Yu-Gi-Oh - Buster Blader Returns as the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman!

by  R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of Intent-sive Nature & the Brand Shamans network

For those who began playing Yu-Gi-Oh around the same time I did, Buster Blader is a pretty familiar name. He existed as the perfect answer to Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the most powerful monster in the game at that time (besides the practically impossible to summon Gate Guardian.) Even though he had only 2600 ATK points to start with, with a single Dragon on your opponent's side of the field or in the Graveyard, he got a 500 point boost. 3100 ATK would beat anything without help. Against a dedicated Dragon deck, Buster Blader would just run them over.

To be fair, Buster Blader wasn't really ever a competitive card to my knowledge. Perhaps in the very old days of Yu-Gi-Oh, he was. But to me and many other players at the time, he was just a cool card to have. I'd jam him into Warrior decks or any other deck where I knew I'd be up against a Blue-Eyes or three. The Dark Beginnings printing was in fact the very Buster Blader I had for years. I eventually sold him to a vendor at some local big tournament. I don't recall for how much, but it was an oddly high sum even at the time.. It was the right decision, financially, but I miss that guy.

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I did later pick up a copy of the Buster Blader from the Yu-Gi-Oh Anniversary Pack. There were a lot of cool cards in there, and I wish I hadn't sold any of them, really. I can't recall what became of the Buster Blader. I think I traded him to my brother. But he probably ended up on eBay and I probably got much less than I should have for such a rare printing of such an iconic Yu-Gi-Oh monster. But c'est la vie.

There were some other printings of Buster Blader, even at common, that passed through my possession at one point or another. But none of them was as special as that super rare holographic one from Dark Beginnings.

I had almost forgotten all about Buster Blader after all this time. But then I saw this.

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Breakers of Shadows brings to us Buster Blader, the Destruction Swordmaster. Is he better than the original? Well, he actually counts as "Buster Blader" when on the field or the Graveyard.

This guy, though, can destroy an opponent's monster and equip it to himself. Once per turn, you can send a monster equipped to him to your Graveyard and destroy all monsters your opponent controls with the same type as that Monster. So not only can he hose Dragons, but any other deck that runs a bunch of creatures with the same type: Beast-Warriors, Spellcasters, Warriors, you name it.

Is this ability competitively viable? I'm honestly not sure. People are trying to build around him, though.

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But that's not all. We get ANOTHER Buster Blader card in the same set. This one is a fusion monster, Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman. Is he better than Buster Blader's famous fusion with Dark Magician, the Dark Paladin?

In this case, you fuse Buster Blader with any Dragon-type Monster. He's a level 8 monster with 2800 ATK and 2500 DEF, but can't attack directly. However, he's a sort of super Buster Blader, gaining 1000 ATK for each Dragon on your opponent's side of the field or in their graveyard.

It gets better. The Dragon Destroyer also moves all Dragon type monsters your opponent has into defense position. Also, when any Dragons are in Defense position, you inflict piercing battle damage. Basically, your opponent's Dragons have to lay down and take a serious beating. This is quite flavorful and makes for a great story to tell your grand-kids about. But it's actually quite a drawback if you're not up against a dedicated Dragon duelist.

However, while the competitive ramifications of these two new cards are limited, they are pretty darn cool. There is a combination with DNA Surgery, which can make all face-up monsters on the field into Dragons. That's a possibility., especially as people play that card already as a sideboard option. You could build a deck around these guys.  Sadly, Skilled White Magician - the easiest way to Special Summon Buster Blader from the hand or deck needs the original Buster Blader to function. But the new Destruction Swordmaster can be summoned from the Graveyard using his effect. A very old spell called Emblem of Dragon Destroyer can go get either "Buster Blader" card from the graveyard, too.

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Then there's these cute little things, the Destruction Sword monsters. Two of them are even Tuners. So there's actually a lot of support for this "Buster Blader" deck to work. It's actually pretty awesome. This archetype is both nostalgic and pretty synergistic.

If I were to come back and play Yu-Gi-Oh, this is probably the deck I'd play. Just for fun. Glad to see my good friend Buster Blader back in action!

In case you really do  want to build a Buster Blader deck, here's a good deck list to start from.