Insect MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 31 setsSee all
TypeToken Creature — Insect
Power 1
Toughness 1
TokenTokens act as indicators during gameplay and are not included into building a deck.

Key Takeaways

  1. Token generation and mana ramping are key strengths of Insect cards, enhancing gameplay strategies.
  2. Insect card constraints include specific mana costs and potential hand depletion from discards.
  3. Insect types are adaptable and combat meta-relevant decks, making them valuable for collection.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Insect cards often create opportunities for card advantage by utilizing mechanics such as token generation or card draw when certain conditions are met. This mechanic allows players to sustain their hand while developing their board presence, giving them an edge in resources over their opponents.

Resource Acceleration: Some Insect cards have abilities that ramp up your mana resources by untapping lands or generating additional mana when they attack or enter the battlefield. These abilities are crucial for outpacing the opponent and executing powerful spells ahead of the curve.

Instant Speed: Flexibility in play is a valuable strategy, and insect spells with instant speed provide just that. They can often be cast during the opponent’s turn, allowing you to react to their actions while keeping your own plans concealed. This can lead to favorable exchanges and a sudden shift in the game’s momentum.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Insect cards often demand the player to discard other cards to unleash their full potential or to activate certain abilities. This can lead to undesirable situations, especially when the player’s hand is already depleted, and further discarding could compromise the game strategy or leave you without options for future turns.

Specific Mana Cost: Some Insect cards come with a stringent mana cost configuration, necessitating specific types of lands or sources. This can pose a serious deck-building constraint, making them less flexible and sometimes hard to cast in multicolored or mana-intensive decks that need to tap various types of mana resources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: On the larger scale of creatures, Insects can come with a high mana cost relative to their impact on the game. They may offer unique abilities or strong synergies within insect-themed decks, but the investment to get them on the battlefield can be hefty compared to other creature types that provide similar or greater value for less mana, leading to inefficiencies in gameplay.


Reasons to Include Insect Cards in Your Collection

Versatility: Insect cards often offer a variety of roles within a deck, from low-cost creatures that can swarm an opponent to larger, more formidable insects with potent abilities. They provide utility across multiple deck builds and strategies.

Combo Potential: These creatures fit well with synergistic strategies that revolve around creature type or counters, like with proliferate or boost effects, integrating seamlessly into intricate and powerful combo plays.

Meta-Relevance: Certain insect cards are well-suited to combat popular deck archetypes in the current meta, especially when equipped to handle strategies that rely heavily on non-creature spells or smaller creatures, ensuring your collection remains competitive.


How to beat

Insect cards in Magic: The Gathering often swarm the battlefield with numerous small and nimble creatures. They become formidable as they grow in number, supported by other cards that buff their power and abilities. To successfully combat Insect cards, control strategies are key. Spells that deal damage to multiple creatures at once, known as board wipes, can clear multiple Insects with a single cast. Cards like Pyroclasm or Wrath of God are particularly effective against these swarming strategies.

Additionally, it is important to deny the opponent the opportunity to establish their board presence. Countering spells that generate Insect tokens or that equip Insects with powerful enhancements can stifle an opponent’s momentum. Using enchantments that prevent creatures with a certain power or toughness from attacking or blocking can also be effective. Spot removal, though less efficient against a swarm, is useful for picking off key Insects that are buffing others or have problematic abilities. Remember, managing the proliferation of Insects early on can prevent them from overwhelming you later in the game.

The ability to interrupt combos and remove key pieces from the battlefield will often lead to a clear advantage. Successfully controlling the pace of the match and utilizing potent removal spells are fundamental strategies in ensuring victory against Insect-themed decks in Magic: The Gathering.


Cards like Insect

In the diverse ecosystem of creatures in Magic: The Gathering, the attributes of Insect cards often flutter under the radar. However, when we analyze the Insect tribe, its members demonstrate a synergy that rivals other creature types. Delving deeper, let’s compare the valiant Insect cards with other similar creature types.

Take for instance, Ant Queen, a mighty representative of the Insect tribe. This card lets you generate ant tokens, similar to Mycoloth from the fungus category, which devours creatures to sprout saproling tokens. While both create a horde of creatures, Ant Queen offers consistent token production without the need for sacrifices. Conversely, Scute Mob exemplifies how Insects can grow exceptionally powerful, receiving +4/+4 when you control five or more lands, akin to the growth mechanics of the land-loving creature, Vinelasher Kudzu.

Finally, assessing the Insect tribe alongside their kin on the battlefield, it’s apparent that while they may not boast the raw strength of Dinosaurs or the instant numbers of Goblins, Insects come with unique abilities that can overwhelm opponents through sheer numbers and adaptive prowess, etching their own niche in Magic: The Gathering strategies.

Ant Queen - MTG Card versions
Mycoloth - MTG Card versions
Scute Mob - MTG Card versions
Vinelasher Kudzu - MTG Card versions
Ant Queen - Magic 2010 Promos (PM10)
Mycoloth - Shards of Alara (ALA)
Scute Mob - Zendikar (ZEN)
Vinelasher Kudzu - Ravnica: City of Guilds (RAV)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Insect MTG card by a specific set like Magic Player Rewards 2003 and Magic 2010, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Insect and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Printings

The Insect Magic the Gathering card was released in 29 different sets between 2009-07-17 and 2024-02-09. Illustrated by 17 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12003-01-01Magic Player Rewards 2003P03 21997tokenblackAnthony S. Waters
22009-07-17Magic 2010M10 62003tokenblackRon Spencer
32010-10-01Scars of MirrodinSOM 42003tokenblackAdrian Smith
42014-07-18Magic 2015M15 102015tokenblackMartina Pilcerova
52015-05-22Modern Masters 2015MM2 102015tokenblackRon Spencer
62016-04-08Shadows over InnistradSOI 72015tokenblackChristopher Moeller
72016-08-26Conspiracy: Take the CrownCN2 112015tokenblackCarl Critchlow
82016-11-25Planechase AnthologyPCA 152015tokenblackCarl Critchlow
92017-04-28AmonkhetAKH 192015tokenblackJason A. Engle
102017-07-14Hour of DevastationHOU 122015tokenblackLius Lasahido
112018-03-16Masters 25A25 122015tokenblackRon Spencer
122018-10-05Guilds of RavnicaGRN 52015tokenblackBen Wootten
132018-11-02GRN Guild KitGK1 52015double_faced_tokenblackBen Wootten
142020-04-17Commander 2020C20 132015tokenblackMartina Pilcerova
152020-04-17Commander 2020C20 182015tokenblackLius Lasahido
162020-09-25Zendikar RisingZNR 72015tokenblackJakub Kasper
172021-03-19Time Spiral RemasteredTSR 112015tokenblackE. M. Gist
182021-04-23Commander 2021C21 172015tokenblackMartina Pilcerova
192021-06-18Modern Horizons 2MH2 132015tokenblackKim Sokol
202021-09-24Innistrad: Midnight HuntMID 92015tokenborderlessNicholas Gregory
212021-11-19Innistrad: Crimson VowVOW 132015tokenblackJoe Slucher
222022-04-29New Capenna CommanderNCC 242015tokenblackJakub Kasper
232022-06-10Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's GateCLB 402015tokenblackMartina Pilcerova
242022-09-09Dominaria UnitedDMU 72015tokenblackMila Pesic
252022-10-07Warhammer 40,000 Commander40K 222015tokenblackBartek Fedyczak
262023-01-13Dominaria RemasteredDMR 102015tokenblackAnthony S. Waters
272023-04-21March of the Machine CommanderMOC 312015tokenblackLius Lasahido
282023-06-23Tales of Middle-earth CommanderLTC 122015tokenblackOleg Bulakh
292023-08-04Commander MastersCMM 332015tokenblackChristopher Moeller
302024-02-09Murders at Karlov Manor CommanderMKC 162015tokenblackChristopher Moeller
312024-02-09Murders at Karlov Manor CommanderMKC 172015tokenblackMartina Pilcerova

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks