Stun counter

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Stun counter
Counter
Use	Prevent untapping
Placed on	Permanents
Introduced	Dominaria United
Last used	Tarkir: Dragonstorm
Storm Scale	2
Scryfall Statistics
cards

Stun counters are a counter type in Magic. They were introduced in Dominaria United. Stun counters prevent tapped permanents from untapping.

Description

Stun counters act similar to a Freeze mechanic. They keep permanents out of the action for an extended period. Freeze effects restrain themselves to prevent the next untap during the untap step, but using stun counters lets the freeze persist beyond the first turn of effect. This is most pertinent for instants and sorceries as opposed to Auras.

If a tapped permanent with a stun counter on it would become untapped, a stun counter will be removed from it instead. This is a replacement effect. The use of counters makes for better memory tracking, if the source that "froze" is no longer apparent. It also allows for compounding, whereas multiple freeze effects will overlap on itself.

Stun counters are considered to be evergreen. Applying stun counters to other permanents is considered primarily in blue and secondary in white. They are not expected to be used by other colors. By the beginning of 2025, Mark Rosewater had noted that on the Storm Scale stun counters fall somewhere between evergreen and deciduous.

Use as a downside

The vast majority of cards that add stun counters tap the permanent that gains them in order to "turn off" any activated abilities and, for creatures, the ability to attack. There are two cards that add stun counters to themselves where Design has opted to use the counters as a downside mechanic. Pugnacious Hammerskull and Ambling Stormshell gain stun counters when they attack but are not required to tap. If either creature were granted vigilance, they could accumulate stun counters indefinitely with no drawbacks.

There is also a series of four creatures (Sleep-Cursed Faerie, The Watcher in the Water, The Beast, Deathless Prince, and Baloth Prime) that enter tapped with a substantial number of stun counters on them, preventing them from contributing to combat for multiple turns. These are a successor to "sleeping" creatures like Woolly Razorback or Dark Depths that had various design forms in the past. Each of them has an ability that untaps them, which will only remove one of their stun counters. Unlike previous sleeping creatures, the ability that lowers the countdown is still relevant after it "activates".

Rules

Lost Caverns punch card with Stun counters

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)

Stun Counter

A counter that stops a permanent from untapping. See rule 122.1d.

122.1d defines how stun counters work:

From the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)

• 122.1d One or more stun counters on a permanent create a single replacement effect that stops the permanent from untapping. That effect is “If a permanent with a stun counter on it would become untapped, instead remove a stun counter from it.”

Rulings

• Stun counters can be put on permanents that are already tapped.
• A single stun counter will be removed if the permanent tries to untap for any reason, including its controller's untap step, a spell or ability trying to untap it, or even its controller trying to untap it to pay a cost.
• If a permanent has more than one stun counter on it, only one will be removed each time it would become untapped.
• Abilities that trigger when a permanent “becomes untapped” won’t trigger if a stun counter is removed instead.
• If untapping a permanent is part of a cost (such as that of Halo Fountain’s first ability), you may pay that cost by “untapping” a tapped permanent with a stun counter on it. The stun counter will be removed and the creature will remain tapped. However, the cost will still be paid.
• On the other hand, if untapping multiple permanents is part of a cost (such as that of Halo Fountain’s last two abilities), you can’t “untap” the same permanent more than once to pay that cost.
• Stun counters exist independently of the effects that created them. If a permanent has no stun counters on it, it will untap as normal.
• Stun counters are not keyword counters, and they don’t cause the permanents they’re on to gain any abilities. They won’t be affected by effects that cause permanents to lose all abilities

Trivia

• In Magic Online, the counter is colored yellow as it's considered a negative effect.
• Fear of Sleep Paralysis and Floodpits Drowner are the first cards to care about stun counters. Fear of Sleep Paralysis prevents their removal and Floodpits Drowner can shuffle a creature with a stun counter into its owner's deck.