The 18 Best Token Doublers in Magic Ranked

Last updated on December 15, 2025

Second Harvest | Illustration by Matt Stewart

100,000,000 saproling creature tokens isn’t cool. You know what is cool? 200,000,000 saprolings creature tokens. Since the creation of the creature token, players of all formats have dug through the archives of cards in search of the best way to double down on these notoriously easy-to-create creatures.

Commander decks typically make the most use of token doublers (many are only legal in EDH), but more than a few of these cards had their day in their respective Standard environment. But which are the best token doublers?

Let’s find out.

What Are Token Doublers in MTG?

Elven Ambush | Illustration by Chris Seaman

Token doublers are effects that amplify the number of tokens you create. Some of these are replacement effects that double how many tokens would be created under your control, while others take you tokens you already have in play and multiply them. In order to qualify for this list, cards must affect all your tokens, either as a one-shot effect or continuously as they enter the battlefield.

These are distinctly different from basic token generators. While cards like Krenko, Mob Boss and Hazel of the Rootbloom can result in twice as many tokens as you originally controlled, they don't quite fit the definition of a true token doubler.

Green is unsurprisingly the best at token generation and token doubling, and many of the multicolor doublers include green. Green has what I consider the “gold standard” for token doublers: Parallel Lives and Second Harvest.

#18. Quina, Qu Gourmet

While the ability may look a little silly at first, Quina, Qu Gourmet is a powerful engine in any token deck. Instead of just making one token, it gives you that token plus a bonus 1/1 frog each time. Those frogs add up, letting Quina boost itself with +1/+1 counters whenever you sacrifice one. It’s great for decks that already want lots of tokens on the field and love extra sacrifice fuel.

#17. Parallel Evolution

Next we come to Parallel Evolution, a symmetrical Clone Legion for with a flashback cost of . The number of enter-the-battlefield effects alone makes it sound like a headache to resolve, but it only copies creature tokens, so it's not as bad. Your opponents will double their creature tokens as well, though! Let your inner Timmy rejoice!

#15. Battle for Bretagard

Battle for Bretagard is a saga from Kaldheim that'll replicate a Second Harvest when it reaches its third chapter, but the Battle for Bretagard-generated tokens are fine if you can’t make other tokens by then. It’s a cheap alternative to some of the expensive doublers and could be effective when looking to fill out the deck with this effect.

#14. Rhys the Redeemed

Rhys the Redeemed has a 6-mana activated ability that copies each creature token you control. It’s more mana than Second Harvest, but its real value lies in its cost of a single green/white mana. A turn-1 commander can be a huge threat, especially when Rhys makes its own elf tokens in addition to doubling them later on.

#13. Adrix and Nev, Twincasters

Adrix and Nev, Twincasters is the face card for its Commander 2021 precon. Following a classic WotC design tactic, these two merfolk are the Parallel Lives ability “on a body”. They also follow another of Wizards' favorite design tricks: “Put it in the command zone”.

Adrix and Nev is a great commander for a token doubling deck, giving you consistent access to a doubler. It’s so full of value that the built-in protection from their ward ability feels like an afterthought.

#12. Kaya, Geist Hunter

Crimson Vow‘s Kaya, Geist Hunter costs 3 mana and can activate its second loyalty ability as soon as it drops, doubling the number of tokens you create until the end of the turn. The immediate benefit can be good, but its value really lies in the freedom to plan your turns around alternating between Kaya’s first two abilities to buff your tokens with a +1/+1 counter plus deathtouch (a relatively rare ability among tokens), and doubling the number of tokens you create.

#11. Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation

Right as Mondrak, Glory Dominus became head honcho, Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation become an incredible token tripler! There isn't much more to it, but does there even need to be? Three times the normal amount of tokens is incredible value that quickly overwhelms any opponent.

#10. Ocelot Pride

Ocelot Pride from Modern Horizons 3 is a wonderful card for you felinophiles. This can be a pivotal piece for a cat deck that focuses on lifegain and creating tokens. If you have the city’s blessing, you can double the tokens that entered that turn. Get your cats like Kemba, Kha Regent and Leonin Warleader ready, and start doubling those tokens!

#9. Chatterfang, Squirrel General

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I hate squirrels. Specifically the creature tokens, not the live animals. I’m neutral on those. My beef boils down to the fact that we already had a great 1/1 green token to fit this role mechanically (elves), so WotC is just trying to be cute.

Chatterfang, Squirrel General drives me crazy in Commander. Hitting the field a turn or two earlier than Parallel Lives or Doubling Season, Chatterfang pumps out a Squirrel token for each other token you generate. Its sacrifice ability gives you an immediate outlet for those squirrels, too. Forestwalk also comes in handy.

#8. Exalted Sunborn

Flying and lifelink already give Exalted Sunborn a strong battlefield presence, but the real excitement comes from its token-doubling effect. Whenever you’d make tokens, you make twice as many instead, giving you twice the army and twice the payoff from token synergies. Thanks to warp, you can even deploy it early for a temporary boost before bringing it back later. It fits perfectly into decks that want to flood the board with small creatures or artifact tokens.

#7. Second Harvest

For , Second Harvest is your measure for non-permanent token doublers. It’s instant speed, meaning you can quickly swarm the board to respond to an overzealous attack from your opponent. It also doesn’t care which type of token you have so you can clone those Armada Wurm tokens just as well as all those saprolings you’ve created.

#6. Primal Vigor

Primal Vigor sees a lot of play in Commander. It fits right into the Prossh, Skyraider of Kher precon it came in and has out-valued many of the new-to-Magic cards from that set. It has the added benefit of doubling your +1/+1 counter generation, an effect many token decks take advantage of.

Commanders like Ghave, Guru of Spores combo out with this and just about anything else. It’s also important to note that Primal Vigor is a symmetrical effect, doubling counter and token creation for your opponents in addition to you.

#5. Elspeth, Storm Slayer

Elspeth, Storm Slayer brings both steady token value and a doubling effect that makes every token-maker in your deck far more explosive. It can create soldiers every turn with its +1, pump your whole team and give them flying for a surprise swing, or remove a big threat using the −3. This planeswalker is a powerhouse in any go-wide strategy.

#4. Mondrak, Glory Dominus

Mondrak, Glory Dominus from Phyrexia: All Will Be One is an incredibly strong token doubler in white, and an excellent token commander. In addition to amplifying your token output, its activated ability can grant it an indestructible counter as long as you have the artifacts and/or creatures to feed it. Overall, you're getting a lot of power out of this for just 4 mana.

#3. Doubling Season

Often mistaken for a second Primal Vigor, Doubling Season has a few distinct advantages and disadvantages. First, its effect applies to counters of any kind, making everything from your planeswalkers to your Door of Destinies more effective.

Unfortunately, this green enchantment also affects any negative counters your opponents place on your permanents. Things like Contagion Engine or The Scorpion God can take advantage of any player’s Doubling Season.

It's a card that can end games on the spot, though it's entered that “clunky” territory that many 5-mana enchantments sit in these days.

#2. Parallel Lives

The token doubler. Parallel Lives arrived on the scene in 2011 with the original Innistrad set. For , this enchantment doubles the number of tokens you create. It’s the cheapest card with just the token doubling effect so it acts as a fair standard to measure the other token doublers by.

#1. Anointed Procession

Anointed Procession is white’s Parallel Lives. This was the first token doubler white recieved and it made quite the splash on its release with Amonkhet. The card has only ever been reprinted in supplementary products and sits at a hefty price.

Best Token Doubler Payoffs

So now that you’ve got your 200,000,000 saprolings, what do you do with them? There are tons of ways a token deck can end the game. Let’s examine a few payoffs for massive token generation.

Mana

You’ve generated an army and you’re ready to get some big spells out to finish the game. Use Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Altar and turn all those bodies into useful mana. Don’t forget: Loads of great convoke cards benefit from you controlling lots of creatures to cast them for cheap. March of the Multitudes, for example, is a token-maker that doubles as a payoff for making tokens.

Gain Life and Deal Damage

Blast your opponents in the face with Impact Tremors or Warstorm Surge on the field. Both of these immediately throw a ton of damage down and are common game-ending combo pieces. On the contrary, use lifegain effects like Soul Warden to keep your life total out of reach as you flood the board.

Aristocrats

Aristocrat strategies combine the best of both worlds. Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, and Falkenrath Noble all drain your opponents and gain you life when creatures die. Get yourself a nice sacrifice outlet like Viscera Seer and watch those life totals plummet.

Anthems

Maybe you’re like me and you like to win the old-fashioned way; you want to knock some heads together with your army of tokens! I use Intangible Virtue, Dramatic Finale, and Teysa Karlov (EDH Teysa, anyone?) to turn those nasty tokens into beat sticks you can throw around the board willy-nilly.

Scaling Creatures

Lots of cards care about the number of creatures you control and statically check that number for their abilities. Wayfaring Temple, Voice of Resurgence, Geist-Honored Monk, and Adeline, Resplendent Cathar are all staple cards for this ability. An army of 1/1s can be intimidating, but an army spearheaded by a single large creature is downright terrifying. Pennon Blade can spread this buff around your board too, ensuring your trampler or flier can connect with all that damage.

Mass Draw Payoffs

If your deck makes a ton of tokens, you’ll eventually want more cards so you don’t run out of gas. That’s where some powerful draw engines come in. Cards like Enduring Innocence or Welcoming Vampire keep your hand full whenever you create creatures. Kindred Discovery is especially awesome in tribal decks because it lets you choose a creature type and draw cards anytime one of those creatures enters the battlefield or attacks. If you’re going wide, Camaraderie can turn your army’s size into a massive burst of card draw.

ETB Engines

Tokens don’t need to swing to be useful — sometimes just showing up is enough to put your opponents in trouble. Cards like Cathars' Crusade place a +1/+1 counter on every creature you control whenever a new one arrives, turning your board into a terrifying army almost instantly. Aura Shards became a Game Changer for a reason, and token decks can tell you exactly why.

Overrun and Finisher Spells

An army of tiny 1/1s can look harmless… until you cast something like Craterhoof Behemoth. These effects give a sudden burst of power that usually ends the game right away. Overwhelming Stampede turns your biggest creature into a team-wide buff, and Triumph of the Hordes makes everything infectious so you can wipe out opponents out of nowhere. These cards are great because you only need one turn where everything lines up to completely knock out the table.

What Happens if I Have Two Token Doublers?

If you have two cards that use the words “twice” or “double”, then those effects will compound. If you have two copies of Doubling Season, or a Mondrak, Glory Dominus and an Anointed Procession, for each token you create, you actually create a total of four after the effects resolve. If you had three doubling cards, you’d get eight times the number of tokens you created!

Wrap Up

Parallel Lives | Illustration by Steve Prescott

Going wide is one of my favorite win conditions in the game. It’s classic Magic to overwhelm the board with creatures and beat your opponents into submission. The absolute best way to double those tokens is different depending on your situation, but the universally useful Parallel Lives, Primal Vigor, and Doubling Season always work. Second Harvest and the like make for powerful “gotchas” to surprise your opponents.

It’s important to consider which doubler to include and ask yourself a few questions to figure it out. Are you making use of +1/+1 counters like a Ghave, Guru of Spores deck? Will you be creating wurm tokens? What if you want to double your non-creature tokens like Clue, Treasure, or Food? Do you intend for these tokens to die, or do you need to protect them with Emmara Tandris? Do you hate your friends enough to end the game with the Sporemound/Life and Limb combo? Study up, play some test games, and then make your choice!

What do you think? Does green deserve to be the best token doubler? What would a black token doubling effect look like, and could we see one in the near future? Let us know in the comments down below or over on Draftsim’s Twitter.

Thanks for reading, and have a happy combat step!