Loyalty counter

Loyalty counter
[[File:{{#setmainimage:Loyalty.svg}}|70x70px]]
Counter
Use	Loyalty
Placed on	Planeswalker
Introduced	Lorwyn
Last used	Modern Horizons 3
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oracle:"Loyalty counter"

Loyalty counters are counters that are used to track the loyalty of planeswalkers.

Description

Loyalty counters are almost exclusively connected to planeswalker cards and are usually added or removed to activate loyalty abilities. Other abilities can cause them to gain or lose loyalty as well. Planeswalkers enter play with the number of loyalty counters printed on their card due to an intrinsic ability, lose loyalty counters corresponding to damage dealt to them, and go to the graveyard when they have no loyalty counters on them as a state-based action.

Gatewatch Beacon from Commander Masters is the first non-planeswalker card to enter the battlefield with loyalty counters on it.

Rules

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 122.1e The number of loyalty counters on a planeswalker on the battlefield indicates how much loyalty it has. A planeswalker with 0 loyalty is put into its owner’s graveyard as a state-based action. See rule 704.

Cards that interact with loyalty counters

Planeswalkers are only included in this list if they can interact with other Planeswalkers' loyalty counters, not just their own.

• Ajani Steadfast
• Ajani, the Greathearted
• Ajani Unyielding
• Brokers Ascendancy
• Carth the Lion: While templated as a cost increase, the functional effect is that the planeswalkers now add a (or another) loyalty counter with each activation.
• Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
• Chandra, Legacy of Fire
• Commodore Guff
• Confront the Past
• Dark Intimations
• The Elderspell
• Elspeth Conquers Death. III can put a loyalty counter to both planeswalkers and creatures.
• Forge of Heroes
• Garruk, Cursed Huntsman
• Gatewatch Beacon
• Gideon's Company
• Heart of Kiran
• Jace's Projection
• Light up the Night
• Liliana's Scrounger
• Lonely End
• Mila, Crafty Companion
• Oath of Gideon
• Pestilent Haze
• Sanctuary Warden
• Semester's End
• Settle the Score
• Spark Double
• Teferi's Talent
• Vivien's Talent

Generic counter interaction

• Aether Snap
• Ambiguity: Acorn
• Angelic Sleuth
• Animation Module
• By Gnome Means: Acorn
• Cemetery Desecrator
• Chisei, Heart of Oceans
• Clockspinning
• Dramatist's Puppet
• Deepglow Skate
• Doubling Season: Only affects the intrinsic planeswalker entry ability, not costs
• Falco Spara, Pactweaver: If planeswalker is Animated.
• Fate Transfer: If planeswalker is Animated.
• Ferropede
• Gilder Bairn
• Glissa Sunslayer
• Heartless Act
• Hex Parasite
• Hungry Hungry Heifer: Acorn
• Ichormoon Gauntlet
• Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion
• Marchesa, Resolute Monarch
• Maulfist Revolutionary
• Medicine Runner
• Nesting Grounds
• Nikara, Lair Scavenger: If planeswalker is Animated.
• The Ozolith: If planeswalker is Animated.
• Pir, Imaginative Rascal
• Power Conduit
• Price of Betrayal
• Render Inert
• Resourceful Defense
• Quarry Hauler
• Skyship Plunderer
• Soul Diviner
• Spinal Parasite
• Suncleanser: If planeswalker is Animated.
• Tayam, Luminous Enigma: If planeswalker is Animated.
• Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus
• Thief of Blood
• Thornmantle Striker
• Thrull Parasite
• Vampire Hexmage
• Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider: Affects both the intrinsic planeswalker ability and the loyalty ability costs
• All cards with Proliferate

Other interaction

• Bioessence Hydra: Gains +1/+1 counters equal to the number of loyalty counters when it enters and when loyalty counters are placed on.

Trivia

In Magic Online, the counter is colored green as it's considered a positive effect.