diff --git a/src/main/java/forge/card/ability/AbilityUtils.java b/src/main/java/forge/card/ability/AbilityUtils.java
index 774226d6520..9633d320b5f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/forge/card/ability/AbilityUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/forge/card/ability/AbilityUtils.java
@@ -292,13 +292,15 @@ public class AbilityUtils {
     public static int calculateAmount(final Card card, String amount, final SpellAbility ability) {
         // return empty strings and constants
         if (StringUtils.isBlank(amount)) return 0;
+        final boolean startsWithPlus = amount.charAt(0) == '+';
+        if(startsWithPlus) amount = amount.substring(1);
+        
         if (StringUtils.isNumeric(amount)) return Integer.parseInt(amount);
 
         // Strip and save sign for calculations
-        boolean startsWithPlus = amount.charAt(0) == '+';
         boolean startsWithMinus = amount.charAt(0) == '-';
         int multiplier = startsWithMinus ? -1 : 1;
-        if(startsWithMinus || startsWithPlus )
+        if(startsWithPlus )
             amount = amount.substring(1);
 
         // These are some special cases - who is implementing them?