Blackwings in the wrong hands

If you're able to host IP on KCVDS you can relate when I say that one out of every five random players you play in the advanced lobby will bust out some random ass Blackwing build on you that is not very consistent, but for some reason or another is still not as easy to get rid of because Blackwings are just that good if you're not using a meta yourself. They will run random things like 'Raptor Wing Strike', 'Against The Wind', or 'Battlestorm'. These cards aren't terribly bad, but if you've run Blackwings competitively you know there are just better options out there. Does it bother me? Not really because these builds are not really that competitive, they are annoying at most; not to mention I don't consider the advanced lobby in KCVDS a competitive environment.

So why make an article about this? Well because real life tournaments are what I consider the most competitive environment because unlike team/academy wars/tournaments in real life tournaments there is actually something at stake; whether it'd be something simple as a 16 player elimination with a six booster pack prize or a 60 player tournament where $50 or a whole booster box is the reward. You also build up a reputation at your local hobby shops as that person that you just don't wanna go up against because they always top four no matter what. In local tournaments you see stuff like monarchs, tons of macro, tons of elemental heroes, and a rare blackwing, gladiator or lightsworn deck every now and then mainly because the top decks are expensive to make and not everyone has the means to buy stuff like 'Dark Armed Dragon', 'Judgement Dragon', etc. However, it seems Konami is about to make all this a thing of the past come August as their 'Products section' shows. Let's start with the one that's been bothering me the most for a while now.

<<Gold Series 3>>
If you're unfamiliar with the real life trading card game then you probably don't know what Gold Series is. In a nutshell Gold Series is a booster pack with twenty-four cards; three of them gold rare. The gold rare cards from Gold Series 1 and 2 were some of the most sought after in the game like Gold Sarcophagus, Mirror Force, Solemn Judgment, Dark Armed Dragon, Crush Card Virus, and other more accessible cards that were common and players wanted to see them turned into a holographic card. The common cards were other sought after cards like Six Samurai and Monarchs.

So what does Konami have in store for 'Gold Series 3?' Most notably the reprint of Judgment Dragon,'Infernity Archfiend', Plaguespreader Zombie, Blackwing Armor Master, and Armed Wing; further lowering the value of players' Lightsworn and Blackwing decks. However, this isn't the only way Blackwings will get affected as Gold Series 3 common cards will include "most of the Blackwing monsters from 2009" meaning that this pack will probably include common versions of Sirocco, Shura, Bora, and Kalut. Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind is already confirmed to be a gold rare card, and I'm not sure about Blizzard, but it would be pretty sad to see it reprinted as a common. This means that with a single booster pack noobs will be able to build the annoying Blackwing decks I see in the KCVDS advanced lobby... in real life! Basically every card that makes Blackwings great will be available in a single booster pack and all people would have to worry about is getting their hands on staple cards like Mirror Force, and Black Whirlwind (assuming of course it doesn't get reprinted as well; not to mention it's already a common so it's not a hard card to find)

<<Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste 2010 Collectible Tin>>
We all know that Konami always releases tins with the cover cards of booster packs and Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste will be no different as he is the cover card for the upcoming booster pack Duelist Revolution. If you're familiar with tins you know they come with five booster packs and the limited edition secret rare card so there is nothing that could affect blackwings negatively right? Wrong. For some odd reason Konami has decided "Hey! Let's throw in four additional super rare promo cards in every tin for the hell of it!" One of these super rare cards is none other than the trump card of not only Blackwing decks, but ALL dark decks: Dark Armed Dragon. Meaning that for a mere $20 dollars you can get your hands on one of the most expensive cards in the game right now plus a secret rare card, three other super rare cards, and five booster packs so you're basically getting this card for free.. Sure the secret and gold rare versions of the card will be valued higher, but if you play in real life you know that rarity does not change a card's effect; Dark Armed Dragon still screwed you over whether it was secret or gold rare, and now there will be more chances of it screwing you over since virtually anyone will be able to get their hands on it.

So will Blackwings fall into the wrong hands? Definitely. Will it be a problem for more experienced players? Not unless the bad players get sacker hands. Should blackwings be forgotten about? Definitely not. They're still competitive and the recent booster packs haven't released anything that really makes blackwings look like a bad deck, however, the release of Machinas have really given blackwings problems in tournaments. I think the only way to find out if Blackwings will remain a playable deck is to wait until the September ban list where I doubt blackwings will get hit, but X-Sabers, Infernities, Machinas may not suffer the same fate.

What do you think the next thing is going to be then DJD?

When Konami usually make the current meta more accessible it usually means something new is coming out to top it. With the release of gemknights and also infernities, do you reckon that Konami have decided to make Blackwings more accessible to make players who enjoy exclusivity of decks (those who play LS are usually elitists who play purely because they have the money too) so they want to make new decks with exclusive elusive cards but at the moment I don't think theres anything out there that really fits that bill!

practically every blackwing from raging battle and crimson crises are available in gold series 3 except for elphin (which nobody uses) the only ones players will have to hunt for are gale cause it's gold so even if they buy 3 packs they may not pull it, and vayus :/ GS3 will even have gold icarus attacks x_x seems like konami is pretty set on killing blackwings with gold series like they killed lightsworns with the banlist in order to make sabers/infernities more profitable.

But the thing wiht BW's is even if you give a perfect BW deck to a nub, they will still suck with it. They'll make wrong choices, mistakes here and there. So even making them more common means that they will stick kick ass.

And BW's are still compeitive in the OCG even with infernities and X sabers running around!

Actually I havent seen an Xsaber deck on shriek in a long time! It's all infernities or Bw's with a few GB's knocking around. Don't worry DJD, your BW's are safe at the moment!

the card that boosted X-Sabers was really darksoul all by himself and I believe he's a TCG exclusive (along with some other stuff) so that's why you don't see them in shriek.

DanceJonDance wrote: the only ones players will have to hunt for are gale cause it's gold so even if they buy 3 packs they may not pull it, and vayus :/ GS3.

Scratch that |: seems vayu is getting reprinted as a super rare for tins as well -.-