This disclosure describes techniques for entropy coding of video blocks, and proposes a syntax element that may promote coding efficiency. The syntax element may identify a number of non-zero value sub-blocks within a video block, wherein the non-zero value sub-blocks comprise sub-blocks within the video block that include at least one non-zero coefficient. A method of coding a video block may comprise coding the syntax element, generating the non-zero value sub-blocks of the video block, and entropy coding the non-zero value sub-blocks.