Hey, everybody! Insects don’t suck anymore!

Hopefully, the editors will let that statement stay in the article, because it’s how I feel, and I’m sure it’s how you’ll feel once you get your hands on some Shadow of Infinity cards of your own. Weevils of the world unite, because one of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game’s premier monster types is finally going to become playable!

One of the big reasons is today’s preview card. Doom Dozer is a level 8 Insect/Earth monster with 2800 ATK and 2600 DEF. Most duelists avoid level 8 monsters like the plague, but luckily, this one happens to be of the special summon–only variety. In order to bring it into play, you have to remove two Insect-type monsters from your graveyard. Then, you can drop Doom Dozer from your hand to the field for free. No tributes, and you can still normal summon!

It’s got one more effect, too. When it inflicts battle damage to your opponent, they have to send one card from the top of their deck to the graveyard. That’s pretty cool, because you can wind up forcing the opponent to lose key cards that they really needed. Return from the Different Dimension decks? They hate it when you force them to discard Return from the Different Dimension. Soul Control? Not so awesome if they can’t draw a Monarch. And Strike Ninja? You get the picture.

What’s nice is that unlike Don Zaloog or Card Destruction, you won’t really be filling the graveyard of an opponent who thrives on it. While a single random discard can be annoying, it can’t effectively fill the opponent’s graveyard with cards to remove from play with Bazoo or use for Strike Ninja fodder. It does just enough damage to the opponent’s deck to give a bonus, but not enough for it to potentially backfire on you. That’s a pretty good thing, because Doom Dozer hates losing to Return from the Different Dimension, almost as much as it hates trying to swat a jumpy little wisecracking Ninja out of the air.

So, for the cost of “free,” you get a 2800 ATK beatstick with a massive DEF to match. And you can also normal summon another monster on the same turn you bring it to the field. Pack a few copies of Cyber Dragon into your Insect deck, and you’ll be able to create huge swings in momentum. Just lost all your field presence? No worries. Just drop a Dragon, special summon Doom Dozer, and normal summon something else for a smooth 6000 ATK or more. Though it’s an obvious point, it needs to be said—Doom Dozer is really, really big.

Just how big is 2800 ATK? Bigger numbers than that might have been in days gone by. I mean, give it some thought. Cyber Dragon has 2100 ATK, and is usually large enough to stomp anything on the field. The top tribute monsters in the Advanced format are currently things like Mobius the Frost Monarch, Jinzo, and Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, which all clock in at 2400 ATK. Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World and Sillva, War Lord of Dark World are only packing 2300 ATK each. Chaos Sorcerer is in the same boat. Only Dark Ruler Ha Des trumps them all with a mighty 2450 ATK.

And, well . . . Doom Dozer is just bigger than that. There isn’t a single non-Fusion card seeing serious play right now that can stand up to the biggest, baddest Insect on the block. On a scale of one to ten, he’s “really freaking big.”

What’s cool is that unlike some other decks, Insects don’t have to wait around until their monsters start dropping like flies. It’s a bad pun, but let me explain! An Insect deck has access to a lot of great methods of filling its graveyard with bug-husks. A lot of them are completely independent of your opponent’s actions too, so you don’t necessarily have to sit around and wait to be attacked. Sure, Card Destruction is always passable, but you lose a card in the process, since Card Destruction sends itself to the graveyard.

Howling Insect is the first standout example. It’s a self-replacing monster that can summon out another Insect if it’s destroyed in battle. Think of it as a buggy Mystic Tomato. It’s a great wall, and while it’s blocking attacks, it not only searches out prime Insects and brings them to the field for you, but it also fills your graveyard with copies of itself.

Consider Insect Imitation, too. It’s sort of old-school: for those who can’t remember it, it’s a spell card that lets you tribute a monster on your side of the field. Then, you can go and search your deck for an Insect that’s one level higher than the monster tributed and special summon that Insect. It’s fun to steal one of your opponent’s monsters and use that to pay for Insect Imitation, but even if you’re running Brain Control and Snatch Steal, often the monster that you tribute away will be one of your Insects. In that case, you can add it to the list of potential food for Doom Dozer!

What about the Ultimate Insect line? Remember that every time you manage to level up one of the Ultimate Insects with their own effect, you get to toss the old one into the graveyard and replace it with a fresh new one pulled from your deck. Again, you don’t actually lose card presence, but you still get to fill up your graveyard. That’s pretty awesome.

At the same time, consider some synergies that aren’t confined to the realm of the six- and eight-legged. Phoenix Wing Wind Blast is fast becoming a favorite one-off in any number of Advanced format decks I play, and it’s a real gem combined with Doom Dozer. First, the Wind Blast will let you discard an Insect from your hand to fuel the Dozer’s summoning requirement. Then, you can bounce one card of your choice off of the opponent’s field back onto the top of their deck. Maybe it’s a troublesome Lockdown card, or maybe it’s a monster that could really cause you issues? Maybe you just really hate Sakuretsu Armor and don’t want to see it this turn, or next turn. Bounce whatever you like and summon Doom Dozer. If you attack with it, you’ll be able to use its effects to force the discard of the card you bounced with Wing Blast. Neat!

Doom Dozer is just one of the many playable Insect cards in Shadow of Infinity, and I believe that we’ll see some Insect decks come out of this set. “Huge ATK” is a big theme added to the Insect repertoire, and in an era of Yu-Gi-Oh! when wins are made by claiming card advantage in battle, big numbers have never been more valuable than they are now.