Rhys, the Evermore
Flash When Rhys enters, another target creature you control gains persist until end of turn. (When it dies, 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.) {W}, {T}: Remove any number of counters from target creature you control. Activate only as a sorcery.
Buy from Cardmarket
Cardmarket prices from 2026-10-31
Official rulings (3) · Scryfall
If the target creature dies but that card leaves the graveyard before the persist ability resolves, it won't be returned to the battlefield.
If a creature with persist that has +1/+1 counters on it receives enough -1/-1 counters to cause it to be destroyed by lethal damage or put into its owner's graveyard for having 0 or less toughness, persist won't trigger and the card won't return to the battlefield. That's because persist checks the creature as it last existed on the battlefield, and it still had -1/-1 counters on it at that point.
If a creature has +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counters on it, state-based actions remove the same number of each so that it has only one kind of those counters on it. A creature's persist ability can bring it back again if its -1/-1 counters are removed this way.