Magic DecK Vortex: (2005) +1/+1 Counters

MDV Featured Mechanic Spoilers - Old:
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MDV Featured Item - Old Featured Mechanic Spoiler - +1/+1 Counters. - by Streetz - posted 7/4/05 - discuss here

Below you will find an old featured mechanic in spoiler form. This is old and thus is not up to date with all of the new cards. The original posting date is referenced above. Don't be surprised if you see a new version of this spoiler soon!

If you have any comments, suggestions or notes about these pages, please email the webmaster: streetz@magicdeckvortex.com.

Who ever thought there were so many of them?

7/4/05 - Cards from the Kamigawa Block have been added to the +1/+1 counters mechanic feature page. I have also added a new deck link for one of these cards. Please check it out... if you like +1/+1 counters, you will most certainly like this feature. Note: This was originally posted 2 years ago and I try to keep it up to date as often as possible. ~Streetz~

Here are the cards that were added:

Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Briarknit Kami
Descendant of Masumaro
Sekki, Seasons' Guide
Jugan, the Rising Star
Shimatsu, the Blood Cloaked
Otherworldly Journey
Indebted Samurai

11/3/03. Since Khabal Ghoul from Arabian Nights, the +1/+1 counter mechanics have been a favorite of mine and many of yours for a long time. Whether it is just to increase the power and toughness of a creature or used as an Amplify trick from the Onslaught Block, +1/+1 counters prove to be a strong mechanic. One of my favorite cards that uses this mechanic is the Triskelion.

This bad boy has been seen in many decks, from Survival decks to Temper decks. If you want to see the page I did glorifying the Triskelion, you can click here. Triskelion has this neat little ability that allows you to remove a +1/+1 counter from him to deal a point of damage to any target creature or player. Astral Slide him once and you get all of his counters back to do it all over again. Or you could use Elvish Rite to put him more to use. Or combine him with Furnace of Rath and deal twice the damage with each counter. Of course, you can always just attack with him as a 4/4 creature (and then use his counters for the kill!) However you use him, he is fun to abuse and play with as are many of the other creatures using the +1/+1 mechanic.

Below is a picture listing of all the cards I can find that use the +1/+1 mechanic. I have them sorted in a number of ways for your pleasure. If you happen to have a unique deck using any of these cards, please submit it to my email address. Be sure and title the deck "+1/+1 COUNTERS" so that I can review it right away and add it to the database if worthy. (Not that any deck isn't worthy, but I try to only add decks that are unique and dissimilar in some way to the other decks in the database.)

One of the first races to use the +1/+1 counters are the spikes. The spikes were in fact a great breed of creatures from the Tempest Block that inspired other decks and that were used as utility cards in others. My personal favorites include the Spike Weaver and the Spike Rogue. Spike Rogue is the key to any +1/+1 counter theme deck as you can see in my deck COUNTER SPELLS. Other creature types that use the +1/+1 mechanic include Vampires and Insects (like the Ironshell Beetle and Stag Beetle).

With the release of the Mirrodin Block we got to see a wide variety of uses for the +1/+1 counter 'mechanic'. The Sunburst mechanic was all about making use of multi-colored mana pools to convert them into +1/+1 counters (which brought forth the first -1/X creature known as the Spinal Parasite). Then there was the Modular mechanic from the Darksteel set. Modular is by far one of my most favorite uses for the +1/+1 counters to date. Yeah, I'll sac my Arcbound Ravager to make my Ferropede 10/10. Nice. Moving along, then we saw the old clunky 'clockwork' mechanic reworked and put on four different cards ranging from common to rare (the dragon being awesome). Not to mention the Mephidross Vampire, Fangren Firstborn, Rite of Passage and Ion Storm. And then there's Power Conduit!!! Wow! I picked up 30 of them just to have them.

Lot's of +1/+1 counters this past year.. I hope Wizards of the Coasts keeps generating new cool cards utilizing them. I'll admit, Champions of Kamigawa was extremely weak on +1/+1 counters but I'll forgive them this time. I hope Betrayers of Kamigawa has some +1/+1 counter cards I can sink my deck building teeth into.

In the meantime, please enjoy this visual reference. I always encourage you to suggest more information for this as well as to give me your feedback so that I can make mechanic features like this a success and more useful for you in your deck construction needs. ~John Streetz~

Some decks abusing and using +1/+1 counters to their advantage:

Sekkimonium
A deck abusing the +1/+1 counter goodness of Sekki with Pandemonium for infinite damage!

War -- What is it good for.
A single card strategy deck featuring War Elemental.

Counterspells
An all powerful deck featuring many of my favorite +1/+1 counter critters.

Calisthenics
A deck all about Solarion. Let's also focus on throwing him at your opponent with Grab the Reins!

Copper-Leaf Angel Deck
A lethal Single Card Strategy / Combo deck using cards like Crucible of Worlds, Second Sunrise and of course the Copper-Leaf Angel.

Blood Star
Blood Hounds is like War Elemental, fun and tricky. Combine him with some pain lands and cards like Flame Rift and your opponent will die to the jaws of a hound.

Arcbound Scourge
The Modular mechanic at its best. Arcbound Ravager, Decree of Savagery, Fangren Firstborn and Forgotten Ancient... all wrapped into one killer deck.

War Storm
Think Blood Hounds / War Elemental plus Ion Storm. And then splash a bit of Overabundance and you have another cool Mark Gottlieb deck.

The Visual Spoiler Part...

Below you will find a visual spoiler of the cards that use/generate/involve +1/+1 counters:

Artifacts creatures that have +1/+1 counters.

Artifacts, Creatures, Sorceries and Instants which give +1/+1 counters

Enchantment Cards that involve +1/+1 counters

Enchant Creature Cards that involve +1/+1 counters

Gold creatures with +1/+1 counters

White creatures with +1/+1 counters

Blue creatures with +1/+1 counters

Green creatures with +1/+1 counters (excluding spikes)

Spikes from the Tempest Block

Red creatures with +1/+1 counters

Black creatures with +1/+1 counters

Creatures with the Phantom Mechanic
The Phantom Mechanic was seen only in the Judgment set of the Odyssey Block

Creatures with Amplify
Amplify is an ability limited to only cards in the Legions set of the Onslaught Block.

Creatures with Sunburst
Sunburst is an ability limited to only cards in the Fifth Dawn set of the Mirrodin Block.

Creatures with Modular
Modular is an ability limited to only cards in the Mirrodin Block (Darksteel & Fifth Dawn)

Creatures with the 'Clockwork' Mechanic (involving +1/+1 counters only)

Cards which can remove +1/+1 counters