Article # 38 - Insecticidal Intentions

2.12.04  For today’s article, we’ll be taking a look at a few Insect cards, as they’re what are in the lead for the remaining 3 Sub-Type reviews. We begin with a look at Decoy Hopper.

Decoy Hopper

Earth/Insect - Level 4 - 1000/1200

Effect: When this card is sent from your Field to the Graveyard, you may choose to Special Summon one Insect Monster from your Hand.

 

Decoy Hopper was a Common from the Japanese 307 set. Coming in English in IOC.

Decoy Hopper’s a nice little card for Insect-based Decks. With stats of 1000/1200, it’s not too powerful, but it gets the job done with its Effect, and can be Searched by the Witch and Critter.

Whenever Decoy Hopper’s sent to the Graveyard from your Field, you can Special Summon an Insect-type Monster to the Field from your Hand. The Effect can be great with any other Insect in your Deck. Insect Princess, Insect Queen, etc. It can be very useful, and you could even use something like your own Mystery Wok to send your Hopper to the Graveyard, gaining LP and getting to Special Summon a Monster from your Hand. You get the Special Summoning Effect whether it’s sent to the Graveyard by your own or an opponent’s Card Effect.

Decoy Hopper’s a pretty good card, and almost a staple for Insect Decks. It makes a lot of your Insects very easy to get out onto the Field that would otherwise be hard to, speeds up those cards, and makes them that much better and easier to utilize.

Overall, Decoy Hopper is a great card for Insect Decks. I’d give it an overall rating of 6.3 / 10, and 8 / 10 for Insect Decks. Moving on, we take a look at Skull Ladybug.

Skull Ladybug

Earth/Insect - Level 4 - 500/1500

Effect: Whenever this card is sent to the Graveyard, you gain 1000 LP.

 

Skull Ladybug was also a Common from the Japanese 307 set. Coming in English in IOC, as well.

Skull ladybug’s a pretty interesting Monster Card, and good for Insect Decks and/or Decks that involve gaining a lot of LP. With stats of 500/1500, it’s not too much of a powerful Monster, either, but it can be Searched, and can put up an almost-solid DEF against a lot of Monsters that your opponent might have against you.

Skull Ladybug’s Effect allows you to gain 1000 LP whenever it’s sent to the Graveyard. This Effect applies whether Skull Ladybug is sent to the Graveyard from the Field or from your Hand, and it also applies when/if it’s destroyed in Battle.

Say your opponent has a Spear Dragon out on the Field and you have a Skull Ladybug set face-down. Your opponent chooses to attack it with Spear Dragon, attempting to Trample. What do they get out of that? Nothing but a Spear Dragon in DEF mode. What do you get out of it? 600 LP. (400 damage from the attack, 1000 gain from Ladybug’s Effect) The Effect could prove to be pretty useful, and very good in tight situations where you could use some more LP.

1000 LP may not seem like a whole lot, but as I said, it could end up being very beneficial to you, especially in Insect Decks, and of course Decks involving LP-Gain, as I explained before.

Overall, Skull Ladybug is a pretty good Monster Card. I’d give it an overall rating of 6.7 / 10, and 7.2 / 10 for Insect Decks. For the third card of today’s article, we have the Insect Princess.

Insect Princess

Wind/Insect - Level 6 - 1900/1200

Effect: As long as this card is face-up on the Field, all face-up Insect Monsters on your opponent's side of the Field must change into ATK mode, if not already. Raise this Monster’s ATK by 500 for each Insect Monster that this Monster destroys in Battle.

 

Insect Princess was an Ultra/Parallel Rare from the Japanese 307 set. Coming in English in IOC.

Insect Princess is certainly an interesting high-level Insect Monster, and one worth using in a lot of Insect Decks. With stats of just 1900/1200, requiring one Tribute, it doesn’t look too powerful, but it can very well be made to be. It can be Searched by the Witch, giving it a little bit of speed in any Deck it’s in, as well.

As you can see, its Effect may not look so great when you first look at it. But in an Insect Deck, or when up against one, it can work pretty well. As long as Insect Princess is face-up on the Field, all of your opponent’s Insect Monsters will have to assume ATK position, and stay there. If your opponent doesn’t run any Insect Monsters, some good cards to include in your Insect Deck with the Princess would be Creature Swap, Magic Box of Death, and/or Enemy Controller, giving them control of some Insects for you to work with Insect Princess.

The fact that it makes your opponent’s Insects remain in ATK position is good for your Insect Princess, because it doesn’t have a high ATK strength, but neither do many other Insects. Whenever Insect Princess destroys an Insect Monster in Battle, it’s getting a 500+ ATK boost. So with just destroying one Monster, you’ll have a 2400-ATK Insect. Two Monsters = 2900-ATK, etc. Could be pretty useful when in combo with the right cards, for example the three that I listed earlier for possession-changing.

Overall, Insect Princess is a pretty good card, but only in Insect Decks. I’d give it an overall rating of 6 / 10, and 7.2 / 10 for Insect Decks. For the third and final card of today’s article, we take a look at the Insect Queen.

Insect Queen

Earth/Insect - Level 7 - 2200/2400

Effect: To attack with this Monster, you must Sacrifice one other Monster on your side of the Field. Raise this Monster’s ATK strength by 200 for each Insect Monster on the Field, not including this card. During the End Phase of a turn in which this Monster destroys an opponent’s Monster in Battle, put one {Insect Token} (Earth/Insect - Level 1 - 100/100) onto your Field in Attack Mode.

 

Insect Queen was an Ultra Rare promo from the Japanese GB3 game, as well as an Ultimate Rare from the DL4 set. There’s no telling when its English release might be, and just to note, there was also a Japanese error version of this card as the DL4 version. Instead of being Ultimate Rare like it should have been, it only had Gold Lettering, and the rest of the card was completely normal.

Insect Queen, though not too useful, is a pretty highly anticipated card to be released in English by a lot of people. Why is it not too useful? Well, for one, take a look at its stats. For a Level 7 Monster requiring 2 Tributes to be Summoned, it has only 2200 ATK and 2400 DEF, meaning it cannot even be Searched by anything.

Let’s start by taking a look at the first part of its Effect. In order to attack with Insect Queen, you’re going to need to Sacrifice a Monster on your side of the Field. That’s really a pretty hefty cost for a Level 7 Monster with 2200 ATK to have. But at least it has another part to its Effect that could aide in providing you with a Monster, or in this case a Token, to Sacrifice.

Another part to Insect Queen’s Effect is that if it destroys an opponent’s Monster in Battle, which really shouldn’t be too hard to do, then you’ll be getting an Insect Token on your side of the Field during that End Phase. The bad thing, though, is that Token counts as a 100/100 Monster that has to be in ATK mode. That could be setting yourself up for some pretty heavy damage from an opponent’s attack, so it’d be good to have some protection cards along with it, such as Waboku. Of course the Token also helps for having a Monster to Sacrifice for Insect Queen to be able to attack, and would also power-up Insect Queen by the other part of its Effect. Skull Ladybug is also a card that’d be good to use with Insect Queen’s attacking requirement, for a quick extra 1000 LP.

The last part of Insect Queen’s Effect allows it to gain 200 ATK for each Insect Monster on the Field, not including Insect Queen. This counts both you and your opponent’s Monsters. Even with a full Field of Insects, though, on your side that is, Insect Queen would only be powered up to a total of 3000 ATK, but still, that’s nothing to scoff at. It could help you in dealing that little extra bit of damage that might be needed in some situations.

Overall, Insect Queen’s not too great of a Monster Card, and not even too much for Insect-based Decks, but it can work. I’d give Insect Queen an overall rating of 5 / 10, and 7 / 10 for Insect Decks.

And to close out today’s article, here’s an Insect Deck example using all of today’s featured cards.

Monsters: 16

1x Insect Queen

1x Insect Princess

2x Decoy Hopper

2x Skull Ladybug

2x Swarm of Scarabs

2x Swarm of Locusts

2x Needle Worm

1x Black Forest Witch

1x Critter

1x Fiber Pod

1x Killer Snake

Magic Cards: 18

3x Cyclone

1x Book of Moon

1x Magic Box of Death

1x Creature Swap

1x Thunderbolt

1x Dark Hole

1x Pot of Greed

1x Angel’s Gift

1x Mirage of Nightmares

1x Raise Dead

1x Premature Burial

1x Harpy Feather Sweep

1x Heavy Storm

1x Change of Heart

1x Snatch Steal

1x Apostle of Obliteration

Trap Cards: 6

1x Imperial Order

1x Call of the Haunted

1x Mirror Force

1x Waboku

1x Tidal Wave

1x Destruction Ring

Total: 40

And that’ll do it for Article # 38 - Insecticidal Intentions. My next article will be featuring some Winged Beast-type Monsters, so stay tuned. Until next time..

~DM7~