Innocuous InsectHow it works & interactions with other cards

What It Does

Innocuous Insect is a 3-mana creature with Flash and Flying. Its most unique feature is the combination of an 'on-cast' triggered ability that lets you draw a card and the Buyback keyword. Buyback allows you to pay an extra {1}{U} to return the spell to your hand instead of letting it enter the battlefield or go to the graveyard.

How It Resolves Step by Step

When you cast Innocuous Insect, you choose whether to pay the Buyback cost. Immediately after casting, the 'draw a card' ability triggers and goes on the stack above the spell. Once that trigger resolves and you draw your card, the spell itself attempts to resolve. If you paid the Buyback cost, the card returns to your hand. If you did not, it enters the battlefield as a creature.

Common Mistakes

The most common error is assuming the Insect enters the battlefield when Buyback is paid. According to official rulings, if you pay the Buyback cost for a permanent spell, it moves directly from the stack to your hand and never touches the battlefield. This means 'enters the battlefield' abilities will not trigger if you choose the Buyback option.

When to Play It

Use Innocuous Insect early as a flying threat or a surprise blocker using Flash. In the late game, if you have five mana available, you can cast it with Buyback repeatedly to draw cards every turn without losing the card itself, providing a powerful engine against control decks.

Interaction examples

Continuous Card Draw

You have five mana available. You cast Innocuous Insect and pay the {1}{U} Buyback cost. The 'draw a card' trigger goes on the stack and resolves. Then, the Insect spell resolves and returns to your hand. You have successfully drawn a card and kept the Insect in hand to repeat the process next turn.

Interacting with Enter the Battlefield Triggers

Solemn Simulacrum

You have both cards in hand. If you cast Solemn Simulacrum, its ability triggers when it enters the battlefield. However, if you cast Innocuous Insect with Buyback, it never enters the battlefield, so it cannot benefit from effects that care about creatures arriving on the board.

Buyback and Type Doubling

Roaming Throne

You control Roaming Throne with 'Insect' chosen as the type. You cast Innocuous Insect. Because Innocuous Insect's draw ability is a 'cast' trigger and not a trigger from a permanent on the battlefield, Roaming Throne (which affects creatures you control on the battlefield) does not double the draw trigger.