura The Blue Flame. Being able to gain advantage through banishing your Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem Of Honor is far more important than being able to run over the odd set card, especially in a format like this were set cards don’t see much play and when they do it doesn’t really matter if you are able to destroy it with this since it will still get its effect, such as a card like Sangan.
Blackwing – Kalut The Moon Shadow
Dark / Winged Beast / Effect Monster
Level Three
ATK: 1400 DEF: 1000
When a "Blackwing" monster you control attacks or is attacked, you can send this card from your hand to the Graveyard during the Damage Step to have that monster gain 1400 ATK until the End Phase.
Blackwing – Kalut The Moon Shadow is one of the best cards in Blackwings. It lets you get over almost any Monster in battle and it prevents your opponent from killing you just because they cleared out all of your Spell and Trap cards. The best part of it is that they never see it coming since it’s in your hand. They fact that they never know if you do or don’t have it creates psychological warfare which is great for a control deck like Blackwings.
Blackwing – Koichi The Daybreak
Dark / Winged Beast / Effect Monster / Tuner
Level Four
ATK: 700 DEF: 1500
If this card was Special Summoned, this card cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster.
Blackwing – Koichi The Daybreak is a decent card, it’s a shame that its effect is considered a condition not an effect so it isn’t negated by Skill Drain or Blackwing – Shura The Blue Flame. If you could still Synchro with it off of a Blackwing- Shura The Blue Flame then I could see this card seeing a lot more play but that isn’t the case. At least you can still use this to XYZ Summon. You can Special Summon this with Blackwing – Shura The Blue Flame and then XYZ Summon something like Steelswarm Roach or Number 39: Utopia depending on the situation.
