−1/−1 counter

−1/−1 counter
Counter
Use	Power and toughness alteration
Placed on	Creatures
Introduced	Arabian Nights
Last used	Lorwyn Eclipsed
Scryfall Statistics
267 cards 12.4% 5.6% 4.5% 32.2% 9% 14.6% 21.7%

−1/−1 counters are the third most common counter type in Magic, with 243 cards, following loyalty counters at 340 cards. They were introduced on the Arabian Nights card Unstable Mutation, and were used as major set themes in Shadowmoor and Eventide, Scars of Mirrodin block, and Amonkhet block.

Description

Punch card from Amonkhet with −1/−1 counters

−1/−1 counters appear in all five colors but are primarily in black. Flavorwise, putting −1/−1 counters on a creature usually indicates a character being scarred or infected. Shadowmoor's design used replacement effects to signify "damaged" creatures, with a few ways to remove counters flavored as "healing" effects. Scars of Mirrodin used them aggressively on opponent's creatures as "infection", which grew worse with the effect of proliferate.

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 and their capacity to kill creatures and hence a finite number of counters can be present on any given board state. R&D considers them not conducive to making dynamic play environments. −1/−1 counters are currently ranked at a 5 on the Storm Scale for individual cards, and a 7 for use as one of the main mechanics of a set.

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. Additionally, they are never used as a major component in the same set, to minimize confusion in limited play, unless the product is for more experienced players, such as for the Modern Horizons series. This was relaxed by proxy for Massacre Girl, Known Killer in Murders at Karlov Manor, which uses wither, and more directly for Duskmourn: House of Horror on Patched Plaything. A small handful of cards from the earliest sets still use other, obsolete counters, which may have partial negative numbers.

History

After its introduction in Arabian Nights, −1/−1 counters were sporadically applied, with the contrast with +1/+1 counters not as pronounced as neither were widely used. Homelands, for example, had four cards with −1/−1 counters but one card with +1/+1 counters. No set used −1/−1 counters as a mechanical core, with only 19 19 cards printed before 2008. Debilitating counters were represented through other deprecated counters, including −0/−1 counters and −1/−0 counters.

As part of the design of being an "inversion" set, Shadowmoor used −1/−1 counters as a major theme. R&D wanted to mirror the bright and sunny Lorwyn with a Shadowmoor that was "merely mischievous rather than being deadly." −1/−1 counters allowed R&D to show creatures being maimed or hurt but not outright killed through their progressive weakening. The set introduced both persist and wither, the first mechanics using −1/−1 counters, to show the two sides of the concept (surviving injury and being injured respectively). All five colors had some interaction with the counters.

The next major usage of −1/−1 counters was in Scars of Mirrodin block, representing infection and phyresis. It was combined with poison counters for infect and was a vector to proliferate. As a representation of the spreading phyrexian control, it eventually was available in all five colors by the end of the block.

Amonkhet, one of the final sets designed in a block, used −1/−1 counters, hinted at a year before its release. As the theme of the set was hostility and cruelty, the major usage of it was using large creatures above rate with a targeted ability that puts −1/−1 counters, which could be for itself or other expendable creatures. These were largely in black and green. Black and red had −1/−1 counter distribution as removal, while blue and white had no real use.

After Hour of Devastation, new cards with −1/−1 counters were limited to the representatives in the supplemental set Commander 2019, all three Modern Horizons products, and the digital Alchemy Horizons Baldur's Gate. As mentioned above, 2024 would have two premier sets with a single card.

Returning to Lorwyn-Shadowmoor in 2026's Lorwyn Eclipsed, it introduced a new −1/−1 mechanic Blight and brought back Persist, alongside independent use of −1/−1 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 (November 14, 2025—Avatar: The Last Airbender)

• 122.3. If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it as a state-based action, where N is the smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it. See rule 704.

Rulings

From the Release Notes for Lorwyn Eclipsed (January 9, 2026)

• If a creature has +1/+1 counters and −1/−1 counters on it, state-based actions remove the same number of each so that it has only one kind of those counters on it. For example, if a creature has three +1/+1 counters on it and two −1/−1 counters are put on it, state-based actions will remove two of each of those kinds of counters, leaving the creature with just one +1/+1 counter.
• If a creature that has +1/+1 counters on it receives enough −1/−1 counters to cause it to be destroyed by lethal damage or put into its owner's graveyard for having 0 or less toughness, effects that refer to the counters on that creature when it died will see all of those +1/+1 and −1/−1 counters.

Mechanics

Because +1/+1 counters are the default creature counter, −1/−1 counters have been used by far fewer mechanics. There are currently four keyworded mechanics using −1/−1 counters:

• Infect
• Persist
• Wither
• Blight

Ruthless

Ruthless is R&D slang term used for “When ~ enters the battlefield, put ... −1/−1 counters on target creature you control.” This black and green mechanic was featured in Amonkhet. In design it was actually an ability worded as Ruthless but R&D ultimately didn't feel they had enough cards to give it an ability word. It was referenced in the name of Ruthless Sniper, though not in gameplay.

There is often a second ability that interacts with −1/−1 counters on the cards with Ruthless.

Cards with Ruthless

• Baleful Ammit
• Crocodile of the Crossing
• Channeler Initiate
• Decimator Beetle
• Defiant Greatmaw
• Exemplar of Strength
• Lethal Sting
• Manticore of the Gauntlet
• Ornery Kudu
• Plague Belcher
• Soulstinger