Gimli, Counter of Kills
Legendary Creature — Dwarf Warrior
Trample
Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, Gimli deals 1 damage to that creature's controller.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
- Price
- $0.17
- EDHREC rank
- #6594
Gimli, Counter of Kills snowballs fast in any deck that pings or kills creatures repeatedly — each death or 1-damage hit stacks a +1/+1 counter, and he pairs with Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph to turn those 1-damage triggers into a counter engine that spirals out of control. The cost is that he does nothing alone: without a shell built around small damage or efficient removal, he's a vanilla 3/3 Dwarf waiting to die.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph
Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph converts every 1-damage source into a board-wide ping, and each of those pings triggers Gimli, Counter of Kills — stack enough pingers and Gimli is stacking counters every single turn without needing to attack.
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell bumps all red damage up by 2, which means effects that already dealt exactly 1 damage now kill creatures outright, feeding Gimli, Counter of Kills a steady stream of death triggers.
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might replaces low-damage red spell outputs with Axonil's power, turning marginal pings into lethal hits — and every creature that dies to those hits puts a counter on Gimli, Counter of Kills.
Bruenor Battlehammer
Bruenor Battlehammer gives equipped creatures a free Equipment activation discount, which matters for Gimli, Counter of Kills because stacking Equipment on a growing Dwarf is the fastest way to convert those counters into a one-shot threat.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Gimli, Counter of Kills earns his keep — the format's multiplayer creature density and abundance of pingers and aristocrats-style shells give him consistent counter triggers across a full game. He's legal in Legacy, Vintage, and Modern, but the competitive pace of those formats leaves no room for a 3-mana creature that needs several turns of setup to become threatening. Oathbreaker is viable in the same sense Commander is, though the 20-life starting total compresses the window for his counters to matter.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.17 bulk tier
At $0.17, Gimli, Counter of Kills is deep bulk — easy to acquire in quantity and easy to slot in without a second thought. Bulk rares at this price point rarely recover unless a new commander or mechanic creates a sudden spike in demand, so pick up copies for utility, not speculation.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph
- Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
- Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might
- Bruenor Battlehammer
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.