The pick band sorts by how many creatures you genuinely want to keep swinging with: P1P4 to P1P6 for a dedicated RW Equipment or WB Counters build, P1P8 or later for everyone else. Level 1 is the whole pitch, and TMT's medium speed is what makes it work. A permanent that adds a counter per attack compounds against the 2/3 and 3/2 commons that anchor every ground stall: one swing turns a Foot Ninja into something that trades up, two swings put it ahead of the format's common blockers entirely. The reason it doesn't climb higher is the leveling tax. Level 2's lifegain drip rarely justifies the mana, and Level 3 wants a wide board plus cheap spells assembled before the sorcery-speed gate stops mattering, which TMT's curve pushes to turn seven or eight.
RW Equipment values it highest because the archetype already concentrates combat on one carrier: Bespoke Bō or Novel Nunchaku commits a creature, and stacking counters on that same attacker snowballs faster than any other deck can manage. WB legendary midrange treats it as a slower investment, taking Level 1 for the steady growth rather than the kill-quick math, since its threats want to grind rather than race. Mono-white tokens is the failure case here: the counter only ever lands on one attacker, so the engine fights the deck's own go-wide plan, and the spell payoff arrives far too late.
Grounded for Life sets the ceiling. Every white deck runs it, and it answers the exact attacker carrying your accumulated counters, which means the engine is only as durable as your willingness to spread the stack across bodies.
