-1/-1 counter

-1/-1 counter

List of cards

**-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, and were used as major set themes in *Shadowmoor*, *Eventide*, Scars of Mirrodin block, and Amonkhet block.

## Description

-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 on any given board state.

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 in the same block, to minimize confusion in limited play. A small handful of cards from the earliest sets still use other, obsolete counters.

At least one set between 2015 and 2022 was expected to use -1/-1 counters. That set was later revealed to be *Amonkhet*, which returned to the "scarred" design usage, but with the additional twist of having the effect target, resulting in a flavor of mercilessly passing one's own curse onto others. -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.

After *Hour of Devastation*, new cards with -1/-1 counters were limited to the single representatives in the supplemental sets *Modern Horizons, Commander 2019, Modern Horizons 2*, and the digital *Alchemy Horizons Baldur's Gate*.

## 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 17, 2023—*The Lost Caverns of Ixalan*)

* **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.

## Mechanics

Because +1/+1 counters are the default creature counter, -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:

* Infect
* Persist
* Wither

Ruthless is the mechanic that Amonkhet block used, however, it is not officially named.

## Trivia

* Arrowhead counters create -1/-1 counters.

## References

1. ↑ ***a*** ***b*** ***c*** Mark Rosewater (February 11, 2008). "+1/+1 Size Fits All". *magicthegathering.com*. Wizards of the Coast.
2. ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 14, 2014). "Why are -1/-1 counters so infrequent?". *Blogatog*. Tumblr.
3. ↑ Mark Rosewater (November 15, 2014). "Wither and undying in the same set?". *Blogatog*. Tumblr.
4. ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 9, 2015). "Wouldn't the rule...". *Blogatog*. Tumblr.
5. ↑ Mark Rosewater (April 11, 2015). "When are -1/-1 counters coming back?". *Blogatog*. Tumblr.
6. ↑ Dave Humpherys (April 4, 2017). "Developing *Amonkhet*". *magicthegathering.com*. Wizards of the Coast.
7. ↑ Mark Rosewater (2023-01-16). "Where would you say -1,-1 counters are on the storm scale?". *Blogatog*. Tumblr.
8. ↑ Mark Rosewater (September 26, 2005). "+1/+1 For the Road". *magicthegathering.com*. Wizards of the Coast.