Gah... I guess it's time for me to write the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay-overdue analysis for Flying Weapon... Like 6 hours before Phase 1 of the Trials was due...
Flying Weapon | Animate WeaponFlying Weapon is arguably the most unique card in the entire game, because at the moment it is the only card capable of turning a permanent into a creature. When played, Flying Weapon automatically turns whatever weapon in your weapon slot at the moment into a creature. You can only wield one weapon at a time, so turning your current weapon into a creature allows you to have multiple weapons in play at once.
Before you use Flying Weapon, you must have a weapon equipped in your weapon slot; otherwise, using Flying Weapon will have no effect. Once you have a weapon equipped, using Flying Weapon will destroy that weapon, and create a creature version of that weapon on your field. Each weapon has a set of hidden stats that are unknown unless they're Flown, but the ATK of a weapon as a creature will always be equal to the damage the weapon does per turn. As a creature, a weapon retains its ATK and ability, so it isn't really changed all that much. However, as a creature, the weapon is now immune to permanent control, but vulnerable to creature control; since permanents are often easier to get rid of than creatures, this may actually be a good thing.
There are a couple of things about Flying Weapon that may not seem obvious. First, after the weapon is turned into a creature, any status effects it had are now lost. The most common status on a weapon is Protection, rendering the weapon indestructible when you cast Enchant Artifact on it; you might assume that the weapon becomes Immortal after you Fly it, but counter-intuitively Immortality is actually lost when you Fly it. Other status effects such as Freeze and Delay can only be inflicted through another card called Voodoo Doll, so we don't need to worry about them too much. Second, Reverse Time is the bane of Flying Weapon decks; if a weapon creature is Rewound and returned to your deck, it reverts to its weapon form. The same thing applies if you target a weapon creature with Fractal: normal weapons instead of weapon creatures are created in your hand.
The true potential of Flying Weapon is shown when you use it to wield multiple weapons at once. Normally, you can only equip one weapon at a time, because weapons are generally very powerful, and would be overpowered if you were allowed to wield more than one of them. For example, the Death weapon, Arsenic, inflicts 1 poison damage on your opponent each turn, and one Arsenic is powerful enough; but with Flying Weapon, you can have multiple Arsenics on the field, building up massive poison damage. Flying Weapon is a card that breaks one of the game's fundamental rules, and its power and potential is not to be underestimated.
Flying Weapon is one of those cards that is improved significantly when upgraded. The difference between Flying Weapon and its upgraded form, Animate Weapon, is subtle; at the first glance, the card doesn't look any different. However, if you look closely, you'll see that the
symbol after the 1 quantum cost is gone. This means that Animate Weapon costs random quanta instead of Air, essentially turning it into an Other card that can be put into any deck. When unupgraded, you at least need a Mark of Air to fuel your Flying Weapons; but when upgraded, Animate Weapon accepts any type of elemental quanta, so it no longer forces you to play a Duo deck. Upgrading Flying Weapon will speed your deck up a lot.
Since there are 15 weapons in total, and each of them are unique, I shall now analyze each weapon separately:
Dagger 2/1 | Dirk 4/1 - Poor
Dagger | Dirk is free, but there aren't really any reasons to have multiple of them on the field.
Short Sword 3/2 | Long Sword 6/2 - Poor
The upgraded version deals 6 damage for 1 quantum, which is pretty good; Flying Swords may be a viable deck, though there aren't many people who use it.
Hammer 3/4 | Gavel 6/6 - Medium
This weapon is much more resistant to creature control, and it deals more damage if your Mark is Earth or Gravity. Flying Gavel decks are generally more powerful than Flying Sword decks.
Lobotomizer 5/4 | Electrocutor 5/4 - Medium
Lobotomizer can remove the abilities of opponent creatures, but the creature Mind Flayer | Ulitharid can do the same thing. Of course, to play Mind Flayers you need two elements, but Flying Lobotomizers require two cards, which may clutter up your deck. Generally, it is better to use Mind Flayers than trying to use Flying Lobotomizers.
Owl's Eye 5/7 | Eagle's Eye 7/7 - Good
Owl's Eye has a very powerful creature control ability; once per turn, it can deal 3 damage to an enemy creature. When Flying, Owl's Eye has 7 HP, which makes it very durable. Flying Weapon is an Air card too, so Flying Owl's Eyes can even work unupgraded. Owl's Eye is definitely a good choice for Flying Weapon.
Vampire Stiletto 4/4 | Vampire Dagger 6/4 - Excellent
For only 2
, Vampire Dagger can deal 6 damage and also heal you for 6 HP each turn, which is an absolute steal. Looking at the cost, Vampire Dagger is by far the most efficient of all weapons. When turned into a creature, this weapon benefits from Nightfall | Eclipse, too. Vampire Dagger is an excellent target for Flying Weapon, because it offers high damage and healing for very little cost.
Arsenic 2/7 | Arsenic 4/7 - Very Good
Arsenic, costing only 2
, is a very cheap weapon that deals 1 poison damage to your opponent per turn. Poison damage is cumulative, so Arsenic's power grows each turn. When Flying, Arsenic has 7 HP, which makes it resistant to creature control; when you have multiple Arsenics going, you can build up poison on your opponent very quickly. Arsenic is a very good target for Flying Weapon, and it would have been Excellent if not for the fact that Puffer Fish also has the same poison-inflicting ability.
Pulverizer 5/12 | Pulverizer 5/12 - Medium
Pulverizer is one of the best weapons in the game, due to its powerful, reusable permanent control ability. A Flying Pulverizer has a high 12 HP, making it resistant to creature control. However, Pulverizer isn't a very good candidate for Flying Weapon, simply because there aren't very good reasons to have multiple Pulverizers in play. Usually, having one Pulverizer is enough, and you can simply use Deflagrations and Steals for permanent control. If you really want reusable permanent control badly, you can also use Butterfly Effect.
Discord 4/3 | Discord 6/3 - Very Good
Discord is a cheap weapon that scrambles your opponent's quanta, randomly converting them into other elements. A Discord is absolutely devastating against Mono decks, because a Mono deck cannot use quanta from other elements. By themselves, Flying Discords only scrambles your opponent's quanta more evenly, so their potential may not be obvious at the first glance; however, the true power of Flying Discords is shown when combined with Black Hole. Black Hole absorbs 3 opponent quanta from each element, and returns them to you as HP; it is highly effective against Rainbow decks, but nigh useless against Duo and Mono decks. With multiple Flying Discords, you can scramble the quanta of any Mono or Duo deck into Rainbow quanta, then absorb them with Black Hole. This is a very effective denial strategy, and Discord would have been an Excellent target for Flying Weapon if not for the fact that it requires another card to be effective.
Fahrenheit 4/5 | Fahrenheit 5/5 - Very Good
Fire is all about damage and offense, and Fahrenheit reflects just that. It is a weapon of pure damage, becoming more powerful as you accumulate Fire quanta. Having multiple Fahrenheits on the field can pack a very heavy punch, so Fahrenheit is a very good weapon to have multiple copies of. This weapon would have been Excellent, but its damaging effect is somewhat overshadowed and diminished by Fire Bolt, which also deals damage proportional to your amount of Fire quanta; Fire Bolt OTK decks are more widely used than Flying Fahrenheit ones.
Titan 7/70 | Titan 8/70 - Excellent
No, I did not just make a typo; Titan really does have 70 HP when Flying. This ungodly huge weapon has almost as much HP as yourself, and no other creature in the game can match its toughness. With that much HP, Flying Titan is literally the best target for Gravity Pull, redirecting all damage onto itself and almost doubling your amount of HP. Get multiple Flying Titans, some Parallel Universes, and Gravity Pull, you can absorb almost all damage directed at you and be near invulnerable. Titan also has Momentum, the ability to bypass all enemy shields, making it a potent attacker as well.
Druidic Staff 2/7 | Jade Staff 4/7 - Very Good
Druidic Staff is a cheap weapon that also heals you for 5 HP per turn, similar to Vampire Stiletto. At the first glance you may think that Druidic Staff is overshadowed by Vampire Stiletto, but I'm sure you'll change your views after you cast the Life spell Adrenaline on a Flying Druidic Staff. With Adrenaline, Druidic Staff attacks four times per turn and heals 5 HP every time it attacks; in other words, it heals you for up to 20 HP per turn. This alone makes Druidic Staff a very good candidate for Flying Weapon, and it would have been Excellent if it didn't require another card to be awesome. Also, keep in mind that the unupgraded Druidic Staff is actually better than the upgraded Jade Staff, since Druidic Staff has lower ATK and thus gains more attacks and heals per turn from Adrenaline.
Morning Star 7/4 | Morning Glory 8/4 - Excellent
Morning Star is the only weapon that is Immortal after you Fly it, making it completely immune to creature control except from shield effects. Morning Star has a very high 7 ATK, so having multiple copies of this indestructible weapon can give your opponent an unavoidable beatdown. In fact, a horribly difficult False God named Divine Glory is based on Flying Morning Glories, so what more can you say?
Eternity 4/8 | Eternity 4/8 - Good
Eternity is often considered to be the best weapon in Elements, because as of now it is the only card capable of keeping you from running out of cards. However, if you want to use this weapon for its anti-deckout purpose, then one Eternity alone will suffice; multiple Eternities will better serve as creature control for your opponent. With several Eternities you can lock down your opponent and prevent him/her from drawing any useful cards, but the quanta consumption for this combo is very heavy. Eternity is good when Flying, but it's not the best.
Trident 4/9 | Poseidon 4/9 - Medium
Trident can destroy three of your opponent's pillars per turn, which makes it a very powerful denial weapon. However, its usefulness is largely overshadowed by the spell Earthquake, which does the same thing. In total, six Earthquakes can destroy up to 18 pillars, and a deck rarely carries more than that; as a result, having multiple Tridents in play is mostly unneeded.
In conclusion, the three best Flying Weapons in my opinion are Vampire Stiletto, Titan, and Morning Star.
Phew... This is THE longest analysis I've ever written, at 1900+ words. I'm gonna upload it just like this, since I really need to go to sleep now. I'll add the three boxes tomorrow...
