Cards And Zones
Tracking Counters
Follow a counter through movement, spending, copying, control changes and leaving the board.
Guide overview
What you’ll learn
- Board movement and control changes do not normally remove counters.
- Spend only counters on objects you control, as an effect permits.
- Copying keeps the receiving game element’s own counters; it does not copy the original’s counters.
Guide content
Understand the concept
A Counter (Marker)A game object placed on another object on the board to track an ongoing effect or requirement. A Buff is one kind of counter.View in Glossary is a marker placed on another game element, such as a unit. It is not a separate card you control. To track it correctly, follow the object carrying it and distinguish a move on the board from leaving it for an area such as TrashA player's off-board zone for cards that are killed or discarded and spells that finish resolving, unless an effect changes their destination. Its cards are public information and their order does not matter.View in Glossary . A BuffPlace a Buff counter on a unit that does not already have one, unless an effect allows more. Each Buff gives that unit +1 Might.View in Glossary is one familiar counter, but the same bookkeeping also matters for other counter types.
Keep the marker with its object
Moving a unit from Base to a battlefield, or RecallRecall means moving a permanent back to its controller's Base.View in Glossary it to Base, stays on the board. Its counters remain unless the effect says otherwise. A control change alone does not remove them either.
Moving a counter between objects is different. Follow the effect that permits the transfer: the counter is on the first object, then on the second. It has no intermediate zone of its own. A counter removed without being placed on another object stops existing.
Spending requires control
To spend a counter, remove the required number of the specified type from the specified objects. You must control the objects you spend counters from. The counters themselves have no ControllerThe player who currently controls a game object and makes the choices assigned to that controller. Control is established differently for battlefields and other objects, and need not match ownership.View in Glossary : control belongs to the game element carrying them. An effect permitting a spend is required; spare markers are not freely spendable resources.
Example - A unit carrying a Buff changes controller. The Buff stays on the unit. Its former controller can no longer spend that Buff; its new controller can spend it when an applicable effect allows that action. Merely changing control has not Buffed the unit again.
Copying does not copy the markers
A CopyTaking another object’s specified copyable traits, normally its printed or previously copied traits. Later bonuses and statuses are not copied. An object created as a copy starts with the copied traits as its own initial traits.View in Glossary changes only the characteristics it tells you to copy. It does not copy the original unit’s Buffs or other temporary changes. The game element receiving the copy keeps its own counters and temporary changes.
Example - Unit A has a Buff and unit B has none. If B becomes a copy of A, B does not gain A’s Buff. If the situation is reversed and a Buffed B copies an unbuffed A, B keeps its existing Buff. Copying does not mean moving a physical marker from one card to the other.
Leaving the board clears the counters
When a game element leaves the board for another area, such as Trash or BanishmentA player's off-board zone for banished cards. Its cards are public information and their order does not matter. It is separate from the Trash; some effects use it temporarily.View in Glossary , or returns from one of those areas, its temporary changes are cleared. Counters are removed. A unit returning from Trash or Banishment therefore does not recover the counters it had before leaving.
Worked sequence - Buff a unit at Base → move it to a battlefield → Recall it → Banish it → return it to the board using an effect. The Buff survives the Move and Recall. It disappears on the trip to Banishment and is absent when the unit returns. If an effect Buffs the returning unit, that is a new Buff action.
Keep in mind
Key points
- Board movement and control changes do not normally remove counters.
- Spend only counters on objects you control, as an effect permits.
- Copying keeps the receiving game element’s own counters; it does not copy the original’s counters.
- Moving between the board and an area such as Trash clears counters.