Counter (marker)

In Magic: The Gathering, a counter can be used to represent different effects on a card, especially those that last beyond the current turn. 
==Description==
A counter is a small marker placed on an object or player that modifies its characteristics or interacts with a rule or ability. To physically represent the marker, players can use different items like glass beads, dice, scraps of paper or poker chips. 
Examples of counters include +1/+1 counters, charge counters, and time counters. Richard Garfield created counters for Alpha to designate an increase in power and/or toughness, to track the gaining of resources, and to mark a permanent change.
==Colors==
The ability to move counters is primary in blue. Black can remove counters from permanents on the battlefield.
Few cards exist that can remove any type of counter from players. <c>Price of Betrayal</c> and <c>Suncleanser</c> can both remove counters from opponents, while one card, <c>Leeches</c>, allows a player to remove poison counters from themselves. Mark Rosewater regards poison counters' inability to be removed as an important part of their identity and has remarked that he "personally despise[s]" Leeches, and so it is highly unlikely that more cards will be printed that are capable of removing poison counters from players.
The effect to increase the number of counters as they're being made, or making more after they've already been made, is primary in blue and green (e.g. <c>Doubling Season</c>). White is secondary.
Preventing counters from being put on permanents (and sometimes players) is primary in white (e.g.<c>Solemnity</c>).
==Rules==
===Obsolete terminology===
===Move===
==Trivia==
*While trying to refer to counters, the card text of referred to them as tokens. This was remedied in Masters Edition IV, where the card referred to Mire counters.
*Counters were featured as rules card 4 of 9 in the Magic 2011 set.
*A number of cards, most notably and , have the ability to manipulate and redistribute any sort of counters. This can result in numerous bizarre interactions.
==See also==
*Full List of Counters
==References==