Looking around the tournament floor this morning, Blackwings are clearly a top pick for hundreds of Duelists here today. With a long history of success in big tournaments like this one over the past year, Blackwings are a strong and established strategy that make a strong choice in a tournament as wide and varied as this one. If a Blackwing Duelist builds his Deck well this weekend, he could easily find himself in the Top 32 tomorrow, and his Deck might look like this one:

Monsters:
3x Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn
3x Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame
3x Blackwing – Bora the Spear
3x Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow
1x Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
2x Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North
2x Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor
1x Dark Armed Dragon
1x D.D. Crow

Spells:
1x Heavy Storm
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Allure of Darkness
1x Brain Control
2x Black Whirlwind
1x Smashing Ground
1x Book of Moon

Traps:
1x Mirror Force
1x Torrential Tribute
1x Solemn Judgment
1x Trap Dustshoot
2x Dimensional Prison
2x Bottomless Trap Hole
2x Icarus Attack
2x Royal Oppression
1x Dust Tornado

Lundin’s build is a tweaked version of what many consider the standard Blackwing Deck at this event. He runs 3 copies of the most popular Blackwings, a single Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind, 2 copies each of Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North and Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor. This is the Blackwing Deck we’ve all come to know and love after a year of competition. Sirroco and Bora make for quick aggressive pace; Shura makes attacks and Special Summons Tuners from the Deck to make easy Synchro Summons; Blizzard allows for easy access to Level 6 Synchro Monsters (a rarity in today’s game), and Vayu gives the Deck more mid-game and late-game Summoning power.

On the Spell and Trap side, 2 copies of Black Whirlwind give Lundin and other Blackwing Duelists access to more cards from the Deck, making it easier to Synchro Summon, and easier to defeat bigger monsters in battle with Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow. Icarus Attack allows Lundin to Tribute a Blackwing monster and destroy 2 cards, acting as a general problem-solver and letting him eliminate bigger monsters he wouldn’t be able to defeat in batle. Icarus Attack also clears away opposing Spell and Trap Cards, which is useful on both offense and defense.

Royal Oppression remains a strong card for Blackwings, pinning down Decks like Gladiator Beasts, Quickdraw Dandywarrior, and Synchro Cat variants, since these Decks lose a lot of strength without the ability to Special Summon.

Lundin’s an experienced Duelist and was happy to detail some of his favorite plays that he’s aiming to pull off today. “I love using Shura and Gale to reduce the ATK of a bigger monster so I can attack over it with Shura, and then Special Summon Vayu from my Deck with Shura’s effect. If I do that I can Synchro Summon Blackwing Armor Master with Shura and Gale, then Tune Vayu to it for Stardust Dragon. Then, with Armor Master and Vayu in the Graveyard I can remove them both to Synchro Summon Blackwing – Silverwind the Ascendant. It’s a personal favorite.” It’s a great move, and you can put together the play with nothing but Black Whirlwind and Shura, since you can search out Gale with Whirlwind and Special Summon it.

With so many new Decks being run today, Blackwings are a well-explored and well-established Deck with plenty of tricks. While Decks like Quickdraw Dandywarrior are still being perfected, and new plays are still being discovered, most serious competitors are quite familiar with Blackwings and what they’re capable of. That level of familiarity and that well-documented arsenal of tactics could make Blackwings a top contender, or it could make the Deck easier to play against. Will Blackwings dominate here in Edison? Time will tell as the field thins here this afternoon.