The Subterrors made their rumbling debut in The Dark Illusion, and now they’re back in Invasion: Vengeance!

There are 4 cards in the first round of Subterrors from The Dark Illusion: Subterror Behemoth Stalagmo has a Flip Effect that lets you discard a “Subterror” monster to draw two cards, and Subterror Behemoth Umastryx’s Flip Effect banishes an opposing monster.  Both have high stats and a shared ability to Special Summon them from your hand in face-up Defense Position.  To do that, you need to flip one of your face-up monsters face-down, and then control no face-up monsters.

In addition, each Behemoth has another shared effect that let you change them to face-down defense once per turn.  So if you controll one Behemoth you can flip it face-down to Summon another, and keep flipping all your Subterrors to unleash another one each turn.

Subterror Nemesis Warrior helps you tailor your game plan to the specific board situation by swapping one Subterror monster for another, while The Hidden City Field Spell searches out your “Subterror” monsters and manipulates their battle positions.  With only 2 Behemoths to choose from, however, the number of situations the strategy can actually handle is very limited. Now, two more Behemoths and another Nemesis join the subterranean struggle and ramp up what the Subterror strategy can do!

Subterror Behemoth Ultramafus is a giant Level 12 monster with 3000 ATK, but you can Special Summon it just as easily as the other “Behemoths” – just flip another monster face-down and drop it from your hand, or bring it up from the depths below with Subterror Nemesis Warrior.  Not only is it huge, it’s got a hugely useful Flip Effect that helps out your other Subterrors while throwing a wrench in the works for your opponent: you can change all other face-up monsters on the field to face-down Defense Position.  That helps you reload on your Flip Effects, while switching your opponent’s monster effects off and leaving them vulnerable to the other new Subterror monsters.

Enter Subterror Nemesis Archer.  When she attacks a face-down Defense Position monster and you control another “Subterror” monster, Nemesis Archer’s effect kicks in at the start of the Damage Step to punt your attack target back into your opponent’s Deck without flipping it.  It’s really good for keeping Pendulum Monsters out of the Extra Deck, it doesn’t destroy anything, and it’s a great answer to monster effects that would trigger in the Graveyard.

Even better, if Subterror Nemesis Archer is on the field, gets destroyed, and lands in the Graveyard, you can Special Summon any “Subterror” monster from your Deck in face-up or face-down Defense Position.  Your opponent can take it out, but the moment they do you’ll just replace it with something even nastier.

Flipping your opponent’s monsters face-down with Subterror Behemoth Ultramafus makes them vulnerable to Nemesis Archer’s ability, but it also sets them up for the new Subterror Behemoth Stygokraken.  Its Flip Effect targets Set cards on the field equal to the number of “Subterror Behemoth” monsters you control, and then destroys them.

That’s great for clearing away monsters you put face-down, but it also works against face-down Spell and Trap Cards in your opponent’s backrow as well.  It’s pretty easy to field two Subterrors at once, and since you can keep reusing Stygokraken’s effect as long as it remains on the field, it becomes really tough for your opponent to defend themselves.

You can even use it to destroy your own cards, which you might want to do with Subterror Nemesis Archer or the new Trap Card Subterror Behemoth Burrowing…

Subterror Behemoth Burrowing has three different effects.

-When you activate it, you banish a “Subterror” monster from your Graveyard; for the rest of the turn your Set monsters can’t be destroyed by card effects and your opponent can’t target them with card effects.
-You can banish Burrowing form your Graveyard, target a “Subterror” monster you control, and change it to face-down defense.
-And finally, if Burrowing’s destroyed in your Spell and Trap Card Zone you can search your Deck for a “Subterror” monster.

If your opponent bumbles into Subterror Behemoth Burrowing with a Mystical Space Typhoon or Twin Twisters, you’ll get a free search and leave them down a card.  But you can also flip Subterror Behemoth Stygokraken, target Burrowing with Stygokraken’s destruction ability, and then Chain Burrowing to protect all your Subterrors for the turn.  It’s a great way to get some free card economy out of plays you’d already want to make.

The first wave of Subterrors focused on raw power, drawing cards, making Special Summons, and banishing opposing monsters.  The new Subterrors in Invasion: Vengeance do more to control the field, create some resiliency, and deal with cards that might quash your big threats.  Get yours at the Invasion: Vengeance Sneak Peek next weekend!