Deck Profile: Fili Luna’s Skill Drain Blackwing Deck
Last year at SHONEN JUMP Championship Indianapolis, Fili Luna won with an aggressive Blackwing Deck powered by the newest cards from Raging Battle. Now, just 8 months after his last Championship victory, Luna is back with another Blackwing Deck. This time he’s playing a number of secret weapons, including a classic Trap Card that’s won multiple Championships before: Skill Drain.
Monsters:
3x Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn
3x Blackwing – Bora the Spear
2x Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor
3x Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow
3x Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame
1x Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North
1x Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
1x Card Trooper
1x Dark Armed Dragon
Spells:
2x Upstart Goblin
2x Book of Moon
1x Brain Control
2x Black Whirlwind
1x Allure of Darkness
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
Traps:
1x Delta Crow – Anti Reverse
1x Mirror Force
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
1x Solemn Judgment
2x Royal Oppression
2x Skill Drain
2x Icarus Attack
1x Torrential Tribute
Luna’s looking to take advantage of Blackwings’ speed and high ATK, capitalizing on the fact that most Blackwing monsters lose very little when their effects are negated. Blackwing – Bora the Spear and Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind can still be Special Summoned under Skill Drain, while Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn can still be Normal Summoned. Synchro Summoning is almost as easy, especially if an early-game Shura can be used to quickly Special Summon a Synchro Material Monster before Skill Drain is flipped. In the mirror match against other Blackwing Decks that can lead to a huge early game that becomes incredibly tough to beat. If Luna can get one big monster to the table early, then Skill Drain and Royal Oppression can leave him with a monopoly on big attackers.
Both Skill Drain and Royal Oppression are great against certain Decks seeing play in this tournament, and played together like they are here, they become greater than the sum of their individual parts. Royal Oppression is played in virtually all Blackwing Decks because it locks down Gladiator Beasts, Synchro Cat Decks, and Quickdraw strategies, but it doesn’t do much against Machina Gadgets and other simple Decks that don’t rely on Special Summoning. Skill Drain is great against all 3 Decks that have trouble with Oppression, but it also shuts down Gadget Decks almost completely, a Deck that Oppression is nearly useless against. Skill Drain deprives such Decks of the search effects provided by their Gadget monsters, as well as Machina Gearframe. Gadgets just aren’t nearly as good when they aren’t getting you free monsters, and since most Gadget Duelists are running very few cards to destroy opposing Spells and Traps, the first Duel of any Gadget Match Luna plays is definitely going to be in his favor.
A few more not-so-common choices help power Luna’s strategy. With Allure of Darkness now Limited to 1 copy per Deck, Luna is now relying on Upstart Goblin to help him draw through his Deck and find his key cards. Giving his opponent an extra 1000 Life Points is a bit of a gamble, but once Luna establishes a field with Skill Drain or Oppression, he can capitalize and quickly make up the lost ground. He also plays a single copy of Delta Crow – Anti Reverse, a card that might prove to be a popular choice for experienced Blackwing Duelists by the end of this tournament. With Gladiator Beasts and Gadgets often Setting so many cards to their Spell & Trap Card Zone, Delta Crow is the equivalent of a second copy of Heavy Storm. It’s especially effective when an opponent doesn’t see it coming. For instance, if Luna plays Heavy Storm early, many opponents will assume that they’re safe to Set multiple cards to their back row. Armed with Delta Crow, Luna can lull his opponent into a false sense of security, build towards a win, and then unexpectedly clear away every opposing Spell and Trap Card.
If Luna goes first, he can Set Delta Crow, Summon a bigger Blackwing like Shura (or a smaller one protected by an in-hand Kalut), and if his opponent can’t destroy the Blackwing monster, they’ll lose whatever they Set in their End Phase, before they have any chance to use it. An opening like that generates big momentum and can quickly snowball into a win.
With an insightful spin on a well-acknowledged Deck like Blackwings, Fili Luna could be a shoe-in and a trend-setter. The face of Blackwings could change this weekend.