Pest Control
Sorcery
Destroy all nonland permanents with mana value 1 or less.
Cycling 
(, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BW
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- The Big Score
- Price
- $14.12
- EDHREC rank
- #14904
Pest Control wipes the board of tokens and small creatures at instant speed for two mana — that's a rare combination of efficiency and flexibility. It's a staple in any white deck that needs to answer go-wide strategies without spending a full wrath.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Pest Control punches well above its mana cost — token decks are everywhere, and instant-speed mass removal that leaves your bigger threats alive is exactly what white wants at two mana. Competitive and casual tables alike run token strategies as primary or supplementary win conditions, so Pest Control is almost never dead. In Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer it's fringe at best — dedicated sweepers like Terminus or Settle the Wreckage handle more threatening boards, and the size threshold limits what Pest Control actually clears in those formats. Standard is the one non-Commander format where it's worth watching, since token aggro and small-creature strategies show up regularly in the early format weeks.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Sunscour and Citywide Bust both clear the same small-creature range but hit sorcery speed and cost more mana, which is where Pest Control earns its price tag. Rout and Dusk // Dawn are reasonable budget replacements if you can live without the instant timing, but the gap in playability is real when you need to hold up interaction.
Price Context
Current price
$14.12 mid tier
At $14.12, Pest Control sits in the mid tier — expensive enough to feel like a deliberate include, cheap enough that it belongs in most white Commander builds that face tokens. It holds value well because instant-speed partial wipes at two mana don't have close functional equivalents, and white's demand for this kind of effect isn't going anywhere.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.