Blex, Vexing Pest was a legendary bog monster from the original Strixhaven: School of Mages set. He lurked in the campus's detention bog, hiding away from prying eyes and living his best pest life. Now, in a narrative bombshell unrivaled since the Phyrexian invasion, Blex is dead, and the Magic: the Gathering community is grieving.
There are candlelight vigils being held on Reddit, there's open mourning on Bluesky, and soulful tributes are being paid on Instagram. For a marsh-dwelling creature whose whole personality was based on hiding from others, Blex's death seems to have touched many. Despite Blex's unremarkable power level, to many, he was one of the best MTG cards out there.
Blex is survived by his son, Blech, Loafing Pest, and it's because of Blech that we know of his father's passing. The flavor text for this second generation swamp beast informs players that: "Despite Blex's passing, Witherbloom students still continued the tradition of a yearly search in his honor."
Both father and son are atypical commanders that encourage batching a bunch of different creature types together and hoping for the best. They each provide stat buffs to pests, bats, insects, snakes, and spiders. Blex is a double faced card, and his reverse side, Search for Blex, reveals the top five cards of his controller's library, which can then be added to the hand at a cost of three life each. Blech lacks this card drawing utility, but can provide significantly larger statistical bonuses, since he provides multiple +1/+1 counters rather than a static +1/+1 buff.
MTG players are always welcome on the Wargamer Discord, whether that's to pay respects to Blex or just to hang out.
You can also check out our list of every MTG set to look back over those halcyon days when the king of pests was still with us.