MTG Salvation

Aeronaut Crusader 3W
Creature — Human Knight
Flying
Renown 1 (When this creature deals combat damage to a player, if it isn’t renowned, put a +1/+1 counter on it and it becomes renowned.)
2/2

Appoint Apprentice W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has vigilance.
When Appoint Apprentice enters the battlefield, create a 1/1 white Human Soldier creature token named Squire.
“Watching a newbie’s back can be annoying. But it’s invaluable having them watch yours.”

Arrow Volley 1W
Instant
Arrow Volley deals 4 damage to target attacking or blocking creature.

At Arms W
Instant
Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. If it’s enchanted or equipped, untap it.

Battleflight Eagle 4W (R)
Creature — Bird
Flying
When Battleflight Eagle enters the battlefield, target creature gets +2/+2 and gains flying until end of turn.
2/2

Campaign’s Toll WW
Instant
Choose one—
• Target player sacrifices an attacking creature.
• Target player sacrifices an artifact or enchantment.

Chateau Sharpshooter 2W
Creature — Human Archer
Whenever you cast an Aura, Equipment, or Fortification spell, you may tap target creature.
2/2

Defensive Maneuver 2W
Instant
Prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to any target this turn by a source of your choice.
Draw a card.

Indentured Page W
Creature — Human Knight
Lifelink
Renown 1 (When this creature deals combat damage to a player, if it isn’t renowned, put a +1/+1 counter on it and it becomes renowned.)
1/1

Knight of the Pilgrim’s Road 2W (R)
Creature — Human Knight
Renown 1 (When this creature deals combat damage to a player, if it isn’t renowned, put a +1/+1 counter on it and it becomes renowned.)
3/2

Patrician’s Privilege 2W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2.
Enchanted creature can’t be blocked unless defending player pays 2 for each creature blocking it.

Priests of the Crown 2WW
Creature — Human Cleric
When Priests of the Crown enters the battlefield, you may return target enchantment card from your graveyard to your hand.
2/4

Provisions Expert 1W
Creature — Human Cleric
When Provisions Expert enters the battlefield, you gain life equal to your armory. (Each aura, equipment, and fortification you control counts towards your armory.)
2/1

Recruitment Drive 1W
Sorcery
If a creature you control is renowned, Recruitment Drive costs 1 less to cast.
Create two 1/1 white Human Soldier creature tokens named Squire.

Solemn Offering 2W (R)
Sorcery
Destroy target artifact or enchantment. You gain 4 life.
“The pontiffs at the Kaerndal Cathedral thank you for your generous donation. The fact that the donation was mandatory in no way lessens its contribution.”

Trusty Steed 1W (F)
Creature — Horse
Vigilance (Attacking doesn’t cause this creature to tap.)
A knight hasn’t got worth
If his horse hasn’t got girth
—Oakton Nursery Rhyme, probably
2/2

Weigh Down W
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can’t attack or block as long as its power is less than or equal to your armory. (Each aura, equipment, and fortification you control counts towards your armory.)

Zealous Cadet 1W (F)
Creature — Human Solider
The kingdom of Candor doesn’t boast to have the sharpest swords nor the sturdiest armor, but it certainly has the most enthusiastic militia.
3/1

Adorned Crustacean 3U
Creature — Crab
The jeweled crabs that dwell within the Reach provide a steady source of income for those crusaders who aren’t quite as daring as the others.
2/5

Conjured Wings 1U
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has flying.
1U: Return Conjured Wings to your hand.

Curse of Constant Chills 2U
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
Whenever Curse of Constant Chills or another Curse enters the battlefield under your control, tap target creature. It doesn’t untap during its controller’s next untap step.

Curse of Stolen Fortunes 1U
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to enchanted player, put a Hex counter on Curse of Stolen Fortunes.
Remove two Hex counters from Curse of Stolen Fortunes and sacrifice it: Draw two cards.

Dexterous Recruit 1U
Creature — Human Knight
Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
Renown 1 (When this creature deals combat damage to a player, if it isn’t renowned, put a +1/+1 counter on it and it becomes renowned.)
1/1

Follow the Wisp U (F)
Instant
Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn. Scry 1. (To scry 1, look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom of your library.)

Magical Oubliette 2U
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature doesn’t untap during its controller’s untap step.
When Magical Oubliette enters the battlefield, tap enchanted creature if its power is less than or equal to your armory. (Each aura, equipment, and fortification you control counts towards your armory.)

Messenger Drake 3UU (R)
Creature — Drake
Flying
When Messenger Drake dies, draw a card.
3/3

Moat Dweller 6UU
Creature — Serpent
Moat Dweller costs X less to cast, where X is your armory. (Each aura, equipment, and fortification you control counts towards your armory.)
5/5

Negate 1U
Instant
Counter target noncreature spell.
“That one wasn’t even worth stealing.” —Dack

Raise the Drawbridge 2U
Instant
Return target creature to its owner’s hand. If you control a Fortification, draw a card.

Rebuff 2UU (F)
Instant
Counter target spell. Draw a card, then discard a card.

Replenish the Supply 3U
Sorcery
Scry X, where X is equal to your armory. (Each aura, equipment, and fortification you control counts towards your armory.)
Draw two cards.

Scrap-Heap Refurbisher 3U
Creature — Human Cleric
When Scrap-Heap Refurbisher enters the battlefield, you may put target artifact or enchantment card from your graveyard on top of your library.
2/2

Seeker of Insight 1U (R)
Creature — Human Rogue
T: Draw a card, then discard a card. Activate this ability only if you’ve cast a noncreature spell this turn.
1/3

Skymage Adept 2U (F)
Creature — Human Wizard
Flying
Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
2/1

Spire Owl 1U (R)
Creature — Bird
When Spire Owl enters the battlefield, look at the top four cards of your library, then put them back in any order.
1/1

Tower Lookout U (F)
Creature — Human Scout
Tower Lookout can’t be blocked.
1/2

Locations - The Five Kingdoms

The principal powers of Azuria consists of five major feudal city-states or “kingdoms”, each one lead by it’s own ruler. Each kingdom is primarily run by humans, and any human-like races residing in them live as second-class citizens at best and slaves at worst (although some independent settlements of human-like races do exist, they are not anywhere near the size and influence of the Five Kingdoms). Each Kingdom also has it’s own primary Castle, however they are all constantly building settlements and expanding into new areas. Although the kingdoms are not in direct conflict with one another, there is a perpetually shifting political power-struggle between them dictated by the crusades, a series of campaigns into the Vaderlands.

Kaerndal (WB) - The wealthliest and most religious city-state. Led by a highly corrupt system of pontiffs and oligarchs, the rulers of this kingdom preach the ideals of diligence and faith while pocketing the sums of the masses for themselves. As a result however, they possess the most lavish castles and perhaps the largest influence out of the Five. It’s crusaders tend to be the most well-fed and heavily-geared.

Windpointe (WU) - Located in a mountaintop fortress, the soldiers of this kingdom believe in using their wits to survive. Windpointe’s culture promotes innovation and technology, and this paradigm has been rewarded as they possess the most advanced tools of the trades. Their artisans and enchanters are renowned for the skilled and effective work, and their crusaders are bestowed with the most cutting-edge of armaments.

Candor (RW) - The kingdom located closest to the Vaderlands, they are no stranger to fighting off the various hordes that originate from there. Candor’s crusaders have all been molded by battle, and there is no shortage of tales of their skill and tenacity.

Oakton (GW) - The only one of the Five to embrace the strength of the elves and merfolk, this kingdom is home to only the hardiest of trappers and survivalists. Their crusaders have made quite a pretty penny by providing guide services to others who would seek glory.

Mortleigh (BR) - The most lawless kingdom of Azuria, Mortleigh is renowned for its mercenaries and bounty hunters who get the job done, no matter what. It’s a land of kill-or-be-killed, and those knights who fight under its banner often undertake those dirty and bloody jobs that no one else can stomach.

It’s probably important to stress that these are not going to be factions on the scale of say, the guilds of Ravnica, they are meant to fill out the flavor and lore instead of fulfilling a mechanical purpose.

Locations - The Western Lands

Also known as the holy lands, this region encompass an unknown expanse of wilds uninhabited by humans. The denizens of Azuria believe in the Forefather, a legendary figure who lived thousands of years ago and gave birth to this plane. It is believed that his resting place lies deep in the heart of these lands, however it has never been found for one reason - the vast mass of untamed wild beasts who have made this place their home, and who are willing to do anything to defend it. Only the strongest and most tenacious are able to survive here, however--those who can come back alive do not do so unrewarded, for these lands are bountiful in resources and treasure. And perhaps even the greatest treasure of all, for it is said that the one who finds the Tomb of the Forefather is destined to unite Azuria under one rule, and reign supreme.

In their struggle for power over one another, each of the Five Kingdoms have been launching crusades into the Western Lands. The brave crusaders who undertake these treks are prepared to stake their very lives--if you fail, you die, but if you succeed, you will gain riches and glory beyond your wildest dreams. As such each of the kingdoms have been attempting to establish settlements into the holy lands as well, constructing outposts and fortifications to help support their forces.

The Borderlands - As their name suggests, this is the region of the Western lands closest to civilization and the least vicious out of all of them--but make no mistake, it is still not for the faint of heart. Plenty of wilds beasts and environmental dangers are present here, and even some there are even settlements who's populations are either very experienced, or very foolhardy.

The Reach - Often considered the beginning of the inner levels of the Western lands, this region is full of deadly hordes, natural disasters, and priceless treasures at every turn. This land is thoroughly uninhabitable for humans, and it's denizens make sure to keep it that way. Many ride to these lands searching for glory, and although only few return, those that survive often receive riches beyond their wildest dreams.

Chthonia - Beyond the Reach, deep in the unexplored West, lies Chthonia, where glory goes to die. It is said that the Reach is to a pleasant meadow as Chthonia is to the Reach. Only the bravest are willing to venture into these depths - but bravely alone is never enough in the face of the monstrosities that dwell here.

The Dark Heart - Located in the furthest depths of Chthonia, nothing is known about this place at all--for none who visited were ever able to return.

Characters - Dack Fayden

The storyline follows the greatest thief in the multiverse as he ventures into Azuria on a strange quest. After a normal day of looting, the Dack Attack suddenly receives a vision from his future self, informing him that in order to prevent a multiversal-level disaster, he must travel to Azuria and find the Tomb of the Forefather himself. Dack continued to be plagued by these visions, until our reluctant hero finally decided what had to be done. Now, having planeswalked his way onto Azuria, Dack must assemble and lead a search party, the Final Crusaders, to try to uncover the legendary tomb--before it too late.


Characters - Garruk

In addition to having to traverse the many dangers of Azuria, Dack will also come face to face with the planeswalker hunter himself. You already know Garruk’s story, and now he has his eyes set on the ultimate prey--who better than the so-called greatest thief in the multiverse to be Garruk’s crowning achievement ?


Characters - Hilda

A planeswalker native to Azuria, Hilda is a merfolk witch who uses her magic to disguise herself as a human. She quickly saw Dack for what he was, and decided to use his expedition to find glory of own and guide her people to a better life.

Renown (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, if it isn't renowned, put N +1/+1 counter on it and it becomes renowned.)

Renown is the returning mechanic of the set, and what a perfect fit it is. When this set was first conceived, there was a similar-but-worse mechanic in this slot instead, but as soon as renown was first previewed for Magic Origins I slam-dunked it into this set and never looked back.

In Azuria, renown represents the crusaders, who journey into hostile lands and who are rewarded with glory for their deeds. It’s important to note that in this set, the Knight creature type and the renown mechanic are mutually inclusive--that is to say, every creature that has renown is a Knight, and every creature that is a Knight has renown. That is because Knights are traditionally those soldiers who serve a royal master (which is why they often have vigilance on other worlds, to represent their duty to protect), but on Azuria, Knights instead represent those glory-seekers who are sent on crusades.

Previously renown is was a mechanic that only showed up in G/W/R, however on Azuria it is present in all five colors. However it is primary in W and B, as these are the colors that have the biggest affinity for Knights.

Hand of the Crown 3WW
Creature - Human Knight (R)
Renown 1
When Hand of the Crown enters the battlefield, you may exile another target creature.
When Hand of the Crown leaves the battlefield, return the exiled card to the battlefield under it’s owner’s control unless Hand of the Crown is renowned.
3/3

Armory (Each aura, equipment, and fortification you control counts towards your armory.)

If you’re going to venture into wild lands, you better be prepared. Armory reflects just that, and rewards players who assemble their weapons with even greater boons. This mechanic is essentially “devotion for weapons”, and encourages weapons-heavy deckbuilding while evoking an easy-to-understand flavor.

One concern that I have is that it may be common for players to mistakenly count non-equipment, non-fortification artifacts (or non-aura enchantments) towards their Armory total. We will see if this is an issue when the set gets to its playtesting stage, but a potential solution is to introduce a special marker for all aura, equipment, and fortifications in this set so that they may be counted up easily.

Soothsayer’s Knowledge 3U
Sorcery (C)
Scry X, where X is equal to your armory, then draw 2 cards. (Each aura, equipment, and fortification you control counts towards your armory.)

Fortify (As this artifact enters the battlefield, attach it to target land you control.)

That’s right, your eyes didn’t deceive you, that was definitely the word “fortification” you saw in Armory’s reminder text above. Fortifications not only fit in with this set’s central theme, as those who journey on crusades must establish footholds and outposts in order to restock and resupply, but they also work well with the Armory mechanic introduced above.

Now let me quickly get into the biggest design hurdles of this mechanic:
1. There are far less things that interact with lands as there are with creatures, so the ability to move fortifications around like equipments serves little-to-no purpose.
2. Even if there were things that interact with lands, they would make for a very annoying limited environment if they were even a little bit prevalent.
3. Finally, if a fortification is never moved around, it’s essentially just an enchant land aura.

To address these issues, the wording of the Fortify keyword has been changed for this set. In other words, the “useless” ability to shift it around has been removed--now it stays on the land it’s built on, forever ! Note that with this change Darksteel Garrison still works as a card--if fortify is followed by a cost, it works like it does in Darksteel Garrison’s text, but if fortify is just by itself, it possesses the updated reminder text.

Now what about the third issue, how are these new fortifications any different from auras ? Well mechanically they are not, but on Azuria, fortifications fill a flavor niche that auras just aren’t able to represent. When you think “Medieval set” the first thing that comes to mind is probably Knights and Swords, which are already represented, but you can’t have low fantasy without castles ! (And other medieval buildings too, such as:)

Adventurer’s Inn 3
Artifact - Fortification (U)
Fortify (As this artifact enters the battlefield, attach it to target land you control.)
Fortified land has “1, T: Untap target creature you control that attacked this turn. You gain 1 life.”

All for one (You may cast this aura’s other half to switch it to that half.)

Split cards are one of Magic’s most innovative and popular mechanics, but so far every pair split card have had one thing in common--they have all been instants or sorceries. This is for obvious design reasons, of course, as split-permanents are just begging for memory issues galore. Well actually, there is one type of permanent with an easy, in-built way to solve these issues, and that permanent type is, you guessed it, auras. All you have to do is simply hide the side you aren’t using behind the creature it’s enchanting, and presto--memory issues gone !

As for how All for One plays, it essentially lets you switch between two halves by casting them at sorcery speed. In general the card designs should reflect some kind of reason why you would want to switch between the two at different points of the game.

Although this is a very Mevlin-esque mechanic, the name All for One helps to tie it into the themes of the set as well as inform on how the card names should be read (For example, Lust // Power is read Lust for Power, etc). And being an aura-only mechanic, All for One plays well with Armory and has the potential to play well with renown, too.

Lust 1R
Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+0 and has first strike.

// All for one (You may cast this aura’s other half to switch it to that half.)

Power 4GG
Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +4/+4 and has trample.

Grudge <cost> You may cast this card for its grudge cost if a creature you controlled died this turn.

Grudge is a hole-filling mechanic that is meant to represent the hordes of beasts that inhabit the Vaderlands. The idea is that they don't take too kindly to invaders, so one animal dying will cause many more to come flocking in its place. In terms of creativity, this is the mechanic that I'm least attached to as it's kind of similar to Morbid and Revolt from the past, but I believe it fills an important spot by fleshing out the non-human side of this storyline and giving them something to work with.

Mighty Yale 5GGG
Creature - Goat
Grudge 4GG (You may cast this card for its grudge cost if a creature you controlled died this turn.)
When Mighty Yale enters the battlefield, you may have it deal damage equal to its power to target creature. If Mighty Yale would deal enough damage to that creature to kill it, it deals the rest of its damage to that creature’s controller.
7/7