Proliferate in MTG: Rules, History, and FAQ

Last updated on April 17, 2024

Atraxa, Praetors' Voice | Illustration by Victor Adame Minguez

If you’re a Commander player, you’ve either encountered an extremely annoying Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice deck or you’re the one playing it. But Atraxa is hardly the only type of deck that takes advantage of proliferate in Magic. This is a mechanic I particularly enjoy because I’ve been a fan of Phyrexians ever since I first saw the Invasion cards, and their re-appearances only increased how much I liked them.

This is one of my most controversial opinions: I love infect. It was extremely flavorful when it came out and created game options that didn’t exist in Magic before. I also think it’s fundamentally broken beyond any chance of repair. With infect came proliferate which expanded way beyond what was originally intended.

The rules don't state that it only works with wither, poison counters, or -1/-1 counters. Proliferate works on any and all types of counters.

So let’s see a little bit of what proliferate is, how it works, its history, and how it’s used!

How Does Proliferate Work?

Bloom Hulk | Illustration by Even Amundsen

Proliferate lets you give anything or anyone with a counter an additional counter. It's a keyword action that has you choose any number of permanents or players that already have a counter, then add one extra counter for each kind that permanent or player already has.

It’s found as an activated ability on cards like Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and as a triggered ability on cards like Martyr for the Cause.

This action went through a change in 2019. The original text stated: “You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind they already have.” This means that the chosen players and permanents only got one type of counter, even if they had various different counters on them.

Since you don’t get to choose which counter type to add another to, it doesn’t matter if the player or permanent has counters that both benefit and disadvantage them. Proliferate adds another one to all of those counters.

If you have a spell that proliferates and you don’t want to choose any permanents or players for whatever reason, you can always choose none.

The History of Proliferate

Scars of Mirrodin Block (2010)

The Phyrexians’ brutal invasion of the plane of Mirrodin was the first time proliferate was ever printed. It accompanied the widely hated infect mechanic and was central to the theme of the Phyrexian oil corroding the plane and permanently changing it.

The old rule only proliferated one counter on the chosen permanents and players. Poison and -1/-1 counters were the intended counters to proliferate in the Scars of Mirrodin set. The mechanic was specifically introduced to work with infect.

The mechanic first appeared in blue and artifact cards in the first set of this block, Scars of Mirrodin. Mirrodin Besieged introduced it into black and green, and eventually New Phyrexia brought it into red.

War of the Spark (2019)

It was a whole nine years before we got another instance of proliferate in Standard. The team at Wizards considered putting it into the Kaladesh block to complement energy counters, fabricate, and for Simic’s +1/+1 theme in Ravnica Allegiance. It didn’t make it into those sets, but the planeswalker-ridden War of the Spark was the perfect time to bring this mechanic back.

It could be argued that proliferate had an important role in WAR considering amass was introduced and a lot of the planeswalkers in the set didn’t have any way to add their own loyalty counters, like Arlinn, Voice of the Pack or Jaya, Venerated Firemage.

It was in War of the Spark that proliferate’s rules text was changed to state that you had to add another of each counter the chosen permanent or player already had, instead of only one. It additionally brought the mechanic to white and doubled the number of cards with the ability.

Reprints Proliferated

Proliferate has seen various reprints and new cards like in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, and throughout a lot of the Modern, Masters, and Commander products. The two of the most important cards to come out since War of the Spark are both big figures in the Phyrexian ranks: Atraxa, Praetors' Voice and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician.

Is Proliferate Evergreen?

You can't quite call proliferate evergreen because there are several sets it doesn't belong in. However, considering that a vast number of decks use +1/+1 counters, the popular planeswalker cards, and the ever-increasing use of counters in general make it very likely that proliferate will appear again in the future.

OK, so with the history out of the way, let's dig into the most frequently asked questions about proliferate.

Can You Choose What to Proliferate?

In a way, you choose what to proliferate by choosing which permanents or players to increase the counters on. You do not choose which types of counters get proliferated.

When Do You Choose What Proliferates?

The ability goes on the stack like many abilities. When it goes on the stack, you choose what proliferates. When it resolves, the counters are added to all the players and permanents you chose.

What Happens If I Proliferate a Creature With Multiple Types of Counters On It?

When proliferated, the creature with multiple types of counters gets an additional counter of each of its counters.

Can You Proliferate a Planeswalker?

Yes, you can proliferate a planeswalker. Even though the ability’s origin is deeply connected to Phyrexia and infect, War of the Spark shined the spotlight on using it for planeswalkers. Not only can you proliferate planeswalkers’ loyalty counters, it’s encouraged by the game design.

Does Proliferate Target?

Proliferate does not target. It might be a little bit confusing at first since this is based on a technicality, but the reminder text for proliferate never uses the word “target.” Proliferate lets you choose a number of permanents and players. Since the text never says target, you’re not technically targeting anything or anyone.

Can You Proliferate +1/+1 Counters?

Yes, if a permanent already has a +1/+1 counter on it and is proliferated, it will gain another +1/+1 counter.

Does Proliferate Work With Toxic?

Yes in that proliferate can increase a player's poison counters that result from toxic.

Does Proliferate Work On Infect?

Not only does proliferate work on infect but it was strictly created to support it. Both -1/-1 and poison counters can be proliferated. It can absolutely ruin the match for your opponent if played right.

Can You Proliferate Tokens?

No, you can’t proliferate tokens. Proliferate works exclusively on counters placed on players or permanents on the battlefield, but it doesn’t affect anything else. Creature tokens are not counters. If you're trying to do this, perhaps you're looking for the populate mechanic?

Is Proliferate a Triggered Ability?

No, proliferate is not a triggered ability, though it can be part of one like on Martyr for the Cause.

Does Proliferate Work on Poison Counters?

Yes, poison counters go on the player and as long as a player has at least one poison counter already, that player can be proliferated.

Can You Proliferate with No Targets?

You can choose zero as the number of permanents or players to proliferate, and there is no targeting.

Can You Proliferate Against Hexproof?

Neither hexproof nor shroud or ward do anything against proliferate. The rules text specifically uses the word choose instead of “target.” Since you’re not technically targeting anything, neither of these abilities work against it.

Does Protection Stop Proliferate?

Similar to hexproof, protection does not stop proliferation because the permanent or player is not targeted. For example, if you have an untapped Pristine Angel that already has a -1/-1 counter and your opponent activates Contagion Clasp, your angel can get another -1/-1 counter.

What Happens When You Proliferate Energy?

Since energy counters accumulate on players, the counters can be proliferated much like poison counters. As long as the player already has a counter, the proliferator can choose that player and increase their energy counters.

What Happens When You Proliferate a Saga?

You can use proliferate to place lore counters on sagas. The moment the counter is placed, the effect takes place like it would normally. This is great to advance your sagas quickly if you need to get to a certain effect fast or to render some sagas like Showdown of the Skalds and The Bloodsky Massacre pretty much useless.

Can You Proliferate Time Counters?

Yes and no. While you can technically proliferate time counters just as you can any other counter, you can only do it if the permanent with the time counter is on the battlefield. You can proliferate the counters on cards with vanishing to ensure that they don’t leave your battlefield. Cards with suspend will inevitably lose all their counters and enter the stack because they’re not on the battlefield, so proliferate will not affect them.

How Does Proliferate Work With Doubling Season?

If you’re playing a deck that uses counters and proliferate, you’re probably gonna want to play Doubling Season, too. Doubling Season is every token and counter deck's favorite card. Basically, any time you proliferate and add a counter to your permanents, you get to add two of those counters instead. Pretty simple and extremely effective.

Can You Proliferate Experience Counters?

Yes, any and all counters that are placed on a permanent or player are fair game for proliferating, including experience counters. Cards that use these counters don’t really care about how you got the counters, only how many you have.

What Happens If You Proliferate Level Counters?

When you proliferate a leveler, the creature will level up as long as it already has at least one level counter. This potentially levels your creature up at instant speed and adds value to any of your proliferation effects.

Decklist: Proliferate in Commander

Karumonix, the Rat King (Phyrexia: All Will Be One) | Illustration by Helge C. Balzer

The poisonous rats create problems for any player foolish enough to take their first poison counter. Of course, this deck is so low to the ground that it's very feasible to get a Drainpipe Vermin with toxic 1 attacking freely because there is simply no blocker. The combination of commander Karumonix, the Rat King + Changeling Outcast and Call of the Ring are just a couple of the ways to sneak in the first poison counter.

Once an opponent takes a counter, you kick into proliferate mode. I love making use of commons that were sometimes good in Limited like Virulent Wound and Grim Affliction, and then there are strong, repeatable proliferation effects like with Sword of Truth and Justice and Karn's Bastion.

There are certainly a few high-priced cards in the decklist that could be replaced with decent alternatives, as the core of your poisoning cards, including the commander, cost about a dollar or less.

The Best Proliferate Cards

As is the case with most abilities that are based around supporting other mechanics, there are plenty that are barely playable, then there is a whole list of the best proliferate cards that threaten swift and overwhelming destruction.

Wrap Up

Planewide Celebration | Illustration by Wisnu Tan

I liked proliferate as soon as it came out. It’s proven time and time again to be a really useful ability, and I swear I like it for reasons other than my love for any and all things Phyrexian. I really enjoy playing decks with lots of planeswalkers, and I know there are a lot of people out there who play +1/+1 counter decks.

I’d personally like to see more support for energy and experience counters in Commander, so I think proliferate adds a lot of variety to the format. Not to mention the exciting possibility of interacting with new kinds of counters for players.

What do you guys think? Do you think proliferate is useful or do you prefer other strategies to further your counter-based decks? How badly are you considering building a deck around Yawgmoth, Thran Physician? Feel free to answer in the comments.

Unless you’re going to hate me for liking infect. You’d be completely in the right for doing so, but I don't wanna hear it! Don’t forget to follow our Twitter and keep an eye on the blog for more content like this.

Have a nice week, and I’ll be seeing you in the next one!