Which cards double counters? In Commander, the ones decks are built around are green. Doubling Season doubles every counter an effect puts on your permanents and every token you create, Branching Evolution and Corpsejack Menace double every +1/+1 counter your creatures get, and Kalonian Hydra and Bristly Bill, Spine Sower double the +1/+1 counters your creatures already have. A counter doubler either puts on twice as many counters as an effect asks for, or doubles what's already there, and the two kinds stack when they meet. Below are 21 green cards that double +1/+1 counters, three with a second colour, grouped by how they work.
Doublers that work every time
Once one of these four is out, every +1/+1 counter your creatures would get arrives twice over.
| Card | Cost | Type | What it doubles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doubling Season | {4}{G} | Enchantment | Every counter of any kind an effect puts on a permanent you control, and every token created under your control |
| Branching Evolution | {2}{G} | Enchantment | Every +1/+1 counter put on a creature you control |
| Corpsejack Menace | {2}{B}{G} | Creature, Fungus | Every +1/+1 counter put on a creature you control. Colour identity: black and green |
| The Earth Crystal | {2}{G}{G} | Legendary Artifact | Every +1/+1 counter put on a creature you control. Your green spells also cost {1} less, and {4}{G}{G} with a tap spreads two +1/+1 counters among your creatures |
Branching Evolution is the one to play first: three mana, and it does the whole job. Doubling Season costs two more and does more, doubling tokens and every kind of counter, a planeswalker's starting loyalty included. Corpsejack Menace puts the same effect on a creature for black and green decks, and The Earth Crystal pays for itself in a deck of mostly green spells. For the token half of Doubling Season, see our token doublers list.
Creatures that double what's already there
| Card | Cost | Type | What it doubles, and when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kalonian Hydra | {3}{G}{G} | Creature, Hydra | Trample, and it enters with four +1/+1 counters. Whenever it attacks: the +1/+1 counters on each creature you control |
| Bristly Bill, Spine Sower | {1}{G} | Legendary Creature, Plant Druid | Whenever a land you control enters, a +1/+1 counter on a target creature. {3}{G}{G}: the +1/+1 counters on each creature you control, as often as you can pay |
| Primordial Hydra | {X}{G}{G} | Creature, Hydra | Enters with X +1/+1 counters. At the beginning of your upkeep: its own counters. Trample from ten counters on |
| Mossborn Hydra | {2}{G} | Creature, Elemental Hydra | Trample, and it enters with a +1/+1 counter. Whenever a land you control enters: its own counters |
| Sazh Katzroy | {3}{G} | Legendary Creature, Human Pilot | When it enters, you may search your library for a Bird or basic land card. Whenever it attacks: a +1/+1 counter on a target creature, then that creature's counters |
| Ornery Tumblewagg | {2}{G} | Creature, Brushwagg Mount | A +1/+1 counter on a target creature at the beginning of your combat. Whenever it attacks while saddled: a target creature's counters (saddle 2) |
| Tanazir Quandrix | {3}{G}{U} | Legendary Creature, Elder Dragon | Flying and trample. When it enters: the counters on a target creature you control. Colour identity: green and blue |
Kalonian Hydra is the classic: it attacks with eight counters the first time and doubles the rest of your team in the same trigger. Bristly Bill does it without attacking, as often as you have the mana, and as a two-mana commander it builds a landfall deck around itself. Primordial Hydra and Mossborn Hydra grow only themselves: threats, not engines. Sazh Katzroy and Tanazir Quandrix are legendary, so either can lead a counters deck from the command zone.
Auras that double one creature
| Card | Cost | Type | What it doubles, and when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydra's Growth | {2}{G} | Enchantment, Aura | A +1/+1 counter when it enters, then the enchanted creature's counters at the beginning of each of your upkeeps |
| Seismic Tutelage | {3}{G} | Enchantment, Aura | A +1/+1 counter when it enters, then the enchanted creature's counters whenever it attacks |
| Level Up | {1}{G} | Enchantment, Aura | A +1/+1 counter when it enters, then the enchanted creature's counters whenever it attacks, and a card if its power is 10 or more after that doubling |
On paper, a doubling Aura is exponential: Hydra's Growth turns one counter into sixteen over four of your upkeeps. But one removal spell takes the creature and the Aura together, so pick a creature that's hard to remove.
One-shot spells
| Card | Cost | Type | What it doubles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solidarity of Heroes | {1}{G} | Instant | The +1/+1 counters on any number of target creatures; each target after the first adds {1}{G} to the cost |
| Invigorating Surge | {2}{G} | Instant | A +1/+1 counter on a creature you control, then its counters |
| Growth Curve | {G}{U} | Sorcery | A +1/+1 counter on a creature you control, then its counters. Colour identity: green and blue |
| Study the Classics | {2}{G} | Sorcery | A +1/+1 counter on a target creature, then its counters, and you gain life equal to the counters it ends with |
| Visions of Dominance | {2}{G} | Sorcery | A +1/+1 counter on a target creature, then its counters. Flashback {8}{G}{G}, {X} less, where X is the greatest mana value among commanders you own on the battlefield or in the command zone |
| Fangs of Kalonia | {1}{G} | Sorcery | A +1/+1 counter on a creature you control, then its counters. Overload {4}{G}{G} does it to every creature you control |
| Biogenic Upgrade | {4}{G}{G} | Sorcery | Three +1/+1 counters split among one to three target creatures, then each one's counters |
Solidarity of Heroes is the one to hold up: two mana at instant speed, and once blockers are declared it can double a whole attacking team, if you can pay for the targets. Fangs of Kalonia is the go-wide finisher, since overloaded it gives every creature you control a counter and then doubles each one. Visions of Dominance comes back from your graveyard, cheaper the higher your commander's mana value.
How doubling works, and how doublers stack
- Two kinds of doubling. "Twice that many ... instead" is a replacement effect: it changes counters as they're put on (Comprehensive Rules 614.1a). "Double the number" gives a permanent as many more counters as it already has (rule 701.10e).
- Two replacement doublers make four times as many. Each applies once to the same event (rule 614.5), in the order the creature's controller chooses (rule 616.1), so one counter becomes two, then four. A third makes eight.
- A "double the number" effect under a replacement doubler triples. Kalonian Hydra enters with eight counters under Branching Evolution. When it attacks, its trigger puts eight more, Branching Evolution makes that sixteen, and the Hydra ends up with twenty-four.
- The counters a creature enters with count. They're put on it as it enters (rule 122.6), so Primordial Hydra cast with X equal to 3 under Doubling Season arrives with six.
Which counter doublers should a Commander deck play?
- Any +1/+1 counters deck: Branching Evolution first, then Doubling Season, then Kalonian Hydra.
- Black and green: add Corpsejack Menace. Green and blue: Tanazir Quandrix and Growth Curve.
- Landfall: Bristly Bill, Spine Sower as your commander, with Mossborn Hydra.
- Go-wide: Fangs of Kalonia overloaded, Biogenic Upgrade, and Doubling Season for the tokens.
- One big creature: Hydra's Growth, Seismic Tutelage or Level Up, with Sazh Katzroy or Ornery Tumblewagg.
Doublers multiply, so they need counters to multiply: budget for creatures that arrive with counters or put counters on your team. All 21 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 doublers with Scry
This page covers green cards that double +1/+1 counters. Other colours have doublers too, and some cards double every kind of counter on a single permanent. Scry, Mana Grove's card search, reads what a card does, so you can ask in plain English. Ask for them on the card catalog.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Do counter doublers stack?
Yes. Two "twice that many" doublers, such as Branching Evolution and Doubling Season, make four times as many counters, because each replacement effect applies once to the same event (Comprehensive Rules 614.5). A "double the number" effect under one of them triples the counters instead.
Does Doubling Season double the counters a creature enters with?
Yes. A permanent that enters with counters has them put on it as it enters (Comprehensive Rules 122.6), so Doubling Season, Branching Evolution, Corpsejack Menace and The Earth Crystal all double them. Under Doubling Season, a planeswalker also enters with twice its printed loyalty (rule 306.5b). The loyalty counters its plus abilities add aren't doubled, though: they're part of the ability's cost, and Doubling Season doubles only counters an effect puts on (rules 606.4 and 609.1).
Is proliferate a counter doubler?
No. Proliferate adds one counter of each kind a permanent already has (Comprehensive Rules 701.34a), so a creature with eight +1/+1 counters gets a ninth, not eight more. With a doubler out, that one counter becomes two. See what proliferate does.
Does Doubling Season double -1/-1 counters?
Yes, on your own permanents, even when an opponent's effect puts them there: it doubles counters of any kind that an effect puts on a permanent you control. Branching Evolution, Corpsejack Menace and The Earth Crystal double only +1/+1 counters on your creatures. When a creature has both kinds, they're removed in pairs (Comprehensive Rules 704.5q).
Build the deck around them
Put your counter doublers into a Commander deck in the Mana Grove deck builder, and the Validation tab flags any card your commander can't run, such as Corpsejack Menace in a mono-green deck. 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 September 25, 2026: https://magic.wizards.com/en/rules. Read on October 30, 2026. Rules 122.6, 306.5b, 606.4, 609.1, 614.1a, 614.5, 616.1, 701.10e, 701.34a and 704.5q are paraphrased above.
- Mana Grove card database, MTGJSON build of October 24, 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 green counter doubler. The date at the top is the last revision.
