Innocuous Insect MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Eldrazi Insect
Abilities Buyback,Flying, Flash
Power 2
Toughness 1

Key Takeaways

  1. Card advantage and instant speed play make Innocuous Insect a tactical option for maintaining game momentum.
  2. Its specific mana cost and discard requirement can limit deck compatibility and hand resourcefulness.
  3. Despite limitations, the insect’s versatility and combo potential make it a valuable collection addition.
Flash card art

Guide to Flash card ability

Explore the dynamic Flash ability in Magic: The Gathering (MTG), a feature that allows you to cast spells at lightning speed, often leaving your opponents reeling and your strategy several steps ahead. This versatile ability can turn the tide of a game, providing the element of surprise and tactical advantage. It places a premium on timing and foresight, transforming an ordinary deck into a formidable arsenal of instant threats and responses.

Text of card

Buyback (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.) Flash Flying When you cast this spell, draw a card.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Innocuous Insect can be a subtle yet effective way to achieve card advantage. Playing this card could potentially replace itself in your hand if it meets the right conditions on the battlefield, keeping your options open without losing momentum.

Resource Acceleration: Should Innocuous Insect’s ability align with your deck’s mechanics, it’s possible that it may aid in resource acceleration. This could take the form of land retrieval or similar effects, preparing you for more strategic moves earlier on.

Instant Speed: With the capability to be played at instant speed, Innocuous Insect offers flexibility, allowing players to react to opponents’ actions more effectively. It means you can adapt to the state of the game without compromising your strategy, anticipating and responding to threats as they present themselves.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Innocuous Insect often requires the player to discard another card, which can put you at a disadvantage if your hand is already running low on options.

Specific Mana Cost: This card has a mana cost that necessitates both green and colorless mana, potentially restricting its inclusion to decks that can reliably produce both types of mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The mana investment to get Innocuous Insect on the battlefield might not be justified, considering there are other creatures that cost less and may provide greater value or impact on the game early on.


Reasons to Include Innocuous Insect in Your Collection

Versatility: Innocuous Insect can seamlessly adapt to various deck themes due to its low mana cost and creature type, fitting especially well with decks leveraging insect synergies or needing early board presence.

Combo Potential: As a creature, Innocuous Insect can be pivotal in combos that revolve around creature count or sacrifice mechanics, potentially triggering a cascade of effects for strategic advantage.

Meta-Relevance: When the current meta favors decks with a reliance on singular, high-value targets, Innocuous Insect can serve as a strategic counterbalance, offering players a cost-effective way to populate the board and maintain pressure.


How to beat Innocuous Insect

Innocuous Insect may seem like a minor threat on the battlefield of Magic: The Gathering. However, underestimating this creature can be a mistake. With its capacity to grow into a more formidable form, Innocuous Insect demands attention. Despite its initial weakness, it can evolve into a creature that significantly challenges opponents. Tackling this card requires a strategy that focuses on removing it before its transformation potential is realized.

Direct removal spells are the efficient way to handle this card, as they can dispatch Innocuous Insect swiftly and spare you the worry of dealing with its larger version. Cheap and effective spells like Shock or Fatal Push, can take out the Insect without much investment, preserving your more powerful resources for the bigger creatures that might follow. Counter spells also serve as a pre-emptive strike, eliminating the threat before it even hits the board. By prioritizing the immediate threats from cards like Innocuous Insect, you maintain control of the game’s pace and avoid potential pitfalls posed by seemingly unremarkable cards.

Using proper removal tactics ensures that you won’t underestimate Innocuous Insect or let it become more than a mild nuisance. With well-timed interventions, you keep the power dynamic firmly in your favor and maintain an unbothered stance in your path to victory.


Cards like Innocuous Insect

Innocuous Insect is an intriguing creature card in the realm of Magic: The Gathering. Its simplicity and low-cost nature align it with other one-mana creatures such as Merfolk Looter or Elvish Mystic. However, Innocuous Insect differentiates itself by often being a purely defensive play, there to guard against early aggression and provide a barrier in the form of a creature. Merfolk Looter, in contrast, offers card filtering with its tapping ability, while Elvish Mystic ramps up one’s mana pool, bolstering a player’s resources.

Looking at other similar scope cards, the likes of Suntail Hawk present themselves – a one-mana flyer that can start poking at opponents’ life total right away. Although Innocuous Insect doesn’t have flying, it may have other abilities that provide strategic advantage depending on the deck it’s included in. Cards like Typhoid Rats with deathtouch or Fencing Ace with double strike also share the one-mana value but offer offensive capabilities that our humble insect forgoes in favor of a more passive role.

Therefore, Innocuous Insect stands as a resilient and cost-efficient card to include in a deck aimed at stalling the opponent or for setting up more intricate board states in later parts of a game within Magic: The Gathering.

Merfolk Looter - MTG Card versions
Elvish Mystic - MTG Card versions
Suntail Hawk - MTG Card versions
Typhoid Rats - MTG Card versions
Fencing Ace - MTG Card versions
Merfolk Looter - Exodus (EXO)
Elvish Mystic - Magic 2014 (M14)
Suntail Hawk - Judgment (JUD)
Typhoid Rats - Innistrad (ISD)
Fencing Ace - Return to Ravnica (RTR)

Cards similar to Innocuous Insect by color, type and mana cost

Wall of Water - MTG Card versions
Prodigal Sorcerer - MTG Card versions
Apprentice Wizard - MTG Card versions
Homarid - MTG Card versions
Wall of Air - MTG Card versions
Daring Apprentice - MTG Card versions
Time Elemental - MTG Card versions
Reef Pirates - MTG Card versions
Rootwater Shaman - MTG Card versions
Wind Drake - MTG Card versions
Volrath's Shapeshifter - MTG Card versions
Clam Session - MTG Card versions
Stronghold Biologist - MTG Card versions
Quicksilver Wall - MTG Card versions
Phantom Warrior - MTG Card versions
Wormfang Drake - MTG Card versions
Animating Faerie // Bring to Life - MTG Card versions
Ghost of Ramirez DePietro - MTG Card versions
Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar - MTG Card versions
Queen of Ice // Rage of Winter - MTG Card versions
Wall of Water - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Prodigal Sorcerer - Unlimited Edition (2ED)
Apprentice Wizard - The Dark (DRK)
Homarid - Fallen Empires (FEM)
Wall of Air - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Daring Apprentice - Mirage (MIR)
Time Elemental - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Reef Pirates - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Rootwater Shaman - Tempest (TMP)
Wind Drake - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Volrath's Shapeshifter - Stronghold (STH)
Clam Session - Unglued (UGL)
Stronghold Biologist - Nemesis (NEM)
Quicksilver Wall - Prophecy (PCY)
Phantom Warrior - Duels of the Planeswalkers (DPA)
Wormfang Drake - Judgment (JUD)
Animating Faerie // Bring to Life - Throne of Eldraine (ELD)
Ghost of Ramirez DePietro - Commander Legends (CMR)
Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Queen of Ice // Rage of Winter - Magic Online Promos (PRM)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Innocuous Insect MTG card by a specific set like Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2019 and Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2021, 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 Innocuous Insect and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Innocuous Insect Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2019-11-07 and 2021-08-20. Illustrated by Jehan Choo.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12019-11-07Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2019CMB1 232015normalblackJehan Choo
22021-08-20Mystery Booster Playtest Cards 2021CMB2 232015normalblackJehan Choo

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Innocuous Insect card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2019-11-12 If you pay the buyback cost for a permanent spell, it doesn’t enter the battlefield as it resolves. It moves from the stack to its owner’s hand.

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