Magic: The Gathering Jumpstart 2022 expansion heralds an insect invasion

Two years ago, the first Jumpstart was lauded and criticised for different reasons. For one, it had great reprints in the form of Rhystic Study and Craterhoof Behemoth, but on the other hand, it was bogged down by delays and printing errors. Now the second edition of Jumpstart is here — and we have high hopes for it.

Jumpstart is by far one of the easiest ways to get into Magic: the Gathering. The concept is simple — pick two packs, shuffle the cards together, and you have a deck ready to play in two minutes. These packs even come with Lands so you don’t have to worry about not being able to cast your spells.

Each pack contains 20 cards that all follow a specific theme. Today Wizards wants to share one of them right here: Insects! There will be four variations of the Insect theme, containing a mix of cards from the overall pool below:

Let’s dive into some of the key cards from the Insect theme to help you get off to a winning start!

How to play Insects in Jumpstart?

This Insect-theme is mono green, filled with lots of Creatures that grow bigger and synergise by using +1/+1 counters. For example, you’ve got Moldgraf Millipede that can put multiple counters on itself if you’ve had lots of Insects destroyed earlier in the game.

Duskshell Crawler helps put a +1/+1 counter on any of your own Creatures, but the best part is that any of them that has such a counter will gain trample — very useful for punching through enemy blockers!

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Phantom Nantuko is one of the three possible Insect Rare cards, and is pretty strong on its own. Not only can it prevent damage by removing +1/+1 counters, it can add another counter onto itself by tapping. So at the very least, he gets to do that once per turn cycle. It’s going to be really difficult for any opponent to deal with that.

The most powerful card in the Insects Jumpstart pack is likely to be Zask, Skittering Swarmlord. It’s a Legendary Creature, and like its name, leads the charge for the rest of the swarm. Its ability to recast any Insects that were already in your Graveyard will be very useful to provide a constant threat. And being able to give Death touch means your little bugs can match any gigantic monsters the opponent can throw at you.

Which Jumpstart themes pair well with Insects?

Although not all of the 46 themes in Jumpstart 2022 have been revealed, there are common archetypes that go well alongside these green Insects. Here are some recommend themes to go with Insects:

Red Goblins — Green-red has always been a great colour combination for aggressive strategies. Goblins are also cheap to cast, which can be a nice set up for your Insects that can add +1/+1 counters to different Creatures.

Hydras — these Creatures also love playing with +1/+1 counters, many of whom have an X in their casting cost, so the more you spend, the bigger they get.

Adapt Mechanic — This specifically uses +1/+1 counters too and are usually found in a blue-green configuration. If there’s any to be found in Jumpstart 2022, this would be an effective team-up with Insects!

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While not everyone enjoys playing with creepy crawlies (and it doesn’t get that much card support either), don’t look down on them because they can easily get out of hand, especially when combined with the right partner theme. Jumpstart allows for many permutations, so each game is going to be different!