Blackwing

Blackwing
Japanese	ＢＦ(ブラックフェザー)
Japanese (ruby)	ブラックフェザー
Japanese (base text)	ＢＦ
Japanese (translated)	Black Feather
English	Blackwing
Other names German: Schwarzflügel Italian: Alanera Portuguese: Asa Negra
Appears in (sets)	Crimson Crisis Raging Battle Ancient Prophecy Stardust Overdrive
Appears in (anime)	Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Lists	members support

The Blackwing, known as Black Feather in the Japanese version are an Archetype of DARK Winged Beast-Type monsters making their debut in "Crimson Crisis". In the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime, they are used by Crow. Most of these monsters have either a tengu or ravenlike appearance. Most are named after types of wind and air currents.

When Crimson Crisis was released, this Archetype was very unsupported - only 5 cards of Blackwing were released: Gale the Whirlwind, Sirocco the Dawn, Bora the Spear, Armor Master and "Raptor Wing Strike". Later on, with the release of Raging Battle more members and support cards were added.

Playing Style

The Blackwing's effects are focused around Swarming and changing the ATK or the DEF of monsters on the field. Because of that, they have an aggressive playing style. Also, because of their Swarming capabilities, they are good for using Synchro Summon (Note that their trump cards are Synchro Monsters). Their support cards rely on their swarm abilities such as Delta Crow - Anti Reverse which can be activated from the hand when there are at least 3 Blackwing Monsters. Some of them taking an advantage from Blackwing's swarming abilities and support it such as Black Whirlwind or "Raptor Wing Strike". Some of them rely on your opponent such as Fake Feather or Blackwing - Blizzard of the North Pole which need a monster in the Graveyard to Special Summon.

Also, since all Blackwing monsters are DARK Winged Beast monsters, you can add Allure of Darkness for drawing power and Icarus Attack for extra card destruction, if you can't get Delta Crow - Anti Reverse. It`s also possible to play Mountain or Harpies' Hunting Ground to boost their ATK and DEF. Their DARK Attribute also qualifies them for DARK support cards from Phantom Darkness. And since a few of the Blackwing monsters require another Blackwing monster for their effects, you can use Phantom of Chaos to copy both the name and the effects.

Weaknesses

Since most Blackwing monsters can be Special Summoned, its swarming capabilities can be hampered by Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo, "Barrier Statue" cards (except "Abyss"), Royal Oppression, Jowgen the Spiritualist, Special Hurricane, Vanity's Fiend and Vanity's Ruler. This can be countered with Sirocco the Dawn. Using Trap Hole and Bottomless Trap Hole with Summon Limit can also hurt the user, since he/she will have an open field and would have used up their hand to swarm. If you negate the normal summon of any BW the opponent will have a hard time swarming the field. Another good strategy is to find a way to prevent BW from attacking. Most of their effects are combat related (such as summoning a monster from the deck, piercing damage, halfing attack and etc.) so if you manage to lock their attack they will have a hard time.