Subject: Power of the Bubonic Vermin - Jarod

With so many cards in the game of Yu-Gi-Oh, some often
go overlooked, especially the commons.  Bubonic Vermin
is one of those odd cards that can be useful in the
right types of decks.  The effect reads:

"Flip: You can take 1 Bubonic Vermin from your Deck
and Special Summon it on the field in face-down
Defense Position.  The Deck is then shuffled."

There are a couple useful aspects of this card.  First
of all, it acts as a wall against attack.  When one is
attacked and destroyed, you get to bring another one
out to the field in its place.  And if that is
attacked, you get to bring the last one out.

Second, it helps thin out your deck.  Whether it is
attacked and flipped, or flipped by you, it provides a
way to pull cards out of your deck outside of your
draw phase.  This is most useful for Exodia decks.
The quicker those decks are thinned out, the more
likely it is that pieces of Exodia will be drawn.  For
general decks, less cards means higher odds that you
will pull the more powerful monsters/ magics/ traps
that are in the deck.

The third useful point of this cards is with respect
to the Cannon Soldier/Catapult Turtle burner deck.
These decks thrive on being able to sacrifice monsters
to do direct damage.  Since you can only play one
monster per turn, the deck is speeded up by using the
magic card Last Will, which lets you special summon
additional monsters to the field straight from your
deck.  While Bubonic Vermin only lets you bring out
other Bubonic Vermin, it still gets more monsters to
the field faster.  And with an attack of 900, it is
unaffected by Trap Hole.

The final use of this card is in getting tribute
monsters to the field.  By getting Bubonic Vermin to
the field through their effect, you will have more
monsters available for tribute.  If played on your
first turn, and left alone by your opponent, its
effect can be used to give you two monsters on the
field available for tribute by your second turn.  That
lets you get out 7-8 star monsters like Barrel Dragon
and Buster Blader.  If you are only tributing for a
5-6 star monster, it will leave you protected in case
a Trap Hole or Mirror Force destroys your more
powerful monster.  You can tribute the flipped Bubonic
Vermin for your monster, and still have the face down
Vermin for protection.  It helps offset the fact that
you have to sacrifice a monster from the field to get
your more powerful moster out.

This card definitely isn't for use in all types of
decks.  As with all cards, it has weaknesses.  Cards
like Ceasefire, Shadow of Eyes, and Light of
Intervention will hurt it greatly, just as they hurt
all other flip effect monsters.  It also becomes less
useful when you happen to draw more than one into your
opening hand.  Since the effect can only get Vermin
from your deck, the extra Vermin in your hand becomes 
deadweight that is best used for Magic Jammers and 
Tribute to the Doomed.

In the right place, at the right time, this card has
its uses.  It has served me very well in my Cannon 
Soldier/Catapult Turtle Burner.  

If you have any questions, comments, or advice, email me 
at: jmichaels61481@yahoo.com.  Thanks for reading my article,
 I hope it helped.

-Jarod