Pest

Pest is a creature type used for cards that depict small, annoying, destructive creatures. It is mostly used on tokens.

Mirrodin/New Phyrexia
Pests were introduced as artifact creatures from Mirrodin. For a long time, it was only used on tokens. The return to Mirrodin also meant the return of the subtype. It appeared on the card Signal Pest from Mirrodin Besieged.

Arcavios
Pests were reintroduced as non-artifact creatures in Strixhaven: School of Mages. At Strixhaven, the Witherbloom students use Pests as mascots.

Witherbloom mages need life essence in order to channel their magic, and the creatures that most frequently do the job are simply called pests. Pests are salamander-like, generally irritating creatures that dissolve readily into magical power for Witherbloom spells. They are wart-ridden, cold and slimy, and flagrantly violate decorum around manners and personal hygiene. Most mages outside of Witherbloom think of pests as awful creatures: they are disagreeable, hissing, spiky, untrainable monsters that bite without hesitation. But Witherbloom mages often carry pests around, doting on them as pets, pets that also serve as convenient sources of life essence.

As pests are repositories for magical energy, it is conjectured that their essences are as primordial as elementals, and that they may be related to every living thing on Arcavios. One of the simplest spells taught to all Witherbloom students drew forth the magical essence of a pest, converting it, body and soul, into pure magic.

Notable Pests

 * Arcavios
 * Blex

Trivia

 * Pest has never been used as subtype or token in connection with cards like Pestilence or Pestilent Kathari.