Pestilent Souleater
Artifact Creature — Phyrexian Insect
: This creature gains infect until end of turn. ( can be paid with either 
or 2 life. A creature with infect deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- New Phyrexia
- Price
- $0.09
- EDHREC rank
- #23010
Pestilent Souleater gives any creature infect for two Phyrexian mana, and that cost can be paid with two life instead of mana — meaning on a sufficiently large attacker, you can close a game out of nowhere. The catch is that Phyrexian mana life payments add up fast, and a 3/3 body for five mana does nothing on its own.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Pestilent Souleater sees almost no play outside Commander, where the infect-on-demand angle has a real home in poison and Voltron strategies. In Pauper it's legal but competes poorly against dedicated infect creatures that arrive cheaper and hit harder on rate. Legacy and Vintage have no interest — the life-payment trick isn't worth a slot when those formats end games faster. Commander is where Pestilent Souleater actually matters: one activation can redirect a massive commander damage swing into a lethal infect hit, and the flexibility to use life instead of mana makes it easier to hold up interaction the same turn.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.09 bulk tier
At $0.09, Pestilent Souleater is deep bulk — buy a dozen copies without thinking about it. Demand is narrow enough that there's no realistic floor-raising pressure, so don't expect it to appreciate; just pick it up when you need it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.