Counter (marker)



In Magic: The Gathering, a counter can be used to represent different effects on a card, especially those that last beyond the current turn.

Description
A counter is a small marker placed on an object or player that modifies its characteristics or interacts with a rule or ability. To physically represent the marker, players can use different items like glass beads, dice, scraps of paper or poker chips.

Examples of counters include +1/+1 counters, charge counters, and time counters. Richard Garfield created counters for Alpha to designate an increase in power and/or toughness, to track the gaining of resources, and to mark a permanent change.

Obsolete terminology
undefined

Move
To move means to remove a counter from one object and put it on a different object. Some older cards used "move" with respect to Auras; those cards have received errata in the Oracle card reference and now use the word "attach".

The ability to move counters is primary in blue.

undefined

Remove
Black is the color that gets to remove counters, but only from permanents on the battlefield and not players.

Two cards directly remove counters from players: Leeches and Suncleanser, both white. Mark Rosewater says he "personally despise[s]" Leeches and so it is highly unlikely that more cards will be printed that are capable of removing counters from players, especially poison counters.

Effects that reset the game will also remove counters from players, like Karn liberated.

Increase
The effect to increase the number of counters as they're being made, or making more after they've already been made, is primary in blue and green (e.g. Doubling Season). White is secondary.

Avoid
Avoiding counters being put on permanents (and sometimes players) is primary in white (e.g.Solemnity)

Trivia

 * While trying to refer to counters, the card text of referred to them as tokens. This was remedied in Masters Edition IV, where the card referred to Mire counters.
 * Counters were featured as rules card 4 of 9 in the Magic 2011 set.