Duelist Pack  - Crow gives new Duelists a chance to snag a ton of classic Blackwing cards: it’s got everything from hard-hitting Synchros like Blackwing Armor Master and BlackwingArmed Wing, to powerful support like Cards for Black Feathers and Delta Crow – Anti Reverse.  But one of the coolest cards is one we’ve never seen before: Blackwing – Zephyros the Elite!

When Zephyros is in the Graveyard you can Special Summon it, almost for free.  It’s a solid attacker, but it really shines when you play it in big combos.  Since you can Special Summon Zephyros from your Graveyard without giving up another card, it makes a great Tribute; and since it’s Level 4, it’s perfect Synchro or Xyz Material.  You’ll need to return a face-up card to your hand to bring Zephyros back, but a clever Duelist will use that to his advantage.  Here are three combos you can do with Zephyros for three different Decks, starting with Crow’s signature strategy: Blackwings.

Zephyros is a Blackwing himself, and he combos with a lot of other Blackwing cards.  A Blackwing Duelist can use Zephyros for Synchro Summoning, or Tribute him off for IcarusAttack.  But for this Deck, the best Zephyros combos are all about what you send back to your hand.

-Normal Summon Blackwing – Gale the Whirlwind, and use its effect to halve the ATK and DEF of one of your opponent’s monsters.  Bounce Gale back to your hand to Special Summon Zephyros, and you can Special Summon Gale right back with its ability.  Then you can halve another monster’s ATK and DEF.

-Blackwing – Blizzard the Far North’s effect lets you Special Summon a Blackwing from your Graveyard.  Summon Blizzard; Special Summon another Blackwing with Blizzard’s ability; and then return Blizzard to your hand to Special Summon Zephyros.  Next turn, you can Summon Blizzard again for another Special Summon.

-Most Blackwing Duelists play Royal Oppression.  But if your Oppression is keeping you from making a Duel-winning Special Summon, you can bounce it off the field to bring up Zephyros.  You can make all your Special Summons, and in Main Phase 2 you can set Oppression again to keep your opponent locked down.

Zephyros is a natural fit for any Blackwing Deck, but you can play it in other Decks too: a free Level 4 monster with 1600 ATK is good anywhere.  He’s especially good in Dragunities.

You can Special Summon Zephyros from the Graveyard no matter how he got there, so if you discard him for an effect, you can bring him back.  One of the best cards to pair him with isDragon Ravine: it lets you discard a card to search your Deck for a Level 4 or lower “Dragunity” monster like Dragunity Dux or Dragunity Phalanx.  Throw Zephyros into your Dragunity Deck, and you’ll be able to make huge plays like this:

-Discard Zephyros for Dragon Ravine’s effect, getting Dragunity Phalanx from your Deck.

-Return Ravine to your hand to Special Summon Zephyros.

-Activate Dragon Ravine again: now you can discard Dragunity Phalanx to search forDragunity Legionnaire.

-Summon Legionnaire, and use its ability to equip Phalanx. Then, Special Summon Phalanx with its effect. Tune Phalanx, Legionnaire, and Zephyros together to Synchro Summon Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!

Normally you could only activate Dragon Ravine’s effect once a turn, but since Zephyros returns Ravine to your hand, you can use it twice.  You can do this combo on your first turn to banish 1 of your opponent’s cards, and still have 6 cards yourself: including your 2700 ATK Trishula.

Zephyros is perfect for Synchro Decks that run monsters like Glow-Up Bulb, Spore, andReborn Tengu: they’re all monsters that have free Special Summon effects.  There are tons of combos with Zephyros – try this one:

-With Glow-Up Bulb and Zephyros in the Graveyard, Summon Reborn Tengu.

-Return Tengu to your hand to Special Summon Zephyros.  That triggers Tengu’s effect, Special Summoning another Tengu from your Deck.

-Special Summon Glow-Up Bulb with its ability.  Then, Tune all 3 of your monsters for Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!

This is a vicious combo, because you Special Summoned all of your Synchro Materials for free.  You’ll even get to Special Summon another Reborn Tengu when you Synchro Summon Trishula.  You’ll banish 3 of your opponent’s cards, and you’ll control 2 monsters with a total of 4400 Attack Points.

These plays are just a taste of what you can do with Blackwing – Zephyros the Elite!  Give it a shot in your Deck, and see what combos you unleash.