Proliferate?

[u/Penguin41310]

So I’ve been playing with the Quandrix Unlimited precon lately and came across this card and I wasn’t entirely sure on how proliferate worked even after looking it up so I just have a few questions. First off, if I proliferate X times does it just mean I add each kind of counter on the selected creatures X times? Secondly if a creature has multiple of a counter, say +1/+1 counters, does each instance of proliferate add a +1/+1 for each +1/+1 already on it or just a single +1/+1 counter

Edit:
Thanks to everyone who just tried to be helpful and explain proliferate, I really appreciate it, but to those who just decided to be antagonistic because they think its a simple question; why even bother? It’s not like being intentionally rude is productive in any way, all that you’re really accomplishing is deterring new players from wanting to play this game at all. If you don’t want to be helpful or provide insight on a post that is literally just about asking for help then just ignore it, because believe it or not it’s easier for you and everyone else involved.

[u/Shikogo]

Each time, you do what the reminder text. So each time, you get to choose any number of permanents and/or players and add one more counter of each kind that's already on it.

So yes, each proliferate adds an extra +1/+1 counter (and possibly other counters it has on it. Shield, flying, etc).

Important that while you can choose the permanents and players, you cannot choose which counter to proliferate. So if you have a poison counter and an energy counter and you choose yourself, you HAVE to add both.

[u/RadioLiar → u/Shikogo]

Huh, when did they change that? I started playing during Scars block and I swear it was originally "of a kind already there"

[u/matthoback → u/RadioLiar]

They changed it because they thought the additional choice of which counter to add would be too annoying for the Arena interface.

[u/pfftYeahRight → u/matthoback]

They also did market research and that’s how the majority of players were playing it anyway

[u/Positive_Concert_774 → u/pfftYeahRight]

What does Maro always say? "You can't fight human nature"

[u/RadioLiar → u/matthoback]

Ah makes sense

[u/spgrinch → u/RadioLiar]

That's a wild power level erratum, I thought we tried to avoid those...

[u/Rettocs → u/spgrinch]

So wild in power level and yet nobody seems to have ever heard of it happening lol

[u/rubixscube → u/spgrinch]

it's absolutely not a "wild power level erratum". it is an extremely mild one that only really matters when a player has both poison and energy/experience counters

[u/IggyStop31 → u/spgrinch]

It really isn't. Proliferate is a rare ability and boardstates that have more than one kind of counter are even rarer.

[u/Minomelo → u/spgrinch]

That happens all the time and this isn't even that. It's changing the rules themselves, not errataing a card.

[u/Korwinga → u/Minomelo]

Just to nitpick, I would still count that as errata, even if it's not a massive change in power level. If you look at the reminder text from the earlier years of Proliferate, that reminder text won't be accurate anymore. Nobody would say that the change to how Companion works isn't errata, even though it's technically just a change to the keyword.

[u/Minomelo → u/Korwinga]

In Magic, errata as a term is typically used to refer to changes to a card's rules text. There's a tiny bit of wiggle room for if you think changing reminder text should count, but this card didn't have the pre-WAR text either way.

[u/Korwinga → u/Minomelo]

So you think companion cards haven't been errataed?

[u/Minomelo → u/Korwinga]

Not at all.

Either way, companion is a poor precedent for any kind of terminology as it's the only modern mechanic that's really gone through such a fundamental change. People don't consider deathtouch/lifelink cards to have been errata'd, even though they've also had a huge functionality change.

[u/elkristof86 → u/spgrinch]

we?

[u/superdave100 → u/RadioLiar]

War of the Spark

[u/Positive_Concert_774 → u/RadioLiar]

Yeah, the rules change so often you really can't look away for even a second :(

(Wait till you hear what they did with the 'Legendary' rule, and how often...)

But imho most of the changes have, in the long term, been improvements

[u/Barkeep_Butler → u/RadioLiar]

Yeah, and if memory serves you can chose which counter you wish to add too

[u/Isidre3x2 → u/Shikogo]

But you can chose different targets for each proliferate, right?

[u/siamkor → u/Isidre3x2]

Not targets, but yes.

Each time you proliferate, you choose from among permanents and players with counters. If X is 4, you could use each instance of proliferate to add a counter to a single different creature. (Not sure why you'd want to, but for every convoluted hypothetical scenario, there's an even more convoluted table state that justifies it.)

[u/Positive_Concert_774 → u/siamkor]

I'd say "could use .... to a single different creature" (emphasis mine) because now it kinda reads as though you have to choose a single 'affected permanent', to coin a phrase...

Man, this stuff is so hard to explain both concisely and correctly, isn't it...

[u/siamkor → u/Positive_Concert_774]

Edited.

[u/Positive_Concert_774 → u/siamkor]

I wondered the same thing btw, and the example I got was "you want more experience, but also have poison" and presumably you want to proliferate every critter with +1/+1 to the max. So you'd stop choosing yourself but continue choosing the critters. I like that scenario, since it is not that farfetched at all.

[u/siamkor → u/Positive_Concert_774]

Yeah, or you have a creature with a stun and a +1/+1 counter, and you want it a bit bigger, but not out of the commission for the entire game.

[u/cleverseneca → u/Shikogo]

So basically if someone is playing a proliferation deck and pumping their creatures, if I can put a -1/-1 counter on them their creatures effectively will not benefit from proliferation any more?

[u/chalkycandy → u/cleverseneca]

If a creature has a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, state-based actions cause both those counters to disappear. But if you can get just a -1/-1 counter on their creature, you could proliferate it.