The cards that remove counters are mostly black. Vampire Hexmage sacrifices itself to take every counter off one permanent, Hex Parasite and Thrull Parasite pick them off a few at a time, Render Inert removes up to five and draws a card, and Aether Snap wipes every counter from every permanent. 43 Commander-legal cards remove counters as an effect: the ones that take every counter, the ones that take a few, and the two families players ask for by name, poison counters (with the -1/-1 counters infect leaves behind) and time counters. Cards that remove a counter only to pay a cost, such as Power Conduit, are a different tool and get their own short section.
Cards that remove all counters
These fourteen can take every counter at once, of every kind: +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters, loyalty, lore, charge and time counters, whatever is there. The first four reach across the battlefield: Aether Snap and Thief of Blood take every counter from every permanent, Eventide's Shadow takes as many as you choose, and Sin takes them from artifacts, creatures and enchantments. The rest hit one permanent or player.
| Card | Cost | Type | What it removes, and from what |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aether Snap | {3}{B}{B} | Sorcery | All counters from all permanents, and it exiles all tokens |
| Thief of Blood | {4}{B}{B} | Creature | As it enters: all counters from all permanents. It enters with a +1/+1 counter for each one removed. Flying |
| Eventide's Shadow | {4}{B} | Sorcery | Any number of counters from among permanents on the battlefield. You draw that many cards and lose that much life |
| Sin, Unending Cataclysm | {5}{G}{U} | Legendary Creature | As it enters: all counters from any number of artifacts, creatures and enchantments. It enters with twice that many +1/+1 counters. Flying and trample. Colour identity: green and blue |
| Vampire Hexmage | {B}{B} | Creature | Sacrifice it: all counters from target permanent. First strike |
| Suncleanser | {1}{W} | Creature | When it enters, one of two: all counters from target creature, which can't have counters put on it while Suncleanser stays; or target opponent loses all counters and can't get any while it stays |
| Mutated Cultist | {2}{B} | Creature | When you cast it: all counters from up to one target permanent or opponent. Your next spell this turn costs {1} less for each counter removed. Deathtouch |
| Invasion of Fiora | {4}{B}{B} | Battle // Legendary Creature | On its back face, Marchesa, Resolute Monarch: whenever she attacks, all counters from up to one target permanent. The front face destroys all legendary creatures, all nonlegendary creatures, or both |
| Perfect Intimidation | {3}{B} | Sorcery | One or both: all counters from target creature; target opponent exiles two cards from their hand |
| Purging Stormbrood | {4}{B} | Creature | When it enters: all counters from up to one target creature. Flying. Its instant half, Absorb Essence ({1}{W}), makes the card's colour identity white and black |
| Blitz Leech | {5}{B} | Creature | Flash. When it enters: target creature an opponent controls gets -2/-2 until end of turn and loses all its counters |
| Nexus Mentality | {3}{U} | Instant | One of two modes, or both if you control a commander as you cast it: all counters from target nonland permanent you control, and you draw a card for each; or move them all onto another nonland permanent you control |
| Honest Work | {U} | Enchantment, Aura | Enchants a creature an opponent controls. When it enters: it taps that creature and removes all counters from it. The creature loses all abilities and becomes a 1/1 Citizen that taps for {C} |
| Enchanted River's Grasp | {2}{U} | Enchantment, Aura | When it enters: it taps the enchanted creature and removes all counters from it. The creature loses all abilities and doesn't untap during its controller's untap step |
Vampire Hexmage is the one everybody knows: with Dark Depths it removes all ten ice counters at once, and Dark Depths then makes Marit Lage, a 20/20 token with flying and indestructible. It also kills a planeswalker outright, since a planeswalker with no loyalty counters is put into its owner's graveyard (Comprehensive Rules 704.5i). Aether Snap and Thief of Blood do that to every planeswalker on the table, yours included, and to every creature that is only as big as its +1/+1 counters. Thief of Blood and Sin remove counters as they enter, which is a replacement effect and not a trigger (rule 614.1c), so nobody can respond to the removal once the creature spell has resolved.
Cards that remove a few counters from one permanent
These fourteen take one counter, or up to three or five, or as many as you can pay for. That is usually enough: a planeswalker about to use its last ability, a creature carrying a handful of +1/+1 counters, a Saga one chapter from its end.
| Card | Cost | Type | What it removes, and how |
|---|---|---|---|
| Render Inert | {2}{B} | Sorcery | Up to five counters from target permanent, and you draw a card |
| Price of Betrayal | {B} | Sorcery | Up to five counters from target artifact, creature, planeswalker or opponent |
| Heartless Act | {1}{B} | Instant | One of two modes: up to three counters from target creature, or destroy target creature with no counters on it |
| Glissa Sunslayer | {1}{B}{G} | Legendary Creature | Whenever she deals combat damage to a player, one of three: up to three counters from target permanent; destroy target enchantment; or you draw a card and lose 1 life. First strike and deathtouch. Colour identity: black and green |
| Hex Parasite | {1} | Artifact Creature | {X}{B/P}: up to X counters from target permanent, and it gets +1/+0 until end of turn for each one. {B/P} can be paid with {B} or 2 life. Colour identity: black |
| Thrull Parasite | {B} | Creature | {T}, pay 2 life: one counter from target nonland permanent. Extort |
| Mabel, Bitter Recluse | {B} | Legendary Creature | When she enters: up to three counters from another target creature or planeswalker. Deathtouch |
| Medicine Runner | {1}{G/W} | Creature | When it enters: you may remove one counter from target permanent. Colour identity: green and white |
| Ferropede | {3} | Artifact Creature | Can't be blocked. Whenever it deals combat damage to a player: you may remove one counter from target permanent |
| Etched Slith | {1}{B} | Artifact Creature | Whenever it deals combat damage to a player, it gets a +1/+1 counter, and when it does you may remove one counter from another target permanent or from an opponent. Menace |
| Spinal Parasite | {5} | Artifact Creature | Remove two +1/+1 counters from it: one counter from target permanent. With sunburst, it enters with one +1/+1 counter for each colour of mana spent to cast it |
| Cemetery Desecrator | {4}{B}{B} | Creature | When it enters or dies, exile another card from a graveyard, then one of two: remove X counters from target permanent, or a creature an opponent controls gets -X/-X until end of turn. X is the exiled card's mana value. Menace |
| Thornmantle Striker | {4}{B} | Creature | When it enters, one of two: remove X counters from target permanent, or a creature an opponent controls gets -X/-X until end of turn. X is the number of Elves you control |
| Rhys, the Evermore | {1}{W} | Legendary Creature | {W}, {T}, only as a sorcery: any number of counters from target creature you control. Flash, and when he enters another creature you control gains persist until end of turn |
Hex Parasite is the most flexible: it costs {1}, fits any deck with black in its colour identity, takes life instead of black mana if you like, and works at instant speed as often as you can pay. Render Inert and Price of Betrayal are the cheap one-shots, and Price of Betrayal is the one that reaches an opponent's poison, energy or experience counters. Rhys works the other way round: persist brings a creature back only if it had no -1/-1 counters on it (rule 702.79a), so removing the counter it came back with lets it come back again.
How to remove poison counters, and the -1/-1 counters infect leaves
Infect deals damage to players as poison counters and to creatures as -1/-1 counters (Comprehensive Rules 702.90b and 702.90c), so removing "infect counters" is two different jobs. A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game, in Commander as anywhere else (rule 704.5c), and very few cards take poison counters off. Only one of them can take them off you.
| Card | Cost | Whose counters | What it removes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leeches | {1}{W}{W} | Any target player, you included | All of that player's poison counters, and Leeches deals that much damage to that player |
| Suncleanser | {1}{W} | Target opponent | All of that opponent's counters, of every kind, and they can't get more while Suncleanser stays on the battlefield |
| Price of Betrayal | {B} | Target opponent | Up to five counters |
| Mutated Cultist | {2}{B} | Up to one target opponent | All of that opponent's counters |
| Etched Slith | {1}{B} | An opponent | One counter, each time it deals combat damage to a player |
Leeches is the only card here that removes your own poison counters, and it charges you 1 damage for each one. The other four say "opponent", so in a multiplayer game they help only a player other than you: they strip an opponent's energy or experience counters, or save an ally from the poison a third player gave them. If poison is common at your table, prevention beats removal: Solemnity stops players from getting counters at all, and Melira, Sylvok Outcast stops you from getting poison counters.
The -1/-1 counters infect leaves on creatures are easier to deal with. Any +1/+1 counter cancels one: a creature that has both loses them in pairs (rule 704.5q). These seven cards remove them directly.
| Card | Cost | Type | What it removes, and when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heartmender | {2}{G/W}{G/W} | Creature | At the beginning of your upkeep: a -1/-1 counter from each creature you control. Persist. Colour identity: green and white |
| Chainbreaker | {2} | Artifact Creature | {3}, {T}: a -1/-1 counter from target creature. It enters with two -1/-1 counters of its own |
| Woeleecher | {5}{W} | Creature | {W}, {T}: a -1/-1 counter from target creature, and you gain 2 life if you do |
| Decimator Beetle | {3}{B}{G} | Creature | Whenever it attacks: a -1/-1 counter from target creature you control, and it puts one on up to one target creature the defending player controls. When it enters, it puts one on a creature you control. Colour identity: black and green |
| Defiant Greatmaw | {2}{G} | Creature | Whenever you put one or more -1/-1 counters on it: a -1/-1 counter from another target creature you control. When it enters, it puts two on a creature you control |
| Hapatra's Mark | {G} | Instant | All -1/-1 counters from target creature you control, which also gains hexproof until end of turn |
| Shed Weakness | {G} | Instant | Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn, and you may remove a -1/-1 counter from it |
How to remove time counters
Time counters count down. A suspended card loses one at each of its owner's upkeeps, and its owner may cast it without paying its mana cost when the last one is removed (Comprehensive Rules 702.62a); a permanent with vanishing loses one at each of its controller's upkeeps and is sacrificed when the last one goes (rule 702.63a). These seven cards move the clock by hand, and most can run it either way: remove counters to bring a suspended spell in sooner, or add them to keep a vanishing permanent around.
| Card | Cost | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clockspinning | {U} | Instant | Choose a counter on target permanent or suspended card: remove it, or put another of that kind on. It works on any kind of counter. Buyback {3} |
| Jhoira's Timebug | {2} | Artifact Creature | {T}: remove a time counter from target permanent you control or suspended card you own, or put another one on |
| Timebender | {U} | Creature | Morph {U}. When it is turned face up: remove two time counters from target permanent or suspended card, or put two on one that already has a time counter |
| Fury Charm | {1}{R} | Instant | One of three modes: remove two time counters from target permanent or suspended card; destroy target artifact; or target creature gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn |
| Shivan Sand-Mage | {2}{R}{R} | Creature | When it enters: remove two time counters from target permanent or suspended card, or put two on one that already has a time counter. Suspend 4 for {R} |
| Timecrafting | {X}{R} | Instant | Remove X time counters from target permanent or suspended card, or put X on one that already has a time counter |
| Dust of Moments | {2}{W} | Instant | Remove two time counters from each permanent and each suspended card, or put two on each permanent that has a time counter and on each suspended card |
Clockspinning is the odd one out: it isn't limited to time counters, so for {U} it also takes one counter of any kind off any permanent, and with buyback it returns to your hand. The Doctor Who cards add time travel, a keyword action that lets you add or remove one time counter on each suspended card you own and each permanent you control that has one (rule 701.56a); The Tenth Doctor does it three times for {7}.
Removed as an effect, or paid as a cost
Every card above removes counters as an effect: the removal is what the spell or ability does when it resolves. A second, larger group removes a counter to pay for something else. On Power Conduit, whose ability reads "{T}, Remove a counter from a permanent you control", the removal sits on the cost side of the colon. Four things follow from that.
- A cost reaches only your own permanents. Cost cards say "a permanent you control", so they never answer an opponent's planeswalker or Hydra. They do clean your own board: a -1/-1 counter off your creature, a lore counter off your Saga, a time counter off your permanent with vanishing.
- A cost is paid as you activate the ability, and nobody can respond to the payment. Costs are paid during activation (rules 602.2b and 601.2h), and players get priority again only once activation is complete (rule 601.2i). By the time an opponent can respond, the counter is already gone.
- You can't pay with a counter that isn't there. A cost can't be paid without the resources to pay it in full (rule 118.3).
- "You may remove a counter. If you do" is a cost too, paid when the ability resolves (rule 118.12), and so is "unless you remove a counter" (rule 118.12a). Sanctuary Warden and Chisei, Heart of Oceans work that way.
If a cost is what you were after, four cards to start with are Power Conduit, Fain, the Broker, Soul Diviner and Tayam, Luminous Enigma.
What happens when the counters are gone
- A planeswalker with no loyalty counters dies. It is put into its owner's graveyard the next time state-based actions are checked (rule 704.5i).
- A creature that was only its counters dies. A 0/0 Hydra that loses its +1/+1 counters has toughness 0 and is put into its owner's graveyard (rule 704.5f).
- Dark Depths makes Marit Lage. Its last ability triggers as soon as it has no ice counters on it, however they left (rule 603.8).
- A Saga starts counting again. A Saga that loses lore counters stays on the battlefield, gets one more as your next precombat main phase begins (rule 715.3c), and the chapter it reaches triggers again (rule 715.2b).
- Counters that leave with a permanent were never removed. When a permanent changes zones, its counters cease to exist (rule 122.2), so nothing that watches for a counter being removed sees it happen.
Which counter removal should a Commander deck play?
- Any black deck: Hex Parasite first, then Vampire Hexmage if your table plays planeswalkers or you play Dark Depths.
- Against +1/+1 counter decks: Aether Snap or Thief of Blood, when your own board doesn't rely on counters.
- White: Suncleanser, which also keeps counters off that creature for as long as it stays.
- Green and white decks with -1/-1 counters of their own: Heartmender and Medicine Runner.
- Suspend decks: Clockspinning, Jhoira's Timebug and Timecrafting.
- Against poison: Leeches is the only cure; Solemnity or Melira is the better plan.
All 43 are legal in Commander, and none is on the Game Changers list, so none counts toward a bracket's Game Changer limit.
Find more counter removal with Scry
Cards that remove only loyalty, lore or charge counters are left out, and so are the hundreds of cards that only remove their own counters. Scry, Mana Grove's card search, reads what a card does, so you can ask for those in plain English on the card catalog. Name the kind of counter you mean: a precise question gets a precise list.
To narrow the results to your deck, open the filter sidebar on the card catalog and set your commander's colour identity. Getting Better Search Results covers the search and the filters. For the opposite job, see counter doublers and what proliferate does.
Frequently asked questions
How do you remove poison counters in MTG?
With Leeches, and almost nothing else. Leeches removes all poison counters from target player and deals that much damage to that player. Suncleanser, Price of Betrayal, Mutated Cultist and Etched Slith remove counters from an opponent only, so they can't remove your own. Poison counters don't go away by themselves, and ten or more lose you the game (Comprehensive Rules 704.5c).
What removes all counters from a permanent?
Vampire Hexmage (sacrifice it, any target permanent), Mutated Cultist and Marchesa, Resolute Monarch (up to one target permanent), and for creatures only Suncleanser, Perfect Intimidation, Purging Stormbrood and Blitz Leech. Aether Snap and Thief of Blood remove every counter from every permanent at once.
Can you remove counters from a player?
Yes. A counter can be on a player as well as on an object (Comprehensive Rules 122.1): poison, energy and experience counters are the common ones. Suncleanser, Price of Betrayal, Mutated Cultist and Etched Slith remove them from an opponent, and Leeches removes poison counters from any player.
Does removing all loyalty counters kill a planeswalker?
Yes. A planeswalker's loyalty is the number of loyalty counters on it (Comprehensive Rules 306.5c), and a planeswalker with loyalty 0 is put into its owner's graveyard as a state-based action (rule 704.5i). State-based actions don't use the stack (rule 704.3), so the only moment to respond is while the spell or ability that removes the counters is still on it.
Can you respond when a counter is removed as a cost?
No. Costs are paid during activation (Comprehensive Rules 602.2b and 601.2h), and players get priority again only once activation is complete (rule 601.2i), with the counter already gone. You can respond to an effect that removes counters, such as Render Inert, while the spell is on the stack.
Build the deck around them
Put your counter removal into a Commander deck in the Mana Grove deck builder, and the Validation tab flags any card your commander can't run, such as Hex Parasite in a deck with no black. Create a free account to start; every plan includes the full deck builder, and plans and pricing shows what the paid plans add.
Sources
- Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules, effective November 6, 2026: https://magic.wizards.com/en/rules. Read on November 11, 2026. Rules 118.3, 118.12, 118.12a, 122.1, 122.2, 306.5c, 601.2h, 601.2i, 602.2b, 603.8, 614.1c, 701.56a, 702.62a, 702.63a, 702.79a, 702.90b, 702.90c, 704.3, 704.5c, 704.5f, 704.5i, 704.5q, 715.2b and 715.3c are paraphrased above.
- Mana Grove card database, MTGJSON build of November 5, 2026: the mana cost, type, rules text, Commander legality and Game Changer flag of every card named above.
This article is updated when the counter rules change or a set adds a card that removes any kind of counter. The date at the top is the last revision.
