Rat King, Verminister Bug
I am writing to report a bug I experienced during a Brawl game where +1/+1 counters were visually indicated on screen but not actually being applied to my creatures.
Here is a summary of the game state when the issue occurred:
Commander: Rat King, Verminister
The following cards were on the battlefield:
- Rat King, Verminister (my commander)
- Phyrexian Obliterator
- Eternal Thirst (enchanting Phyrexian Obliterator)
- Shadowspear (equipped to Phyrexian Obliterator)
Background before the bug appeared:
- Rat King had accumulated approximately 3 counters via his Disappear ability, bringing him to roughly 4/4.
- Phyrexian Obliterator had grown to approximately 6/6 via counters from Eternal Thirst (opponent creatures dying).
- I then equipped Donnie's Bo (Shadowspear) to Phyrexian Obliterator to make him 7/7.
The Bug:
After some point during this game state, the game began showing the card popup on the right side of the screen indicating that counters were being triggered and added — but no counters were actually being applied to the creatures. The power and toughness values on both Rat King, Verminister and Phyrexian Obliterator remained unchanged despite these visual triggers.
Troubleshooting steps I attempted during the game:
1. Let Rat King die (since he is my commander and returns to the command zone) to see if re-entering the battlefield would reset the issue. When I recast Rat King and he returned to the board, the same bug persisted — counter triggers would display on the right side of the screen but no counters were applied.
2. Removed Donnie's Bo from Phyrexian Obliterator. The bug continued — counter triggers still displayed but were not applied.
Neither of these steps resolved the issue. The counters continued to flash on screen as though they were being added, but the creatures' stats did not change.
I do not have a replay or screenshot, but I wanted to report this in as much detail as possible so your team can investigate whether this is a known issue or a reproducible bug with this combination of cards.
Please let me know if you need any additional information.
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Gorcka#28257
commented
If a card was in play to prevent or reduce counters in any way, then the game should display that card in the right-hand side of the screen indicating that the counters were reduced, like it does with other nullified effects.
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Rezzahan#77802
commented
Well, it would be helpful if we knew what your opponent had on the field. Because there are several cards that have exactly that effect: no or half the number of counters added. Of the top of my head, there are Vorinclex Monstrous Raider, and Solemnity. Others exist.