Dragunity

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Dragunity
"Dragunity Knight - Gae Bulg", "Gae Dearg", "Vajrayana", and "Luin", in the artwork of "Dragunity Legion".
Japanese
  • ドラグニティ
  • Doraguniti (romanized)
  • Dragunity (translated)
Simplified Chinese
  • 龙骑兵团
French
  • Dragunité
German
  • Dracheneinheit
Italian
  • Dragunità
Korean
  • 드래그니티
  • Deuraegeuniti (romanized)
Portuguese
  • Dragunidade
Spanish
  • Dracounidad
Sets
TCG
OCG
Simplified Chinese
Anime appearances
Lists

A freezing world, the end looming over it.
Now once again, the dragon knights of gales take flight!!

— The tagline of Structure Deck R: Dragunity Drive in promotional material

"Dragunity" (ドラグニティ Doraguniti) is an archetype of WIND Dragon and Winged Beast monsters released in the Duel Terminal revolving around equipping Level 3 or lower Dragon Tuner monsters and Synchro Summoning powerful monsters.

Lore[edit]

Design[edit]

Appearance[edit]

The Dragon "Dragunity" all have armor which either covers most of their body ("Dragunity Phalanx"), or have a piece of armor that resembles, and is named after, a weapon (i.e. "Dragunity Darkspear"), or wielding the weapons themselves (i.e. "Dragunity Arma Leyvaten").

Etymology[edit]

"Dragunity" is a portmanteau of "dragon" and "unity", referring to the underlying concept of uniting the humanoid warriors to the dragonic weapons to form powerful knights. The artworks of the "Dragunity Knight" monsters generally showcase a "Dragunity" Winged Beast monster riding a mature/transformed version of a Dragon Tuner monster, which is implied by their Levels, that are a sum of the Levels of the corresponding pair of "Dragunities". Most of the Dragon Main Deck "Dragunity" Monsters are named after general types of pole weapons, except "Dragunity Arma Gram", or in case of "Dragunity Phalanx" a formation performed with spears. Whereas the Synchro Monsters except for "Dragunity Knight - Gormfaobhar" are named after specific spears in European and Indian mythology. By contrast, the Winged Beast "Dragunity" monsters are all named after military or diplomatic ranks/titles or general terms of administration all used by the roman empire. In consequence, monsters with higher Levels and stats have a corresponding higher rank or title in their names (eg. "Dragunity Primus Pilus" and "Dragunity Tribus"). The theme's first Link Monster, "Dragunity Knight - Romulus", is named after the founder and first king of Rome, whose twin brother inspired "Dragunity Remus".

Main Deck Dragon "Dragunity" Origin
Aklys Aklys
Brandistock Brandistock
Corsesca Corseque
Couse Couse
Darkspear Spear
Guisarme Guisarme
Javelin Javelin
Partisan Partisan
Phalanx Phalanx formation
Pilum Pilum
Remus Remus
Arma Mystletainn Mistilteinn
Arma Leyvaten Lævateinn
Arma Gram Gram
Winged Beast "Dragunity" Origin
Angusticlavii Tribunus Angusticlavia
Dux Dux
Legatus Legatus
Legionnaire Legionary
Militum Militum
Primus Pilus Primus pilus
Senatus Senatus
Tribus Tribus
"Dragunity Knight" Origin Combination
Ascalon Ascalon Dux + Divine Lance
Areadbhair Ar-éadbair/Areadbhair Legatus + ?
Barcha Barcha Angusticlavii + Pilum
Gae Bulg Gáe Bulg Dux + Phalanx
Gae Dearg Gáe Derg Legionnaire + Darkspear
Luin Lúin of Celtchar Senatus + Couse
Romulus Romulus ? + Remus
Trident Trident Primus Pilus + Javelin
Vajrayana Vajra Militum + Aklys
Gormfaobhar Gorm the Old ? + Guisarme

Playing style[edit]

The main purpose of "Dragunity" Decks is to set up the Synchro Summons of their boss monsters, essentially 'Synchro Climbing' into them. "Dragunity Phalanx" and "Dragunity Couse" are key cards to enable this strategy, thanks to their inherent ability to Special Summon themselves from the Spell & Trap Zones after being equipped through the effect of a Winged Beast "Dragunity" monster. The most basic combo consists of equipping them to "Dragunity Dux" or "Dragunity Senatus" in order to rapidly climb to the high-level Synchro Monster. "Dragunity Knight - Barcha" is used the most, being able to equip as many "Dragunity" monsters from the Graveyard as possible to enable multiple Synchro Summons and even Link Summons with multiple copies of Phalanx or Couse. If going second, a player can use "Dragunity Whirlwind", instantly granting a Synchro Summon without having to use a normal summon for "Dux" or "Senatus", while also setting up the Graveyard for later interactions with the tuner summoned by "Whirlwind".

Contrary to their current state, the deck historically had a lack of boss monsters, relying on generic options like "Stardust Dragon", "Red Dragon Archfiend" or "Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon" to grant field presence. A classic way to combine "Dragunity" monsters with some generic options is to Synchro Summon "Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg", to use its effect to search and then discard "Mist Valley Baby Roc", which special summon itself directly after being discarded, enabling the Synchro Summon of a relatively generic level 8 monster like the aforementioned ones. However, with the release of "Dragunity Knight - Ascalon" and "Dragunity Knight - Areadbhair", the deck gained their own boss cards with abilities that banish opponents' monsters, effective monster negation, and also residual effects when they're destroyed.

"Dragunity Knight - Romulus" and "Dragunity Remus" act as the searchers for the archetype's spell and traps, most importantly "Dragon Ravine", the main consistency engine of the deck. Besides searching for resources, each one also has a second effect that provides ways for more Synchro Summons. The "Dragunity" Tuners also emphasize the use of "Cards of Consonance" as an essential part of the deck, providing draw power while simultaneously setting up the Graveyard for combo plays. Lastly, "Tempest, Dragon Ruler of Storms" is highly recommended to be teched into the deck to search a Dragon and dump a WIND monster, preferably one of the deck's combo tuners. With the plentiful search and draw engines, the "Dragunity" archetype has a very reliable and stable game plan.

Due to the synergy with Dragon, Winged Beast, and WIND monsters in general, the Deck can also be combined with splashable cards like "Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite", "Garuda the Wind Spirit", "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon" and "Hieratic Seal of the Heavenly Spheres". They are also one of the few archetypes that can benefit from "Windwitch" support, as they are unaffected by the latter's WIND monster restriction. (All "Dragunity" monsters are already WIND monsters). These series of cards are highly complementary to the deck as “Windwitch - Ice Bell” acts as essentially a one-card gateway to "Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon", a powerful monster the "Dragunity" archetype already utilizes.

The high-level "Dragunity" monsters function very differently from the other main deck monsters. "Dragunity Arma Mystletainn" is a combo extender, providing material that facilitates further Synchro Summons and even Xyz Summons, and with "Dragunity Knight - Luin", also unlocks the use of "Ultimaya Tzolkin". If "Romulus" or another Link monster is in the GY, "Mystletainn" can easily facilitate the summon and omni-negate effect of "Borreload Savage Dragon", by using itself with most likely "Phalanx". "Dragunity Arma Gram" is an extra weapon that is typically easy to summon after your initial combo plays, and can also aid link plays. Both Armas have synergy with "Dragunity Glow", (whose graveyard effect allows you to special summon a monster in the S/T zone equipped to a "Dragunity").

Recommended cards[edit]

Dragunity

Weaknesses[edit]

Due to the reliance on "Dux", "Senatus", and the Tuner monsters to be in the Graveyard, hand traps like "Effect Veiler", "Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit", "Called by the Grave", "D.D. Crow", as well as removal effects that trigger upon its Summon, such as cards like "Bottomless Trap Hole", can be effective ways to disrupt the strategy. The first weakness was addressed with the release of "Senatus" and "Divine Lance", that can equip "Dragunity" Tuners directly from the Deck.

Also, as with any Graveyard-reliant Deck, the strategy is vulnerable to effects like that of "Dimension Shifter", "Different Dimension Ground" or "Macro Cosmos", all of which can easily paralyze the Deck.

The sequence of Summons also makes them vulnerable to "Nibiru, the Primal Being". However, if the goal of the turn is to Summon "Areadbhair" starting with "Vajrayana/Barcha", or "Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon" with the "Windwitch" engine, its Synchro Summon will be the fifth Summon of the turn, which makes it a good way to protect the Deck against this specific threat.

Trivia[edit]

  • Their archetype symbol is the green emerald for the Dragon monsters, and for the Winged Beast monsters is the green emerald surrounded by a gold outline of wings.
  • As with the "Blackwing" archetype, there is a heavy distinction between the Tuner monsters and the non-Tuner monsters in terms of appearance. Similar to "Blackwings", the non-Tuner monsters are all humanoids in bird outfits with mechanical-like wings, while the Tuner monsters are composed of small, armored dragons (whereas the "Blackwing" Tuner monsters are all small birds).
  • Their "rider and mount" style, as depicted in their "Dragunity Knight" forms, are also adopted by later archetypes, such as "Gusto" and "Ritual Beast" (albeit with different types and mechanics).