Magic Players: Tokens and +1/+1 counters.

[Idon'tcareanymore]

I'm looking for the opinion of fellow players on a issue that has been bugging me. I'm a white user primarily, so I'm no stranger to creature tokens nor +1/+1 counters. However, I'm not a big fan of putting those counters on the tokens. I don't really know why. In my current Angel/human white deck I can't bring myself to put the counters on the tokens. It seems like a waste of times since I use them mostly as blockers/ sacrifice fodder.

So, do you use +1/+1 counters on tokens or do you find it a waste of time like I do?

 

[GothmogII]

It depends really on the situation, if your opponent for example has some blockers and you don't want to risk attacking with your ground creatures but you have a couple of 1/1 flying tokens then I'd put the +1/+1 token on a flier. You just have to analyse the field and determine where those tokens are going to do the most damage, or potentially protect a valuable target.

For example, I've got a Fairy/Rogue theme deck from back in Lorwyn that relies heavily on cheap 1 toughness fairy rogues with flying, and some cards like Oona's Blackguard [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Discussion.aspx?multiverseid=153099] add +1/+1 tokens whenever rogue comes into play and that also force your opponent to discard a card when they deal damage, meaning if you can get a spell like Notorious Throng [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=152579] off, you could end up with an army of 2/2 fliers.

 

[Rastien]

It can get messy when you have poisen counters getting involved and its good to keep track of it using counters.

Whilst ill admit its a ball ache if your doing anything official and competitive you need to make sure everything is clear and laid out. Try a pen a paper for keeping track of counters its what i do as long as everything is clear its all good.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

I don't bother with counters usually. I only bother to mark down counters if I have a creature that gains counters periodically, like say, Ajani's Pridemate.

EDIT: Course, sometimes I just don't bother. Like with my Slivers deck, where I can have all my creatures out on the board by turn 8, with over 50 +1/+1 counters each, swinging for a total of 2048 (unblocked). I don't think it would be logical to try to keep track of everything.

 

[Doom-Slayer]

I do. I actually have a giant stack of token cards that are applicable to my decks and msot other decks. Either that or I just flip a spare card onto its back and use dice as counters.

Whether its a good idea strategy wise? It really depends. Ghave saproling decks, goblin swarm decks and other white token decks work very well.

 

[WyndWalker02]

Primarily it depends on what you're doing with the tokens. Like you said, you play out lots of little human and angel tokens in your one deck that you use for sacrifice/block fodder. In a case like that, placing counters on them may well be pointless.

On the other hand, one of my better decks is a Golem/Proliferation deck utilizing Titan Forge, Conversion Chamber, Golem Foundry, and a good number of the splicers. Other than the few splicers that are primarily there to create even more golems when they drop, I don't have any actual creature cards in the deck. The entire ground force (of which there is a LOT) is made up of 3/3 and 9/9 golem tokens. When I throw in a couple Energy Chambers, it definitely behooves me to make sure to keep track of those +1/+1 counters.

 

[TyranidXX]

I'm running a white/blue/green Knight/Soldier deck at the moment & while I haven't had the need or chance to ad +1/+1's to token creatures, I would do it as I believe the tokens are just as valuable as the actual creatures.

Either way though it doesn't really matter as almost all my cards work to ensure my creatures are 5/5 first strikers or stronger.

 

[hellflame]

once you get overrun by a token army in turn 4 you'll know to value and fear them, trust me.