By 2009, the concept of archetypes was still in its infancy. The Duel Monsters era didn't explore the idea of an archetype too deeply, with Gravekeeper's being a notable exception. It wasn't until the GX era that archetypes would be explored more, with strategies like HERO, Six Samurai, Gladiator Beasts, and Lightsworns coming from the period as noteworthy contenders in the meta, with others being introduced as well like Dark World, Volcanic, and Crystal Beasts being some. With that said, there were a ton of archetypes to never take off competitively, at least immediately, with a lot of these archetypes coming from the anime. Early on into 5Ds, however, one of the earliest archetypes to appear in the anime would become a very quick meta contender to top SJC and YCS tournaments that would last for several years and to this day will still see some play at a Regional level at a bare minimum. This Deck, introduced on March 3rd, 2009 to the TCG, is known as the Blackwing archetype.
Blackwings are an archetype comprised of DARK Winged Beasts whose game plan is to swarm the field with as many monsters as possible to perform Synchro Summons. It is one of the first archetypes to focus on what was at the time the fairly new Synchro Summoning mechanic, and they were able to make the most out of using Synchros to become a competitive threat. Whether it would be the use of generic Synchros or those tied to their archetype, Blackwings took advantage of the mechanic to swarm the board with multiple Synchro Monsters to overwhelm and defeat the opponent the opponent. Today, I will go over the history of the Blackwing archetype from its earliest stages as a Deck to where it stands today while analyzing how the Deck has evolved over the years with multiple support waves.
The Beginning
Blackwings would come out of the gate in Crimson Crisis with six cards, including three Main Deck monsters, their first Synchro, and a Spell and Trap each. The monsters were what stood out immediately with both Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind and Blackwing - Bora the Spear being able to Special Summon themselves from the hand if you controlled a Blackwing monster already, and Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn being a monster you could Normal Summon without tribute if you had no monsters. All three monsters were easy to get onto the field, but they also came with other good effects and traits as well. Bora simply had piercing damage on it, which combined well with the fact that Sirocco could boost the ATK of a Blackwing you controlled by the ATK of all the other Blackwings on the field. Gale also helped add some damage by being able to half the ATK and DEF of an opponent's monster each turn. Gale was one of the best early Blackwings, since with its Special Summoning ability, it was also a Level 3 Tuner Monster to allow for some Synchro plays, which combined with Bora could make Blackwing Armor Master. Armor Master is tied to Blackwings due to its requirement for a Blackwing Tuner, but it was highly rewarding to summon it. First of all, it couldn't be destroyed by battle and you took no battle damage from battles involving it, which the former part we were used to on small monsters like Spirit Reaper and Marshmallon, but never on a Level 7 with 2500 ATK that could be an actual threat in battle, plus it was rare to see monsters you didn't have to take damage within battles for. These effects were useful since if Armor Master couldn't defeat a monster in battle, it could instead place a Wedge Counter on said monster and later remove it to make that monster's stats become 0 for a turn. This wave also had Raptor Wing Strike and Ebon Arrow for the Deck, but those would rarely if ever see play. 
Blackwings had a good start, but there wasn't enough there to become a proper Deck yet. Three monsters and a Synchro were far from enough during a time when you couldn't run as many non-engine cards as you can now, and it'd hardly even be enough now. Thankfully Raging Battle would come out a few months later with more support cards to fill out the Deck. Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North is the archetype's second Tuner, a Level 2 this time who cannot be Special Summoned actually, but upon Normal Summon it would revive a Level 4 or lower Blackwing from your graveyard for a Synchro Summon. Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame is a secondary Level 4 monster that lets you summon any Blackwing with 1500 or less ATK from the Deck after destroying a monster in battle, which was not difficult to do with an 1800 ATK monster in 2009. The monster would have its effects negated, but the important part was the fact that you could summon a body to deal damage with and use as Synchro Material. Speaking of dealing damage, Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow is iconic in the archetype since it could discard itself when a Blackwing battles to give it a 1400 ATK boost for a turn, which made for a decent card in an era where players feared Honest in Lightsworn. We also have a Level 6 Synchro in Blackwing Armed Wing, who also needs a Blackwing Tuner to summon, but gains 500 when it attacks and deals piercing to guarantee damage over Defense Position monsters. Against the Wind is a Normal Spell that lets you add a Blackwing from your grave to your hand by taking damage equal to its ATK, but the noteworthy Spell for this support was the Continuous Spell Black Whirlwind, which lets you search for any Blackwing monster with ATK less than the ATK of a Blackwing you Normal Summon, increasing consistency by getting you to cards like Gale or Bora for swarming or Kalut to get over a bigger monster. You also had Delta Crow - Anti Reverse for a Normal Trap that destroys all Set Spells & Traps the opponent controls, and it could be used from the hand if you control exactly three Blackwings, being the first Trap that let you use itself from the hand.
Now that we have a much bigger archetype with a lot more to work with, Blackwings finally has the tools needed to become a meta-strategy. It has swarming, searching, and their own decent Synchros to go into if you don't want to use generic monsters. You could of course use generic Level 6 monsters like Goyo Guardian and Level 7 monsters like Black Rose Dragon and Dark Strike Fighter for generic tools to go into, and Level 5 and 8 Synchros are options still as well. The archetype is full of Winged Beast monsters, meaning it was one of the first to be able to use Icarus Attack in the meta efficiently to sacrifice one of your Winged Beast to destroy two of the opponent's cards. Every monster in the archetype also being DARK Attribute does mean you could also include cards like Allure of Darkness and Dark Armed Dragon, both of which were still very strong even after being hit on the Forbidden & Limited List coming out of Tele-DAD format. Blackwings showed out early on in their first event in the TCG, winning SJC Indianapolis and later, being fully legal for the World Championship, also winning that event in 2009.
First Hit & A New Way to Synchro
Performing so strongly at such a high level like Blackwings did at their first SJC and World Championship made the Deck a target for a hit on the Forbidden & Limited List, but they weren't going to be too harsh to the Deck considering they would later have more Blackwings to sell to the player base. Therefore, in September of 2009, after the Deck's first format, Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind went straight to 1 to limit the Deck from being able to swarm out a Tuner. It was also indirectly hit by the banning of Dark Strike Fighter, but that was a hit for every Synchro Deck OTKing with great ease due to the card. In return, however, Blackwings got a new support piece in Ancient Prophecy with Blackwing - Vayu the Emblem of Honor for another Tuner to add to the Deck's arsenal. Vayu was unique, however, since it couldn't be used as Synchro Material on the field, but instead, you could banish itself and a Blackwing from the graveyard to summon a Blackwing Synchro from the Extra Deck whose Level equals the combined Levels of the banished monsters, but the summoned monster has its effects negated. While you do sacrifice your monster's effects, you can banish Vayu and Sirocco from the grave to summon Armed Wing, who could also be banished with Vayu to summon Armor Master, and this play would give you a decent beat stick or a potential material for another Synchro. In Stardust Overdrive, we would also get Blackwing - Silverwind the Ascendant for a target to summon by banishing Vayu and Armor Master for the biggest monster you could summon with this play that you'd play a copy of just so Vayu is live with Armor Master. The hit to Blackwing was so light, along with Vayu being a good support piece, that Blackwings were still competitively viable and would even win SJC Orlando shortly after Vayu's release and before Sliverwind. The Deck also had Dark End Dragon, being one of the few Decks that could summon the card, but the downside was that you'd have to win an SJC to obtain one at this time or pay a hefty price tag to obtain it, but you would use it if you had a copy.
Entering Edison Format
In March of 2010, Blackwings took yet a second direct hit with Black Whirlwind going to two, along with an indirect hit of Allure of Darkness going to one. We also had new generic Synchros that Blackwings could use like Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, and Ally of Justice Catastor, the latter Blackwings wouldn't struggle with due to all their monsters being DARK, so they could run it over if the opponent would run Catastor. This was the status of Blackwings heading into SJC Edison, and it would be a viable Deck heading into this event. Blackwings managed to still end up in the Top 16 of SJC Edison, but being one of the most popular past formats for players to play, you would see Blackwings as one of the most common Decks in Time Wizard events going off Edison format, which is nice in hindsight since everybody would have easier access to Dark End Dragon compared to 2010 when it was still an SJC prize card.
After Edison, Blackwings would remain in this status for most of 2010, and though they would get more support once again in The Shining Darkness, none of it would be strong enough to make an impact in the Deck. It was still a contender after Edison going against Decks like Quickdraw Dandywarrior, Zombies, Frog Monarch, Gladiator Beasts, and Machina Gadget pre-The Shining Darkness and later faced strategies like Frog FTK, Infernity, and X-Sabers after the set was released. Infernity nor X-Sabers, however, would be full power going into the 2010 World Championship since Infernity had access to neither Infernity Barrier from the TCG side or Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier from the OCG side, and most of the good X-Saber support was TCG exclusive, making it not legal for the event. The main threat post The Shining Darkness that Blackwing had to deal with was Frog FTK, helping Blackwings take two of the Top 4 spots in the 2010 World Championship, and ending in the runner-up spot behind Frog FTK.
Tail End of the Whirlwind
After the 2010 World Championship, it was clear that Blackwings would still perform in the meta, so while going for cards like Infernity Barrier, Substitoad, and Rescue Cat to hit the best Decks of the format, Blackwings would take yet another hit to Black Whirlwind with the card going to 1, meaning both Gale and Black Whirlwind would be limited before the release of Storm of Ragnarok and the release of the new Legendary Six Samurais, though it was still felt that Blackwings could perform at a high level two years after the archetype released, so Kalut would take the final hit for the Blackwing archetype by going to 1 in March of 2011. Blackwings would only get a singular top after Kalut took the hit before all the limits to the archetype and the power creep to the Deck would finally catch up and it would not see now YCS success for a couple of years.
The Storm Returns
Blackwings laid doormat for the remainder of 2011 and all of 2012 as power creep got to be way too much for Blackwings in its current iteration competing against Decks like Tengu Plant and T.G. Agents before having to face strategies like Dino Rabbit, Wind-Up, Inzektor, and Chaos Dragons. Thankfully Konami wouldn't keep Blackwings on the list for too long, with Kalut moving to 2 in September of 2012 and later to 3 in March of 2013. Black Whirlwind would later follow up in September of 2013 by going straight from 1 to 3 after a format where Dragon Rulers and Spellbooks both dominated. This would be all that Blackwing would need to see play once again, as YCS Toronto in 2013, in a format where Dragon Rulers were still strong along with strategies like post-Judgment Spellbooks, Mermail Atlantean, and Fire Fists also competing and Xyz Infernity being in its early stages, Blackwings would end up in the Top 4 of this event. The Deck had no Brionac or Goyo Guardian for generic Level 6 Synchros, having to make do with HTS Psyhemuth as the best generic Level 6 if Armed Wing wasn't going to cut it, Blackwings could also use the new Xyz Mechanic to make generic Rank 4s, along with a monster like Number 66: Master Key Beetle due to being a DARK Deck with Level 4s and Blackwings receiving Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite for a good Level 4 that can revive itself by bouncing a card, which could be a Blackwing like Bora or Gale who could just resummon itself or Black Whirlwind that you could reactivate.
Toronto would be the last time Blackwings would perform at the YCS level, but it would remain a Regional Deck from that point onwards as the Deck would be revisited several times over the years. October 2014 would bring Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind to 2 finally, and it would go to 3 the very next format in January of 2015 to once again put Blackwings at full power. The Deck would also receive a ton of support thanks to Crow returning to the anime in Arc-V, along with Konami printing the Blackwing support that remained manga exclusive to the 5Ds manga. Blackwing - Gladius the Midnight Sun is a Level 3 non-Tuner you could Special Summon if the only monster you controlled is a Blackwing monster and Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn is another Level 4 to Special Summon by controlling any Blackwing, but unlike Bora, you could only summon Kris once a turn that way, though it is a 1900 ATK monster for Black Whirlwind. Blackwing - Harmattan the Dust is a Level 2 with a summoning condition similar to Kris, but on summon it can also target a Blackwing to have its Level increased by the Level of the targeted monster. Blackwing - Oroshi the Squall is also similar in this regard, but it's a Level 1 Tuner you could use for Synchro Summons.
Besides those Blackwings with summoning conditions, we were used to from the first wave of Blackwings, the archetype would receive more monsters to help consistency and swarming. Blackwing - Gofu the Vague Shadow is a Level 5 Tuner you could summon from the hand if you control no monsters and can give you two Tokens that, while couldn't be used as a tribute or Synchro Material, could be Link fodder as the Deck goes into the Link-era. Blackwing - Pinaki the Waxing Moon is a Level 3 Tuner you could only use to Synchro Summon a Blackwing, but would search for a Blackwing monster from the Deck at the end of the turn if it was sent from the field to the graveyard. Finally, we got Blackwing - Steam the Cloak who summons a Token when it leaves the field, and once per Duel could tribute a monster to revive itself, going well with the Token to sacrifice it in exchange for your Level 3 Tuner, though Steam the Cloak required you to use only Blackwings for Synchro Summons involving it. 
Blackwings would receive new Synchros as well and we see the old Synchros from the 5Ds era be power crept to where they no longer had a place in the Deck. Blackwing - Nothung the Starlight is a generic Level 6 Synchro that deals 800 damage to the opponent and debuffs an opponent's monster's ATK by 800 on Synchro Summon, but each turn it could also let you Normal Summon a Blackwing from your hand in addition to your Normal Summon/Set for the turn to help trigger Black Whirlwind even more. Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe is a Synchro you can only use Blackwings to Synchro into, but it can revive a Level 5 or lower Winged Beast each turn and it can redirect a targeting effect or attack on a monster you control to a Blackwing monster that would also be an appropriate target. Finally, we get to the Assault Blackwings, who are all generic Synchros that treat themselves as Tuners if you use a Blackwing to Synchro Summon them. Assault Blackwing - Sohaya the Rain Storm is a Level 5 who revives any Assault Blackwing from the graveyard on Synchro Summon and can banish another copy itself from the graveyard to revive itself from the grave. Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower is a Level 7 Synchro who targets and destroys cards the opponent controls up to the number of other Blackwings you control, while Assault Blackwing - Chidori the Rain Sprinkling is a second Level 7 who gains 300 ATK for each Blackwing in your graveyard and revives another Winged Beast Synchro from the grave when destroyed. Finally, they get a boss monster in the Level 12 Assault Blackwing - Onimaru the Divine Thunder who cannot be destroyed by card effects, can copy the Level of a Blackwing in your graveyard, and gains 3000 ATK during the Damage Step if it was Synchro Summoned using only Synchros.
A New Flock
Blackwings would enter the Link era with all those aforementioned tools as cards like Shura, Kalut, and Armor Master start to no longer be enough to be worth running in the Deck. Link Monsters are not the biggest hassle for Blackwings to make their plays since they have decent swarming, though that does mean fewer Synchros you can make. Thankfully we would get support for Blackwings in 2018 with the support cards in White Dragon Abyss. This wave gave Blackwings three relevant support cards to help boost the strategy. Blackwing - Simoon the Poison Wind is the best of this support wave, being one of the best starters for Blackwings since while you control no monsters, you can banish a Blackwing from your hand to place a Black Whirlwind from your Deck onto the field and then Normal Summon the Simoon without tributing or using your proper Normal Summon for the turn, with the only downsides being that you are locked to summoning DARK monsters from the Extra Deck and the Black Whirlwind goes to the grave at the end of the turn while dealing you 1000 damage. There are more than enough good DARK monsters to summon from the Extra Deck to not worry about the former, and the latter isn't relevant if you get to make your plays. This easily gets Blackwings started into their combos to Synchro and Link Summon. Blackwing - Auster the South Wind is a Level 4 Tuner for the Deck who, like Blizzard, cannot be Special Summoned, but it can summon a banished Blackwing on Normal Summon and can banish itself from the graveyard to put a Black Feather Counter on a Black-Winged Dragon you control or a Wedge Counter on all face-up monsters the opponent controls that don't have one. This helps the new boss monster, Blackwing Full Armor Master, a Level 10 Synchro you must use a Blackwing Tuner to summon, but it is unaffected by other card effects, places a Wedge Counter on an opponent's monster who activates its effect, can let you take control of an opponent's monster with a Wedge Counter each turn, and during your End Phase can destroy all monsters on the field with a Wedge Counter.
The White Dragon Abyss support was decent for Blackwings. They did attempt to make Black-Winged Dragon playable in the Deck, but that wouldn't work until much later. Instead, the Deck would combo into using some of the strong DARK Synchro monsters like Borreload Savage Dragon and Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons while also being able to do Link plays with The Phantom Knights of Rusty Bardiche to help use Phantom Knights' Fog Blade for a negate or The Phantom Knights of Shade Brigandine to make a Rank 4 like Evilswarm Nightmare or more Synchros in general. The support did give Blackwings another decent run at smaller events, and it would even Top 4 at the Finland Nationals in 2019, but this is far from the last support for Blackwings as of writing this, but it's the start of seeing some of the older Blackwings not be able to keep up anymore.
Finally, in 2022, Blackwings would get their most recent wave of support to once again try to make Black-Winged Dragon a staple in the Blackwing Deck, except this time it would actually work. Blackwing - Sudri the Phantom Glimmer is a second starter for Blackwings, being a Level 4 monster who on Normal Summon will allow you to search for any card that mentions Black-Winged Dragon in its effect text from the Deck, and it also lets you tribute a monster to summon a Level 2 Token that's also a Tuner, but your Extra Deck plays are limited to Synchros for that entire turn if you do the latter part. The most common target would be Blackwing - Vata the Emblem of Wandering since it's a Level 2 Tuner you can summon from the hand if you already control a Blackwing, and can send itself and any number of non-Tuner Blackwings whose combined Levels with this would equal 8 from the Deck to the graveyard to summon a Black-Winged Dragon from the Extra Deck and locking your Extra Deck summons to DARK monsters for the rest of the turn. This could easily send Zephyros the Elite, along with a Level 2 target you can recover with Blackwing - Shamal the Sandstorm, who is a Level 4 Tuner that can discard itself to activate Black Feather Whirlwind from the Deck and can banish itself from the grave after you summon a Blackwing Synchro or Black-Winged Dragon to add a Blackwing monster from your graveyard to your hand. Black Feather Whirlwind is another Continuous Spell that once per turn after you summon a DARK Synchro, you can summon a Blackwing monster or Black-Winged Dragon that's banished or in your graveyard with ATK less than the monster summoned, but the soft once per turn on this card does make it a good target to return and reactivate with Zephyros. The monster that'll be recovered off Shamal from your Vata will likely be Blackwing - Chinook the Snow Blast since it could send itself from the hand or field to the graveyard along with a Blackwing Synchro or Black-Winged Dragon from the Extra Deck to the grave to debuff an opponent's monster's ATK by 700 and negate its effects for the turn, with this being a Quick Effect if you control a DARK Synchro.
We finally get to the main reason to run Black-Winged Dragon, as it gets an upgraded form in Black-Winged Assault Dragon, a Synchro that needs a Synchro Tuner to summon, but it can either be properly Synchro Summoned or summoned by banishing a Synchro Tuner and a Black-Winged Dragon from your field or graveyard, and in return, you get a monster who, each time the opponent uses a monster effect, will gain a Black Feather Counter when it resolves and deal 700 damage to the opponent, and can tribute itself as a Quick Effect with 4 or more counters to destroy all cards on the field. Blackwings would get an actual Synchro Tuner in this support with Blackwing - Boreastorm the Wicked Wind, a Level 6 who needs a DARK Tuner to summon, but on Synchro Summon can send a Blackwing monster from your Deck to the graveyard to have its Level become that of the sent monster's, helping climb into other Synchros while going to the grave for Assault Dragon's summoning requirement.
Other support from this time can sometimes see play in modern Blackwings as well. Blackwing - Zonda the Dusk is a second target to send off of Vata since you can banish itself from the graveyard to summon a Level 5 or higher Blackwing from the Deck, though you will take damage equal to that monster's ATK. This can get a Simoon onto the field or you can use Assault Blackwing - Kunai the Drizzle to adjust the Level of a Synchro you control to a Level between 1 and 8. Blackwing - Twin Shadow is a Normal Trap for the archetype that shuffles a Tuner and non-Tuner Blackwing that's banished or in your graveyard back into the Deck or Extra Deck to summon a Blackwing Synchro whose combined Level equal that of both returned monsters, treating this summon as a Synchro Summon and this Trap can be used from the hand if you control 2 or more Blackwing monsters. This finally gives us a use for Blackwing - Silverwind the Ascendant for something that isn't a Vayu target, being able to destroy 2 monsters the opponent controls whose DEF is lower than this card's ATK of 2800. Finally, we get Blackwing - Sharnga the Waning Moon who would come later in mid-2023, but it's a Level 2 Tuner who can summon itself from the hand if a monster with 2000 or more ATK is on the field and can banish itself from the graveyard as a Quick Effect if you control a Blackwing Synchro to target a face-up card the opponent controls and destroy it once per Duel.
The most recent support for Blackwings has helped the archetype plenty. You don't see many of the old cards from Blackwing anymore in the strategy, with most of the cards from the first year of the archetype existing no longer seeing play in the Deck and it now being mostly the new stuff, but the essence of Blackwings is still there and there are ways to play it. You can go into a heavy Synchro version, trying to get multiple DARK Synchros onto the field and using Bystials as hand traps you can also use them as Synchro Material to summon monsters, or you can go with a version using Raidraptor - Wise Strix to extend your combos and making monsters like Raidraptor - Ultimate Falcon and a D/D/D Duo-Dawn King Kali Yuga play on the opponent's turn a potential end board piece. Both are decent ways to play the Deck, and you could still do stuff with Rusty Bardiche. It also helps Blackwings that Synchros are no longer bound to being summoned to the Extra Monster Zone or zones Link Monsters point to, letting you summon multiple Synchros in a turn without Link Summoning now. The Deck has seen Regional success since Darkwing Blast gave us these new cards, having access to fairly powerful plays that haven't been affected by the Forbidden & Limited List all that much, meaning it'll be in a strong place when it gets even more support.
The Generic Birds
The analysis of Blackwings as a strategy might be done, but I wanted to go over how some Blackwings have been used generically over the years. Gale the Whirlwind was one of the best Blackwings for more than just its role in the Blackwing Deck. It was also one of the best generic Tuners in the game, so strategies would run it to help them get over the opponent's monsters and even use it to access Blackwing Armor Master since you only need a Blackwing Tuner for summoning it. Zephyros the Elite has seen play in tons of Decks that can get it into the graveyard and have targets to bounce to revive it to make Xyz and Link plays while also being able to reuse the card you bounced. Gofu the Vague Shadow was one of the best Blackwings generically, being banned due to its ability to summon itself with two Tokens to get into a Link-3 with the greatest of ease. Steam the Cloak would also be used for Link plays, mainly with it being a target to summon off Crystron Halqifibrax and Link away to get that Token, which did get Steam the Cloak banned as well before coming back with the banning of Halqifibrax.
Conclusion
Blackwings are one of the biggest fan-favorite Decks since release and appearing in the anime. It helped that early on in its lifespan, it was a viable meta-strategy for two years and is one of the better Decks in one of the most popular Time Wizard formats out there. Appearing at the World Championship for two years in a row is also big for an archetype, as not many can do such a feat, especially after winning the first World Championship it was legal for. Blackwings has had a ton of legacy support since it debuted 16 years ago, even being revived in the anime when Arc-V aired for a time, and getting even more support after that. The Deck might not be recognizable when you look at the cards the Deck plays anymore, but the idea of Blackwings remains and it's bound to get new support again in the future, which will likely keep it on a Regional level, or maybe even exceeding that and being able to top YCS events once again. The future is unknown, but Blackwings have had a storied history overall.
