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Alright, since I’m a new writer I might as well start with one of those “introductions” that are so popular now-a-days. I go by Tekkactus, or Tekk for short. That’s with two Ks. Not Tek. Okay? Good, moving on. I got into Magic around Planeshift, and it’s been a downhill spiral from there. I have an attraction to weird and interesting Enchantments and Artifacts, and I guess you could say I fall into the Johnny category. As you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking one of two things: Either you are already familiar with me and are thinking “Oh jeebus, an article by Tekk? It’s probably got something to do with bugs.” Or if you’re not, “Great, another new writer. As if we need that!”. Well, the article is about bugs, and trust me, I’m going to be the polar opposite of generic. So, without further ado, I present the first Tekk's Creature Feature: Insects. Fold Up The Picnic Blanket
In red, we see two types of insects: Power Tweaking cards, such as the Innate Fire breathing Firefly, or the Flowstone Cavern Crawler. The king of these crawlies is Clicksliver. Ditch a Goblin, and he becomes a threat. Pitch in more, and you’re opponent is in big trouble. (Unless he’s some weenie playing control and just bounces the bug. I hate those people!) Next we have the sneaky brand. Robber Fly and Shocker both are fun combo killers, (and to a lesser extent mill) and Fire Ants and Army Ants bring some semblance of sacrificial control. The odd man out it Lithophage, as he’d probably make more sense in black. (With swamp replacing mountain, naturally!) Editor's Note: My favorite red insect is the shocker. It's unfortaunte that I've never been able to build a deck fully abusing his super cool ability. ~Streetz~ Black Insects are the kings of ‘cockroach’ cards; they have a right to be! Black holds cards like Brood of Cockroaches and Flood of Cockroaches (notice the trend?) that just don’t want to go away. The recent Grave-Shell Scarab keeps popping out of the Graveyard, and Fog of Gnats doesn’t rightly get there much at all. Black Insects also aren’t afraid to feed off of you. Mind Maggots eat your brain, Nantuko Husk eats his comrades, Flow of Maggots eats your mana, and Bane of the Living makes everyone sick. They’re not the friendliest of creatures, but what can you expect?
Several Green insects also have an anti-blue vibe, with things like 'untargetability' and Vexing Beetle’s ability to avoid being countered. Editor's Addition:Green insects that can't be targeted include Deadly Insect, Gigapede, and Pincer Beetles. Vexing Beetle seems to be the only insect to date that cannot be countered... although I would expect to see more. Probably one of the more intense and cool anti-blue insects out there is the Xantid Swarm from Scourge. What a cool card! Because the majority of insects are green, it’s harder to form a common consensus about them. Editor's Addition: To date there is one white insect, one blue insect (thanks to Mistform Ultimus), 15 black insects, 8 red insects and a whopping 35 green insects. Of course there are also 3 gold insects and four artifact insects (the article insects have to thank the Mirrodin block for existing). If you would like to see the full creature visual spoiler for insects, please click here. More Legs is Not Always Better In the beginnings of Magic, Spiders were a more viable type than Insects, thanks to a certain Giant Spider. Well, who’s laughing now, you dirty arachnids? There are 66 insects in Magic, but only 14 Spiders! Sure, Spiders are still the undisputed kings of Web (The ability to block flyers) but the herald of that, that ancient Giant Spider, has been matched by Giant Mantis.
What do Spiders have on Insects now, huh? Don’t get me wrong, I like Spiders too (they’re one of the main races in my fictional set, something insects can’t boast) but they lack the variety that makes insects so wonderful. 2002 Was A Good Year For The Hive What gave Insects the jumpstart they needed to be a recognizable creature type?
In 2002 the Odyssey block opened a ton of doors for what
could be done with insects, thanks to the Nantuko. Approx. 23% of insects are
Nantuko. For quick reference, here is a list of the insects in the Odyssey
block, originally taken from Wizard's the Gatherer: 
The Odyssey block offered several good insects for the tribe as a whole. So far in magic there exists only one legendary insect and that is Thriss, Nantuko Primus from Judgment. Cards like Nantuko Shade and Phantom Nantuko saw T2 play and Nantuko Disciple was promoted to ninth edition. Let's not forget the infamous Nantuko Tracer who provided fuel for some infinite combo decks. Overall, the Odyssey block was great for the Insect tribal deck lovers out there. The insects of this block were even good for T2 players. Let's not forget to mention that the block was good for all sorts of other struggling creature types, so expect me to reference it a lot in future articles. Crawlies In Your Living Room Here are a few decks from the Magic Deck Vortex Deck Database (also known as the MDV DDB). Note not to confuse DDB with DBB. DDB is Deck Database whereas DBB is Death_By_Beebles. Ok, with that said, here are a few of my favorites (Breaking Out in Hives & Karona & Lime) along with some others that are cool and/or interesting. I won't comment on the decks, but there will be a link to the original deck page where you may or may not find additional information on the deck.
Pest Spray
Tune in sometime next month, when I delve into a creature type that doesn’t like to be itself! You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here. Most Popular
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First
off, where do Insects fit into the color pie? Insects are generally highly
defensive, and with 13 brain cells, they’re not exactly scholars. Mantises,
Grasshoppers, wasps are most like this. Insects aren’t afraid to get into the
stuff most animals cringe at, like corpses, fecal matter, and cannibalism.
Flies, cockroaches, you know, the stuff your mom hates. Insects have a
hive-mentality. They’ll put the needs of the group above their own. Bees and
ants both have this group-think thing going. So, where do they fit into the pie?
Wizards got it right: Insects are right at home in Red, Green, and Black.
Green
Insects have common ground in that they’re willing to put themselves down to
raise up the rest of the swarm. The Nantuko have their Disciple and the
legendary Thriss, and then there are the Ironshell and Marker Beetles. Green
Insects also share with Black insects venomous crawlies like Caustic Wasps and
Venomous Dragonfly, and regeneration like Yavimaya Gnats. 
Breaking
Out in Hives. 
Karona
& Lime. 
Shade
of Nantuko. 
In
closing, I’d like to thank anyone who actually read through this entire article
without groaning and going off to play Tetris. This won’t be the last time you
see a Creature Feature by myself, and next time let’s hope I won’t be so biased! 
