Steelswarm

The Steelswarm, known as Inverz in the OCG, are a series of DARK Fiend-Type monsters with 0 DEF, except for Steelswarm Gatekeeper, released in Duel Terminal - Raid of the Inverz!!. Their team symbol is a black demon mask that also resembles a claw or beetle (being appropriate since all Steelswarm are insectoid in form) which is tattooed on to the bodies of all its members. According to promotional material for Duel Terminal - Judgment of Omega!!, they are enemies of all the other teams in the set. Their main strategy is to take advantage of Tribute Summoning, which their effects generally support or trigger upon. Their first two support cards First Step Towards Infestation and Infestation Wave have the unusual effect of returning them to the player's hand as well, making them useful for helping them avoid negative card effects.

Recommended cards

 * "Armageddon Knight": Use this card to send monsters to the Graveyard, particularly "Steelswarm Scout" and potential Special Summons for "Steelswarm Mantis". It also works in sending monsters for retrieval with "Recurring Nightmare".
 * "Dark Grepher": This is also useful for sending monsters to the Graveyard.
 * "Dark Armed Dragon": As the Steelswarm are all DARK, and can regulate the amount of monsters in the Graveyard with ease, Dark Armed Dragon is a prime choice.
 * "Rainbow Dark Dragon": It may need more DARK monsters in the grave, and requires the monsters to be removed from play compared to DAD, but Dark Dragon's 4000+ ATK will provide a massive monster remover in case your Steelswarm can't do the job themselves.
 * "Raviel, Lord of Phantasms" a possible heavy hitter for this deck since all "Steelswarm" are "Fiend" types and they can swarm the field easily
 * "Mystic Tomato": Use the Tomato for easy searching of Steelswarm monsters such as "Steelswarm Cell", "Steelswarm Scout", and "Steelswarm Gatekeeper". You can also search out "Armageddon Knight".
 * "Stygian Street Patrol": Use this card to Special Summon a Steelswarm monster from your hand, such as "Steelswarm Caller", and tribute it that turn.
 * "Stygian Security", its good for searching out Steelswarm Scout and can be used for a Synchroing.
 * "Allure of Darkness": This card is always useful in DARK Decks, as draw power.
 * "Recurring Nightmare": Nightmare is a fantastic card in this Deck - Gatekeeper is the only Steelswarm monster with more than 0 DEF, so using this card you can bring back any two monsters. One choice is to return "Steelswarm Cell" and a one-tribute Steelswarm monster, such as "Steelswarm Girastag". Then you can Special Summon Cell, and tribute it for Girastag. Three should be used.
 * "Dark Eruption": This card functions as a somewhat weaker version of Recurring Nightmare much of the time. However, it can return Gatekeeper, as well as some non-Steelswarm monsters.
 * "Foolish Burial": Use this card for the same functions as "Armageddon Knight" and "Dark Grepher".
 * "Advance Force": This card allows you to Tribute one Level 5 monster for a Level 7 or higher monster, useful for Steelswarms who have a high array of high level monsters.
 * "Cold Wave": Cold Wave prevents your opponent from messing up key combos, such as using "Bottomless Trap Hole" on a monster.
 * "Trap Stun" can work almost as well as "Cold Wave", and unlike that card, is not Limited. The trade-off is, you cannot use any other Traps in the same round either.
 * "Overwhelm": Since "Steelswarm Girastag" is so easy to Tribute Summon, Overwhelm may be helpful in preventing it from falling prey to nasty traps and monster effects.
 * "Ultimate Offering": Use this card to quickly swarm the field with tribute monsters.
 * "Hand Destruction":Use it during your draw and send Steelswarm Scout to the Graveyard.
 * "Veil of Darkness":For the same reasons as "Dark Grepher" and "Armageddon Knight". It allows you to plow through your Deck all while setting up for "Steelswarm Scout" and "Steelswarm Mantis" plays.
 * "Double Summon allows you to summon a monster and tribute it in the same turn.

Weaknesses
The majority of the current "Steelswarm" monsters have 0 DEF. Merely putting them into Defense Position with cards such as Earthquake and Level Limit - Area B along with destroying them in battle, especially with Piercing monsters can really mess up this archetype before "Steelswarm" can inflict any Life Point damage at all. One can also use Tragedy after shifting them to Defense Mode to Nuke them (to a worse extent, "Dark Mirror Force" can be utilized for this function to remove them from play) or use Swords of Concealing Light to freeze them face-down and later slay them in battle. In addition, Forced Back can cancel Steelswarm Summoned, Intercept can rob you of your Level 5/6 Steelswarm, Blast Held by a Tribute can destroy Steelswarm in Attack Position along with dealing Life Points damage to you and cards like Mask of Restrict and Fog King can lockdown Steelswarm card effects alone. Because of all this, it is imperative that you use basic Spell/Trap/Monster removal to destroy any cards that may fully disable the "Steelswarm" monsters. As for the Defense Position dilemna, you can throw in a card like Darkness Neosphere to send "Steelswarm monsters to the Graveyard until you can get your Steelswarm cards in action as well as have fodder for DAD or other DARK Attribute support cards. You can also use a combo of either "Gaap the Divine Soldier"/"Final Attack Orders" and "Astral Barrier" + "Spirit Barrier" to keep your Steelswarm cards alive and in Attack Position as well as safeguard your LPs.

Trivia

 * In a similar fashion to cards like "Gaap the Divine Soldier", while all "Steelswarm" monsters are Fiend, they are insectoid in form.
 * Their appearance in of itself is a homage to the Worms of Kamen Rider Kabuto (except for Steelswarm Cell which is a Zector from the same series).
 * Some of the Steelswarm look familiar to Cell from the Dragon Ball series.
 * In the OCG, the name of "Steelswarm" monsters that are Level 5 or 6 starts with "M" (probably for Medium), while those who are Level 7 or 8 starts with "G", propably for Great.
 * Each Steelswarm Tribute Summoned Monster have (Lvl × 200 ATK) + 1200 ATK equal to their original ATK.
 * One thing to note in the Steelswarm Spell and Trap Cards is that they have a benefical Cost, except Infestation Ripples, which allows them to be used well even if the effect is negated.
 * Steelswarm monsters and themes around infestation is also similar to Zerg from Starcraft.