Poison Counters in MTG
Another way to lose, no matter how much life you have.
The Rule
A player with 10 or more poison counters loses the game, no matter how much life they have. That includes Commander: the number is 10 there too.
Where Poison Comes From
- Infect. Damage from a source with infect does not cost life. A player gets that many poison counters instead. A creature dealt infect damage gets −1/−1 counters.
- Toxic. When a creature with toxic N deals combat damage to a player, that player gets N poison counters on top of the normal damage and life loss.
- Poisonous. An older keyword: whenever the creature deals combat damage to a player, that player gets N poison counters.
- Proliferate. Gives each chosen player or permanent one more counter of each kind it already has, so a poisoned player gets another poison counter.
What Does Not Help
Poison is not life, so gaining life does nothing about it. Only an effect that removes counters takes poison away.
Sources for this page: the Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules, effective September 25, 2026, rules 104.3d and 704.5c (10 poison), 702.90 (infect), 702.164 (toxic), 702.70 (poisonous), and 701.34 (proliferate).
More Rules
Commander damage · Starting life.
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