Price$6.22 – $10.52
Buy on TCGplayerBranching Evolution
Enchantment
LegalRank #373
If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control, twice that many +1/+1 counters are put on that creature instead.
Why is this card good?
Branching Evolution is a counter-doubler that turns every pump into a payoff, and at three mana it's one of the cheapest enablers of its kind.
Why it's good:
- Doubling is multiplicative — stacking it with Hardened Scales, Doubling Season, or Corpsejack Menace creates absurd snowball math.
- It works on any +1/+1 counter source: proliferate, evolve, adapt, monstrosity, graft, even one-time effects like Inspiring Call draw triggers.
Who wants it:
- +1/+1 counter commanders like Ghave, Hamza, Pir/Toothy, Vorinclex, and Ezuri, Claw of Progress.
- Hydra and "go-tall" Voltron decks, plus Simic/Selesnya +1/+1 token strategies.
When NOT to play it:
- It does nothing on its own — it needs a critical mass of counter sources to be worth a card. In a deck with only a handful of counter producers, you're better off with creatures.
- Useless in decks built around charge/loyalty counters or non-+1/+1 themes; this only touches creature +1/+1 counters.
A cheap, reliable engine piece — but strictly a build-around.
Related cards
Doubling Season
Doubles all counters and tokens, premier +1/+1 counter doubler.
Hardened Scales
Adds extra counter whenever counters placed, cheap doubler-style effect.
Corpsejack Menace
Doubles +1/+1 counters in BG decks, same effect on a body.
Innkeeper's Talent
Doubles counters placed and adds counters, newer alternative.
Conclave Mentor
Cheap creature that adds extra +1/+1 counter on placement.
Kalonian Hydra
Doubles counters on your creatures during combat, similar payoff.
Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
Doubles your counters while halving opponents', counter superfriend.
Primal Vigor
Doubles counters and tokens symmetrically, green enchantment doubler.
Printings (7)
Played by these commanders
Hakbal of the Surging Soul100% of 1
The Wise Mothman100% of 1
Combos (8)
- Vigor + Branching Evolution + Walking Ballista
→ Infinite damage, Infinite +1/+1 counters on creatures you control
- Gatta and Luzzu + Branching Evolution + Walking Ballista
→ Infinite damage, Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature
- Crystalline Crawler + Simic Ascendancy + Hardened Scales + Branching Evolution
→ Infinite colored mana, Win the game at the beginning of your next upkeep, Infinite +1/+1 counters on creatures you control
- Marath, Will of the Wild + Cryptic Trilobite + Branching Evolution
→ Infinite colorless mana that can only be spent to activate abilities, Infinite creature tokens, Infinite damage
- Resourceful Defense + Crystalline Crawler + Branching Evolution
→ Infinite colored mana, Infinite +1/+1 counters on creatures you control
- Ghave, Guru of Spores + Cryptic Trilobite + Branching Evolution
→ Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB, Infinite LTB
Rulings (3)
- 2020-06-23
If a creature you control would enter the battlefield with a number of +1/+1 counters on it, it enters with twice that many instead.
- 2020-06-23
If you control two Branching Evolutions, the number of +1/+1 counters put on a creature is four times the original number. Three Branching Evolutions multiplies the original number by eight, and so on.
- 2020-06-23
If two or more effects attempt to modify how many counters would be put onto a creature you control, you choose the order to apply those effects, no matter who controls the sources of those effects.