Sure, why not.
So far I've just done a quick ordering. I can convert these to exact values for each if you need them, but I assume that's easy to do. Some counter types are listed multiple times if they have different values in different situations; tell me how you need those organized.
Some of these feel a bit subjective, but often the chances of both counters ever being on the same permanent are so incredibly narrow that it's probably not worth worrying too much... these rankings will at least ensure automated or AI-controlled token-placing makes reasonable amounts of sense, and if a player has a hugely complicated combination of unusual different tokens or play, they probably want to go manual anyway. If anyone has any objections, feel free to suggest changes.
For things that affect everyone equally (eg.
Armageddon Clock), I decided to rate them as "good" counters because my assumption is that the person who controls the card probably played it with the intention of taking advantage of its effect using other cards, and therefore wants more counters on it to amplify what it's doing.
Some notes about cards I'm unsure of, if people want to discuss them...
Powder Keg: Adding fuse counters can be good or bad depending on whether you want to accelerate to a specific number of counters, or force it past that number. I left it as good because the
Powder Keg's controller has the option to trigger it immediately before proliferate goes off if they've reached the number they want already.
Voodoo Doll: Forcing counters onto this card can be good for its controller, but given how fast costs increase, it's reasonable to assume that adding an extra counter or two with proliferate is going to destroy it (and deprives the controller of one of their chances to use it by shooting 'past' it towards the point where they can no longer afford it), so I counted it as negative. It might also be counted as good or neutral, but honestly this card sucks so much it hardly matters.
Helix Pinnacle and its Tower Counters: Capable of winning you the game, but adding one doesn't really matter much when they only cost 1 mana each; in the unlikely event that there's another type of beneficial counter on the card (most likely via
Opalescence) we probably want to add that instead.
Time / Fade counters vs +1/+1 counters: This is one of the few choices that is likely to actually come up with some regularity, so I thought it'd be worth mentioning. I figure Time / Fade counters should be valued higher, since if you keep proliferating +1/+1 counters instead, the creature will eventually die no matter how big you make it. A few other counters are also rated above +1/+1 counters, generally because they're attached to abilities so overwhelming that they're worth more than making the creature huge. On the other hand, any toughness-lowering counter is treated as the nastiest counter available, since it will rapidly kill most creatures on its own (and few other negative counters really do very much more than that.)
Level counters vs +1/+1 counters: Not sure about these. It's another situation that is comparatively likely to crop up a lot.
Fungus counters: One of the most annoying counters to rate; they appear on only two cards,
Mindbender Spores and
Sporogenesis, but both can put them on any creatures, so their rating is actually important. And while fungus counters are always negative with respect to
Mindbender Spores, with
Sporogenesis they benefit anyone who controls a copy of
Sporogenesis. On top of this, both cards are viable candidates to be played by someone who uses Proliferate in green (often together, since they interact in a useful fashion), so it's important for their ratings to make sense and consider their context.
For people reviewing the list, I have bolded counters that appear on a large number of cards in situations where there could be multiple types of counters to consider, to make it easy to check the important comparisons (eg. the most important consideration for a beneficial counter on a creature is whether it is above or below +1/+1 counters.)
Anyway, the counters, in descending value. The groupings are just for easy reference, explaining why those counters are rated in that area.
- Counter rankings | Open
- // Capable of winning or overwhelmingly affecting the game; often part of a combo specifically with proliferate
Filibuster counters
Luck counters (on Chance Encounter)
Divinity Counters (on Myojin of Cleansing Fire, Myojin of Infinite Rage, Myojin of Life's Web, Myojin of Night's Reach, Myojin of Seeing Winds)
// Significantly improves the given card's function when extras are added repeatedly
Fade Counters (But Parallax Dementia should have its value flipped to negative if its controller does not control the creature it enchants.)
Time counters (on anything but Chronozoa, Deadly Grub, Lost Auramancers, Reality Acid, Infinite Hourglass, or suspended cards)
Funk counters
Feather Counters (on Kangee, Aerie Keeper or Soulcatchers' Aerie)
Loyalty counters
Hatchling counters
Hoofprint counters
Husk counters
Infection counters
Lore counters
Slime counters
Storage counters
Study counters
+2/+2 counters
+1/+2 counters
+2/+0 counters
+1/+1 counters
Spore counters
Wish counters
Verse counters
Shoe counters
Ki counters
Level counters (Note that level counters should probably have a much lower value once the creature hits max level; they're still notationally good and protect against counter removal, but more do nothing beyond that.)
Arrowhead counters
Javelin counters
Depletion Counters (on Hickory Woodlot, Peat Bog, Remote Farm, Sandstone Needle, Sparazzan Skerry)
Mining counters
Growth counters (on Momentum)
Charge counters
Blood Counters (on Rakdos Riteknife)
Arrow counters
Blaze counters (on Five-Alarm Fire)
Corpse counters
Devotion counters
Dream counters (on Rasputin Dreamweaver; but note that he can never have more than 7 ever, so if possible they should be lower-valued if he already has 7, since trying to proliferate them will fail.)
Fuse counters (On Goblin Bomb, Incendiary, or Powder Keg.)
Energy counters
Page counters
Pressure counters
Quest counters
Strife counters
Winch counters
+0/+2 counters
+1/+0 counters
+0/+1 counters
// More minor beneficial counters
Theft counters
Treasure counters
Scream counters (on Endless Scream)
Polyp counters
Plague counters
Net counters (on Merseine; but flip the value to negative if the permanent is enchanting a creature its controller controls.)
Muster counters
Fungus counters (if this creature's controller controls Sporogenesis, and it has not been affected by Mindbender Spores)
Ice counters (on Iceberg)
Eyeball counters
Petal counters
Shield counters
Pain counters
Cube counters
Matrix counters
Elixir counters
Echo counters
Currency counters
Aim counters
Carron counters
Healing counters
Credit counters
Vitality counters
Chip counters (for B-I-N-G-O -- how does this work with Proliferate?)
Pop! counters (For Balloon Game -- how does this work with Proliferate?)
Scroll counters
Tower counters
Tide Counters (When there are one or two Tide counters present already.)
// Affects everyone equally, but we assume the controller wants more counters on it.
Intervention counters
Despair counters
Doom Counters (on Armageddon Clock)
Growth counters (on Malignant Growth)
Soot counters
Wind counters (on Cyclone)
Time counters (on Infinite Hourglass)
// No actual effect for extras, but having any good
Awakening counters
Divinity Counters (on any non-Myojin)
Eon counters
Luck counters (on Gemstone Caverns)
Phylactery counters
Trap counters
// Everything above this point is positive
/*** ZERO STARTS HERE ***/
// These counters never have any effect at all, or are completely ambiguous and extras never matter anyway.
Blood counters (on anything but Bloodletter Quill or Rakdos Riteknife)
Depletion Counters (on anything not explicitly listed elsewhere.)
Fate Counters
Feather Counters (on anything but Kangee, Aerie Keeper or Soulcatchers' Aerie)
Flood Counters
Manifestation counters
Petrification counters
Third-degree burn counters
Training counters
/*** ZERO ENDS HERE ***/
// Everything below this point is negative
// No actual effect for extras, but having any is bad
Mire counters
Ice counters (on anything not listed elsewhere)
Gold counters
Blaze counters (on anything but Five-Alarm Fire)
Death counters
Bounty counters
Bribery counters
Doom Counters (on anything that is not Armageddon Clock.)
Hourglass counters
Magnet counters
Mannequin counters
Mine counters
Wind counters (on anything but Cyclone)
// Makes card less useful, without destroying it or affecting things beyond it.
-1/-0 counters
Pin counters
Time counters (on Chronozoa, Deadly Grub, Lost Auramancers, Reality Acid -- also suspended cards, but proliferate doesn't affect those. Reality Acid should have its value flipped back to positive if controller also controls the enchanted card.)
Shred counters
Blood counters (on Bloodletter Quill)
Fungus counters (unless this creature's controller also controls Sporogenesis, and it has not been affected by Mindbender Spores; in that case use the positive value above)
Glyph counters
Ice Counters (on Dark Depths or Woolly Razorback)
Paralyzation counters
Pupa counters
Scream counters (on All-Hallow's Eve)
Shell counters
Sleep counters
Sleight counters
Tide counters (when there are three Tide counters present already)
Velocity counters
// Able to destroy card, or actively hurts controller
Wage counters
Rust counters
Ore Counters (Orcish Mine; value is positive if enchantment's controller is same as the enchanted land's)
Omen counters (on Celestial Convergence; flip value if controller does not have the highest life.)
Music counters
Fuse counters (On anything but Goblin Bomb, Incendiary, or Powder Keg.)
Hunger counters
Flame counters
Depletion Counters (on Decree of Silence, Force Bubble, Land Cap, River Delta, Timberline Ridge, and Veldt)
Delay counters
Age counters
-0/-1 counters
-1/-1 counters
-2/-1 counters
-0/-2 counters
-2/-2 counters
Posted: 08 Mar 2014, 02:54
