Special Summoning. Incredible destructive power. Fashionable costumes. The Inzektors have got it all! Since their appearance in Order of Chaos, they’ve been a strong pick, and just keep getting better with new cards from Galactic Overlord. Much like actual insects, there’s just about nowhere on Earth that you’ll find Duelists without also finding Inzektors, so here are some tips to help you avoid being stung by them!

There are many variations of Inzektor Decks, however, nearly every single Inzektor Deck has one thing in common. They focus on a core of three monsters: Inzektor Hornet, Inzektor Dragonfly, and Inzektor Centipede. By using Dragonfly or Centipede to equip Hornet, they can then send Hornet to the Graveyard to destroy a card. This triggers the effect of Dragonfly or Centipede and allows a Special Summon or search. This simple combo lets Inzektor Duelists constantly apply pressure and search the pieces required to do it again next turn. Disrupting this combo is one of the best ways to win against Inzektors.

One of the key reasons Inzektors are so powerful is that they can use the same cards in their Graveyard over and over for free. By restricting their ability to do this, you can shut down the Deck. Macro Cosmos is one of the best choices, banishing anything that wants to go to the Graveyard. If your opponent snuck a Hornet into their Graveyard before you activated Macro Cosmos, no problem! As long as Macro Cosmos remains in play, Hornet will be unable to be sent to the Graveyard for its cost. Be careful using Macro Cosmos, though. Its effect is powerful, but its best used in Decks that do not rely on their own Graveyard.

For something that fits easily into more Decks, Chain Disappearance is also capable of banishing their bugs, taking out every copy of Hornet or Dragonfly they have! It can also nail troublesome cards like Tour Guide From the Underworld. For something trickier, try D.D. Crow. Crow is useful most of the time for banishing Hornet and other cards, but it also has a neat trick that could help win the match if you pull it off. If your opponent uses the effect of an on-field Inzektor (let’s say Centipede) to try to equip a card, and the only Inzektor in the Graveyard is a single Hornet, use D.D. Crow to banish the Hornet in the Graveyard. Now, Centipede still has to try to equip something, but there’s nothing in the Graveyard. Thus, Centipede will be forced to equip an Inzektor from the hand instead, even if it’s one they normally wouldn’t want to equip. That means you might be costing your opponent another Centipede or a Dragonfly from their hand!

One of the biggest weaknesses of the Inzektor strategy is that the Inzektors themselves have very low ATK. They rely on their effects to get anything done, so if you can negate their effects, you’ll be able to easily destroy them. Effect Veiler is the number one choice for many Duelists, because it fits into nearly any strategy. It can negate the effect of any one monster for a turn, which will give you time to take it down  Fiendish Chain works similarly, but will also stop the monster from attacking.

For more wide range negation, Skill Drain or Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror might be for you. Both cards completely dismantle Inzektors, but are useful in different ways. Skill Drain can negate any Effect Monsters on the field, even if they aren’t DARK, making it work against many cards and decks other than just Inzektors. However, Skill Drain will also negate your monsters too, so it is best used in decks like Dark World or Gemini HERO decks which do not need their monster effects on the field. Shadow-Imprisoning Mirror, on the other hand, will only be useful against Inzektors and other DARK-based decks, but will not hurt you at all, as long as you don’t focus on DARK monsters.

One thing to always keep in mind against Inzektors is to avoid committing too many cards to the field until you’re ready. If you’re able to throw down two or three monsters in a turn, that can be great, but you have to decide if that’s really going to help you right now. By just using Dragonfly and Hornet to start up some combos, your big field could be gone instantly! If you only put out one card, Hornet would still destroy it and Dragonfly would summon Centipede, but that would usually end their combo. They’d have to Xyz Summon with their monsters or risk you destroying them. Whatever they do, you’ve got an opportunity to get those Inzektors off the field this way.

When Hornet activates its effect, the equipped Dragonfly or Centipede will activate their effects in a separate Chain. If you use Chainable cards to get Dragonfly/Centipede off the field before they activate, your opponent won’t be getting free cards. When Hornet targets your card for destruction, Chain that card. Now Hornet will have been wasted, and you’ll be taking out their other monster at the same time! Many Chainable cards like Raigeki Break and Book of Moon fit into any Deck. If Hornet or anything else is trying to destroy your monster, Safe Zone will keep it around. But if Hornet is targeting Safe Zone, even better! Chain Safe Zone to target the Dragonfly/Centipede that Hornet was equipped to. When Hornet destroys Safe Zone, it will immediately take down the monster you targeted too, before its effect can be activated!

Inzektors are a tough bunch, no doubt about it, but they aren’t unstoppable. By focusing on taking out their core of monsters and exploiting their low stats, you can squash those bugs without having to pick up a can of Eradicating Aerosol!