Continuing 'mechanics March,' today I look at two (related) abilities: persist and wither. Both were first seen (and almost exclusively remain in) the Shadowmoor and Eventide (2008) sets. Both introduced a -1/-1 counter.
Persist
From the official rules,
702.79. Persist- 702.79a Persist is a triggered ability. “Persist” means “When this permanent is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control with a -1/-1 counter on it.”
In essence, this ability "can return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield." And since you don't pay its mana cost the second time, it's like getting two-for-one.
Intuitively, cards with powerful 'Enter the Battlefield' abilities profit from persist. The examples below show various ways it has been implemented (note the removal abilities of several).
Wither
From the official rules,
702.80. Wither- 702.80a Wither is a static ability. Damage dealt to a creature by a source with wither isn’t marked on that creature. Rather, it causes that source’s controller to put that many -1/-1 counters on that creature.
Wither is a way to make a creature's power count in combat, even if it isn't enough to destroy the other creature. Since normally damage on a creature is removed at the end of the turn (if it is not enough to destroy it), wither is way for the little guys to erode bigger creatures over several turns. And since it uses counters, mechanics like proliferate pair well with it.
To date, 35 cards have the wither mechanic, largely in black, red, and/or green colors.
-1/-1 counters aren't as common as their inverse (+1/+1 counters), but you can use them powerfully with a little planning.
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