Pestilent Spirit
Creature — Spirit
Menace, deathtouch
Instant and sorcery spells you control have deathtouch. (Any amount of damage they deal to a creature is enough to destroy it.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Ravnica Allegiance
- Price
- $0.38
- EDHREC rank
- #12836
Pestilent Spirit turns every instant you cast into a deathtouch kill shot — creatures blocking or blocked by your instants die on contact, and it grants that ability to all your instants for as long as it's on board. The three-mana 3/2 body is incidental; the engine is the reason Judith, Carnage Connoisseur decks treat it as a near-staple.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Judith, Carnage Connoisseur
Judith, Carnage Connoisseur's ability lets you pay life to have a spell deal 1 damage to any target, and Pestilent Spirit converts that 1 damage into a guaranteed creature kill thanks to deathtouch — meaning Judith can snipe any creature on the board for two life, every turn, at instant speed.
Tor Wauki the Younger
Tor Wauki the Younger pings for 2 whenever you cast an instant or sorcery, and Pestilent Spirit makes every one of those pings lethal to any creature in the game, turning Tor Wauki's passive damage output into a removal engine that scales with spell volume.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Pestilent Spirit is a legitimate engine piece in Rakdos spell-slinger builds, not just a role-player — decks that already want to cast instants get free creature removal layered on top, which is a real rate at three mana. In competitive 1v1 formats like Modern and Pioneer, it sees essentially no play: three mana for a 3/2 that requires instants to do anything is too conditional against faster, more interactive fields. Legacy and Vintage offer better tools at lower cost for any deathtouch-ping synergy you might want. Pestilent Spirit's power is squarely multiplayer-Commander, where slow engines are tolerated and the ability to kill any creature for free with a Shock-effect is worth real card equity.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.38 bulk tier
At $0.38, Pestilent Spirit is deep bulk — easy to pick up in trade binders or throw into a cart without thinking twice. Bulk rares with narrow Commander applications tend to stay in this range, so don't expect movement unless a new Rakdos spell-ping commander breaks out and drives demand.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.