Reinforce in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Last updated on April 21, 2024

Brighthearth Banneret | Illustration by Ralph Horsley

Magic mechanics can get a little confusing sometimes, so we’re calling in the reinforcements. It’s me, I’m the reinforcements. Get it, reinforce-ments? I come prepared with rules knowledge and jokes!

You’ll be forgiven if you’ve never even encountered the reinforce ability before. It’s a harmless little +1/+1 counter mechanic that rarely gets used and doesn’t appear on any tournament-worthy cards, so it’s fairly easy to overlook.

I’m busting out the L1 judge hat to reinforce your knowledge of the mechanic and go over its admittedly short history.

How Does Reinforce Work?

Bannerhide Krushok | Illustration by Joe Slucher

Reinforce is an ability that allows you to discard a card and put +1/+1 counters on a target creature equal to the reinforce number. When activating a reinforce ability, you target a creature then pay the mana cost and discard the card. If the ability resolves, the targeted creature picks up some number of +1/+1 counters. Simple stuff, really.

The History of Reinforce in MTG

Break Ties | Illustration by Tyler Walpole

Reinforce was introduced to Magic in 2008’s Morningtide, where it appeared on seven cards. It was centered mainly in green and white, with a single red card in the bunch. It was used again on three cards in Modern Horizons 2, though these cards did little to push the mechanic into new territory.

Can You Reinforce as an Instant in MTG?

Reinforce can be activated at any time you could cast an instant, which is always a plus for any +1/+1 counter mechanic, allowing the cards to operate as combat tricks.

Is Reinforce an Activated Ability?

Reinforce is an activated ability that’s activated from your hand. Note that the source of the activated ability is the discarded reinforce card. Emerald Dragon’s adventure could counter the reinforce ability of Hunting Triad, but could not counter the reinforce on Bannerhide Krushok.

Can You Reinforce on Someone Else’s Creature?

Reinforce can target any creature, so anything’s fair game as long as it’s a valid target of the ability. Great for all those Two-Headed Giant games everyone’s out there playing.

Can You Counter Reinforce?

Reinforce can be countered by anything that specifically counters an activated ability. Stifle does the trick, for example. Since reinforce doesn’t put a spell on the stack, you can’t counter it with a traditional counterspell like Arcane Denial.

If a reinforce ability gets countered, the ability is removed from the stack, but the reinforce creature remains in the graveyard, since it had to be discarded as part of the cost of activating that ability.

Can You Reinforce on a Creature with Protection?

Reinforce does target, so protection can limit whether a permanent is a valid target for reinforce. For example, a creature with protection from red can’t be the target of Brighthearth Banneret’s reinforce ability. Likewise, a card with protection from creatures can’t be targeted by a reinforce ability of a creature card.

Reinforce vs Channel

Reinforce and channel are very similar, in that they’re both activated abilities that allow you to discard a card from your hand for some sort of effect. The main difference is that they’re different types of keywords.

Channel is an ability word, which means it has variable effects from card to card. You can’t write “channel” on a card with no additional rules text because the ability word doesn’t mean anything on its own.

Reinforce is a keyword ability, meaning it has a consistent effect across all cards with that ability, just with a different number attached. You can write “Reinforce 4” on a card with no extra rules text and players can figure out what that means.

Reinforce vs Bloodrush

Bloodrush is another ability word that’s similar to reinforce but needs extra rules text to explain what it does on each card. Putting the bloodrush ability on a card doesn’t mean anything on its own. As it stands, bloodrush only appears on creatures, whereas reinforce works on any type of card.

All the bloodrush cards that exist follow the same basic formula: When discarded, a bloodrush creature gives target attacking creature a stat-boost equal to the stats of the discarded card, as well as keyword abilities like trample and double-strike. Technically, there’s nothing in the rules that says bloodrush has to do this every time, that’s just how all the cards work right now.

Gallery and List of Reinforce Cards

• Bannerhide Krushok
• Break Ties
• Brighthearth Banneret
• Burrenton Bombardier
• Earthbrawn
• Hunting Triad
• Mosquito Guard
• Rustic Clachan
• Swell of Courage
• Wren's Run Hydra

Best Reinforce Cards

Oh geez, you’re really going to make me pick out the best reinforce cards? Ok, sure, I’ll do my best. I suppose Brighthearth Banneret’s not the worst, but that has nothing to do with its reinforce ability. It just offers some cost reduction for a few relevant creature types.

Hunting Triad is perfectly serviceable in elf decks, though once again reinforce isn’t that big of a deal. I suppose there are some creatures like Marwyn, the Nurturer, Joraga Warcaller, and Arwen, Weaver of Hope that wouldn’t mind some extra counters. It’s also an elf spell itself, which has some micro-synergies here and there.

Reinforce is a fine way to add some utility to a land, though Rustic Clachan doesn’t have enough kithkin support to regularly come in untapped. That’s probably the nail in the coffin, but at least it gave it a try.

Decklist: Reinforced Weenies in Pauper

Parish-Blade Trainee | Illustration by Zara Alfonso

Look, I’m not a Constructed deckbuilder, and reinforce didn’t give me enough to work with to make a full-on Commander deck, so we’re going casual Pauper here with a brew that combines the mechanic with a few +1/+1 counter payoffs.

The idea is to get cards like Star Pupil, Servant of the Scale, and Parish-Blade Trainee on board, load them up with counters via reinforce, then move their counters around if they’re answered. Mosquito Guard is also a perfectly reasonable 1-drop to start out with and dump counters onto.

There are a few removal spells floating around, some protection with Snakeskin Veil, and a few other +1/+1 counter effects like Travel Preparations. It’s linear and probably far from competitive, but that’s what you get when you try to build a “reinforce deck.”

Wrap Up

Wren's Run Hydra | Illustration by Filip Burburan

Hopefully, I’ve helped to reinforce your knowledge of this mechanic, though it’s fairly intuitive and plays out as you’d expect. There aren’t any confusing reinforce designs, and the cards are weak enough that you’re unlikely to encounter any corner-case situations with these.

I don’t see anything wrong with reinforce, and while it’s not the least bit exciting, I’d welcome it as a Limited-focused mechanic. Reinforce cards are inherently modal spells, and those tend to play out well in Limited. I’d like to see more interesting designs if it ever made a return. Perhaps the biggest factor holding it back is that channel can do exactly what reinforce does but with more flexibility, and channel has made a full return in NEO.

Are you a reinforce enthusiast, and if so…why? That’s not a jab, I’m genuinely curious if this mechanic interests anyone and if anyone would like to see it make a return. Let me know in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord.

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