Avacyn Restored Returning Mechanic: Undying

Undying

The forces of darkness on Innistrad are diminished, but they're far from gone. The sinister undying mechanic returns in Avacyn Restored.

http://media.wizards.com/images/magi...7vkub6t_en.jpg

Howlgeist 5G
Creature - Spirit Wolf (Uncommon)
Creatures with power less than Howgeist's power can't block it
Undying
4/2

When your undying creature with no +1/+1 counters on it dies, you return it to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it. An undying creature that has one or more +1/+1 counters on it when it dies stays in the graveyard as normal.

It doesn't matter where the +1/+1 counters came from, or whether a creature has already come back with a counter on it; all that matters is where the counters are when it dies. If your undying creature gets a +1/+1 counter on it (say, from Hunger of the Howlpack) and then dies, it won't come back, even if that's the first time it died. On the flip side, if you can get that +1/+1 counter off of an undying creature somehow after it comes back, it'll come back yet again the next time it dies. Undying indeed!

If a creature ever has +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counters on it, the two kinds of counters immediately "cancel out," one for one, until only one kind of counter remains. For example, a creature with three +1/+1 counters and two -1/-1 counters would end up with one +1/+1 counter. There's a twist, though: If a creature with +1/+1 counters on it gets enough -1/-1 counters to kill it, it dies before the two counters have the chance to cancel out. For example, if your Howlgeist with a +1/+1 counter on it got three -1/-1 counters from Skinrender's "enters the battlefield" ability, the Howlgeist would die with one +1/+1 counter and three -1/-1 counters and wouldn't return to the battlefield.