How many counters would Protean Hydra gain at end of turn if you Bioshift multiple off of it?

Asked by nismosean 9 years ago

Say I have a 5/5 Protean Hydra . During a 2nd main phase I use Bioshift and remove 4 of those counters to place them on another creature I control. At the next end step would the Protean only get 2 counters or would it get 8 counters?

The card reads:Whenever a +1/+1 counter is removed from Protean Hydra, put two +1/+1 counters on it at the beginning of the next end step.

This isn't as clear as some other explanations on cards. It doesn't specific for each counter removed but doesn't say it can only happen once.

Then there is a ruling on gatherer that still doesn't clear it up for me.

The ruling:If multiple +1/+1 counters are removed from Protean Hydra at once, its last ability will trigger that many times.

Does "that many times" refer to the number of "multiple counters" or "once"?

I can see it happening both ways and in my play group we are split as to how it is supposed to be played.

I have always played the combo as gaining double the amount removed.

GreatSword says... Accepted answer #1

Yes, this works the way you want it. The ruling you cite from Gatherer isn't ambiguous: if you remove 4 counters from Protean Hydra , it will trigger 4 times. Each +1/+1 counter is a different counter. Removing 4, even if it's all at once, will each trigger the last ability.

August 29, 2014 10:31 a.m.

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