As of November 11th, 2019, a flock of Blackwing support have finally landed into the world of Duel Links. Many key cards to the deck’s succession such as Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind, Blackwing - Steam the Cloak and viable synchro monsters were introduced. This guide is meant to both inform and persuade about the strength, consistency, and swarming capabilities in order to prove its spot on the tier list. What you will find in our guide are in-depth explanations regarding the archetype’s cards, knowledge of various matchups, and combos used to create a game-winning board.

Blackwings are extremely offensive, going in for quick games with the vast amount of swarming they can do. This deck heavily emphasizes the need to synchro summon for your major plays and with how easily searchable the archetype’s cards are. If you like high-octane offense, quick games and cool combos, this deck is for you!

Moody

Hello, I’m Moody. Many of you may recognize me from different Twitch streams or the DLM Discord, I’m always trying to help others when it comes to deck building as well as teaching how to play those decks.

Blackwing-Dragon

Hello! I’m Blackwing-Dragon but most people call me Ronnie. I’ve been playing Yugioh as early as 2008 on an old website, DuelingNetwork. Ever since I took a break from the game up until Duel Links. I’ve played Blackwings as my favorite deck of any format and I’m so glad to see that this deck has finally been given some of the best support it can!

Gnurrgard

Hi, I’m Gnurrgard. I live in Germany and have been playing card games basically since my brother bought the Starter Deck Yugi when the game released here. I’ve had some success as a deckbuilder in both Gwent and Duel Links, most notably finding the Fortune Lady combo with my friend DoBa.

Erikson

Hi, I’m Erikson…. Well actually this is Gnurrgard because Erikson was too lazy to write an introduction. Erikson is a former TPC member who has a lot of tournament experience with Blackwings and wants to share it in this guide

• Peak Performance / Harpies’ Hunting Ground These field spells gives all your Blackwings a 200 ATK boost, but more importantly widens the search range of Black Whirlwind. Because Simoon can now search Blackwing - Bora the Spear and Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite, the skill enables more flexible combos with just 1 Simoon (more on that in the Combo section). Note that the Ancient Pixie Dragon version prefers Peak Performance because it allows you to OTK with Pixie and a 1600+ ATK Blackwing.

• Level Reduction Reduction is the deck’s strongest going second skill. Having an extra extender for when your Blackwing tuner gets disrupted, you’re able to advance your plays without that tuner. If there’s no interruption from your opponent the amount of field advantage you generate is one of the best in the game currently.

• See You Later! This skill can be used in tandem with Black Whirlwind to continue your searching and extend further in your plays. This can also be used to return Blackwings that were hit by a Floodgate Trap Hole or Paleozoic Canadia. Using a Blackwing - Bora the Spear or Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn with a Black Whirlwind activated, you can search Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind. Afterwards you can return the level 4 Blackwing in this example to your hand and proceed to activate Simoon’s effect in hand to continue searching out your deck.

• Sealed Tombs After the nerf to No Mortal Can Resist, Sealed Tombs is the Grave hate skill of choice. However, the field spell version has access to Necrovalley so if you’re looking for Grave hate, that should be your preferred choice. Sealed Tombs is a nice alternative for Onimaru builds.

What skill is the best?

For the most part, Peak Performance is the standard, and best, build for Blackwings for all the versatility it provides for the deck with the 200 extra boost you get from Mountain and its use for Ancient Fairy Dragon being able to search out Necrovalley and the amount of advantage you gain from Ancient Pixie Dragon plays and overall a better turn 1 than most other skills. Level Reduction grants you better matchups, being able to reuse Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower against decks with disruptions such as monster negation, such as Witchcrafter, and push for game. See You Later! is another skill that lets you play through disruption, but more on the side of Paleozoic Canadia or Floodgate Trap Hole and allows you to unclog your board and used to play against Esaber Invoked and Neos Invoked.

Black Whirlwind (2-3x)

The heart of the deck. Black Whirlwind gives you deck access and continuous card advantage to fuel your synchro plays. Due to the high accessibility this provides, we can run many situational Blackwings as a 1-of and consistently combo. While 3 Whirlwind give you the most consistent combos, there is the option of cutting it down to 2 to fit in more tech cards. The reason why we cut the Whirlwind instead of another Blackwing monster is because we don’t want to end up without banish fodder for Simoon.

Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind (3x)

(3x) Simoon is a super-charged Black Whirlwind for one turn: He fetches you a Black Whirlwind from your deck while normal summoning himself, triggering Black Whirlwinds search effect. This does not take up your normal summon. Your best combos usually start off with Simoon and only need minimal additional cards. While subsequent Simoons after the first one are harder to make work, you definitely want to start with this card in your hand. Play this at 3.

Blackwing - Bora the Spear (1-3x)

Bora is a great level 4 Blackwing monster that special summons itself onto the field if you control another Blackwing. Its 1700 attack allows you to search a good amount of your deck with a Black Whirlwind as well as easy access to your level 7 synchros using a level 3 Blackwing Tuner. This card can also be special summoned more than once per turn so it can lead to consistent OTKs.

Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn (1-3x)

Similarly to Bora, Kris is a level 4 Blackwing that can special summon itself if you control another Blackwing. It also has spell and trap destruction immunity, once per turn, with a 1900 attack to search your deck with Black Whirlwind. The only problem with Kris is he's restricted to being special summoned once per turn, so you don't want to end up with multiple copies in your hand. Still a staple card to use in the deck for its use as synchro material and a good normal summon. If you're on a budget, you can replace play a Kris instead of a third Bora. We prefer Bora due to not being once per turn. The sum of Bora and Kris should be 4-5.

Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind (1-3x)

Gale is the deck's second best level 3 tuner. Gale special summons itself if you control a Blackwing which goes well with any of the level 4s you're running. Gale's effect to halve a monsters’ ATK/DEF is permanent and can come in handy to OTK or get over big monsters.

Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall (1x)

Oroshi the Squall allows us to make a level 7 Synchro Monster with Simoon or a level 8 Synchro Monster paired with a level 7. Definitely a must-have staple.

Blackwing - Harmattan the Dust

Harmattan, with his in-built level modulation, can allow for many flexible plays. Most notably by targeting a level 7 synchro to synchro summon Assault Blackwing - Onimaru the Divine Thunder. He can also be used with Gale or Steam to make a level 8 synchro play.

Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite

Zephyros the Elite is better suited in field spell variants as he is searchable through Simoon, which still leads one to a Blackwing combo, spamming out Synchro Monsters. Difference between this and your usual combo is you are able to repeat a Gale summon, allowing even more attack/defense reduction, while also being able to return your Whirlwind which was brought by Simoon to hand, preventing it from being sent to the graveyard and taking a -1000 LP hit. He can also bounce your field spell to enable a draw off of Ancient Pixie Dragon

Blackbird Close

Close is similar to the card known as Rebirth of Parshath. The major differences are that Close negates only monster effects on the field, the cost is a blackwing monster on the field and finally you summon Black-Winged Dragon instead. Close can be activated from your hand if you control a Blackwing Synchro, reason to leave the smaller Blackwing monsters out on the field as cost.

Blackwing - Pinaki the Waxing Moon

Pinaki synergizes well with our lvl 4 Blackwings to make a lvl 7 synchro play and grab us a follow-up play for the next turn. He is also the premier target for our Blackbird Close cost

Blackwing - Jin the Rain Shadow

Jins effect is rather unspectacular. What makes him a consideration is his level and attack. Jin is a level 1 tuner that lets you search Oroshi with Black Whirlwind. Due to this, you can combo off of a single Simoon without having to run Harpies' Hunting Ground, raising your decks floor. In Harpies' Hunting Ground lists you run a second Oroshi instead of Jin.

Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn

If you read Sirocco carefully, you will notice that he is not restricted to only your monsters. This makes Sirocco an incredible tool to punish overextending in the mirror, as it takes all the ATK of your opponents Blackwings and swings over for massive damage.

Blackwing - Breeze the Zephyr

Breeze can serve as a F2P replacement for 1 Gale as a lvl 3 tuner that can be special summoned after being searched. Do not run more than 1! Also note that it locks you into Blackwing Synchros and cannot special summon itself from the hand like how Gale does.

Blackwing - Steam the Cloak

Once a staple in this deck early, Steam has fallen out of favor as this decks premier lvl 3 tuner. He allows you to continue combos after the initial level 7 synchro summon, resulting in a great end board. The mandatory token effect however can end up being awkward and is often not needed to close out the game. Steam the Cloak's revive effect is limited to only once per duel. Also he takes up a normal summon, which is why we keep him at 1 max.

Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North

A staple in the TCG, Blizzard has yet to find its footing in Duel Links. Setting up your graveyard is harder to do in Duel Links. Blizzard eats your normal summon and Simoon, your only way to get an extra normal summon, banishes a card from your hand, they have some kind of anti-synergy. Add to that that Blizzard is best used for easy lvl 6 synchros, which the current builds do not run. We might see more of this once we get Blackwing - Nothung the Starlight one day.

Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor

Vayu can massively extend your plays by synchro summoning from your graveyard. It also has great Synergy with Assault Blackwing - Sohaya the Rain Storm. However, Vayu probably warrants a more dedicated build and does not fit in the current standard version. It is a card to look out for, though.

Delta Crow - Anti Reverse

While it has a devastating effect, this card either takes one turn to set up or needs you to special summon your Blackwings before dealing with backrow, something that can be disrupted easily. We believe Cosmic Cyclone is the better alternative for that role.

Cosmic Cyclone

If you're looking for backrow removal that does not take up a semi-limited slot, Cosmic Cyclone is the answer. It even has an advantage in that it's able to disrupt opponents continuous spells like Black Whirlwind or banish The Sanctified Darklord.

Floodgate Trap Hole

A card that has been getting more popular since the invocation of Invoked Cocytus, Floodgate Trap Hole has gotten even better now with the release of Blackwings. Assuming both the mirror and the Invoked matchup will be common, this card is a strong backrow consideration.

Artifact Lancea

A hand trap from the main box Future Horizon, this card can shut down decks such as Ritual Beasts, Shiranui and Invoked as all of their major plays require some form of banishment. Be wary of the deck you’re facing and whether the banishment is a cost or card effect. For example, Shiranui Spectralsword banishes as a card effect, so you can wait until activation. However, your opponent will keep his monsters in the graveyard and can attempt to use the effect again next turn. In the mirror, you need to use the effect in the draw phase, as Simoon will banish as a cost and chaining Lancea here would be too late.

Fiendish Chain

Fiendish chain has become the staple backrow card of the meta (for anyone who can afford it).While we do have a more punishing effect negation at our disposal with Blackbird Close, Fiendish Chain is more versatile and can also stop continuous effects. It also frees up an extra deck slot, since we’re no longer obligated to run Black-Winged Dragon.

Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower

Raikiri is the first of 3 Level 7 Blackwing Synchros that the deck needed to compete. With how easily Blackwings swarm the field, this card is able to destroy up to 2 cards (if you have 2 other Blackwings on the field). Its effect of becoming a tuner comes in handy when used in conjunction with Blackwing - Steam the Cloak to make some easy level 8 Synchros. Note that his effect is “soft-once-per-turn”, which means you can use the effect again if he leaves and re-enters the field.

Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe

Hawk Joe is a fantastic extender in the deck. Joe is normally your 1st or 2nd Synchro to play, and works very well with Simoon combos or just plainly summoning back another Synchro monster. Joe allows one to use Raikiri's effect twice per turn, which is devastating to the opponent.

Assault Blackwing - Chidori the Rain Sprinkling

Chidori is the deck's big finisher that can be easily summoned. If summoned early, it's a level 7 synchro with 3200 attack, which can swing over cards like Invoked Cocytus without Aleister boost or Darklord Ixchel, both of which are prevalent in the current meta. In late game, if this card is destroyed by any means you can float into your Blackwing Synchros, except Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe, mainly Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower.

Assault Blackwing - Onimaru the Divine Thunder

Onimaru is an odd monster. Being level 12 it's harder to summon than most other Blackwing synchros, but with Blackwing - Harmattan the Dust it's much easier to do so with a level 7 Blackwing and a level 3 tuner. Its effect to gain 3000 attack is only active when summoned using only synchro monsters.Most of the time this isn't worth the effort since you could have had a better board using the same cards. The main reason to summon this card is the destruction immunity. Use this in a version that runs Harmattan.

Assault Blackwing - Sohaya the Rain Storm

Sohaya is a nice recovery play in lists that run Harmattan. He can bring back Raikiri from the grave to destroy 1 card and give you 4100 damage on board. Sohaya is also the best way to get a 6000 ATK Onimaru on board, since he is treated as a tuner on summon and resurrects a lvl 7 non-tuner.

His second effect to resummon himself from the grave is useful for versions that run Vayu or Cattle Call, but these versions are not recommended.

Blackwing - Gram the Shining Star

The other Level 5 Blackwing Synchro, Gram boasts more ATK than Sohaya and lets you continue swarming from your hand, which makes him better in the early game than Sohayas resurrection effect that’s better suited for the mid- to lategame.

Black-Winged Dragon

Only recommended when using Blackbird Close in your deck. Similar to that of Rebirth of Parshath, Close is able to pull out a Synchro monster ignoring its usual summoning conditions by tributing a Blackwing monster you control. Blackbird Close is also only limited to negating a monster's effect on your opponent's side of the field.

Ancient Pixie Dragon

Ancient Pixie Dragon gives the infamous Blackwing Lockdown deck an extra boost by adding monster removal, an extension, possible plays around negation, and ease of summon even through Simoon's restriction effect of only DARK special summons. Opening Necrovalley early wouldn't be considered an issue as Pixie could draw the player a card by playing it while Pixie is on the field Having 3000 defense is a big deal to some decks in the meta, since cards like Anki, Dark Magician, Rampage Dragon, and a few others struggle against it. Pixie also allows Raikiri to bait out a Fiendish Chain by destroying Raikiri after it's been targeted to be re-summoned by a Hawk Joe

Ancient Fairy Dragon

Ancient Fairy Dragon has some anti-synergy with Simoon as it cannot be summoned under his condition and Simoon can’t be summoned should Ancient Fairy Dragon still be on the field.

We don’t advocate for Summon Breaker on the ladder, as it is a specific tech for other going 2nd decks. Necrovalley however hits a wide variety of decks and gives this deck a strong stun effect going 1st.

monkeyboy44, Top 16 MCS #33

Peak Performance

Side Deck:

zenzoh, Top 4 MW #138

See You Later!

Side Deck:

haru, 4-2 KCGT

Level Reduction

There’s been a lot of discussion about playing 2 or 3 Black Whirlwind. Some lists opt to cut the 3rd Whirlwind to run another tech card, so it’s a choice of cutting consistency for more power. Note that the Necrovalley version always wants 3 Whirlwind.

What do I play on ladder? For ladder I recommend 3 Whirlwind, as on ladder you will encounter a wide variety of decks and you want to focus on what your deck is doing while doing it as consistently as possible.

What do I play in Tournaments or Duel Rooms? In a more condensed meta like tourneys or duel rooms, you can opt to play a tech card instead of the 3rd WW, but you have to make the right call on what tech card you want to be using for the current state of the meta. If you’re not confident in your ability to make these reads, you should probably just go 3 WW.

TL;DR: Run 3 WW unless you know what you’re doing.

Pixie Combo #1: Simoon + Zeph/Gale/Oroshi + Any other Blackwing

1. Banish any other Blackwing to use Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind’s effect and Normal Summon him. Use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite (or Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind if you have Zeph)
2. Normal summon Zephyros and use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind (Or Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall if you have Gale)
3. Special summon Gale and Synchro it with Zephyros into Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower
4. Special Summon Oroshi from your hand and use Raikiris effect to destroy 2 cards
5. Synchro Simoon and Oroshi into Ancient Pixie Dragon, use Oroshis effect to turn a monster from your opponent into Attack Mode
6. Use Ancient Pixie Dragon to destroy a monster in Attack Mode
7. Use Zephyros to bounce your Field Spell and Special summon him
8. Activate your Field Spell again to draw 1 card off of Pixie Dragon

Under Mountain, your board now is 1800 + 2300 + 2800 attack, which is enough to OTK through a Sphere Kuriboh

Pixie Combo #2: Simoon + Any Other Blackwing

1. Banish any other Blackwing to use Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind’s effect and Normal Summon him. Use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite
2. Normal summon Zephyros and use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
3. Special summon Gale and Synchro it with Zephyros into Ancient Pixie Dragon
4. Use Zeph to Special summon him. Whether you bounce the Field Spell or Black Whirlwind depends on whether you need a follow-up or more protection.
5. Should you bounce the Field Spell, activate it again to draw 1 card off of Pixie. You’ve thinned your deck a bit so you have a decent chance of finding one of your disruptions.

Pixie Combo #3, playing through Fiendish Chain: Simoon + Any Other Blackwing + a 2 card combination of Black Whirlwind, Zephyros, Gale or Oroshi

1. Banish any other Blackwing to use Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind’s effect and Normal Summon him. Use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite, Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind or Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall
2. Normal Summon Zeph to search a second Gale
3. Special summon Gale and Synchro it with Zephyros into Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower
4. Special summon Oroshi and use Raikiris effect, forcing out the Fiendish Chain
5. Synchro Simoon and Oroshi into Ancient Pixie Dragon and use its effect to destroy your own Raikiri
6. Use Zephyros effect to bounce your Field Spell and Special summon him
7. Activate the Field Spell to draw a card off of Pixie
8. Special summon Gale and Synchro it with Zephyros into Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe
9. Use Hawk Joes effect to re-summon Raikiri and use Raikiris effect to destroy another card

Steam Combo: Simoon + Bora/Kris + Any Other Blackwing

1. Banish any other Blackwing to use Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind’s effect and Normal Summon him. Use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Steam the Cloak (if necessary)

2. Normal Summon Steam and use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall

3. Special Summon Oroshi, use it and Simoon to Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower

4. Special Summon your Bora/Kris

5. Use Raikiri’s effect to destroy up to 2 of your opponent’s cards

6. Synchro Summon Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe with the LV4 with Steam, summoning a Steam Token with Steam’s effect.

7. Synchro Summon a LV8 Synchro Monster using the Steam Token and Raikiri

8. Use Hawk Joe’s effect to re-summon Raikiri, use Raikiri to destroy another one of your opponent’s cards

NOTE: If you run Harpies’ Hunting Ground or Peak Performance, you can also do this combo with Simoon + Black Whirlwind. Use one Black Whirlwind search on Blackwing - Bora the Spear and one on Steam. After that the combo plays out the same.

Steam Combo: Steam + 2 Bora/Kris

1. Normal Summon Blackwing - Steam the Cloak and special summon the two Boras/Kris
2. Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower, using Steam and one LV4 Blackwing, summoning a Steam Token with Steam’s effect.
3. Use Steam’s effect in the Graveyard to tribute the Steam Token and Special Summon himself
4. Use Raikiri’s effect to destroy up to 2 cards your opponent controls
5. Synchro Summon Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe, using Steam and the other LV4, summoning another Steam Token
6. Synchro Summon a LV8 Synchro Monster using Raikiri and the Steam Token
7. Use Hawk Joe’s effect to re-summon Raikiri
8. Use Raikiri’s effect to destroy another one of your opponent’s cards

Pinaki Turn 1 Combo: Simoon + Blackbird Close + Any other Blackwing

1. Banish any other Blackwing to use Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind’s effect and Normal Summon him. Use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Pinaki the Waxing Moon
2. Normal summon Pinaki and search for Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall
3. Special summon Oroshi and make a level 7 of your choice. If you’re not sure which one to go to or which matchup you’re in, go Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower
4. Use Oroshis effect in the grave to turn your Pinaki into defense
5. Keep your Blackbird Close in hand with Pinaki ready to be sacrificed

Jin Combo: Simoon + Any Other Blackwing

1. Banish any other Blackwing to use Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind’s effect and Normal Summon him. Use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Jin the Rain Shadow
2. Normal Summon Jin and use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall
3. Synchro Summon Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe using Simoon and Jin.
4. Use Hawk Joe’s effect to re-summon Simoon.
5. Special Summon Oroshi
6. Synchro Summon a LV7 Synchro Monster using Oroshi and Simoon

If you happen to have Oroshi in hand already, this combo is resistant to your opponent using Floodgate Trap Hole on Jin, since you can special summon Oroshi, Synchro Summon Hawk Joe with him instead, then use Oroshi’s effect to flip Jin back up. You can then continue with the combo as planned.

If you suspect your opponent to save his Floodgate Trap Hole for your Synchro Summon, Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower instead of Hawk Joe using the Oroshi trick, then use Raikiris effect to destroy it.

Harmattan Combo: Simoon + Harmattan / Steam / Black Whirlwind + Any Other Blackwing

1. Activate Black Whirlwind (if applicable)
2. Banish any other Blackwing to use Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind‘s effect and Normal Summon him. Use Black Whirlwind to search for either Blackwing - Steam the Cloak and/or Blackwing - Harmattan the Dust (depending on what’s missing)
3. Normal Summon Steam and use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall
4. Special Summon Oroshi and Synchro Summon Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe with Oroshi and Simoon
5. Special Summon Harmattan and target Hawk Joe with its effect, making it LV9
6. Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Onimaru the Divine Thunder, using Harmattan and Steam, summoning a Steam Token with Steam’s effect.
7. Use Onimaru’s effect to change its level, targeting Simoon in the Graveyard
8. Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower using Onimaru and the Steam Token
9. Use Hawk Joe’s effect to re-summon Onimaru
10. Use Raikiri’s effect to destroy up to 2 of your opponent’s cards

Harpies’ Hunting Ground combo: Simoon + Any other Blackwing

1. Banish any other Blackwing to use Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind’s effect and Normal Summon him. Use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite
2. Normal Summon Zephyros and use Black Whirlwind to search for Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
3. Special Summon Gale, use its effect on an opponent’s monster.
4. Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower using Gale and Zephyros
5. Use Zephyros to return the Black Whirlwind to your Hand and Special Summon him
6. Use Raikiri’s effect to destroy up to 2 of your opponent’s cards.

Full Level Reduction combo: Simoon + Kris / Bora + Pianki / Gale / Harmattan / Oroshi /Whirlwind + Banish Fodder

1. Activate Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind and banish a piece you don’t need.
2. Simoon search either your Level 3 Tuner, Blackwing - Harmattan the Dust, or, if you have both, Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall.
3. Special summon Oroshi and Synchro Summon into Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower.
4. Normal summon your Level 3 Tuner to search out Harmattan
5. Use Level Reduction to reduce the Raikiri by your Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn / Blackwing - Bora the Spear so it is Level 3.
6. Special Summon Harmattan without using its effect to gain levels. Now you have two Blackwings on the field so you can pop 2 with Raikiri’s effect.
7. Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Sohaya the Rain Storm using Raikiri and Harmattan. Use Sohaya to summon back the Raikiri you used as material, allowing you to activate Raikiri again to pop 2.
8. Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Onimaru the Divine Thunder using Sohaya and Raikiri, giving you a 6000 Attack beater (only when you attack).
9. Special Summon your Bora / Kris and Synchro Summon Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe using your remaining Level 3 Tuner on the field. Hawk Joe brings back Raikiri for a final time for another 2 pops.

Alternate Level Reduction Combo #1: Simoon + (Gale + Harmattan / Oroshi / Whirlwind) / (Harmattan + Whirl) + Banish Fodder

1. Activate Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind and banish an unnecessary piece. Search Blackwing - Harmattan the Dust with Simoon Summon.
2. Normal Summon Harmattan and search Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall. Special Summon Oroshi and make Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower w/ Simoon. (You can Special Summon Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind early here to Pop 2.)
3. Activate Level Reduction and reveal Harmattan and make Raikiri Level 5. Synchro Summon Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe w/ Harmattan on the field.
4. Special Summon both Gale and Harmattan and use both to Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Sohaya the Rain Storm and use the effect to summon Raikiri back from the Graveyard. Pop 2 with Raikiri’s effect.
5. Use Raikiri and Sohaya to summon Assault Blackwing - Onimaru the Divine Thunder . Activate Hawk Joe to summon back Raikiri to Pop 2 cards once again.

Alternate Level Reduction Combo #2: Simoon + 2 Level 4 Blackwings + Banish Fodder

1. Activate Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind and banish the fodder card. Add Blackwing - Pinaki the Waxing Moon from Whirlwind. (If both your Level 4s are Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn, search Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind instead )
2. Normal Summon Pinaki and search for Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall Special Summon Oroshi and Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower. (If 2 Kris, Normal Summon Kris, search Oroshi, Synchro Summon Raikiri and continue from here)
3. Activate Level Reduction to make Raikiri Level 3 using your Level 4 Blackwing in hand. Special Summon your Level 4 Blackwing and Pop 2 cards with Raikiri. Use Raikiri and the Level 4 to make Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe.
4. Special Summon your second Level 4 (Gale if double Kris) from your hand and Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Chidori the Rain Sprinkling with your Level 3 Tuner and Level 4 Blackwing. Use Hawk Joe to revive Raikiri.

Alternate Level Reduction Combo #3: Simoon + Gale / Pinaki / Harmattan / Oroshi / Whirlwind + Banish Fodder

1. Activate Simoon using your banish fodder, search for a piece you’re missing.
2. Normal Summon your Level 3 Tuner and search Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall (or Blackwing - Harmattan the Dust depending on your hand)
3. Special Summon Harmattan and activate its effect and Target your Level 3 Tuner, to make it Level 5.
4. Use Level Reduction to reduce Harmattan to Level 4 revealing Oroshi in hand. Use Harmattan and your Level 3 Tuner to Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower.
5. Special Summon Oroshi from hand and use Simoon to Synchro Summon either Assault Blackwing - Chidori the Rain Sprinkling or Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe to bring back Simoon.

Playing around Floodgate Trap Hole: The Oroshi trick

Whenever you perform a Synchro summon using Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall Special Summon your Synchro monster in defense and activate Oroshi’s effect to switch it into ATK. This way, if your opponent wants to Floodgate Trap Hole your Synchro, the Floodgate will be Chain Link 2 and Oroshi will be Chain Link 1. In that case the monster gets flipped facedown then back up into ATK again.

Mirror Match

This matchup is heavily skewed towards the player going second, but there are some things you can do when going first: Try to make Ancient Fairy Dragon to pop their field spell and search for your Necrovalley. You will have 1000LP more and make their searches worse Chain Cosmic Cyclone to their Black Whirlwind search to deny it.

Heroes

A matchup of OTK decks, whoever goes second has a significant advantage here. However, the matchup is a bit trickier than it might seem at first:

Going First:

Heroes have strong ways of plussing and playing through backrow, but their achilles heel is Vision HERO Increase. Try to chain Cosmic Cyclone to his activation in the S/T zone or monster zone respectively. Because of his cost to tribute a HERO monster this will cost the HERO player 2 monsters. You can also use your Blackbird Close on Vision Hero Faris as that will also cost them 2 cards and make it hard for them to make a push with the rest of their hand.

Necrovalley stops Destiny HERO - Malicious, Vision HERO Vyon and Destiny HERO - Celestial. The HERO player needs Elemental HERO Stratos to get rid of it, which either prevents them a search or dealing with your backrow.

Without any of your backrow, your best bet is to sit on one Ancient Fairy or Pixie Dragon, preferably with a Necrovalley to back them up. Dealing 4000 or 5000 damage through 3000 DEF is not impossible, but usually needs them to have Mask Change.

Going Second:

You have 2 possible objectives here that you should consider:

1. OTK-ing them. Keep in mind that most Hero players play Grit, so make sure you really have lethal
2. Destroying their board and backing that up with either Necrovalley or Blackbird Close. It’s hard for them to assemble the necessary resources to make a counterpush when they can’t use their graveyard or you have 1 effect negation.

Stratos + Mask Change can prevent a Black Whirlwind search by bouncing your Whirlwind in response to the activation. Keep that in mind when going for an all-in Simoon play. You can test their backrow if you have Necrovalley or Black Whirlwind in hand: Simply activate it and check for a delay. If there’s no delay, you can dismiss Mask change and expect something like Enemy Controller or Treacherous Trap Hole (if they have 2 monsters, you could get a delay here).

Elementsaber Invoked

Flipdowns are Blackwings kryptonite and this deck oozes with it. Both Elementsaber Molehu and their backrow can disrupt your gameplan at any point. Cosmic Cyclone on Palace of the Elemental Lords can potentially disable their Elementsaber Molehu or at least force them to use resources from their hand.

With the correct hand, it is possible to otk through 1 flip:

Activate simoon eff by banishing any BW monster that you don’t need for the combo and search another simoon or oroshi /zephyros,depending on which one you are missing,then proceed to special summon oroshi,usually this is the moment when an Elementsaber player would use Molehu effect to flip down oroshi since after that you won’t be able to synchro summon, after that you tribute summon the Oroshi for Simoon and search a Gale, special summon the Gale, use its effect to reduce Molehu from 2100(if they control the field spell ) to 1050! Your field is now Gale (1500 atk) and 2 Simoon (1800 atk) thanks to the field spell Mountain and that’s 4050 damage which is more than enough to win you the duel.

Should they not flip down the Oroshi, you can synchro into Ancient Pixie Dragon and basically force them to use the Molehu effect. Then you normal summon Zephyros, search Gale, make Raikiri, summon Zeph from the grave and use Raikiri to pop Molehu and proceed to attack for lethal.

If they use the field spells effect to search for an Elementsaber, they are forced to skip their battle phase. Use this to try and force out their backrow or make pushes with Raikiri without the fear of getting OTK’d.

Blackbird Close is a really strong counter for Molehu and lets you use your backrow removal on their backrow to get your plays through. Aleister the Invoker is also a great negation target. Some players run 2 Invocation and can use it from the hand after you countered their Aleister.

Ritual Beasts

Ritual Beasts continued resource generation and floating can make for long grindy games where Spiritual Beast Pettlephin slowly gets rid of your synchros. Try to apply heavy pressure using Raikiri and your big synchros to get rid of their monsters.

A single Winda can be enough to slow us down, so don’t destroy her (or a face-down monster) if you can’t deal with a following Ritual Beast Ulti-Pettlephin. However there is a way to OTK through a facedown Winda while also playing around a potential Needle Ceiling at the same time: All you need is Whirlwind and Simoon! Play Whirlwind, activate simoon the proceed to search for Oroshi and Zephyros, special summon Oroshi and synchro summon into Raikiri. Activate Oroshi to flip up the facedown monster(Winda), then proceed to normal summon Zephyros and search for 2 Gales. Activate Raikiri to pop the needle ceiling(potentially). Since there are only 3 monsters on the field, it cannot be activated. Special summon Gale, reduce Winda to 800 attack, then make pixie and pop your own Raikiri. Special summon Zephyros by bouncing your Mountain from and summon the other Gale from your hand and reduce Winda to 400 attack. Play Mountain, draw 1 card, then synchro into Chidori which will be 4600 attack which is more than enough for lethal over the Winda.

In general, Chidori is key in this matchup, be it for this combo, to beat over Ritual Beast Ulti-Pettlephin or to simply inflict some battle damage in 1 hit which can be invaluable should they run Shadow Game.

Lastly, Blackbird Close can heavily punish their Ritual Beasts tagging out. However, beware that you will not get a Black-Winged Dragon in that case, as the Ritual Beast goes back into the extra deck as a cost and will not be destroyed as Blackbird Close resolves.

Shiranui

Shiranui operates as a backrow deck, which can make life hard for you. Going first with a Blackbird Close can be invaluable, since the backrow version depends on a single monster backed up by backrow like Canadia and Floodgate Trap Hole. In this matchup, Necrovalley is invaluable to prevent their Shiranui Spectralsword from being able to activate from the graveyard, making it harder for the shiranui player to follow up. Speaking of Necrovalley, it is also your best way to deal with Shiranui Sunsaga, as it cannot protect itself from a Raikiri pop under it. Helpful little detail: All Shiranuis have 0 DEF, so you can attack over them after switching them to defense position with Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall

Crystrons

The evading features of Crystron tuners as well as the floating effects from the synchros truly make this matchup difficult. Blackbird Close and Necrovalley are two great counters to Crystrons as they shut down major plays they are able to pull off. The best targets to use your Blackbird Close on are the synchros such as Black Rose Dragon or Crystron Quariongandrax and the tuners that synchro summon during your turn, this way your plays won’t be disrupted and you can go for the OTK. Most of the time when you are going 2nd you are staring down to a citre and another crystron monster which means even though you might have the resources to go for Ancient Fairy Dragon you won’t be able to clear their board due to Crystron Citree which can become a big problem for you in the following turn. However, there’s 1 way around that: If your hand consists of a Zephyros, Gale and Black Whirlwind or a Zephyros + multiple Black Whirlwinds you can search Gale and Oroshi, make Ancient Fairy Dragon, search Necrovalley,special summon Zephyros back, play the Necrovalley to force their Citree to synchro into an Ametrix (most likely), then special oroshi and synchro into a lvl 8 synchro and switch your Zephyros into attack with Oroshi. Now your lvl 8 synchro and your zephyros will take out both of their monsters and with Necrovalley on the field you will be in a good spot to win the game. Another tool to win you games in this matchup is Chidori. A lot of times Crystron players will synchro preemptively into Ametrix before you even synchro to play around your Blackbird Close. In this case Gales reducing their monster and Oroshi switching them into attack can become a portal to their life points, which can allow your Chidori to attack for lethal damage.

Blue-Eyes

Blue-Eyes is a bit of a tricky matchup. Blue-Eyes’s ability to be able to run protective backrow to disrupt the opponent’s plays like Raigeki Break or Karma Cut to trigger their best enablers, The White Stone of Ancients. Normally, you’re able to play through Raigeki Break, you have cards like Forbidden Lance and mainly Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn which cannot be destroyed by effects of Spell and Trap cards once per turn. But a big problem can be counter traps such as Divine Wrath, where they negate your Simoon or your Raikiri it can be devastating for you. There aren’t really many ways to play through counter traps due to their spell speed 3, but if you suspect one, you can use use Forbidden lance preemptively, making sure your Raikiri/Hawk Joe effect will go through, or if you have lethal damage on board just don’t use their effects and swing for game (reading delays is imperative here). If going 1st, a good turn 1 play can be Raikiri & Chidori + Zephyros, as if they don’t have an aggressive turn your Raikiri will be able to pop their cards on your turn and if they have aggressive plays chidori will be over 3k attack, making it hard to be removed in battle.

Cyber Dragon

The Cyber Dragon matchup is a hard one to deal with. Going second you have to play through copious amounts of backrow, the biggest one being Cybernetic Overflow, as its non-targeting destruction effect absolutely hurts your plays, as they can just remove the whirlwind or your monster that you normal summon, or both. A good work around, however, is Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn, where you can still keep your normal summoned monster and possibly play around the Overflow. Backrow removal is essential to playing against this deck, Cosmic Cyclone being your main way of dealing with backrow before committing to plays. Going first, you’re able to set up a board against cydra, possibly ending on Assault Blackwing - Onimaru the Divine Thunder where they can’t simply pop your synchro and swing over with Chimeratech Rampage Dragon or on a chidori plus another synchro meaning that if they use overflow on your chidori he will be able to float however be aware that chidori can miss timing so a good opponent can play around that.

Dark Magician

The DM matchup generally comes down to your ability to play through their combo. As a rule of thumb, you can deal with 1 disruption (unless it’s a flipdown). For additional disruptions, backrow hate like Cosmic Cyclone is needed.

Playing through Navigation/Circle combo:

The dreaded DM combo is something many decks can’t deal with, but thankfully for us, we can even play through it without Cosmic Cyclone as long as we have Simoon or Black Whirlwind. The key is to react to their Navigation:

With Simoon:

Try to play through your normal combo If they chain nav to Simoon in hand, they can banish either Simoon or Whirlwind and thus deny the search. Try to keep that in mind and keep a follow up in hand (i.e. lvl 4 and a tuner). After that it should be pretty straightforward. Should they not nav here, try to make Raikiri and force the Navigation, they will banish your Raikiri, but you should have enough resources to make more plays The reason you want to force the Navigation is to get the Dark Magicians out to deal with them. Even if you don’t kill your opponent, dealing with their board while establishing your own should be hard to come back from them If you can’t otk them, try to end on a board of Hawk Joe + another Blackwing. The reason for that is that Joe can redirect Circle banishes and has 2600 ATK, just enough to not get run over by DM You can deal with 1 DM with Joe and another by using Gale to halve his stats and run over with whatever Blackwing you have

Try to plan ahead whether you can otk or not after banishing your Raikiri. If otk: use Gale + lv4 for Raikiri and keep oroshi. If you can’t: use Oroshi and keep 1 Gale. Oroshi is better for OTKs and Gale is better to break boards

With Whirlwind:

Without Simoon it’s not guaranteed to play around combo, but there are a few tricks that can help you increase your chances.

Since you only have 1 Normal Summon, you’re in danger of being stranded should they banish it. So the idea is to search Simoon with your lvl4 to prevent them from banishing it, as it would enable Simoon and a full combo (note: To correctly banish your Lv4, your opponent needs toggle on, so if you feel like your opponent wouldn’t do that, you can search something else than Simoon if they didn’t chain to your summon, as this is the only prompt they would get) You only have the luxury of doing that search if your hand before the search would be able to combo anyway As soon as you summon Gale, they can Navigation, it’s a 50/50 for them here depending on what you have in hand (if they don’t banish here, this is a perfect time for Black Rose Dragon, should you run it) If they didn’t take the 50/50, you can special summon your 3rd Blackwing and then go into Hawk Joe, who can redirect banishes. Note however, that with a Magician’s Rod in grave, they can chain block your Hawk Joe. If they do have the Rod, go into Raikiri instead , force the banish, then try to synchro after, if you’re able to.

Witchcrafters

This deck is an easy matchup for Blackwings. Being so graveyard and monster centric, Witchcrafters are hard pressed to deal with Necrovalley and Blackbird Close. If the opposing board is a level 4 or lower Witchcrafter, which all have the effect to discard a spell card to summon a Witchcrafter from deck, you can threaten lethal by using your smaller Blackwings (I.e. Bora, Zephyros, Kris or Simoon) and Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind and then enter the Battle Phase. As the Witchcrafter effects are Main Phase only, this forces the opposing player to activate their effect to summon another Witchcrafter from the deck. Try to repeat this process until they summon Witchcrafter Madame Verre. From there, normal Blackwing combo to force out the Madame Verre negate or a Blackbird Close should be enough to win you the game. If you don’t have Blackbird Close, try to keep Oroshi until they summoned Madame Verre to turn her into attack position, as that makes it easier to beat over her while also enabling Ancient Pixie Dragon. However, if they have Witchcrafter Masterpiece in grave it is possible for them to survive another turn. Check the graveyard beforehand and decide whether you can OTK or instead want to go for the Necrovalley route. Note: Bora is a good card to search off your normal Simoon search, as it can threaten lethal against a defense position Witchcrafter monster. Refer to Pixie Combo #1 to play around Masterpiece.

When going first, try to set up Necrovalley and be careful not to clog your board in a way that Verre can shut you off completely.

Invoked Neos

Invoked Neos is a hard matchup due to the amount of disruption the deck can play, ranging from Karma Cut, Ultimate Providence or Divine Wrath. With how much advantage that this deck can gain with the combination of Volcanic Shell with Switcheroo it’s important to be able to end the duel within the first 3 turns. You’re very reliant on your backrow removal, such as Cosmic Cyclone, to deal with their board if you’re going second. Going first, Blackbird Close to negate the keeper’s effect to search for a fusion spell is a huge disruption making them go minus 2. Necrovalley is also a key card for this matchup, as they cannot banish their Volcanic Shell in the graveyard with Aleister to make Invoked Purgatrio, preventing the graveyard effect of Invocation and Neos Fusion from protecting their Elemental HERO Brave Neos.

The recent addition of Blackwing support has truly brought the deck to the top of the tier list. Not only were we given some of the better Blackwing synchro monsters, we also received a great amount of main deck support to compliment them. The guide’s explanations and reasoning will we be able to convince our readers of this deck’s strength, consistency, and swarming capabilities; Blackwings have solutions to the current meta’s problems, and will most definitely have a great representation in tournaments. As to constant relevance and longevity, a rather expensive deck such as this has high chances of survivability throughout many possible banlists, resulting in being one of the best long-term investments in Duel Links since Gozuki.

• Thanks to Buns for helping out and being an absolute BW clapper
• Thanks to JoninJoe and DoBa for extensive matchup testing.
• Thanks to Mith and bolt7394 for the Oroshi self-target idea to play around Floodgate (a.k.a. the “MithBolt counter”)
• Thanks to kcful for always providing insightful discussion in the Blackwing channel
• Thanks to those who have reached King of Games with their Blackwing decks!

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