Insect

Insect
Creature Type
(Subtype for creature/kindred cards)
Statistics	231 cards 2.2% 2.6% 2.6% 26% 8.2% 37.2% 0.9% 0.9% 0.4% 0.4% 3% 0.4% 0.9% 3% 11.3% 48 Insect creation cards 2.1% 2.1% 8.3% 60.4% 2.1% 2.1% 8.3% 2.1% 2.1% 10.4% as of Fallout
Scryfall Search
type:"Insect"

Insect is a catch-all creature type used for crawling or flying little creatures and larger and/or humanoid variants. The first creature to bear the type was Yavimaya Gnats in Ice Age (though the Carrion Ants from Legends was later issued errata to become an insect.) Insects are printed in all colors, but most prevalent in green and black.

Types of insects

Imago

• Ant (Army Ants, Ant Queen)
• Bee (Killer Bees, Unyaro Bees)
• Beetle (Carrion Beetles, Scavenging Scarab, Monstrous Carabid)
• Butterfly (Giant Caterpillar and Megaflora Jungle produce Insect tokens named Butterfly)
• Cave Crawlers or "mantis-spiders." They have long, spindly legs, narrow and segmented insectile bodies, and folded arms tucked against their chests. Extremely fast, they have razor-sharp forearms and mandibles surrounding their jagged maws.
• Cicada (Skittering Cicada)
• Cockroach (Brood of Cockroaches)
• Dragonfly (Bayou Dragonfly)
• Firefly (Firefly)
• Fly (Robber Fly)
• Gnat (Yavimaya Gnats)
• Grasshopper (Acridian)
• Hornet (Hornet Queen)
• Locust (Locust Swarm)
• Mantis (Giant Mantis)
• Mosquito (Swamp Mosquito)
• Moth (Hawkeater Moth)
• Milipede (Moldgraf Millipede; actually a myriapod)
• Solifuge (Giant Solifuge; actually an arachnid)
• Wasp (Caustic Wasps)
• Walking Stick (Twigwalker)
• Weevil (Brain Weevil)

Larva

• Beetle (Deadly Grub, Coiling Woodworm)
• Butterfly (Giant Caterpillar)
• Fly (Flow of Maggots)

Artifact

• Clockwork Beetle
• Clockwork Swarm
• Hornet Cannon (produces Insect artifact creature tokens named Hornet)
• Jhoira's Toolbox
• Rust Tick
• Sludge Strider, monstrous artifact water striders that balance on the surface, feeding on passing refuse.
• Wirefly Hive (produces Insect artifact creature tokens named Wirefly)
• The Hive (produces Insect artifact creature tokens named Wasp)

Plagues

Amonkhet

• The Locust God released a swarm of locusts on an unprepared Amonkhet.

Grixis

Banewasps are omnivorous insects that nest in reeflike hives that tower over Grixis's sea. Banewasps prefer decaying flesh to other food and will swarm in great numbers in search of fresh corpses. However, sometimes the larvae feed on the flesh of zombies or living humans. Banewasps are poor sources of vis, but can be used by necromancers to animate fleshdolls.

Mirrodin / New Phyrexia

Pistus flies are mosquito-like flying insects that feed on the fluids of living beasts on Mirrodin. A sufficiently hungry swarm of pistus flies can even take down a dragon. In recent times they've become an unwitting ally of New Phyrexia, as they are capable of slurping up and then spreading the Phyrexian contagion to other creatures.

Sapient insects

Dominaria

Emerald dragonflies

Emerald dragonflies are insects native to the White Woods of Corondor. They were used by the Calthyn elves in their battles against the Lieryn elves.

Eumidians

Eumidians are humanoid wasps with brilliant gold exoskeletons, four transparent wings, and large green compound eyes.

Eumidians originally lived in a hive society, somewhere in Jamuraa. However, individuals with particularly powerful minds, such as Xira Arien, were able to break free and live independently.

Nantuko

The Nantuko are a sapient race of mostly benevolent man-sized insects, who lived a life of strong respect for nature and protected the Krosan Forest. Nantuko are most commonly found in Krosa on Otaria, but have appeared on Urborg as well. During the time of major climate change in Sarpadia following The Brothers' War, the Thelonite Order included humanoid insects who may have been Nantuko.

The current fate of the Nantuko race is unknown, as Krosa has been all but destroyed after the machinations of Karona, the Mirari, and the time rifts. In the Time Spiral novel, there are mentions of Nantukos still living in Urborg, and serving Lord Windgrace.

Nantuko are also present in Kamigawa. They were originally designed to replace the Orochi, but while the snake folk ultimately remained only one was printed, with no in-universe explanation or reference to its species.

Notable Nantuko include:

• Thriss

Innistrad

Although the plane of Innistrad has no known natural species of sentient insect, there have been cases documented of mad scientists delving into the dark arts and becoming nightmarish aberrations.

Kamigawa

Kamigawa has two races of intelligent insects. One are the white aligned giant moths, which form bonds with the samurai but are equals in their arrangement. The other are the species that Spring-Leaf Avenger is, which were intended to be Nantuko (see above), as introduced in Neon Dynasty.

Ravnica

Kraul

The sapient Kraul inhabit the Undercity, far below the main streets of Ravnica. Living on the periphery, some felt a sense of loyalty and kinship toward the Golgari Swarm, while others rejected the guilds. These six-legged insectile beings are hard-headed and literal-minded. Some of them possess a set of functional wings and are capable of flight. These creatures lay their eggs in the body of another species. The giant "mother" is eaten alive when the eggs gestate. Highest in rank are the death priests, followed by the necromancers. The majority occupy various roles of soldiery, from commanders to the lowliest infantry. Their current leader is unknown.

After Vraska became guildmaster, the Kraul gained a more important role and became loyal to her personally instead of to the Swarm.

Use of insects

Alara

Scarlet wasps are particularly deadly wasps that build huge nests in Naya's trees. One sting can kill a medium-sized animal. Humans have cultivated an immunity to the sting of the scarlet wasp, and often build near their huge nests for protection. In small doses, the wasp toxin can be distilled into an elixir that provides humans with increased strength.

Dominaria

The Windgrace Acolytes of Urborg used trained insects, called gladehunters, to track down artifice and artificers alike.

Kamigawa

Some samurai of Eiganjo on Kamigawa ride gigantic trained moths into combat. Nezumi shamans are known to use incantations that summon and control insects, to swarm and distract their enemies.

Ravnica

The Golgari Swarm of Ravnica ride bizarre insects called stiltstriders or longlegs, which are gangly, stilt-legged creatures as tall as a building.

Shadowmoor

The Hobgoblins of Shadowmoor tame and ride giant cicadas into battle. (Hobgoblin Dragoon)

Tarkir

At the isolated Highspire Stronghold on Tarkir, monks of the Jeskai Way are trained to control and ride wild mantises. These mantises make for dangerous mounts, never forming a sense of loyalty toward their riders, who must take care to always be on their guard.

Zendikar

Ventcrawlers are slow-moving arachnids the size of a car that enjoys feeding on the charred bodies of creatures caught in lava flows or deadly steam bursts. They have been domesticated by the Grotag tribe of goblins.

The Grotag are also known to occasionally tame geopedes, a red-aligned giant centipede-like insect.

Grand Creature Type Update

In (and before) the Grand Creature Type Update the creature types Ant, Bee, Butterfly, Caterpillar, Dragonfly, Hornet, Mosquito, Swarm, Wasp and Wirefly were changed to Insect. In Magic, centipedes and other Myriapoda are also considered insects.

Notable Insects

Dominaria

• Thriss
• Xira Arien

Ikoria

• Kathril

Mirrodin/New Pyrexia

• Vishgraz
• Zabaz

Ravnica

• Bozak
• Mazirek

Unknown

• Grist
• Zask

Universes Beyond

• Wise Mothman (Card)

Triva

• Swarmyard is a land that regenerates insects.
• The crossover Tyranid race are considered an insectoid race.

Tokens

Token Name	Color	Type Line	P/T	Text Box	Source	Printings
Insect	Black	Creature — Insect	0/1		Carrion
	Black	Creature — Insect	1/1		Nest of Scarabs
	Black	Creature — Insect	1/1	Flying	Xira, the Golden Sting
	Green	Creature — Insect	1/1		Ant Queen Beacon of Creation Broodhatch Nantuko Crawling Infestation Crawling Sensation Dragonlair Spider Hiveheart Shaman Infestation Expert Infested Werewolf Infested Roothold A-Iridescent Hornbeetle Iridescent Hornbeetle It of the Horrid Swarm Living Hive Old Rutstein One Dozen Eyes Saber Ants Scute Swarm Swarm Shambler Symbiotic Beast Symbiotic Elf Symbiotic Wurm Vilespawn Spider Vitality Charm Wirewood Hivemaster
	Green	Creature — Insect	1/1	Flying, deathtouch	Hornet Nest Hornet Queen
	Green	Creature — Insect	3/3		Rise of the Ants
	Green	Creature — Insect	6/1	Shroud	Deadly Grub
	Black/​Green	Creature — Insect	1/1		Grist, the Hunger Tide Grist, the Plague Swarm The Hunger Tide Rises Izoni, Thousand-Eyed
	Blue/​Red	Creature — Insect	1/1	Flying, haste	The Locust God
	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Insect	1/1	Flying	Canoptek Scarab Swarm
Butterfly	Green	Creature — Insect	1/1	Flying	Giant Caterpillar Megaflora Jungle
Hornet	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Insect	1/1	Flying, haste	Hornet Cannon
Wasp	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Insect	1/1	Flying	The Hive
Wirefly	Colorless	Artifact Creature — Insect	2/2	Flying	Wirefly Hive
Alien Insect	Green/​White	Creature — Alien Insect	1/1	Flying	Vrestin, Menoptra Leader
Phyrexian Insect	Green	Creature — Phyrexian Insect	1/1	Infect	Carrion Call Phyrexian Swarmlord Trigon of Infestation
Inchblade Companion	White	Artifact Creature — Equipment Insect	1/1	Equipped creature gets +1/+1. Reconfigure	Inchblade Companion
Giant Adephage	Green	Creature — Insect	7/7	Trample Whenever Giant Adephage deals combat damage to a player, put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of Giant Adephage.	Giant Adephage
Scute Swarm	Green	Creature — Insect	1/1	Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, create a 1/1 green Insect creature token. If you control six or more lands, create a token that's a copy of Scute Swarm instead.	Scute Swarm

Test cards

Token Name	Color	Type Line	P/T	Text Box	Source	Printings
Insect	Black	Creature — Insect	1/1		Celestine Cave Witch

Manlands

• Nantuko Monastery — 4/4 Insect Monk creature with first strike

Manstones

• Golgari Keyrune — 2/2 Insect artifact creature with deathtouch