Card Of The Day #1 – Rescue Rabbit [11/21/11]

Today I will be starting a new segment, my own Card Of The Day series. I used to write the Card Of The Day for Pojo but I disliked being restrained to the cards that they covered because most of the time the cards covered weren’t good and were just pack filler cards. I would rather pick the cards I covered myself so I’m starting my own Card Of The Day. I hope you enjoy and if you have any Card Of The Day requests or any other video/article please let me know!

Rescue Rabbit
Earth / Beast / Effect
Level Four
ATK: 300 DEF: 100

This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Deck. You can banish this face-up card you control; Special Summon 2 Level 4 or lower Normal Monsters with the same name from your Deck. Destroy them during the End Phase. The effect of "Rescue Rabbit" can only be activated once per turn.



Rescue Rabbit is probably one of the most hyped cards from Photon Shockwave, and most defiantly the cutest card in the card and quite possibly the entire game. The question is though does it live up to the hype? Before I answer that lets go over all of the combos, plays, and potential this card has. The main combo you will be doing with this card is to Normal Summon it and then Special Summon two Level four Monsters to XYZ Summon a Rank four Monster such as Steelswarm Roach, Number 39: Utopia, Kachi Kochi Dragon, Evigishki Merrowgeist, Gem-Knight Pearl and Daigusto Emeral. In most cases you see people Special Summon cards such as Kabazauls or Sabersaurus since it gives them access to cards such as Evolzar Dolkka and Evolzar Laggia, two of the best control cards in the game right now. Another interesting combo in that deck is if you play Genex Ally Birdman you can bounce one of the two Kabazsuls you Special Summoned to your hand and then Synchro for Gungnir, Dragon Of The Ice Barrier and then discard the Kabazuls you bounced for Gungnir, Dragon Of The Ice Barrier’s effect to destroy any card in your way. Another combo that you can do with Rescue Rabbit is to Special Summon two X-Saber Anu Piranha and then Special Summon XX-Saber Faultroll and then proceed to spam from there. This also fits very well into a Dragon deck since you can grab two Alexandrite Dragons or two Hunter Dragons to get a good basic XYZ and set up your grave with Chaos fuel after they die. These Dragon decks will be getting better soon too since an there will be a Chaos Dragon Structure deck coming out in the OCG soon.

The Final Verdict:
Well its no Rescue Cat for the obvious reason that this was created to take Rescue Cat’s place as a less broken version. I don’t think it warrants the 100+$ price tag especially considering it isn’t even used in the top deck of the format (Tour/Tengu Plants) But it is still a very good card and it will float around as a A tier deck for a long time, so long as it isn’t killed off by a ban list of course. Expect this deck to do much better once Plants are killed off by the ban list though since this is probably the next best deck to that. Rescue Rabbit isn’t something that you can just throw into your deck and expect it to work, it takes a dedicated strategy to make it work but if you can find a combo with it that work it will greatly improve your deck.

Perfecting Blackwings - 36 Part 1

Blackwing Armor Master
Dark Winged Beast Synchro Effect
Level Seven
2500/1500
1 "Blackwing" Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
This card cannot be destroyed by battle, and you take no Battle Damage from battles involving this card. If this card attacks a monster, you can place 1 Wedge Counter on that monster at the end of the Damage Step (max. 1). You can remove all Wedge Counters from your opponent's monsters to reduce the ATK and DEF of each monster that had a Wedge Counter to 0, until the End Phase.

When you think of Blackwings this is one of the first cards that comes to mind along with Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind and Black Whirlwind. Its one of the first cards they had and it was the first Synchro for Blackwings released. This card is great for Blackwings since they can go into Level seven easily with Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind and one of their Level four Monsters, or they can make this by Banishing Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor and Blackwing Armed Wing from the game. It has solid stats and a great effect that works very well with the rest of the theme of Blackwings, that being Battle Phase dominance. Being able to run Blackwing Armor Master into another Monster with out worrying about Honest, Blackwing – Kalut The Moon Shadow, or Horn Of The Phantom Beast is pretty important. One of the best cards in Blackwings by far.



Blackwings Armed Wing
Dark Winged Beast Synchro Effect
Level Six
2300/1000
1 "Blackwing" Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, it gains 500 ATK during the Damage Step only. During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower then the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.

Fairly decent card, Blackwing Armed Wing is mostly played just for the fact that it is a solid Level six Synchro giving the deck the ability to Synchro into it with Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North and then when it dies you can just Banish it with Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor to make Blackwing Armor Master. Its effect is ok and could be better but I’m not complaining, it again goes with the theme of Battle Phase dominance. One thing that can kill you is them walling up on you with a Spirit Reaper or something to that extent when you don’t have an Icarus Attack and this makes it so they can’t do that since you can just run over it for 2700 damage each turn.



Blackwing – Silverwind the Ascendant
Dark Winged Beast Synchro Effect
Level Eight
2800/2000
1 "Blackwing" Tuner Monster + 2 or more non-Tuner monsters
When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can select and destroy up to 2 face-up monsters on the field with DEF lower than this card's ATK. You cannot conduct your Battle Phase the turn you activate this effect. The next time a "Blackwing" monster you control would be destroyed by battle during your opponent's turn, it is not destroyed; this effect only happens once.

If it weren’t for the ability to Banish Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor and Blackwing Armor Master from your Graveyard to Special Summon this I don’t think this card would see play at all. Its Effect is decent but its Synchro Material requirements are poor. The only real way you could have made this the regular way was with a Blackwing – Blizzard The Far North and one to two Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadows or Spirit Reapers. And with Blackwing – Kalut The Moon Shadow now limited and Spirit Reaper no longer a good tech card in the deck that just is not going to be happening any time soon. But again Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor alone warrants its place in the deck.



Blackwing – Abrolhos The Megaquake
Dark Winged Beast Effect
Level Seven
2600/1800
This card cannot be Special Summoned. Any monsters that battles with this card is not destroyed by that battle, and returns to the hand after damage calculation. Once per turn, during your Main Phase 1, you can have this card lose 1000 ATK, and return all cards in your opponent's Spell and Trap Card Zone to the hand.

Blackwing – Abrolhos The Megaquake’s Effect is ok but the fact that you have to Tribute two Monsters to Normal Summon this and there is no way around that makes this card unplayable in the deck. If you could Normal Summon this like you can with Blackwing – Sirocco The Dawn I could see teching one of these maybe but with out that ability this won’t see play, its just too hard to get out.



Blackwing – Aurora The Northern Lights
Light Winged Beast Effect
Level Ten
?/0
This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card cannot be Special Summoned except by removing from play 2 face-up monsters you control (1 "Blackwing" Tuner and 1 non-Tuner). Once per turn, you can remove from play 1 "Blackwing" Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck. This card's name, ATK, and effects become the same as that monster's, until the End Phase.

This is kind of like Blackwing’s own Chaos Sorcerer, but not good. The fact that it’s Effect is only until the end of the turn just makes Blackwing – Aurora The Northern Lights a bit of a wasted effort.



Blackwing – Blizzard The Far North
Dark Winged Beast Tuner Effect
Level Two
1300/0
This card cannot be Special Summoned. When this card is Normal Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower "Blackwing" monster from your Graveyard in face-up Defense Position.

This is probably the best Blackwing of all. Being able to Normal Summon a Level five or six Synchro is big and if you have another Monster you can even make an eight or nine. One of the best plays in the deck is to play this while you have T.G. Hyper Librarian out and then Special Summon Blackwing – Bora The Spear or Blackwing – Zephyros The Elite to make a Trishula, Dragon Of The Ice Barrier, pop two cards and draw one. And once you are top decking ever time you hit one of these the tide of the game usually shifts into your favor. I could go on and on about the combos with this card.



Blackwing – Bora The Spear
Dark Winged Beast Effect
Level Four
1700/800
If you control a "Blackwing" monster other than "Blackwing - Bora the Spear", you can Special Summon this card from your hand. During battle between this attacking card and a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card, inflict the difference as Battle Damage to your opponent.

Blackwing – Bora The Spear is just one of your basic Blackwings, its Level four so you play it. It has decent stats and Effect and you can Special Summon it making it worth playing. There really aren’t many other good Level four Blackwings so you don’t really have much choice in playing this, you need the Level fours for your Blackwing – Blizzard The Far North plays.



Blackwing Bora The Sharp
Dark Winged Beast Effect
Level Five
1300/900
You can remove from play this card from your Graveyard to select 1 face-up "Blackwing" monster you control. If that monster battles with an opponent's monster this turn, it cannot be destroyed by battle and you take no Battle Damage from that battle. After damage calculation, destroy the opponent's monster that battled with the selected monster.

Blackwings don’t really have the ability to just dump this into the Graveyard so this card isn’t very good in the standard variants. In Vayu Turbo this card is decent since you can Discard this for Dark Grepher and then either Banish it for its own Effect or with Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honors.



Blackwing – Breeze The Zephyr
Dark Winged Beast Tuner Effect
Level Three
1100/300
If this card is added from your Deck to your hand by the effect of a Spell, Trap, or Monster Card, you can Special Summon this card. This card cannot be used as a Synchro Material Monster, except for the Synchro Summon of a "Blackwing" monster.

This is a card I have a lot of people ask me about. Its hard to describe it but Blackwing – Breeze The Zephyr is the best of the worth Blackwings. It has a really nifty Effect in that it is basically a nerfed Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind but unfortunately the deck only has one way to Special Summon this, Black Whirlwind. And again, unfortunately Black Whirlwind is now Limited to one. That being said its just not worth playing this because the odds of your drawing into this are just as good as drawing into the only way you can summon it from your deck. And if you do draw into it there are only two real plays you can make with it; Summon is and then Special Summon Blackwing – Bora The Spear and Synchro for Blackwing Armor Master or Special Summon Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind and XYZ for a Rank three. And even if you do have the ability to search into it there are just better cards to search like Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind or Blackwing – Blizzard The Far North if you are searching with Black Whirlwind or Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind or Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor if you are searching with Blackwing – Shura The Blue Flame.



Blackwing – Brisote The Tailwind
Dark Winged Beast Effect
Level Five
1200/1800
If 2 or more "Blackwing" monsters you control are destroyed in the same turn, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. If this card is sent to the Graveyard as a Synchro Material Monster, you gain 600 Life Points.

This card is just pointless. Its dead in your hand unless you over commit into a Dark Hole or some other mass removal and even then all it does is give you 600 Life Points if you have the Blackwing – Gale The Whirlwind to Synchro with. I see no reason to play this over Blackwing – Sirocco The Dawn or at all for that matter.



Blackwing – Calima The Haze
Dark Winged Beast Effect
Level four
600/1800
During your opponent's Battle Phase, if you control no monsters, you can remove from play this card from the Graveyard to select 1 Synchro Monster in your Graveyard, and Special Summon it. It is removed from play at the end of the Battle Phase.

An interesting card in that it is basically a Blackwing specific Necro Gardna but unfortunately it has the same downfall the Blackwing – Bora The Sharp has in that Blackwing’s lack the ability to dump cards into their Graveyard so there is no real reason to play this since you would have to play it and let it die or Synchro with it in order to utilize its Effect.

Perfecting Blackwings - 35

Creeping Darkness
Normal Spell
Banish 2 DARK monsters in your Graveyard; add 1 Level 4 DARK monster from your Deck to your hand.















http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Creeping_Darkness

This is a great card for Blackwings. Since Black Whirlwind was limited the deck has really been lacking in consistency and was forced to really rely on Pot Of Duality just to fix its bad hands. One of the biggest problems the deck had in the past was its reliance on Level four Monsters and its inability to get them since your best early game Monsters are Level four and you need them to set up your late game, between getting a target for your Blackwing – Blizzard The Far North or getting a Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor into the grave with your Blackwing – Shura The Blue Flame. With this the deck no longer needs to play a lot of the “filler” cards that it has been forced to play in the past. Now you can cut cards like Blackwing – Sirocco The Dawn and a Blackwing – Bora The Spear or two even. This card also opens up the possibility for some other new cards in the deck, such as Tour Guide From The Underworld and Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter. With Tour Guide From The Underworld you can search our your Sangan and then when they die you can get your Blackwing – Kalut The Moon Shadow or Blackwing Blizzard The Far North and then play Creeping Darkness searching into your Blackwing – Shura The Blue Flame and from there you just go on like you usually would in the deck. And with Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter it can simply set up your grave with Darks for your Creeping Darkness and Dark Armed Dragon, set up your Blackwing – Blizzard The Far North and Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor plays all the while getting rid of your opponents set cards so you can make your plays with out worrying about interruption. Another interesting choice would be Dark Grepher, not only can Creeping Darkness search Dark Grepher but also you can set Creeping Darkness up with Dark Grepher. Needless to say this card is just what Blackwings needed to get back into the game. It will make the deck much needed consistency and enable it to be much faster.


Royal Prison
Continuous Trap
While this card is face-up on the field, neither player can Special Summon monsters from the Graveyard.















http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Royal_Prison

I was upset and confused when Royal Oppression was Forbidden, but now I get it. This is basically a nerfed version of Royal Oppression so the card is less annoying. Instead of stopping all Special Summons it just stops the ones from the Graveyard. So you can still Synchro Summon or use Inherent Special Summons. So what does this mean for Blackwings? Well now you can basically play three Royal Oppressions in your deck, the only cards in your deck that this stops would be your Monster Reborn and your Blackwing – Blizzard The Far North which Royal Oppression used to stop too. So now you have a Royal Oppression that you can play around much easier and has no Life Point cost.


Black Sonic
Normal Trap
Activate only when an opponent's monster declares an attack while you control a face-up "Blackwing" monster. Remove from play all Attack Position monsters your opponent controls.













http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Sonic

Basically super Dimensional Prison, not much else to say about it. Not sure if I would play it but its worth mentioning.


Blackwing – Kris the Remaining Night
Dark Winged Beast Effect Monster
Level four
1900/300
If you control a "Blackwing" monster, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. This card cannot be destroyed by the effects of Spell/Trap Cards.











http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Blackwing_-_Kris_the_Remaining_Night

Like Creeping Darkness this is another one of those cards that Blackwing has really been needing. As I said before Blackwings really rely on Level four Monsters for their early and late game plays. And this is a spectacular Level four. They can’t Bottomless Trap Hole it or use any other removal on it aside from Dimensional Prison meaning that you can summon this and unless they have Solemn Warning or Solemn Judgment they can’t stop you from searching with Black Whirlwind and at 1900 Attack that is perfect since it will let you search out your Blackwing – Shura The Blue Flame. This is the perfect replacement for Blackwing – Sirocco The Dawn and Blackwing – Bora The Spear in the deck.


Blackwing – Gram The Shining Star
Dark Winged Beast Synchro
Level five
2200/2100















http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Blackwing_-_Gram_the_Shining_Star

And once more another card Blackwings have been needing. This will give you’re a perfect opening play in the deck. Normal Summon Blackwing – Shura The Blue Flame, use its Effect to Special Summon Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor, Synchro them for Blackwing – Gram The Shining Star (Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor being negated by Blackwing – Shura The Blue Flame’s Effect), and when Blackwing – Gram The Shining Star dies you can Banish Blackwing – Gram The Shining Star and Blackwing – Vayu The Emblem Of Honor from the game to Special Summon Blackwing Armed Wing. This is a very powerful play, much better than making a Magical Android or T.G. Hyper Librarian and passing.