Blackwings have been a force to reckon with at tournaments all over the world from practically the word go. With their swift, offensive style of swarming the field quickly as well as their flexibility in becoming a defensive powerhouse with Icarus Attack, Royal Oppression, andBlackwing Armor Master, there’s no surprise as to why Blackwings have enjoyed so much success. By being able to use Icarus Attack and even Delta Crow – Anti Reverse to break up your opponent’s moves, you can eliminate key pieces of your opponent’s strategy or effortlessly render your opponent defenceless.

Blackwings also excel at moving through their Deck at an alarming pace with Black Whirlwind,Cards for Black, Feathers and Pot of Duality. Black Whirlwind is public enemy number one when you go up against Blackwings because it turns their bad hands into good hands, good hands into great hands, and great hands into Duels that are impossible for you to win.
The Triple Aesir Deck does things much differently. It’s not very offensively minded because Nordic monsters are builtto ward off attacks while amassing the materials needed to unleash huge Synchro Monsters. It’s actually somewhat similar to the current Plant Synchro Decks, except with a better payoff in the end (a.k.a. an Aesir monster).

Using Tanngrisnir of the Nordic Beasts to take an attack and Special Summon 2 Nordic Beast Tokens then Summoning Vanadis of the Nordic Ascendant or Guldfaxe of the Nordic Beastslets you easily Synchro Summon any Aesir and fill your Graveyard with fuel for its revival. This is a very powerful move and is only one of many ways the Nordics are able to make massive pushes for very little investment. The trick is, of course, to make sure that your Aesir monster makes it through the minefield of cards with “Solemn” in the name that could be waiting face-down. Then, once you have an Aesir on the field, you can protect him with his own effects as well as your Spells and Traps. With such huge ATK and DEF, the game will be over in a couple turns if your opponent can’t muster up the power to eliminate a god.

As long as you play smart, this is a pretty good matchup for you. It goes without saying no matter what you’re playing: you do NOT want to let your opponent get out any of his Aesir monsters. This is always the first and last step to failure in the fight against the Nordics and you don’t want to let it happen to you. While you do have the advantage over a lot of other Decks as far as getting the Aesir off the field goes once they’re already there, you still don’t want to let it happen.

With the Aesirrevival effects, you’re probably going to have to waste a Blackwing – Kalut the Moon Shadow or two as well as an Icarus Attack in order to eliminate an Aesir permanently, and if you’re forced to use that many cards, you’re going to be left with very little after all this is said and done while your opponent could have extra thanks to Odin. You use a lot more draw cards than most Decks today, this is crucial and allows you to get to the cards you need to defend efficiently against the Nordic threat. By setting yourself up with a Solemn Warningor two, you might catch your opponent’s Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant and force them to burn a lot of cards for no reason.

You can also set yourself up with the good old Black Whirlwind strategy as well as other defense like Icarus Attack and Bottomless Trap Hole.Royal Oppression is another huge advantage for you in this matchup, assuming you can make it stick..

As a Blackwing player, you also have access to a few other tricks that most other decks wouldn’t be able to utilize. With Delta Crow – Anti Reverse, you can make sure your opponent’s Gleipnir, the Fetters of Fenrir never get activated by destroying them as soon they are Set. If you happen to hit a few other Trap Cards in the process then hey, bonus! You also have Icarus Attack on your side as I mentioned earlier, but you don’t have to just use it to destroy your opponent’s Aesir monsters, if you can use Icarus Attack on their Set Defense Position monsters then it will be harder for the opponent to set up combos with Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr. You can also press massive damage through Nordic Beast Tokens withBlackwing – Bora the Spear.

If you never have to destroy any monsters by battle, then you never have to worry about two of the Nordic Deck’s best monsters!  Like with X-Sabers, you never want to let them rest, as one turnis all the Triple Aesir Deck needs to take control right out from under you. Keep on the pressure and you’re sure to ride your Blackwings to victory.

Watch out, this is going to be one of your toughest matchups. With the Blackwings highly flexible strategy, you need to be careful of every move you make, whether it’s Setting a monster or a backrow card, you need to know that the Blackwing Deck is capable of destroying that card in multiple ways at any point without warning.  Part of the challenge comes from the fact that you might have to save your counters to make the effects of Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr go through, but if you do that, then you won’t have them to make your Synchro Monsters stick.

Your best strategy here is to incorporate more cards that can destroy opposing monsters into your Deck, and include more protection for your monsters. Don’t blindly play cards likr Valkyrie of the Nordic Ascendant unless you’ve cleared away or suppressed your opponent’s Traps with Cold Wave or Giant Trunade. If possible, try to keep a Forbidden Lance available to save one of your monsters from Icarus Attack if necessary. Shura is a big threat here because it can give your opponent a free monster to use with Icarus Attack. If your opponent is going to use Icarus Attack, you need to make sure they’re going to miss the monster they Tribute.

Going straight for an Aesir monster is not the best idea in this matchup due to the plethora of disasters that might await you. Voltic Bicorn is excellent in this matchup, as even if its Summon is negated by Solemn Warning, you can still take a huge chunk off of their Deck and load your Graveyard to use Chaos Sorcerer and Pot of Avarice. Remember, every Trap that winds up in the Graveyard after Voltic Bicorn is destroyed is one more Trap they don’t have to use against you. Keep careful track of what they have and haven’t used to help you time your Synchro Summons properly.

While it may seem like quite a mountain to climb, the Blackwings can definitely be defeated. Even in the hands of a great player, there’s often no way to prevent what the Aesir are capable of, and in the blink of an eye, you can go from having nothing, to being in control of an indestructible god. Play smart, and you’ll be at the top of the mountain in no time!