Pestermite (Original Art)

Pestermite is a 3 mana blue 2/1 Faerie Rogue creature with flash and flying, first printed in Lorwyn. When it enters the battlefield, you may tap or untap target permanent. It is a classic, player-favorite card because it’s a cheap, flexible, flying creature that also enables instant-win combos. In Modern, it’s considered one of the core pieces of the Splinter Twin / ”Twin” decks and Kiki-style combo lists. The main reason this card has seen so much play here is the instant combo it provides together with Splinter Twin (or Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker). When you attach Splinter Twin to Pestermite, you can create an infinite number of hasty Pestermite tokens and win the game immediately. That single interaction is what made this card so iconic. As a flashy 2/1 flyer with an ETB tap/untap effect, it can steal tempo either by untapping your own lands or tapping down blockers/opponent’s mana on their turn. That flexibility is also useful outside pure combo builds. One of the big moments for the deck was Samuele Estratti’s first place finish at Modern Pro Tour Philadelphia 2011. At Pro Tour Fate Reforged 2015, Antonio Del Moral León’s winning Splinter Twin list again used Pestermite as part of his combo package. Pestermite also sees play in the Pauper format where it turns up in Mono Blue Aggro faerie/tempo or combo lists. In cEDH decks it’s also very popular as a one-of or supporting combo piece (e.g. Thrasios + Yoshimaru). Pestermite is a Lorwyn-era card and has some reprints (Modern Masters, Jumpstart 2022). It is not on the Reserved List.