Finality Counters in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Last updated on November 25, 2023

Intrepid Paleontologist | Illustration by Irina Nordsol

Finality counters are a recent addition from Magic: The Gathering’s latest set, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.

While technically a new mechanic, it's more of a new way to handle an existing ability that we've seen fairly frequently. But having the ability as part of a counter (as opposed to being meshed into the card's rules text) adds a subtle layer of strategy.

WotC has mentioned that we'll see finality counters in most sets going forward, so let's dive into what these new counters are all about!

How Do Finality CountersWork?

Admiral Brass, Unsinkable | Illustration by Jason Rainville

If one of your permanents has a finality counter on it and it would die, you exile the permanent instead.

It's a similar effect to the one seen on Rest in Peace, or on the second face of disturb cards like Benevolent Geist. The main difference is that the effect is conveyed by a counter placed on the card, rather than being intrinsically meshed with the card as part of its rules text.

As of right now, all seven cards that create finality counters put them on creatures. But as detailed in WotC's “The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Mechanics” article, finality counters work on any permanent, not just creatures.

Also, finality counters only exile the permanent if it would die; permanents can still move to other zones normally, like one of your creatures being bounced back to your hand.

Last but not least, finality counters are not keyword counters. The difference may be subtle but it’s important, so let's see an example:

Imagine that a creature has two counters: an indestructible counter, and a finality counter. Now imagine that, due to some effect, the creature loses all abilities. In this scenario, the creature will lose indestructible but the finality counter will still be in effect. If destroyed, the creature in this example will be exiled.

The History of Finality Countersin MTG

Finality counters were introduced in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. At the moment of writing, the set has just been fully revealed but has not yet been released, so these counters' history in Magic is thus far pretty short!

According to MTG's Matt Tabak, finality counters are less of a new mechanic and more of a new technology to express an existing ability. “Starting with this set,” Matt explains in his article, “this functionality will be expressed using finality counters.”

It seems very likely that this will be a quasi-evergreen mechanic: Matt points out that we'll see finality counters popping up in most sets, although not in large numbers.

Do Finality Counters Go on the Stack?

Nope. Finality counters are a replacement effect (rather than a triggered ability), and those effects don't go on the stack.

The trick here is the word “instead”, which is the giveaway of a replacement effect.

Let's say we play Uchbenbak, the Great Mistake. We cast it from our hand, so it has no finality counter on it. Let’s say it dies from natural causes as soon as it steps on the board, perhaps from an acute case of Go for the Throat (which all coroners agree is a natural cause of death in Magic).

Our poor Uchbenbak's transit from battlefield to graveyard doesn't use the stack: It just goes straight there.

Now let's say we bring it back from the yard using its Descend 8 activated ability. Uchbenbak, the Great Mistake comes back with a vengeance, and this time it does have a finality counter on it.

A second Go for the Throat lands on our returned Uchbenbak (death by natural causes is kinda frequent in MTG). Just like before, its transit from battlefield to afterlife doesn't use the stack…

… but since our Uchbenbak now has a finality counter on it, its resting place is the exile zone, not the graveyard.

Are Finality Counters Errata?

As far as I can tell, not at all.

Matt Tabak's article mentions that finality counters are how this ability will be handled going forward, but I see nothing indicating that older cards will be errata'd and changed.

Personal opinion here: While the ability may be the same, the fact that it's using a counter makes it a whole other kettle of fish. As we'll see in a bit, counters can be moved and removed, so I'd be surprised if older cards are changed since that would technically be a buff.

What if You Bounce a Creature With Finality Counters?

The bounced creature happily goes back to its owner's hand, and all counters on it (regardless of counter type) just vanish.

Here's the pertinent rule as per Magic's Comprehensive Rules:

122.2. Counters on an object are not retained if that object moves from one zone to another. The counters are not “removed”; they simply cease to exist.

Can a Creature Get More Than One Finality Counter?

Yes. Extra finality counters are redundant and have no effect, but there's no limit on how many a creature can have.

Can You Stifle Finality Counters?

Nope, Stifle has no effect on finality counters.

Stifle only works with activated and triggered abilities; finality counters are a replacement effect, which is not the same.

Can You Remove Finality Counters?

Yes!

According to Magic's mechanical color pie, black is the color that specializes in counter removal. Thief of Blood, for example, can wipe everybody's slate clean while buffing itself. And Glissa Sunslayer, which sees a fair bit of play in Standard nowadays, can remove counters when striking a player.

Better yet, some good counter-wipers have a colorless identity. Power Conduit, for example, is an artifact that can remove one counter from a single permanent.

You can also move counters around, instead of removing them.

Blue has several options for that: Leech Bonder, for example, can sling one counter from one creature to another (even those not under your control!). And Fate Transfer, which you can also cast with black mana, moves all counters from one creature to another.

There's also a land, Nesting Grounds, that can sling counters between permanents under your control.

You could therefore move a finality counter from a creature to an enchantment or a land. The counter's effect is the same: If you put the counter on a land, and said land would go from the battlefield to the graveyard, the land gets exiled instead.

Can You Proliferate Finality Counters

Sure can. It won't do much, though: Multiple finality counters are redundant.

Gallery and List of Finality Counter Cards

At the moment of writing, there are seven cards that deal with finality counters:

• Admiral Brass, Unsinkable
• From the Rubble
• Intrepid Paleontologist
• Queen's Bay Paladin
• Soulcoil Viper
• Tarrian's Journal / The Tomb of Aclazotz
• Uchbenbak, the Great Mistake

Best Finality Counters Cards

We haven't seen these counters in action yet (we still have to wait a few days before these cards are actually released and we get to play with them), so these are just my personal hunches for best among them.

Admiral Brass, Unsinkable

Admiral Beckett Brass is already a fairly popular pirate commander, and Admiral Brass, Unsinkable strikes me as stronger. They have fewer hoops to jump, they fit into the “Attack, yarrr!” theme that pirates have by keeping our boys comin', and some pirates have very good enter-the-battlefield effects that Brass will let us reuse.

And as we saw above, both blue and black have good access to moving and removing counters. I'd say Admiral Brass, Unsinkable is well-placed for some counter-slinging tricks. And I think it's pretty likely that one of Brass' versions will end up as a 99er for the other.

Intrepid Paleontologist

If I have to be honest I'm not sure how good Intrepid Paleontologist is, even if it has a lot of uses (ramp, graveyard hate) besides its flashiest ability. But it's a green card that focuses on Dinosaurs, so… I mean, let's be real here: Reanimating friggin' Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant!? Yeah, of course we'll all be trying to do that as soon as LCI releases!

Tarrian's Journal / The Tomb of Aclazotz

Tarrian's Journal seems decent in sacrifice-focused decks. The Tomb of Aclazotz looks pretty strong, above all since its reanimation clause is not typal/kindred: The returned creature turns into a vampire, but unlike Admiral Brass, Unsinkable or Intrepid Paleontologist, you can reanimate any creature type.

Finale

Uchbenbak, the Great Mistake | Illustration by Steven Belledin

And we've reached the finale of this deep dive on how finality counters work in MTG!

Matt Tabak said that finality counters will be a mechanic that we can expect to see in most MTG sets, so I'm pretty certain WotC will in the future also print more cards that move, remove, or care about counters, and perhaps even use this new “counter tech” on more abilities.

I hope you've enjoyed this mechanical deep dive, and if you have comments or questions please drop a comment below, stop by the Draftsim Discord for a chat, or ping me on the social network formerly known as Twitter.

Now time for this article's Dramatic Finale!