-1/-1 counter

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-1/-1 Counter
Counter
Introduced Arabian Nights
Last used New Phyrexia
Scryfall search
oracle:"-1/-1 Counter"

-1/-1 counters are the second most common counter type in Magic, following +1/+1 counters. They were introduced on the Arabian Nights card Unstable Mutation.[1]

At least one set within the next seven years is expected to use -1/-1 counters,[2] and they are currently ranked at a 1 on the storm scale.[3]

-1/-1 counters appear in all five colors, but are primarily in black and secondarily in green. Flavorwise, putting -1/-1 counters on a creature usually indicates a character being scarred or infected.

For ease of comprehension, blocks tend to focus on only a single type of counter on creatures. -1/-1 counters are used less often than +1/+1 counters because they have less available design space, due to their similarity to +1/+1 counters[1] and their capacity to kill creatures and thereby simplify the game state.[4]

As a further concession to mitigate complexity, +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counters are the only power/toughness altering counters used in new products.[1] Additionally, they are never used in the same block, to minimize confusion in limited play.[5][6] A small handful of cards from the earliest sets still use other, obsolete counters.

Cancellation With +1/+1 Counters

When both +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters are present on the same creature, they are immediately removed in matched pairs until only one or the other remains.

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

  • 121.3. If there are no cards in a player’s library and an effect offers that player the choice to draw a card, that player can choose to do so. However, if an effect says that a player can’t draw cards and another effect offers that player the choice to draw a card, that player can’t choose to do so.
    • 121.3a The same principles apply if the player who’s making the choice is not the player who would draw the card. If the latter player has no cards in their library, the choice can be taken. If an effect says that the latter player can’t draw a card, the choice can’t be taken.

Mechanics

Because +1/+1 counters are the default creature counter,[7] -1/-1 counters have been used by far fewer mechanics. There are currently three keyworded mechanics using -1/-1 counters, all of them from Lorwyn–Shadowmoor block or Scars of Mirrodin block:

Cards which create -1/-1 counter

Arabian Nights

Fallen Empires

Ice Age

  • Skeleton Ship is the first creature to produce -1/-1 counters, as well as being the first multicolored and first legendary creature to do so. It is also the first creature that could tap to produce -1/-1 counters.

Homelands

Alliances

  • Misfortune is the first sorcery to produce +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters.
  • Wandering Mage is the first creature that could produce -1/-1 counters for a mana cost.

Mirage

Visions

  • Lichenthrope is the first creature to receive -1/-1 counters in place of damage which is similar to wither but is for all damage not just combat damage.
  • Matopi Golem is the first artifact creature to receive a -1/-1 counter as part of payment to regenerate itself.

Weatherlight

  • Aboroth is the first creature to produce -1/-1 and age counters.
  • Serrated Biskelion is the first artifact creature to produce -1/-1 counters.

Tempest

  • Fevered Convulsions
  • Segmented Wurm is the first creature, as well as the first multicolored creature, to gain 1/-1 counters when it is the target of a spell or ability.

Mercadian Masques

  • Quagmire Lamprey is the first creature to put -1/-1 counters on creatures blocked by it.

Torment

  • Shambling Swarm is the first creature that distributed -1/-1 counters upon its death.

Shadowmoor

-1/-1 counters were a big theme in the set. [8] [9] [10]

Persist

Creatures with persist return to the battlefield under their owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on them if they had no -1/-1 counters on them when they died.

Wither

Creatures with wither dealt damage in the form of -1/-1 counters.

Eventide

Persist

Wither

Creatures with wither deal damage in the form of -1/-1 counters.

Scars of Mirrodin

Infect

Creatures with infect deal damage in the form of -1/-1 counters and poison counters.

Mirrodin Besieged

Infect

New Phyrexia

Infect

References

  1. ↑ a b c Template:NewRef
  2. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (April 11 2015). "". Tumblr.
  3. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (January 30 2015). "". Tumblr.
  4. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (August 14 2014). "". Tumblr.
  5. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (November 15 2014). "". Tumblr.
  6. ↑ Error on call to {{WebRef}}: Parameters url and title must be specifiedMark Rosewater (June 9 2015). "". Tumblr.
  7. ↑ Template:NewRef
  8. ↑ Template:NewRef
  9. ↑ Template:NewRef
  10. ↑ Template:NewRef
Common counters
Keyword counters
Mechanic counters
Cycle counters
Other counters
on multiple cards
Other counters
on a single card
See also
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