Tech Update: Inzektor Exa-Beetle and Digital Bug Rhinosebus!

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If you’ve been playing PvP Dueling or Dueling in tournaments like this past weekend’s Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links Remote Duel Extravaganza, you’ve probably noticed a drastic increase in the popularity of Rank 6 monsters. Onomat Decks featuring Yuma’s signature monsters from Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, as well as Thunder Dragon Decks, have risen to the very top of competitive Dueling. Although these two Decks have been popular competitive Decks for a while, a new card in the Darkness Gimmick Main BOX boosted both of them – and Rank 6 strategies in general – to a new level. That card is Inzektor Exa-Beetle.

Inzektor Exa-Beetle is a Rank 6 Insect-Type monster that can be Summoned by combining any 2 Level 6 monsters. That allows it to work with strategies that combine Level 6 monsters to perform Xyz Summons, including the Onomat and Thunder Dragon strategies. Exa-Beetle only has 1000 ATK and 1000 DEF, but when it’s Xyz Summoned, you can equip it with a monster in either player’s Graveyard. It gains ATK and DEF equal to half of the original ATK and DEF of the monster equipped by this effect. Once per turn, you can also detach an Xyz Material from Inzektor Exa-Beetle to target a face-up card on each side of the field and send those targets to the Graveyard. While Inzektor Exa-Beetle has a cool assortment of powers, its effect is not what made Rank 6 strategies so dominant in competitive Dueling. Digital Bug Rhinosebus is largely responsible for the surge in popularity of Xyz Summoning strategies.

Digital Bug Rhinosebus from the Infinite Ray Main BOX is a Rank 7 monster that you can Xyz Summon over a Rank 5 or 6 Insect-Type monster you control by detaching 2 Xyz Materials from that monster. If you Xyz Summon Inzektor Exa-Beetle, you can immediately detach both Xyz Materials from it to upgrade your Exa-Beetle into Digital Bug Rhinosebus. Exa-Beetle will then become an Xyz Material attached to your giant Insect. Not only does Digital Bug Rhinosebus have 2600 ATK, 2200 DEF, and inflict piercing damage when it attacks, but it also has an incredible Quick Effect. Once per turn, during either player’s turn, you can detach an Xyz Material from Digital Bug Rhinosebus to destroy the face-up monster(s) on your opponent’s field with the highest DEF. If two or more of your opponent’s monsters are tied for highest DEF, they’re all destroyed by this effect. Digital Bug Rhinosebus’s stats make it tough to take down, and its effect can clear your opponent’s most threatening monster on either player’s turn. That makes it a powerful monster to Summon at just about any time in a Duel.

Xyz Summoning strategies have always been powerful, but the addition of Inzektor Exa-Beetle to Duel Links has made them even stronger by creating easy access to Digital Bug Rhinosebus. What are your strategies for defeating Decks that Summon Inzektor Exa-Beetle and then Digital Bug Rhinosebus early in a Duel?