There’s something missing from my Extra Deck. It’s not something that I recently traded away or misplaced, it’s something that I never had to begin with. In fact it’s something that none of us ever had to begin with: a level-7 Synchro monster that doesn’t require a specific Tuner to summon. The lack of a level-7 option has been one of the biggest problems facing duelists who want to make use of Junk Synchron without being forced into defaulting to Magical Android or Junk Warrior or having to use the revived monster in addition to another monster in order to summon any of the level-8 Synchros. What I really wanted was a way to Synchro summon with my Junk Synchron while leaving a revived Grave Squirmer in play. Crossroads of Chaos hasn’t quite fulfilled my dream . . . but it’s given us something even better!

Black Rose Dragon
Dragon / Synchro / Effect
Fire / Level 7
ATK 2400 / DEF 1800
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters

When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can destroy all cards on the field. Once per turn, you can remove from play 1 Plant-Type monster from your Graveyard to change 1 monster your opponent controls to face-up Attack Position, and reduce its ATK to 0 until the End Phase.

Meet Black Rose Dragon.  Black Rose Dragon is the third ‘D’ of ‘5D’s’ fame, and she’s capable of destruction that Stardust Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend just can’t match. Black Rose Dragon is also the only monster of the three that has two different effects, depending on whether or not you want to dedicate yourself to a specific type of deck. Crossroads of Chaos takes the Synchro mechanic in a different direction from the one it started off in. Duelist Genesis Synchro monsters were largely about big splashy effects that were made available to every deck type willing to run Tuners and make the strategic alterations required to summon them. While there are a few Synchros of this type in Crossroads of Chaos, the vast majority of them can only realize their full power in a specific type of deck or are specifically type-stamped by requiring specific Tuner monsters and/or specific types of non-Tuner monsters.

Black Rose Dragon falls into the "limited power" category, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by the effect she grants to anyone who Synchro summons her. First, let’s take a look at the deck she’s going to be impacting the most, Teleport Dark Armed Dragon. The lack of a level-7 Synchro monster that can be summoned with Psychic Commander almost single-handedly caused players to exclude the card from their builds despite the fact that it further improves your matchups with both Gladiator Beasts and Lightsworn. Now that you can summon Elemental Hero Stratos to fetch Destiny Hero - Malicious and then spend an Emergency Teleport on Psychic Commander to clear the field with Black Rose Dragon, many duelists may begin to see the maligned Tuner in a different light. The mere existence of Black Rose Dragon forces players to change the way they approach each situation in-game. Stardust Dragon will be seen more than ever to try and prevent opponents from wiping the field with Black Rose Dragon, but in turn, that will open them up to an assault from Goyo Guardian which would also serve as protection against an opposing Black Rose Dragon (forcing that player to come up with a much different answer to the scenario than he or she would have liked). It’s a tactician’s paradise, and I’m sure we’ll see the gap between the thinkers and the autopilots become more pronounced than ever once Black Rose Dragon is legal at the premier level.

Teleport Dark Armed Dragon decks will be the most likely destination for Black Rose Dragon in the Day 2 decklists, but let’s talk about that second effect for a while. You know, the one that makes that Plant deck you’ve been working on suddenly look way better than it used to. One of the biggest weaknesses of Plant decks in the post Synchro era was that they just couldn’t match the numbers being thrown at them by Lightsworn and Teleport Dark Armed Dragon. Basically, the deck relied on getting Lonefire Blossom in the opening hand, then cycling through all of them to get a Gigaplant, then having the Gigaplant survive long enough to be switched on, then getting more copies of Gigaplant, and hoping to have the removal card that wouldn’t be negated by whatever Synchro was on the field, then . . . you know what? That just sounds flat-out terrible, and that’s only one of the three major matchups. Black Rose Dragon gives Plant users two different options to deal with whatever their opponent has brought down upon them.

One of the biggest problems with Gigaplant is that it’s smaller than Goyo Guardian and thus easy to steal. In times like these, the best option is frequently to reset the field and try again, and thanks to some new trickery in Crossroads of Chaos, you can easily bring out Black Rose Dragon to bail you out with her field-clearing ability. You’re no longer relying on getting the exact six-card combination needed against whatever your opponent has drawn because you have the option to blow everything away.

If you’re in a situation where your opponent has used up most of his or her options already, then you really don’t want to reset the field. This is where the second ability of Black Rose Dragon shines. Just remove one of those Lonefire Blossom cards from your graveyard to drag whatever monster is cramping your style into attack position and drop its ATK to 0. The monster doesn’t even need to actually change to attack position, so monsters that were already there just lose all their ATK and proceed to get munched on by Black Rose Dragon or whatever monster you choose to attack with. It’s the perfect answer to Stardust Dragon or any defense-position monster your opponent might control. Watch out for set monsters, though, since any flip effects possessed by the monster you switch will still be activated.

While removing a Plant in your graveyard from play might be seen as counterintuitive to Gigaplant-based strategies, note that you really only need one Lonefire Blossom to stay in the graveyard in order to keep your constant stream of monsters flowing. If you’re relying on something like Symbol of Heritage to advance your plans, then you’re asking D.D. Crow to ruin your day. Fortunately, it’s almost inconceivable that you’d have to remove Lonefire Blossom to use Black Rose Dragon’s effect since you’ll have at least two more monsters in your graveyard upon summoning her (both of which are likely to be Plants themselves). That’s right: while Black Rose Dragon might be a Dragon that supports Plants, there are ample Plant Tuners in Crossroads of Chaos to be searched out of your deck on a whim! You’ll just have to wait until the sneak preview to find out what they do.