This was submitted for the Goblin Artisans design challenge for the Britannian Faction. This is Pasteur's "Occupy" / "Reign".

Pasteur elaborated, saying "Cards can trigger off of threshold-1 "if you control a creature with", or get a bonus "for each creature on the battlefield with a -1/-1", or "sac a creature with a counter on it: bonus". White and black can have different interactions with them; you can tweak it to work for aristocrats or soldiers. These guys are in charge, and as long as there's somebody beneath them, they can operate at full efficiency. It's also available on instants and sorceries."

Jay said in the review:

> Maybe new players value lifegain enough to think it's worth the -1/-1 counter, in which case they'd appreciate reign at face-value where skilled players will appreciate it based on its synergies, which would be a cool combination; but I get the impression that LSPs hate losing anything, including size on their creatures.

> The thing about putting -1/-1 counters on your creatures is it's both narrow and risky. If you put it on an X/1, it won't be a creature anymore and effects that check for -1/-1 counters won't benefit. If you put it on a creature that survives, that creatures becomes less useful in combat and more vulnerable to removal. It can be done, as Devoted Druid and Cinderhaze Wretch demonstrate, but the payoff needs to consider both the immediate loss of power and the additional risk of a smaller creature. Vigilance is pretty nice on a 2/4, but it won't often be worth a -1/-1 counter on its own. What gives me hope for reign is that you can use it just once to turn on a number of your creatures.

Flavour text would want to bring out the flavour that a creature with a -1/-1 counter is a subordinate or subject of the Occupying/Reigning card.

Commons would probably mostly say "As long as you control a creature with a -1/-1 counter on it".

Uncommons could do things like "Whenever a creature you control with a -1/-1 counter on it dies".

I hadn't envisaged the set using -1/-1 counters, but I don't have any particular mechanics planned that use +1/+1 counters - just a couple of tentative designs like Promise a Miracle and a reprint of Miraculous Recovery - so it's plausible. I don't want it to be a set with the corrupted, poisoned feel that -1/-1 counters helped provide in Scars of Mirrodin and Shadowmoor though.