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Do counters added to a god with Gleam of Battle disappear when the god stops being a creature?

Scenario: Purphoros, God of the Forge is a creature (due to devotion reaching the required amount) and Gleam of Battle is also on the battlefield. Then Purphoros attacks and gets a +1/+1 counter for attacking. If my devotion to red then drops below 5 and Purphoros is no longer a creature, would the +1/+1 counters stay on him or will he reset to his original power/toughness level?

My thinking is when he becomes an enchantment he loses it due to the fact that he is no longer a creature and that his power and toughness are technically not there and so he gets remade into being a creature only when devotion is high enough.

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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They absolutely stay. According to the comprehensive rules, emphasis mine:

205.1a Some effects set an object's card type. In such cases, the new card type(s) replaces any existing card types. Counters, effects, and damage marked on the object remain with it, even if they are meaningless to the new card type.

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  • Impressively short and to the point. There are 245 occurences of the word Counter in the comp rules, and section 121 is literally titled 121. Counters, and yet you somehow found this in section 205.
    – Rainbolt
    Jun 12, 2014 at 18:37
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Counters are not removed from a permanent even when they stop being relevant to it.

Take the example of Raging Ravine : it says

2RG: Until end of turn, Raging Ravine becomes a 3/3 red and green Elemental creature with "Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on it." It's still a land.

On gatherer we can see the ruling :

Any +1/+1 counters put on Raging Ravine remain on it even after it stops being a creature. They'll have no effect until it becomes a creature again.

Related : Can non-creature permanents have +1/+1 counters?

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  • 2
    Better yet, Llanowar Reborn prove that +1/+1 counters can exist on non-creatures without relying on rulings.
    – ikegami
    Jun 12, 2014 at 13:41

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