If you’ve ever wanted to weaponize creepy-crawlies into a cohesive strategy, look no further. This Zask, Skittering Swarmlord deck is all about bugs, tokens, and turning piles of insects into overwhelming board states. It’s the kind of list that starts small—literally—but snowballs into an unstoppable swarm. Below you’ll find the full deck list with eBay links for every single card, followed by breakdowns on game plan, strengths, weaknesses, and upgrades.
Commander (1)
- Zask, Skittering Swarmlord – The insect overlord that recycles bugs from your graveyard and turns the swarm into card advantage.
Planeswalkers (1)
- Grist, the Hunger Tide – A bug-themed planeswalker that doubles as removal and a token engine.
Creatures (31)
- Amzu, Swarm’s Hunger – A massive payoff for going wide with insects.
- Ant Queen – Makes insect tokens on demand, perfect mana sink late game.
- Broodhatch Nantuko – Turns damage into insect tokens, hilarious against big attackers.
- Carrion Grub – Grows huge with your graveyard and mills you at the same time.
- Caustic Caterpillar – Cheap bug that nukes an artifact or enchantment.
- Crash of Rhino Beetles – Becomes a massive trampler with enough lands.
- Devouring Swarm – Sac outlet that turns tokens into evasive damage.
- Eumidian Wastewaker – A graveyard recursion bug that fits Zask’s plan.
- Giant Adephage – Copies itself every time it connects, bug exponential growth.
- Giant Ankheg – Buffs your swarm with trample and power.
- Grist, Voracious Larva – Another insect-based payoff with recursion vibes.
- Haywire Mite – Exiles problem noncreature permanents and gains you life.
- Horizon Explorer – Ramps you when it connects, keeping lands flowing.
- Hornet Nest – Turns damage into deathtouch hornets, discouraging attackers.
- Hornet Queen – Classic insect bomb that makes a lethal flying swarm.
- Icetill Explorer – Adds ramp potential tied to attacking.
- Izoni, Thousand-Eyed – Makes tokens equal to your graveyard size and can sacrifice them for cards and life.
- Living Hive – Combat damage equals more insects—simple and scary.
- Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest – Turns every sacrifice into team-wide +1/+1 counters.
- Moldgraf Millipede – ETB counters based on creatures in your graveyard.
- Moldgraf Monstrosity – Dies and brings back more creatures, great recursion.
- Nantuko Elder – Mana dork that ramps hard.
- Nantuko Husk – Sacrifice outlet that grows huge at instant speed.
- Realmwalker – Lets you cast creatures of a chosen type from the top of your library.
- Saber Ants – Turns damage into tokens, like Hornet Nest but ants.
- Scouring Swarm – Gets bigger whenever your insects connect.
- Seedship Broodtender – Boosts your swarm with extra growth mechanics.
- Skull Prophet – Mana dork that also mills you, perfect for graveyard strategies.
- Species Specialist – Draws cards whenever your chosen creature type dies.
- Springheart Nantuko – Ant-based synergy bug with recursion potential.
- Spring-Leaf Avenger – Ninjutsu and recursion in a single insect-friendly body.
Sorceries (10)
- Bala Ged Recovery – Regrowth effect stapled to a land.
- Casualties of War – Destroy multiple permanent types with one spell.
- Culling Ritual – Sweeps small stuff and gives you tons of mana.
- Dark Deal – Wheel effect that disrupts hands and fills your graveyard.
- Diregraf Rebirth – Reanimates a creature cheaper based on your dead bugs.
- Dread Return – Classic reanimation with a flashback sac outlet.
- Kindred Dominance – Wipes everything but your creature type.
- Rise of the Witch-king – Forces sacrifices and reanimates your stuff.
- Swarmyard Massacre – On-theme sweeper for non-insects.
- Victimize – Reanimates two creatures for the cost of one bug.
Instants (6)
- Arachnogenesis – Fog effect that also makes spider tokens.
- Assassin’s Trophy – Universal removal for anything.
- Harrow – Sac a land, grab two untapped basics.
- Heroic Intervention – Protects your swarm from board wipes.
- Nameless Inversion – Removal that also counts as a tribal card.
- Revitalizing Repast – Life gain and card draw instant speed.
Artifacts (7)
- Arcane Signet – Classic mana rock.
- Ashnod’s Altar – Free sac outlet that makes mana.
- Golgari Signet – Fixes your colors.
- Idol of Oblivion – Draws cards off token-making.
- Skullclamp – Turns your tokens into card draw machines.
- Sol Ring – Classic ramp rock.
- Talisman of Resilience – Cheap two-color rock.
Enchantments (8)
- Cemetery Tampering – Recursion and graveyard synergy.
- Crawling Infestation – Mills you and makes insect tokens.
- Crawling Sensation – Similar effect, self-mill plus tokens.
- Guardian Project – Draws you cards for unique creatures.
- Insidious Roots – Makes plant tokens whenever cards leave your graveyard.
- Necromancy – Flexible reanimation enchantment.
- Phyrexian Arena – Consistent card draw for life.
- Ripples of Undeath – Graveyard payoff enchantment.
Lands (36)
- Bloodstained Mire – Fetch land fixing.
- Bojuka Bog – Graveyard hate land.
- Boseiju, Who Endures – Channel land removal.
- Command Tower – Perfect mana fixer.
- Darkbore Pathway – Flexible dual land.
- Evolving Wilds – Budget fetch land.
- Fabled Passage – Fetches a basic, untaps late.
- Festering Thicket – Cycling land.
- 8 Forest – Your green basics.
- Golgari Rot Farm – Bounce land fixer.
- Grim Backwoods – Sac outlet land that draws cards.
- Llanowar Wastes – Pain land fixer.
- Overgrown Tomb – Shock land fixing.
- 8 Swamp – Your black basics.
- Tainted Wood – Fixes if you control a Swamp.
- Terramorphic Expanse – Budget fetch land.
- Twilight Mire – Filter land fixer.
- Underground Mortuary – On-theme graveyard land.
- Verdant Catacombs – Premium fetch land.
- Vernal Fen – Sac land for disruption.
- Viridescent Bog – ETB tapped dual land.
- Woodland Cemetery – Check land fixer.
Game Plan
The idea is simple: flood the board with insects, sacrifice them for value, and bring them back for even more shenanigans. Zask turns your graveyard into an extra hand, letting you replay insects and punish opponents who think a board wipe will save them. Between token makers like Hornet Queen and Ant Queen, recursion spells like Dread Return, and sac outlets like Ashnod’s Altar, you’ll never be short on bugs to throw around.
Strengths
- Resiliency: With reanimation, recursion, and redundancy, this deck shrugs off board wipes.
- Card Advantage: Species Specialist, Skullclamp, and Guardian Project mean you’re almost always drawing.
- Wide Board Presence: Few decks can spit out as many bodies as fast as this one.
- Scalable Power: Cards like Mazirek and Crash of Rhino Beetles turn your swarm into win conditions.
Weaknesses
- Graveyard Hate: A single Bojuka Bog can slow you down a lot.
- Mana Hungry: Token-making and recursion can drain your resources quickly.
- Flying Defense: Outside of Hornet Queen, your deck can be soft to evasive threats.
Upgrades
- Doubling Season / Parallel Lives: Double up your insect tokens for exponential growth.
- Craterhoof Behemoth: If you want an instant “I win” button, hoof it up.
- Altar of Dementia: Another sac outlet that doubles as a win con by milling opponents.
- Cavern of Souls: Makes sure your insects resolve through countermagic.
Final Thoughts
This deck is for players who love value engines, graveyard loops, and overwhelming opponents with sheer numbers. It’s resilient, fun, and full of flavor. If you enjoy the idea of being the person at the table who can say, “don’t worry, I’ve got more bugs,” this is your jam. Just be prepared for people to start bringing extra insect repellent whenever you sit down at the table.
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