19 Commander-legal cards that move counters from one permanent to another are on this list. The most-played are The Ozolith, Nesting Grounds and Resourceful Defense (card data dated November 11, 2026).
Moving a counter takes it off one permanent and puts it on another, so a +1/+1 counter can follow your best creature. 19 Commander-legal cards do it.
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A card that moves counters takes them off one permanent and puts them on another. Nesting Grounds, a land, moves one counter of any kind from a permanent you control, Bioshift moves any number of +1/+1 counters between two creatures with the same controller, and The Ozolith keeps the counters of your creatures that leave the battlefield and moves them onto a target creature. Counter decks play them to put their counters where they matter most.
They differ in which counters they move and whose. Bioshift and Simic Guildmage move only +1/+1 counters, while Nesting Grounds and Fate Transfer move counters of any kind, so they can also shift -1/-1 counters onto an opponent's creature. Spike Cannibal moves every +1/+1 counter from all creatures onto itself when it enters.
Rules note: moving a counter removes it from one object and puts it on another in one action, so if either half can't happen, nothing moves and the first permanent keeps its counter.
19 cards in all, most-played first. Every card links to its page with printings, prices and format legality.
Commander-legal cards whose rules text moves +1/+1 counters, or counters of any kind, from one permanent onto another, as each card was judged against the question "cards that move +1/+1 counters". Cards that only put new counters on a permanent, or only remove them, are not listed. One entry per card, most-played first.
Built from the card data dated 2026-11-11.
Results on . The six cards on this list that Scry ranked highest that day for "cards that move +1/+1 counters".
To move a counter is to remove it from the object it is on and put it onto a second object (rule 122.5). Counters with the same name or description are interchangeable (rule 122.1), so a moved +1/+1 counter works like any other.
Nothing moves. If either action isn't possible, for example because the second permanent left the battlefield or the first one has no counter of that kind, no counter is removed from or put onto anything (rule 122.5).
Not at first. When a creature with counters leaves the battlefield, The Ozolith gets the same number of each kind of counter rather than moving them, because the creature is no longer there (rule 122.8). At the beginning of combat on your turn, it does move all of them from itself onto a target creature (rule 122.5).
They cancel in pairs. If a permanent has both, as many of each as the smaller number are removed as a state-based action (rule 122.3), so moving -1/-1 counters onto a creature with +1/+1 counters takes some of both away.