Only Bust 4 Dragon Linx... (ft. Fallen of Albaz)

Let's get one big thing out of the way right up top: Most of the credit for this remarkable Buster Blader-Dragon Link deck belongs to Tim Rokov and his series of deck profile and combo videos on The Wiseguys TCG YouTube channel. I don't know Tim personally nor do I have any affiliation, formal or otherwise, with The Wiseguys TCG, channel, which is based in Kansas City--far from my hometown. Nevertheless, I would be remiss to not recognize Tim's contribution to deck-building theory around Buster Blader and Dragon Link in general. Tim topped his locals with a version of this deck I'm about to profile, and then proceeded to go on a multi-week (4+ if [Destruction Sword] memory serves me) undefeated tear at locals with his now-infamous Dragon Link-Fallen of Albaz deck. He's obviously not the first to run Buster Blader with Dragon Link, but this particular build is remarkably strong and solves a lot of the contradictions Destruction Sword decks often face, not least among them being how to play through disruptions. If this seems like a shameless plug, check out Tim and The Wiseguys TCG's videos and see for yourself. For my money, he's probably the best and most creative Buster Blader player in the U. today. YGOProDeck won't allow me to directly link to the YouTube video, so those who want to see Tim's deck should search for 'TOP 4 BUSTER BLADER DRAGON LINK DECK PROFILE FT. TIM - GAME CAFE !' on The Wiseguys TCG YouTube channel.

Buuuusted Buster Blader

Of all the Duel Monsters-era archetypes in YuGiOh, it often surprises newer players to learn that the most competitively viable among them at present is Buster Blader (also called Destruction Sword). This is not my opinion. As recent as summer of this year (2021), Buster Blader decks were taking respectable finishes in remote duel invitationals around the world, fueled in part--though not entirely--by the Dragon Link-dominated format before Guardragon Elpy got whacked. In May 2020,  Nikolas Konikkos took a relatively pure Destruction Sword deck through day-2 of the Niagra YCS tournament, putting the archetype on the map as a potential answer to DLink players everywhere. Other than the small and opportunistic Dragoon package, which requires players to run at least a single copy of Dark Magician to serve as fusion material, none of the other classic YGO icons have seen anything close to Buster's competitive success in recent years.

The reasons are pretty obvious to anyone familiar with the deck. Even by comparison with bigger YGO icons like Blue-Eyes White Dragon or Dark Magician, Buster Blader's Destruction Sword archetype has a remarkable amount of support available at this point. Destruction Sword/Buster Blader, technically two different archetypes for gameplay purposes, has its own fusion boss monster, level-8 synchro monster and one of the easiest Link-2s to make of all time. Trap cards like Prologue of the Destruction Swordsman avoid so many of the pitfalls of traps in general, sending the Buster fusion spell to the graveyard for cost and thus making it Ash-proof. Shortly after Union Carrier took its place on the Forbidden list, Buster Blader finally had its most potent control weapon returned to him, namely the Dragon Buster Destruction Sword that can completely lock an opponent out of using their extra deck.

Admittedly, Buster Blader decks are always going to have their best times when dragon-heavy decks predominate the format. Dragon Link isn't what it once was, falling precipitously to newer decks like Swordsoul and new blends on old recipes, like Dogmatika-Invoked-Shaddolls. Any given day and all things being equal, a competent Buster deck will wipe the floor with a competent dragon deck, DLink or not, but with fewer DLink decks running around in this format, the natural advantage it enjoyed isn't exactly actionable.

That being said, what makes Buster Blader work so well is its devastating, infamous Buster lock. So long as you have a dragon in the graveyard, resolving Prologue of the Destruction Swordsman will special summon Buster Dragon, a level-8 synchro dark dragon, whose effect turns all of the opponent's monsters into dragons. But if the player chooses to send another trap, Destruction Sword Memories, to the graveyard for Prologue's cost, they will also immediately summon out Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman--a level-8 fusion who (1) turns all dragons on the opponent's field to defense mode; (2) negates the effects of all dragons on the opponent's side of the field; (3) gains 1000 ATK for every dragon the opponent controls or has in-grave; and (4) inflicts piercing damage to monsters in defense position.

If that wasn't enough, Buster Dragon also allows a player to equip a Destruction Sword card in the graveyard to any Buster Blader monster--whether the OG Buster Blader, the retrain Buster Blader, the Destruction Swordmaster, or the fusion--on the opponent's turn. There are three Destruction Sword equip monsters with varying effect, but in general, the only one that absolutely must make the main deck is a single copy of Dragon Buster Destruction Sword. Once equipped, the opponent cannot summon from their extra deck. Wizard Buster Destruction Sword, which as far as I'm concerned makes for an excellent side-deck inclusion at x1 in this format, turns off effects from activating in your opponent's graveyard, making it a great antidote to Invoked-Shaddolls decks. Robot Buster Destruction Sword, the third and least useful, restricts your opponent from activating the effects of spells and traps that are already face-up--potentially useful in some circumstances but it doesn't do enough to earn a spot in the deck, main or side.

The Buster lock is incredibly strong, effectively turning off many key avenues of play for the opponent with the successful resolution of a single card. Buster Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman, a level-1 light dragon tuner, helps tremendously by searching out any Destruction Sword card and adding it to hand if normal summoned. If you have a way to get Buster Whelp into the graveyard--linking off, perhaps--before activating Prologue, it's a one-stop shop for setting up the basic Buster lock, serving as the generic 1 Dragon-type material requirement for making the Buster Blader fusion off of Destruction Sword Memories. With a murderers row of trap cards at its disposal, running Trap Trick x3 substantially raises the odds of getting Prologue set in your opening hand, one way or another. The deck's reliability, lightweight core engine and oppressive control aspects make it a very solid rogue-tier deck choice.

Weapons of Mass Destruction Sword: Buster Blader in Dragon Link

Without gilding the lily here, DLink puts some meat on the Buster Blader skeleton. To function optimally, the Buster Blader core requires running just 10-12 cards, meaning that it can fit nicely into a variety of other decks and coexist nicely with other archetypes. DLink, maybe ironically, is one of these synergistic decks that provide alternate win conditions and boost the consistency and reliability of establishing and, crucially, keeping the Buster lock in-place. Capable of putting up formidable boards loaded with disruption on its own, a disciplined DLink/Buster player has alternate routes to make Buster Dragon beyond simply resolving Prologue, which itself has the drawback of destroying your special-summoned Buster Dragon during the end phase of the following turn. After all, it's a level-8 synchro--something DLink can consistently make with ease. Dragon Link decks are known for their powerful starters and seemingly endless extenders, much of which results in a heavy graveyard full of dragons and other useful cards after turn-1. Dragons in-grave helps resolve Destruction Sword Memories, sure, but DLink's extenders give the player ways to follow up if somehow the opponent outs the Buster lock.

The temptation, though, is to just plop the 12-card Buster engine on top of a 40+ card Dragon Link deck. Theoretically this isn't a huge problem so long as ratios are kept correct. DLink already has outstanding search capacity and the powerful aforementioned starters/extenders to get things going. The problem is the extra deck. Conservatively, the Buster engine could take up as few as 2 cards in the extra deck, but even with cards like Chaos Space to recycle, this will likely leave the player unable to make followup plays in the event of serious disruption. General wisdom tends to say, 2x Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman, 2x Buster Dragon, 1x Protector Whelp of the Destruction Swordsman. But while Buster's footprint in the main deck is light, he's taking up solidly a third of the extra deck. There's no way to run a full suite of the usual suspects in DLink, which also means that certain main deck staples are just not as necessary--even if they might be useful.

Case in point, I'm not running the Dragonmaid package here. We have plenty of trap-based disruption available as it is, and while this modest three-card package punches far, far above its weight, the deck can't go much higher than 45 cards and maintain its consistency. There's also a growing consensus that in a format marked by liberal use of Droll & Lock Bird, Black Metal Dragon is a safer starter than Starliege Seyfert. I'm not sure if I agree, although I've split the difference here and put both BMD and Starliege at x2.

Similarly, the Rokket package here is far more modest and streamlined than a typical Dragon Link deck should run. Rokket Tracer x2 is a recognition of the importance of the synchro summon in this deck--worth more here than Rokket Synchron's extender effect. Absorouter and Noctovision are run at x1 each, though I would consider upping Nocto to x2 because of its little-used tertiary effect in-graveyard to protect cards set in the back-row. At any rate, the deck has plenty of level-1 tuners to make a level-8 synchro play in a pinch. Hell, even Buster Blader and the retrain are level-7 monsters.

Busted Branded: Fallen of Albaz as Additional Disruptions in DLink

Whether I'm running the Buster stuff at all or just playing a standard Dragon Link deck, Fallen of Albaz will be in the main deck--and at least three potential targets for his Super Poly-like effect will be in the extra deck. Because Albaz is a level-4 dark dragon-type, he's quite at home in DLink and synergizes well with the rest of the deck. Starliege Seyfert and Chaos Space, for instance, can pitch him to search White Dragon Wyverburster. In a pinch, he can even get our link plays started as a normal summon, allowing us to go into Striker Dragon and search the Boot.

But Albaz is more than another level-4 body. Ideally he doesn't show up in an opening hand, but I don't want to accidentally mill my only copy off of Chaos Ruler either. Running Albaz at x2 seems to work best since he's not a complete brick-draw either. Any worthwhile DLink deck is making Hieratic Seal of Heavenly Spheres as part of its end-board--preferably sooner rather than later in the event of a Nibiru cataclysm. When tributed, Spheres will special summon out a dragon from the deck or hand at 0 / 0, making the effect of whatever dragon summoned from the deck all the more important. In the past, Omni Dragon Broutar was the go-to pick in order to search out Chaos Dragon Levianeer. More recently, Chamber Dragonmaid became the gold-standard for its ability to search its recyclable bounce-trap, Dragonmaid Tidying, immediately upon hitting the field.

Fallen of Albaz offers even greater disruption when summoned off of Spheres' tribute effect. So long as the player has a valid fusion target and a card in-hand to discard--which is easy enough since Spheres can bounce a card from your side of the field as well--Albaz's effect will trigger upon hitting the field, fusing off itself and an opponent's monster as materials for one of these targets.

At a minimum, three fusion monsters are necessary in this build:

Albion the Branded Dragon requires Fallen of Albaz and a light monster. It should come as no surprise to anyone that this becomes incredibly easy to make if an opponent drops Nibiru after you have brought out Spheres. Nibiru tributes Spheres, triggering the effect of the latter and bringing out Fallen of Albaz. Since Nibiru the Primal Being is itself a light monster, Albaz can use the Nibiru summoned to your opponent's side of the field as fusion material for Albion.

Albion's effect is stupid broken, especially in this deck. On summon, Albion can summon a level-8 or lower fusion monster from the extra deck by banishing fusion materials listed on the target from the hand, field or graveyard. In other words, so long as you have a Buster Blader in-hand, on the field or in the graveyard, Albion can make Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman without ever needing to resolve Destruction Sword Memories in the grave.

Borreload Furious Dragon, however, is an equally useful target in this build. For one, if Albaz is summoned while Buster Dragon is on the field, any dark monster on your opponent's side becomes a dark dragon-type monster, allowing Albaz to use it as material. This comes up occasionally, although Furious is more typically a follow-up fusion summon off of Albion's effect. This is Dragon Link--you're never going to have a hard time coming up with 2 dark dragons to banish as materials from the hand, field or grave. Furious itself has a useful quick effect, which allows it to pop a card on your opponent's side of the field by popping 1 monster you control.

Sprind the Irondash Dragon--sadly, a machine-type and not a dragon as its name suggests--has a fine effect itself, which allows it to move to a column during the player's main phase and destroy all face-up cards in the column. This can prove useful, but its real virtue is its astonishingly simple summoning requirement: Fallen of Albaz + 1 Effect Monster Special Summoned this turn. Sprind becomes the miscellaneous Albaz fusion target off of Spheres' effect since most monsters summoned on your opponent's turn meet the criteria. Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon, for instance, would generally negate Spheres' bounce effect, but since Spheres tributes itself for cost, Fallen of Albaz will special summon from the deck--and as long as Dragoon was brought out that same turn, Albaz can fuse it and himself off for Sprind.

Additional fusion targets come up, like the ubiquitous Starving Venom Fusion Dragon and even Titaniklad the Ash Dragon. Albion, Titaniklad and Sprind all have end-phase graveyard effects too, which search or recycle Fallen of Albaz and/or related spells (Branded in White, for example). Even as we anticipate the release of even better Albaz fusion targets in next year's structure deck, the basic lineup available today still works remarkably well in Dragon Link.

Tech

Since Artifact Lancea is such a powerful hand trap in this format, Artifact Dagda makes a lot of sense in the extra deck--and by extension, so does Artifact Scythe x1 in the main deck. I could see substituting this out since it more or less constitutes just another way to lock the opponent out of the extra deck--something that Dragon Buster Destruction Sword does already when equipped. For now, I've found it useful as a redundancy in the event that the Buster lock gets disrupted. Halqifibrax would make for a solid substitute since it can tutor out Dragon Buster Destruction Sword with its effect, though I've found I rarely went this route in building the initial board. At any rate, Protector Whelp can send it to the graveyard too for Buster Dragon to equip to a Buster Blader on your opponent's turn.

Red Reign x2 probably looks a lot more gimmicky than it really is in this deck. For one, both DLink and Buster decks are making synchro monsters as part of their end boards, meaning its rare that the card cannot activate. We're also running Trap Trick x2, which can search and set a copy of Red Reign. If I open with Prologue and Trap Trick, Red Reign is the target. With Buster Dragon on the board, along with at least 1 level-8 fusion, Red Reign will banish all monsters except those with the highest level. The surviving monsters are unaffected by card effects other than their own for the remainder of the turn, which prevents your opponent from breaking your Buster lock. Since link and xyz monsters have no level, they are banished by default--something I've used to devastating effect against Tri-Brigade. It's also recyclable from the graveyard with the summon of a level-8 dark dragon synchro-monster, which comes up in a grind game from time to time. As busted as Red Reign plays in this deck though, it only narrowly edged out Gravity Collapse, which I've included in the side deck at x2.

Tim Rokov's videos on this deck and other similar builds utilizing Fallen of Albaz go into greater detail on the potential combo lines, and I'll end by reiterating my props to The Wiseguys TCG YouTube channel. I suspect that as Fallen of Albaz sees greater play in meta-competitive decks over the year to come, Dragon Link players will start to experiment with and incorporate Albaz and his many draconic forms into the deck that never dies.