All 27 Pest Cards in Magic Ranked

Pest Infestation | Illustration by Brian Valeza

Magic has a few creature types that have changed greatly since their first appearance, and their numbers include the humble, annoying, and sometimes adorable pest. While the type was introduced as an artifact creature as part of Mirrodin sets, 2021’s Strixhaven: School of Mages rewrote the rulebook on what to expect, then Secrets of Strixhaven remixed the rewrite.

We’ve got more token generators than actual pest creature cards, but when it comes to this strategy, it’s all gravy. So, who ranks best in this pest contest?

What Are Pests in MTG?

Pest | Illustration by Ilse Gort

Pest cards in Magic are made up of both pest creature cards and cards that create Pest tokens.

There are two primary different kinds of pests: those that come from Mirrodin, and those from Arcavios. Pests from Mirrodin are artifact creatures, though we only have Signal Pest and the tokens from Nuisance Engine.

As for Arcavios, we get various pests in black and green, including two different tokens. Pests from the first Strixhaven set gain life when it dies, while the one from Secrets of Strixhaven gains life when it attacks.

Wherever they come from, pests embody what we perceive from all kinds of critters when we call them pests. They annoy us. They destroy our things. And they can multiply like crazy.

#27. Overgrown Pest

Overgrown Pest is hyper situational. That “double-faced card” text is a sign that it was a common in a set full of battles and dual-sided cards that represented compleated citizens of the multiverse. But yeah, it’d rather spend a turn on a Cultivate, thank you.

#26. Pestbrood Sloth

A 4/4 for 4 that represents three bodies is usually a good deal, though I wish Pestbrood Sloth had stats that made it easier to reanimate. We also don’t have enough sloth payoffs, but I bet that’ll change.

#25. Shopkeeper’s Bane

What would you get if you took a Charging Badger and two Pest tokens (the ones with attack triggers), and put them in a super-Frankenstein-blend-o-matic? Shopkeeper's Bane.

#24. Professor of Zoomancy

Professor of Zoomancy is a Limited common that’s a budget inclusion in bear typal decks.

#23. Containment Breach

Naturalize plus a Pest token is a fair trade for 3 mana. You won’t use Containment Breach much besides as budget removal.

#22. Essenceknit Scholar

Board presence and card draw are some of the fundamental building blocks of most Magic decks, and Essenceknit Scholar supplies both. Hybrid mana keeps it flexible, though you can’t use any colorless mana sources.

#21. Pest Summoning + Hunt for Specimens + Send in the Pest

The Summoning cycle in Strixhaven is generally underpowered outside the context of lesson/learn. Pest Summoning is fine on rate, and I appreciate the flavor text.

Hunt for Specimens is 1 mana cheaper and gives you just one token, and the SOS version (Send in the Pest) isn’t a lesson, but mono-black means you can play them in more decks.

#20. Pest Mascot

Pest Mascot is an Ajani's Pridemate with trample, or perhaps Blood Researcher is the better comp. Golgari has a few of these creatures, but pest typing means that this mascot can benefit from typal lords and anthems.

#19. Pestilent Cauldron / Restorative Burst

Trading Post-style artifacts with multiple activated abilities can help to fill roles in your deck on a budget. When Black Market Connections is out of reach, cards like Pestilent Cauldron are worth a look when they have abilities that synergize with your build. A discarded card is such a cheap cost to get a Pest token, especially in reanimator decks.

#18. Nuisance Engine

One of the few non-Strixhaven cards to create Pest tokens, Nuisance Engine is certainly an oddity. You have to invest 5 mana before you get your first 0/1 token, which is puny, but there’re applications. Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut is often my first thought for artifact creatures, but 0/1s can also help ninjutsu and similar decks when you go wide enough.

#17. Valentin, Dean of the Vein / Lisette, Dean of the Root

While Valentin, Dean of the Vein is the Pest token generator, Lisette, Dean of the Root is the better payoff. When you gain life, you can pay to pump your creatures.

#16. Callous Bloodmage

Modal enters triggers can offer good value, and Callous Bloodmage delivers with sacrifice fodder, card draw, and graveyard hate. A stat line of 2/1 with a mana value of 3 makes it relatively easy to grab with many reanimation abilities.

#15. Signal Pest

Signal Pest’s combination of abilities and power/toughness make it a decent fit in any deck that needs attackers that go unblocked. It often enables ninjutsu or sneak, it’s a cheap attacker for Winota, Joiner of Forces, and it’s an artifact creature with battle cry for Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut.

#14. Blex, Vexing Pest / Search for Blex

Not that many people were running Blex, Vexing Pest as a typal commander, but its stock for pests, bats, and spiders has certainly risen over the last few years. As an MDFC, you get two sides of utility, but it also means that the sorcery backside is easier to recur to your hand from your graveyard. Search for Blex filters your library, or you can just use it to mill yourself at a rate of five cards for 4 mana.

#13. Feral Appetite + Lluwen, Exchange Student

The newer of the two pest anthems needs fuel in graveyards to give you tokens. A little graveyard hate is good, and deathtouch on offense makes for difficult blocking decisions. The fact that Feral Appetite needs cards in graveyards makes it less helpful when you need to recover after a fully loaded Farewell.

Lluwen, Exchange Student is remarkably similar: It costs more mana to cast, dies to Doom Blade, is completely restricted to sorcery speed, and splits Feral Appetite’s Pest token generation into two steps. But you can lead a Pauper Commander deck with this one, and there’s something to be said for that.

#12. Eccentric Pestfinder

“Each opponent” text always points to multiplayer, and that’s part of why Eccentric Pestfinder appeared in the Witherbloom Pestilence precon rather than the main set. It has to survive a turn around the table each time you can prepare it.

#11. Teacher’s Pest

Think of Teacher's Pest as a self-reanimating Pest token, the one that gains life when it attacks, and uh, yeah, that’s pretty much it.

#10. Pest Rescuer

It only gives you a token when you have none, so Pest Rescuer isn’t the most explosive at widening your board. It does add to your lifegain, though, which can accelerate you towards something like Aetherflux Reservoir.

#9. Blight Mound

Blight Mound can go off if you can make a sacrifice loop with a nontoken creature, including persist combos. The board presence and sacrifice fodder make the typal anthem almost secondary.

#8. Ribtruss Roaster

Ribtruss Roaster is at its best when your deck mixes some +1/+1 counters in with its sacrifice, which Golgari often does anyway. Its devour ability can turn a board of fodder into counters for itself, which then refunds you in Pest tokens at your end step.

#7. Moseo, Vein’s New Dean

I just love the artwork and theming on this card; it reminds me so much of plague doctor aesthetics. Moseo, Vein's New Dean is also interesting for its infusion ability, an end step reanimator that cares about the amount of life you’ve gained. Pest tokens are a natural fit, and Arnyn, Deathbloom Ritualist helps you to get there.

Here’s a scenario:

• You have a Pest token (with an attack trigger) without summoning sickness, Arnyn, Deathbloom Ritualist, and one Moseo on the board.
• Cast a second Moseo; the enters ability triggers to give you another Pest token. The legend rule forces you to bin one of your Moseos, and its 2/1 stats mean that its death triggers Arnyn for 2 life gained and 2 life drained.
• Attack with your Pest token, which leads to 1 more point of life gained.
• On your end step, Moseo’s infusion triggers; bring back the dead Moseo, which creates another token, forces you to sacrifice one of your Moseos, and leads to another +2/-2 life for you and your opponent.
• Net result: 5 life gained, 4 life drained, 2 Pest tokens gained that can attack without summoning sickness on your next turn.

It’s slow and grindy, but in 20-life formats, that’s a 5-turn clock, just with SOS cards. Add Starscape Cleric to the mix and that turns into 5 life gained, 7 life drained. And that’s before we consider what this can do when you Entomb something good first.

#6. Tend the Pests

When you’ve done the work to make a big creature, Tend the Pests is a really cheap way to get a really wide board of tokens. It combines extremely well with another STX card, Plumb the Forbidden; the Pests you make gain you life when they die, when cancels out the life loss on Plumb to turn it into pure card draw.

There’s so many ways to turn that into a huge advantage. Pitiless Plunderer turns all that sacrifice fodder into Treasure tokens, a Jund deck could use Impact Tremors to turn the token generation into damage (basically a roundabout Fling), and don’t get me started with Chatterfang.

#5. Blech, Loafing Pest

For my money, Blech, Loafing Pest is the best commander for a typal focused pest deck. Every instance of lifegain makes your pests bigger, and it works for all the same types as Blex. I can see it as a way to buff your spiders in a Shelob, Child of Ungoliant deck.

#4. Gorma, the Gullet

Gorma, the Gullet can get extremely huge, especially if you have it in play while you go infinite with a sacrifice loop, like with token combos or persist combos. It can also make a creature that enters after you’ve gone off massive as it enters.

#3. Sedgemoor Witch

Gosh dang, magecraft. Sedgemoor Witch has some infinite combos with Chain of Smog, Chain of Acid, and some other cards. Otherwise, it’s a good card for decks that plan to sling spells and that want some sacrifice fodder or board presence. Witherbloom, the Balancer appreciates the wider board because of affinity, while Silverquill, the Disputant wants the sacrifice fodder.

#2. Pest Infestation

Pest Infestation fits perfectly into decks that want X-spells or a ton of sacrifice fodder, where it serves a role as enchantment and artifact removal. It’s also an “up to” ability, so you won’t be forced to nuke your own pieces if you want to pump more mana into it to get more tokens. I love that extra flexibility.

#1. Beledros Witherbloom

The upkeep trigger allows Beledros Witherbloom to produce value over the course of a multiplayer game. You can trade in the life that Pest gain to cast a second turn’s worth of spells whenever you activate it. It doesn’t even limit you to your own turns, so you can activate it any time to cast a huge instant or activate an expensive ability.

Best Pest Payoffs

Blech, Loafing Pest and Blex, Vexing Pest are your pest lords. Blex gives you just a static buff, while Blech’s lifegain trigger can get out of hand when you swing with a wide board of tokens that gain life when they attack.

Two 3-mana enchantments are anthems for your pests when they attack, which works especially well with the tokens that gain life on offense. Blight Mound also gives you Pests when your nontoken creatures die, and you can exile cards with Feral Appetite to widen your board, too.

Don’t forget lifegain payoffs, either. Black has a bunch, including the infamous Exquisite Blood/Sanguine Bond combo and its variants. A Pest token can be all you need to set off the chain reaction once you’ve got your combo pieces set up.

Less of a payoff than a parallel synergy, Food tokens are often in black and green, and they’re also tokens that gain life. Many cards that you’ll use in a food deck fit in with pests, like token multipliers, lifegain payoffs, and sacrifice outlets.

Are There Any Pest Commanders?

Yes! There’s some legendary pests, plus eligible commanders that make Pest tokens of different kinds.

• Blech, Loafing Pest
• Blex, Vexing Pest / Search for Blex
• Gorma, the Gullet
• Beledros Witherbloom
• Valentin, Dean of the Vein / Lisette, Dean of the Root

For my money, Blech, Loafing Pest is the best of the bunch since its lifegain trigger can turn into an overrun. Beledros Witherbloom is a good option both at the head of the deck and in the 99 since that last ability gives you something to do with all the life you gain. Gorma, the Gullet is more of a generic sacrifice and +1/+1 counters commander. Pests can still work with it, but you aren’t using Gorma to its full potential with a pure pest build.

Savra, Queen of the Golgari cares about when you sacrifice black and/or green creatures, so Pest tokens that gain life when they die are the perfect sacrifice fodder to get the most out of Savra’s abilities.

Wrap Up

Blight Mound | Illustration by Oriana Menendez

The Witherbloom-identified pest cards have a strong, cohesive identity that mixes aggression, lifegain, and sacrifice to put a neat spin on what the color pair does. While the old tokens reward you for a pure sacrifice theme, the new ones want you to get more aggressive with it. So don’t hang back. Sink your teeth into something!

Do you run pests as a theme or a subtheme in your decks? Which commander do you think is best suited to support pests? Let me know in the comments below, or share your tips and tricks on the Draftsim Discord. For more from Draftsim, subscribe to our daily newsletter and come find us on YouTube at The Daily Upkeep.

Until next time!