Insect Queen
Earth, Level 7, [Insect/Effect]
ATK: 2200, DEF: 2400
CT1-EN005, Limited Edition Secret Rare (2004 Tin Variant)

"You cannot declare an attack without offering 1 monster on your side of the field as a Tribute. Increase the ATK of this card by 200 points for each face-up Insect-Type monster on the field. Special Summon 1 'Insect Monster Token' (Insect-Type/EARTH/1 Star/ATK 100/DEF 100) in Attack Position on your side of the field at the end of each turn that this card destroys your opponent's monster."

We finally get Insect Queen, along with a ton of new Insect Deck support cards in recent packs. Combined with the bans, this should propel properly constructed and well-played Insect Decks into serious competitive contention.

At first, Insect Queen seems lackluster. The official ruling seems to be that Insect Queen's ATK-raising effect applies to herself, meaning she comes into play as a 2400 ATK monster under normal circumstances. This is on the lower end of Level 7 monsters, but the potential for stat growth makes up for this in a constructed deck. The defense is high enough to ward off a lot of attacks. Being Level 7 is a downside, but we'll see there are ways to compensate for that.

Now let's talk about the challenges her effect poses. Afterward, I'll point out some cool tricks I saw on Pojo for how to overcome them. First, she needs to feed before she can attack. A lot of duelists will have an extremely negative gut reaction to this Tribute requirement, but we'll see that there's a lot of ways to soften its impact. Then there's the token summoning. This can be very useful, except that the Tokens come out in Attack Position with a paltry 100 ATK stat. This can be dangerous to your Life Points. It should be noted that there's already a ruling stating that you get 1 token per monster destroyed at the end of the turn, NOT just 1 token per turn. (This card really has some badly translated language on it! The Japanese card was always clear about that.)

So, here are some ways to make the Insect Queen work to her fullest potential in an Insect deck:

• Pinch Hopper can summon her.
• Insect Imitation can be used to bring her out quicker. This can even be combined with Magical Scientist, allowing Insect Queen to basically be summoned at the cost of 1000 LP.
• Ninjitsu Art of Transformation allows the summoning of Insect Queen via the tribute of a card which has "Ninja" in its name. A few Level 4 monsters fit the bill for this.
• Multiplication of Ants gives the Queen an instant boost by summoning more Insect-Type tokens. DNA Surgery can also turn goats and lambs into bugs. Then, the Queen can eat the tokens to attack. If the attacks are successful, she'll lay more eggs to replace them.
• Insect Queen's tokens can be used as tributes for Tribute Summons. Only two successful attacks can prepare you to bring out whatever else you could possibly want.
• Prickle Fairy will protect the Queen AND her tokens from attack. This solves the problem of the tokens being in Attack mode. Equip Prickle Fairy with Heart of Clear Water, or use DNA Surgery to turn it into an Insect itself, and it too will become invincible!
• Ring of Magnetism can also divert your opponent's attacks away from any Insect tokens.

With this many support tools and great combos, any duelist should begin to see that Insect Queen is actually quite a powerhouse, and fits perfectly as a cornerstone of the Insect deck (the emphasis should be on Insect Princess, but the rest of the glory belongs to the Queen).

Also, keep in mind that in "Advanced"-format tournaments where the ban list is in place, play is going to be slower and removal will be severely limited. This only helps slower cards like this one and makes them competitive, whereas before, they might have been laughable.

I give this card an 8.0/10 for all-around awesomeness. She won't really work in anything other than an Insect deck, but there, in her own domain, she will rule supreme!