The Planeswalking Peddler

Magic: The Gathering - Tutorial Week 8

appy Belated New Year, everyone. It’s not often that we get to celebrate an event as special as this (unless you live on Mercury, in which case you celebrate New Year every day).

So, how are things? Good? We’ve got a blank slate in the form of a new year and the initiative to do great things is all on us. What I’m trying to say is that today I’ll be comparing “counter a spell” with the vastly different “put a counter on this thing” ability of some cards.

As we saw in the immediately preceding article, when you counter a spell, it’s almost like you’re destroying the spell before it actually happens. That’s a somewhat accurate analogue of how “counter a spell” works.

Now we have something completely dissimilar. Take a look at the following card:

“Whenever an opponent shuffles his or her library, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Cosi’s Trickster.”

Here, “counter” refers to a noun, a physical thing that you put on Magic cards to keep track of something. Whereas previously “counter” was a verb, a physical action that can be carried out. The same word for two separate things may seem counter intuitive, but that’s why I’m here to explain.

Cosi Trickster will get to grow its power and toughness whenever an opponent searches his library. This effect lasts beyond the end of a turn. The growth is indicated by putting any small object onto the card. Doesn’t matter whether you’re using coins or paperclips or plastic beads to keep track of the growth; in the end, it all comes down to what is convenient for you to keep track of the Trickster’s increasing +1/+1 bonus.

Another card says:

“Necrogen Censer enters the battlefield with two charge counters on it.

: Remove a charge counter from Necrogen Censer: Target player loses 2 life.”

This time the counters do not remind you of the increase in muscle but instead are used to remind you how many times you can use the Censer. Because the Censer enters the battlefield with only 2 counters, and each time you use it you need to remove 1 counter, this means that you can use the Censer only two times in total. Once again, doesn’t matter what objects you use to mark the card’s counters. Anything you feel is handy to carry around is usable.

Counters that players put on cards are there to remind them of certain game things. Some players don’t bother to hassle themselves with counters but in general it is good practice to have at least some small objects with you when you play certain cards.

And so we shall look at an example game scenario.

Let’s ignore the abilities of the Blue creatures (since they’re dead anyway). So, blue has the overwhelming advantage in number of creatures. Black just cast his Demon the last turn and it enters the battlefield with a pair of -1/-1 counters. This means that the Demon isn’t a 6/6 as printed, but a 4/4 because the two counters shrink it.

The Demon has an ability that says you can remove a -1/-1 counter from it to make other creatures smaller. Black decides to use this ability. He pays one Black mana and removes a counter to shrink each other creature. This makes the Demon a 5/5 and every other creature gets -1/-1. Since there is another counter on the Demon, Black chooses to activate the ability again. He ends up with a healthy 6/6 Demon facing an empty, unobstructed board.

Here is what it looks like after those two activations from the Demon:

Creatures don’t die just to damage but also die when their toughness hits 0. When a creature’s toughness is reduced to 0, or less than 0, that creature is immediately put into the graveyard. No second chances.

Since the Demon no longer has any -1/-1 counters on it, it can’t use its ability anymore. Black either has to try and put more -1/-1 counters on it or will have to abandon the ability forever and stick to a 6/6 flying monster (which ain’t bad).

We have been introduced to two very basic counters: -1/-1 counters and +1/+1 counters. The Demon makes use of the former and cards like Cosi’s Trickster use the later. -1/-1 counters are used primarily to remind the players that a creature is smaller than it looks while +1/+1 counters are used to remind players that a creature can gain a larger body as the game progresses.

If a +1/+1 counter is put onto a creature that already has a -1/-1 counter, those counters cancel each other out and are removed from the game in a ratio of 1-for-1. And vice versa. This is to avoid confusion should these two opposite counters be placed on the same card. Two +1/+1 counters will cancel out the two -1/-1 counters that the Carnifex Demon puts on creatures. One counter will just cancel out the first, while three counters will cancel both and still have one to spare.

Counter (noun): any object put onto a card to remind a player regarding a game stated

Admittedly, there are many different types of counters, but regardless what they names are, they all serve the same purpose: as a reminder that something is going on in the game. Even if you ignore the names of counters, you can still navigate your way through a game.

So far we have explored two basic types of counters, +1/+1 and -1/-1. Now we’re going for the third basic type which are called “charge counters”.

Let’s look at Necrogen Censer again.

Charge counters are like battery charges for cards. In the case of the Censer, it has only two charges which means it can make a player lose life only two times. Unless you have a way to recharge it, the Censer will putter out after two uses.

Tumble Magnet enters the battlefield with three charge counters, so it can use its tap ability three types. If it came in with five, then it would be able to tap an artifact or creature five times.

Note: Both the Censer and the Magnet have to tap themselves when using their abilities. Since a tapped card can’t tap itself again, the Censer and the Magnet can only use their abilities once per turn. You will have to wait until the start of your turn, where they untap, in order to use their abilities again. Outside of this “one-activation-per-turn”, they can use their abilities until they run out of charges.

We’ll be getting into the last remaining card type next week, and it has all to do with counters. It isn’t an artifact, isn’t an enchantment, instant, land, or sorcery. It’s something very different, like you suddenly had a team mate to fight alongside you. Next week, we’ll be getting close and personal with… players in the shape of cards.