Pointed Discussion

Magic: The Gathering Card Comments Archive

Pestilence

Multiverse ID: 21149

Pestilence

Comments (31)

Bracador
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (4 votes)
Truly, a staple in many a black deck back in the day and an excellent example of Black philosophy. Of course, Pestilence is great just for its activation acrobatics.
urzamagic
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0) (4 votes)
My Pestilence Deck

27 lands
1 cabal coffer
3 orshov basilica
4 tainted field
4 godless shrine
9 swamp
6 plains

16 creatures
4 paladin en-vec
4 mystic enforcer
1 wall of nets
2 soul of the faultless
1 wall of reverence
3 purity
1 dread

17 other
4 vindicate
2 death grasp
4 pariah
2 urza's armor
1 worship
4 pestilence
Chrs84
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0) (2 votes)
I love how you have 1 dread card lol my girl just purchased Dread yesterday.

I'm curious to check out some of these actual cards, I don't know them all specifically but I'll take a look.

So many of us played with pestilence, and who hasn't spent a little black mana to spread the disease.
zombiefanboy_uk
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0) (2 votes)
Does 'Shroud' protect a creatures from 'Pestilence' damage?
nammertime
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0) (2 votes)
@zombiefanboy_uk: No, shroud doesn't protect from Pestilence. However, protection from black does.

Play this with Vigor... and Empyrial Archangel, if you wanna make some sorta five-color fun deck.
EnV
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (1 vote)
No, despite this being a source protection would work but shroud only deals with targeting. Since this doesn't target shroud can't do anything about this.
FargoJake
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0) (2 votes)
So good we banned it. Use it in a deck with big creatures and purge all the small weenie creatures over and over again.
raptorman333
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0) (2 votes)
Blazer_Dawg
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (2 votes)
Purity with this and you gain life while your opponents eat slow painful black death.
ClockworkSwordfish
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0) (1 vote)
So good...

Those birdy things in the background make appearances in other art, too. I don't know what they are.
Kamidii
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (1 vote)
@zombiefanboy_uk
No, It doesn't protect from wrath of god or spells like it either.
dark_hero
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (2 votes)
At first glance I was like "Huh that's neat he's crying flowers.......wait a second!"
I've always like this card as well as it's red clone Pyrohemia.
MyrWizard
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (1 vote)
Death Pits of Rath is fun with this
scumbling1
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0) (1 vote)
Ah, classic multiplayer mayhem!

@ Clockworkswordfish: Those are phyrexian Witch engines.
littlelorelai
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0) (1 vote)
Okay so I haven't played in a long time, but I remember that I used to use this card wrong. So pretend you and I are playing. Pretend it is my turn. I am about to use my pestilence. Since I don't have to tap it, Can I pay more than one black mana for the damage? How does that work?
TheMurderousKitten
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@littlelorelai:
Yes, you can pay more than one to use Pestilence's ability. You can do it as many times as you have mana. Technically, each time you tap and use it is a separate event on the stack and should be done one by one, but I don't know anybody who really worries about it if you just say you're tapping for 5 damage or whatever. If they have something they want to do in response to the first activation, they can just say so and you can wait to activate the remaining 4 or whatever amount you are planning to use.
Also, your post mentions it is your turn when you do this. Although you can use Pestilence on your turn, I generally prefer to wait until my opponent's turn, just to discourage him from playing any creatures or attacking me.
whiteshadw
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@zombiefanboy_uk

Shroud only protects creatures from spells or abilities that have 'target' in their wording. Since this says 'each creature' and not 'any number of target creatures' shroud does nothing.
Crag-Hack
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Worse than Withering Wisps tbh. Strange that it has a higher rating...
sincleanser
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I wonder why they are so hesitant to reprint this...
tavaritz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
And if you use this with Fungusaur remember to let Fungusaur trigger between your activations.
MaskedMakrel
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You can keep Pestilence in play for a long time with the help of Reassembling Skeleton . Save a few mana and just bring the Reassembling Skeleton back onto the battlefield before the end of turn and Pestilence stays in play.
atemu1234
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Combos most favorably with Stuffy Doll.
NewLows
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
this is so awesome.
listening to consvming impvlse right now.
PESTILENCE!
mtg rules.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Rushvin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Use a Circle of Affliction and can run a mono black deck with it. Pump the Pest and then use the Circle vs. Black and can send the damage you take to the opponent.
KFrosty
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Withering Wisp, anyone?