Well I mean by them self, of course is damn powerful if you have those uber synchro and tuner, your blackwing example alone shown how the tuner alone make it deadly.
Actually, I DID mean that they were broken by themselves -- I didn't even make a mention of the Blackwings' synchro monster, considering that the monsters alone are the main problem.
I know DAD still alive in other form, although is quite risky when you up against someone who know how to deal with it and have the cards for it. :p
The only way to stop DAD from being a threat is to A) run D.D., B) have an easy-to-summon, bigger monster (or D-Hero Plasma, if you so prefer), or C) run Stardust into the dirt. In my experience, when someone gets out a DAD things start to go downhill from there.
I used batteryman and water deck too, those are fun...but still can't find a fast way to bring levia out fast enough. Although other variation works wonderfully.
Well, if you play your cards right you don't quite need Levia except as a last resort (and even then, Yomi Ship is your best friend when they've got a beatstick you want gone) or an advantage-pusher -- Giga Gagagigo is a common-rarity Level 5 WATER Normal Monster w/ 2450 ATK. TAEV came out with a Rare rarity Spell card called 'Summoner's Art' which lets you add a Level 5 or higher Normal Monster to your hand. A Legendary Ocean only works on the monsters in your hand or on the field. By their powers combined, you have a 2650 Level 4 Beatstick 6 times out of 40.
Didn't play it for a while, so not too sure about the new cards.
Well, here's a small List of Good Things to give you some ideas about what new stuff there is to run. You can also use this list for a bit of threat assessment, if you so prefer, as these are all up-and-coming rising stars in the New Duel Order, shall we call it.
Crossroads of Chaos released plenty of Plant support (and monsters), making them viable even without Synchro support -- for example, Gigantic Cephalotus is Level 4, starts with 1850 ATK, and gets 200 ATK for each Plant that's sent to the Graveyard; Tytannial, Princess of Camellias is a Level 8 with decent ATK and the ability to stop targeting effects by tributing Plants; The World Tree gains counters for each Plant killed (not sent to the Graveyard, but actually killed) and can use them to pump up Plants' ATK, destroy cards, or Special Summon a Plant. And with two cards from Phantom Darkness -- the Yubel pack -- named Lonefire Blossom and Gigaplant, plants have immense swarm potential.
Psychic-type monsters, a new type released in The Duelist Genesis (the first 5D's pack), despite their use by the series' main Complete Monster (interestingly enough named Divine), are fairly interesting considering that they require some HEAVY micromanaging of your Life Points -- and you thought Archfiends were LP-cost-heavy, wait until you get a load of the Psychics! However, their effects are generally worth the cost -- if you can keep paying it, that is. Psychics are heavily dependent, as a result, on their Spell/Trap support and their Synchros -- for ALL of their Synchros involve gaining LP (Magical Android gives you 600 LP for ea. Psychic you control, Thought Ruler Archfiend gives you LP in the same way Flame Wingman burns, Psychic Lifetrancer gives you 1200 LP by removing a Psychic in your Graveyard, and Hyper Psychic Blaster [the latest one] combines LP gain with Wingman-style burning).
And last, but certainly not least, on the list of Good Things that have been released in 5D's would be the Morphtronics. Another theme for the micromanager, this one has you keeping track of what position your monsters are in (it also boasts the silliest censoring in the entire card game, of D-Former Zippon to Morphtronic Datatron -- that's right, they turned a lighter into a flash drive, and didn't even bother to censor it in the ANIME).
Each Morphtronic monster gets a different effect depending on the position it's in -- for example, Morphtronic Magnen can only attack the strongest monster if it's in Attack Position, but is the only monster the opponent can attack if it's in Defense Position (and thus two Defense-position Magnens = yet another Maruading Lock). The only problem with Morphtronics, however, is that as a general rule (to which there are 2 exceptions) they have pathetic ATK and DEF. However, they have a Field Spell that gains counters when a monster's battle position switches and gives them ATK for each counter on the Spell (which is a very Good Thing).
Recommended cards in the series are Morphtronic Radion (exception #1, as it gives a hefty boost to the stat of its current position -- 800 ATK and 1000 DEF), Morphtronic Boomboxen (can attack 2x in Attack Position, can negate 1 attack in Defense Position), Morphtronic Magnen (for the Magnen-lock), and Morphtronic Boardon (exception #2, with 1800 DEF, but that's not why it's important -- while in Attack position, it lets ALL Morphtronics attack directly, while in Defense Position it keeps all other Morphtronics from dying by battle). And, of course, there is some recommended support: Morphtronic Accelerator, for some easy draw-and-destroy power (return a Morphtronic card to your deck, shuffle, draw 1 card, kill 1 card on the field), the Field Spell (Morphtronic Map), and two Trap Cards that were introduced in Crimson Crisis (I forget the names, though; they're the only 2 Morphtronic traps in the pack, though, if memory serves me).