Pestilence

Enchantment

At the beginning of the end step, if no creatures are on the battlefield, sacrifice Pestilence.

{B}: Pestilence deals 1 damage to each creature and each player.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Big Apple Highlander	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Freeform	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Oldschool 93/94	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
PreDH	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

Nicklaffy2302 on Pestilence-Fog Abzan Midrange

1 week ago

capwner Thanks so much for the suggestions! The Gates idea is interesting, but it makes me a bit nervous since the manabase already feels pretty fragile with three colors. I’ve gone back and forth on Guardian of the Guildpact a lot. It’s obviously fantastic with Pestilence, and you might be right that having a hard-to-kill finisher would help close games. My hesitation is mostly curve space and trying to keep the deck focused on ETB-value creatures, but I’m definitely open to testing a copy or two.

capwner on Pestilence-Fog Abzan Midrange

1 week ago

Pestilence and fog, what a nightmare. Seems like gates could fit with the deck's creatures so might be worth considering, gives an alternate angle and even synergizes with Pestilence via Basilisk Gate pumping your stuff up to survive the dmg. I think Nitrox_18's Food Pestilence - www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/visual/7266723 is just killer and worth a look/try maybe for inspiration. Also I thought you'd have Guardian of the Guildpact since that is a classic Pestilence card and a big reason they used to run white, any reason for the omission? Cool list always like seeing pauper brews!

hyalopterouslemur on Which Mono-Color is the Most …

3 weeks ago

{U} has the best card draw, and as a consequence of early Magic's design philosophy (Basically, every color could do anything but some colors would suck at it; the exception is blue, which could even be demonstrably better at it than the color that's supposed to be best at that thing, e.g. Prodigal Sorcerer existing.) you can find a good card to do just about anything you want.

{G} has all the mana accel. People are surprised by mana dorks being so powerful, but do you doubt Bloom Tender or Devoted Druid or Kami of Whispered Hopes? In addition, green card draw can sometimes be even better than blue; I've drawn ten cards (and gained 12 life) off Shamanic Revelation before. (Which, I suppose I could do with Distant Melody, minus the lifegain.) Green also has the best recursion, and, yeah, green can tutor creatures; Birthing Pod, Chord of Calling and Green Sun's Zenith all exist.

{B} is next. It has the best tutors, including the only universal tutors in the game. (Yes, I know about Prototype Portal. Does anyone use Prototype Portal?) It has some good boardwipes, unlike green and blue. (Just put a Sword of Light and Shadow on one of your creatures and then activate Pestilence over and over.) While black's card draw leaves something to be desired—I still play Phyrexian Arena in Stax decks and practically nowhere else—the ability of black to pay life in exchange for things is at double strength in a 40-life format.

{W} is fourth. Basically, the only thing white has going for it is boardwipes, though experimenting with white card draw is nice; just remember, "once per turn" applies to your turns as well.

{R} is, to be candid, red doesn't really impress me at all. It has some boardwipes. some spot removal, but even when I'm playing multiple colors, it feels like I'm including red only because my Commander is red, and I want to justify having enough mountains to reliably cast from command zone.

Zigen on Westvale Atlas

2 months ago

The crazy thing is when this card first came out I went to local game store and bought everyone of them they had. It is now one of my staples in 90% of the decks I have made. along the lines of Crypt Ghast Dark Ritual Pestilence Demon and Pestilence

DreadKhan on Is he a goat man? or a man goat?

2 months ago

No Fanatic of Mogis, I feel like my boy is better than something in here.

Also, this is going to sound crazy, but maybe Pyrohemia/Pestilence as a way to repeatedly clear out weenies that people are desperately casting to try to block your guys? it's also good with any Toughness boosting anthems.

Xtough on Swamps Matter

6 months ago

Nice theme for the deck. Maybe you could consider Drain Life, Pestilence and Crypt Rats as mana sink. And on topic I think Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in combination with Filth could be fun...?

legendofa on Help me to build a …

9 months ago

What kind of combo are you looking for?

Lock combos (something like Teferi's Puzzle Box + Notion ThiefGC or Arcane Laboratory + Knowledge Pool) are pretty close to Stax and tend to lead to saltiness, but are as control-combo as you can get.

Instant win combos (Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank or Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond, for example) end the game fast, but need to be supported a little more, especially if the pieces don't do much by themselves.

"Open-ended" non-infinite combos (Rona, Tolarian Obliterator  ^Flip + Pestilence + Body of Knowledge) are the least salt-inducing, as long as you can finish them in a reasonable time, but they might not close out the game.

Rekt_Angles on Everybody Hates Winter

9 months ago

Might I also suggest some "everything hurts" cards like Zo-Zu the Punisher, Sunspine Lynx, Spellshock, Spear Spewer, Pyrohemia, Pestilence, and Descent into Avernus.

There's also one of my favorite pet cards, which is objectively bad, but I have to recommend it anyway: Obsidian Fireheart