MTG Life & Commander Damage

Track life and commander damage for 2–4 players on one device. Each player starts at 40 life and uses one commander.

MTG game and saving

Checking your saved MTG game…

Players and designated commanders

Keep the designated commanders clear

Start 2–4 players at 40 life, with exactly one designated commander each.

P1–P4 and C1–C4 identify the same people and designated cards throughout the game. Player names must differ; commander nicknames may match because each card keeps its C-number and original owner.

Damage stays separate for every commander and recipient, including a commander’s original owner.

A stolen commander still uses its original C-number, even when it damages its original owner. Changing control or zones does not move its accumulated damage. An ordinary copy is not a new designated commander. A designated commander that copies another card keeps its identity. Your table resolves merged or melded permanents and card effects before choosing a source.

Keep the phone upright. One person can operate it or you can pass it around; narrow screens use a scrolling list of player cards. Jump links move to a player without closing an open entry. Edit labels changes names only. Use New game when the roster or designated physical commander cards change.

Choose the recipient, source and life effect

Save damage records the chosen source and explicit life change together. Card effects are never inferred.

  1. Open the recipient’s Commander damage entry. Choose the designated commander that dealt combat damage to that player. Enter actual damage dealt after prevention and replacement effects, not power, assigned damage, noncombat damage or damage to another object. If no damage was dealt, record no damage entry.

  2. Choose what happens to life. Subtract the same amount for the matching life loss. Leave life unchanged if you already used the life controls or another effect applies. Use a different life loss to enter another amount, including zero. Record life gains for any player separately; ownership does not identify a commander’s current controller.

  3. Check the preview and Save damage once. The source total and life change apply together. If saving fails after acceptance, the shown totals remain and Retry saving does not apply the hit again. If you already recorded the damage itself, use Correct totals. The tool cannot detect two separate entries for the same physical hit.

Correct life and damage separately

Correct one player’s totals together, or confirm one eligible latest-change reversal. Keep the most recent 50 numeric change receipts.

Correct the right fields

Correct totals starts with current life and received damage from every commander. Lowering damage does not restore life automatically. Move damage between two sources for the same player in one correction. An older wrong-recipient mistake needs a separate correction for each affected player. Review every before-and-after value before saving.

Reverse the latest change once

Revert latest change previews and restores the eligible numeric change’s exact prior totals. The reversal cannot itself be reverted. A later numeric change replaces its eligibility; a changed label, Finish, Reopen or New game expires it. Opening or cancelling an entry, unchanged corrections and save retries do not consume it.

Recent receipts

Receipts show the recipient, changed source totals and life before and after recording. They use current labels for stable identities. Device times describe when entries were recorded, not when physical damage happened. Older receipts roll out after 50; current totals remain. This is not a complete combat history or an archive.

Finish without judging the result

Keep one current game. Finish freezes recording, Reopen restores editing, and a confirmed new game replaces the record.

Finish works even if no numeric changes were recorded. It declares no winner. New game opens a setup draft while your old game remains intact; only the final replacement confirmation starts fresh life, identities and zero damage.

Check the pair of totals

These are illustrative results, not prefilled game activity.

A linked hit

P2 starts at life 40 and C1 damage 0. Record 3 and subtract the same amount: life 37, C1 damage 3.

Life already changed

P2 is already at life 37, with C1 damage 0. Record 3 and leave life unchanged: life 37, C1 damage 3, not life 34.

Separate sources

P2 has C1 damage 12 and C3 damage 10: no combined 21+ indicator. Add 9 from C1 with life unchanged: C1 damage 21, C3 damage 10. Only C1 shows a check-state indicator. A stolen C1 stays C1, including when it damages P1.

Correction and reversal

P2 has life 37 and C1 damage 3. Correct to life 38 and C1 damage 2. Immediately Revert latest change restores life 37 and C1 damage 3 once; another reversal is unavailable.

Check the saving message

Recorded changes save in this browser when verified. Drafts are not saved; there is no export, account, cloud copy or offline-page promise.

Saved and not saved

Saved in this browser means the local write was checked. Reload restores that recorded game, including its recent receipts and any still-eligible reversal. Unfinished numeric, setup and label forms are discarded. A leave warning may help, but browsers do not guarantee it. Clearing site data or changing browser can lose the record.

Recover deliberately

If a save fails, keep the tab open and review the visible totals before choosing Retry saving or an offered recovery action. An older retained copy is labelled before you save it. Load saved game explicitly discards local work. When safe local saving is unavailable, a new game may run only in this tab and be lost on leaving or reloading. An existing saved game can instead open read-only; follow the saving message.

One editing tab

Another tab is read-only until you confirm Take over editing. A game or authority change closes old previews. Draft text retained for the same game is for review only; cancel it and open a fresh editor. A replacement game closes the old draft without recording it. The tool does not merge conflicting games or coordinate online players.

A manual record for one commander each

This supports casual 40-life Commander with two to four individual players. It excludes multiple commanders, partner variants, choose-a-Background, Doctor’s companion, teams, solo play, Duel Commander and Brawl. There are no poison, energy, commander-tax or other extra counters, timers, decks, card lookup or automatic detection. Ownership-changing house rules and game restarts need a new recording when the saved identities no longer describe the game.

A 21+ indicator refers to one commander’s recorded combat damage. Life at 0 or below also prompts a game-state check. Neither indicator eliminates a player or decides an outcome: untracked card effects can matter. Controls remain available.

CountNook’s input limits are whole-number life totals from −9,999,999 to 9,999,999 and received damage totals from 0 to 9,999,999. New damage and gain/loss entries must be positive; different life loss may be zero. These are recording limits, not Magic rules. Values outside them reject the whole change.

Rule-dependent guidance follows Wizards’ official Magic rules and the Comprehensive Rules effective 25 September 2026, checked 8 October 2026: 903.2, 903.3, 903.7, 903.10a, 702.124d, 120.3–4, 119.6 and 101.1–2. CountNook’s correction, saving and size limits are product choices. CountNook is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast.