Counter

Keywords · beginner

To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it. A countered spell never resolves.

How it works

• When a spell is countered, it is removed from the stack and put into its owner's graveyard without any of its effects happening.
• Triggered and activated abilities can also be countered by effects that specifically counter abilities.

Rules notes

• Countering a spell is not the same as the keyword counters used to track values (such as +1/+1 counters). They are unrelated game terms that share a word.
• A spell that was countered was still cast, so "whenever you cast" triggers already fired before it was countered.
• Some spells "can't be countered." Those still go on the stack and resolve normally.

Rule reference

[701.6]