Life counter

A life counter is a device to keep track of life totals.

Types

Scrye counter

Scrye magazine sold a series of pewter life counters produced by Reaper Miniatures beginning in 1994. The counters were made in two pieces. The 2 inch base was etched with the numbers 1-20 along the edge. A rotating piece with an indicator arrow was put on top, and featured artwork or miniature figure. These came in several colors and styles and could be painted by the owner just like similar miniatures. These counters were not official Magic products, but were very popular with players of the time.

Duelist counter

Sold by The Duelist since 1995, these sturdy, finely crafted pewter counters let you mark off lifes with brass- and silver-plated beads. They were avalaible in the 5 mana colors. The counter fit in a Magic deck box.^[1]

Spindown life counter

A spindown life counter is a 20 sided die that is designed for the express purpose of keeping track of life totals. Its sides are in a sequence such that adjacent numbers are next to each other, facilitating the change of life total and avoiding any complications with finding the desired life total. This is different from a standard 20-sided die, on which the numbers that are opposite of each other on the die add up to 21 (1 is opposite from 20, 2 is opposite from 19, and so on), as is traditional for dice in general.

The "20" on a spindown life counter is replaced with an expansion symbol (or in the case of core sets the appropriate number).

Spindown life counters are generally found in fat packs, beginning with Apocalypse, and are generally made in the five Magic: The Gathering colors (white, blue, black, red, green) for each set. There was a gold-colored spindown life counter in the Alara Reborn fat pack as the set is gold based.

A five-piece set, containing one of each color, was sold as a standalone product (WOC06137, ISBN 0743002377). The symbol used was an icon of the Black Lotus.

Circle spinner

In Coldsnap^[2] and the Ravnica block, Wizards chose to try a different approach. Instead of dice, a plastic life counter with a circle spinner that had numbers going from 1 to 30 was included in fat packs for the block. These life counters were not unlike those that were provided on Magic: The Gathering-branded Ultra Pro deck boxes.

Some odd-shaped circle spinners were provided for Ninth Edition (an angel) and Unhinged (an eight ball).^[3]