Experience Counters in MTG: What Do They Do in Magic: The Gathering?

TLDR

• Experience counters are counters on you (the player), not on a creature.
• They do nothing by themselves. Cards that mention them turn them into value.
• You keep them even if your commander dies or leaves the battlefield.
• You can grow them with proliferate, and removing them is technically possible but uncommon.

If you’re asking “what do experience counters do MTG,” the answer is both boring and powerful: they’re basically a persistent number you rack up, then a handful of cards cash that number in for increasingly rude effects. Like an XP bar, except it’s for making your friends sigh.

How experience counters MTG actually work

Experience counters are a type of counter a player can have. The game rules allow counters to exist on objects or players, and experience counters live on the player. That means they are not tied to any one permanent.

Also, and this is important, experience counters do not come with a default rule like “at 10 you win” or “at 3 you draw a card.” They only matter when a card explicitly says:

• “You get an experience counter,” and/or
• “For each experience counter you have…”

So the counters themselves are just the score. The card is the prize counter.

How you get them (and why they stick)

Most experience-counter designs are Commander legends. They usually follow a simple pattern:

1. Do a thing the commander wants (cast bigger spells, sacrifice creatures, play small creatures, etc.).
2. Get experience counters.
3. The commander scales off how many you have.

And yes, the counters stay on you even if the commander that earned them gets removed. You might stop earning new ones until it comes back, but your existing counters remain. There are a few niche effects that can remove counters from a player (for example, Suncleanser can make an opponent lose all counters), but that is not exactly a staple at most tables.

The classic experience-counter commanders (what they reward)

Commander 2015 put experience counters on the map, and the “big four” examples still explain the mechanic best:

• Mizzix of the Izmagnus: Earn counters by casting spells that are bigger than your current experience count, then get a cost reduction on your instants and sorceries.
• Meren of Clan Nel Toth: Earn counters when your creatures die, then reanimate creatures with mana value up to your experience count.
• Ezuri, Claw of Progress: Earn counters from small creatures entering, then turn that experience into a big pile of +1/+1 counters on a creature each combat.
• Daxos the Returned: Earn counters by casting enchantments, then make tokens whose power and toughness scale with your experience.

One more subtle rule: experience counters are interchangeable. If multiple cards you control care about experience counters, they all look at the same number you have.

Quick rules checklist (the stuff that actually trips people)

• Proliferate works. Because proliferate can choose players with counters, it can add more experience counters once you have at least one.
• Doubling Season does not double them. It only doubles counters placed on permanents you control. Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider does work because it cares about counters placed on permanents or players.
• Old wording alert: you’ll see “converted mana cost” on older text and articles. The modern term is mana value.

If you’re playtesting an experience-counter Commander deck with proxies, this is the normal, socially-acceptable use case: casual pods, clear Rule 0 talk, no weirdness. Sanctioned events still require real cards, and your LGS does not need surprise side quests.

FAQs

Do I keep experience counters if my commander dies?

Yes. Experience counters are on you, so you keep them even if the creature that gave them leaves the battlefield.

Can I proliferate experience counters?

Yes. If you already have at least one, proliferate can give you another experience counter.

Do experience counters do anything on their own?

No. They only matter when a card references them.