How do poison counters work in MTG?

MTG poison counters are one of the many mechanics available in Magic: The Gathering.

The mechanic has been around since 1994’s Legends set and was retired until the rise of New Phyrexian in the Scars Of Mirrodin block. Poison counters are one of the small handful of alternate win conditions, with varying ways to give them to opponents. Winning through infect damage is one of the most popular and easiest alternate win conditions to accomplish which has led to a more controversial status in the community. If you’re just starting out, here’s how to play Magic: The Gathering. And here are the best MTG Commander Precons.

How poison counters work in MTG

Poison counters are counters that go onto an opponent. Someone with ten or more poison counters on them automatically loses the game. Since they are counters, poison counters can be added to players with effects that proliferate to put an extra one on them. Counter-doubling effects also apply to poison counters so if you have a card like Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider on the battlefield it will double the number of poison counters an opponent gets when they gain poison counters.

Creatures with the infect ability can give poison counters to players. Rather than deal combat damage, they will instead give poison counters to a player equal to the damage that would have been dealt. If they deal damage to a creature, they are given -1/-1 counters equal to the power instead.

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Quick infect for a quick win

Creatures with infect can be pumped with spells that raise their power. This allows you to quickly give an opponent multiple poison counters. There are some stat-boosting spells that are free to make achieving this victory rather easy. Blighted Agent is an excellent game-ender as it cannot be blocked to ensure the infect damage gets through.

How does toxic work in MTG

Creatures with the toxic ability is another way to give players poison counters. Unlike creatures with infect, they have no effect when dealing damage to a creature. Their power also does not determine how many poison counters it gives when it connects for damage. 

Instead, creatures with toxic will give poison counters equal to their toxic number if they deal combat damage. So if a creature has a toxic one, it will give one poison counter or if it has a toxic two it will give two poison counters, and so on. It will also deal combat damage normally as well as give poison counters, unlike creatures with infect. Even if just one damage gets through, the defending player will get counters equal to the toxic ability’s number. Dealing more or less damage does not affect how many poison counters someone gets. 

If a creature gains two instances of toxic (such as through an Aura), both toxic effects will trigger.

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The best toxic creatures

Since creatures with toxic only need one damage to get through, giving them trample is a way to guarantee you will deal the minimum of one damage to the opponent to make sure they gain infect counters.

How does corrupted work in MTG

Corrupted is a static ability that applies to players with three or more poison counters on them. Cards that have corrupted have more powerful effects that are unlocked once a player becomes corrupted. In a multiplayer game in a format like Commander, so long as at least one player is corrupted all cards with the ability will use the corrupted effect rather than the default one. 

Corrupted encourages you to get three poison counters onto someone as quickly as possible. The effects for having someone corrupted are notably stronger and is worth focusing on one opponent to make sure it turns on early in the game. There are no downsides to being corrupted, other than the effects of certain cards will be better.

How to get rid of poison counters in MTG

Leeches is the only card in Magic: The Gathering history that removes poison counters. The ability to remove poison counters is considered a design mistake. Even though Leeches is on the Reserved List (meaning no card on it will ever be reprinted), it would not be reprinted even if it wasn’t. 

Technically, there are a few cards that can remove any kind of counter from an opponent, and that includes poison counters. These are Price of Betrayal from War Of The Spark and Suncleanser from Core Set 2019. However, there is almost no reason you would ever want to remove poison counters from your opponents. There is no benefit for you to do so and it just makes it harder for you to win.

The only other way to remove all poison counters from yourself is by restarting the game entirely. This is an effect that leads to long matches. It often forces them to go to time it is on almost no legal card. The one exception is Karn Liberated, whose ultimate ability restarts the game. And it only brings back all non-Aura permanents that were exiled with Karn. 

Although you cannot remove poison counters from yourself easily, you can stop them from being put on you at all. Melira, Sylvok Outcast causes all creatures your opponents control to lose infect. And it prevents you from being able to gain poison counters. Your creatures also cannot get -1/-1 counters put on them. Note that this is used for combo purposes rather than to prevent infect. 

Melira’s other card – Melira, The Living Cure can slow down the spread of poison counters. If you ever get a poison counter, you cannot get any more for the rest of the turn. In addition, if you ever gain more than one poison counter it will prevent more than one from being put on you. 

That is everything you need to know about how poison counters work and how to remove poison counters. It is very easy to go from zero to ten in a game, especially if your opponents aren’t expecting the deck. Winning by giving someone ten poison counters is rather trivial. This allows for wins in the first few turns in a game. Thanks to cards that directly give poison counters and proliferating, it is easy to give someone ten poison counters without needing to do it all through combat. Our best MTG Commander Decks will give you a headstart if you’re considering the Commander game mode. And if you’re new to it, here’s how to play Commander in MTG.

MTG poison counters FAQs

What is the difference between Toxic and poison counters?

Toxic creatures apply a specified number of poison counters instead of a number of poison counters equal to their power in the game.

Do poison counters do damage?

Yes, they deal combat damage, which is then turned into poison counters as a triggered ability.