Deck Profile: Bobby Chambers’ Blackwing Deck
Continuing our look at some of the more successful Decks from yesterday, we look at Bobby Chambers’ Blackwing Deck, the only Blackwing Duelist seated at the Top 10 tables at the end of the Day 1 Swiss Rounds. Chambers went undefeated in all 8 Rounds of Day 1’s competition. Here’s how he did it:
Monsters:
1 Dark Armed Dragon
3 Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn
3 Blackwing – Bora the Spear
3 Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow
3 Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame
1 Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind
2 Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North
2 Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor
2 D.D. Crow
Spells:
2 Black Whirlwind
1 Brain Control
1 Mystical Space Typhoon
1 Allure of Darkness
1 Book of Moon
2 Cards for Black Feathers
1 Heavy Storm
Traps:
1 Solemn Judgment
2 Bottomless Trap Hole
2 Royal Oppression
3 Icarus Attack
1 Torrential Tribute
1 Mirror Force
1 Starlight Road
Blackwing Decks, of course, all use lots of Blackwing monsters, and their supports Spells and Traps. But what you do with this mix of cards can make a big difference.
While other competitors are playing 1 Blackwing – Vayu the Emblem of Honor, Chambers is playing 2 copies. “It’s good with Shura, and it’s just too good with Royal Oppression.” With double Dust Tornado being so prevalent this format, a Blackwing Deck’s Royal Oppression doesn’t stick around as long as it once did. By adding more access to high-ATK monsters with a second Vayu, Chambers ensures that he can end games faster, so he doesn’t have to keep Oppression around as long.
He’s also running 2 copies of Cards for Black Feathers, a card that many Blackwing Duelists play just 1 copy of. Some ignore it altogether, and in light of Chambers’ success that seems like the wrong way to go. “The draw power from Cards for Black Feathers is definitely needed,” explained Chambers. “It lets me get to Black Whirlwind and Royal Oppression on Turn 1, speeding the Deck up.” One of the barriers keeping Cards for Black Feathers from seeing play in other Blackwing Decks is its restriction on Special Summons: you can’t Special Summon the turn you activate it. But unless Chambers goes second, AND has really aggressive plays ready from the start with Blackwing – Shura the Blue Flame, it’s unlikely that he’d want to Special Summon on his first turn anyways. There’s really no downside.
On the other hand, a turn 1 Black Whirlwind, which is easier to get using Cards for Black Feathers, increases a Blackwing Duelist’s chance to win by a big margin, setting up future combos for later turns and giving an overwhelming number of monsters. Chambers is so confident in his increased chance to draw Whirlwind that he runs 3 copies of Blackwing – Sirocco the Dawn instead of just 2; a choice that’s relatively uncommon in recent Championship-level tournaments.
And the cards other Duelists use, but Chambers doesn’t play? Those are almost as noteworthy. “I don’t run Thunder King Rai-Oh because I find my opponents can usually play around it,” commented Chambers. Instead, he plays 2 copies of D.D. Crow in his Main Deck, which also gives him another monster to use with his 3 copies of Icarus Attack. Chambers is playing 19 Winged-Beast-Type monsters. In fact, everything he runs except Dark Armed Dragon can be Tributed for Icarus Attack. The Crows give him an edge against Infernities, a bit of disruption against X-Sabers by stomping out Gottoms’ Emergency Call, and the Icarus Attacks let him break up bigger combos.
Chambers has clearly taken the classic Blackwing build and perfected it for today’s field. With a nearly-guaranteed seat in the top 32, his build may become the template for Blackwing Decks moving forward this season.