MTG Salvation

The Heretics embrace their Brood's central philosophy and color, but deviate from the orthodox by eschewing the ally color for the long-absent enemy color. Most of them attempt to keep this hidden from the Brood at large for fear of persecution, though inevitably each of them is discovered and driven out by threats of death. Because these characters have more conflicted loyalties, each of them gets a modal ability with an associated name similar to the Siege cycle from Fate Reforged.

NAME, Enduring Guardian 2WB
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior
Whenever a creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it dies, choose Reverence or Survival.
Reverence - Exile that creature, then put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
Survival - Return that creature to the battlefield under its owner's control.
2/4

The Enduring Guardian is one of many Dromoka heretics secretly upholding the Kin-Tree traditions.


NAME, Cunning Trickster 1UR
Legendary Creature - Djinn Wizard
Whenever a player casts an instant or sorcery spell with a single target, you may pay UR and discard a card. If you do, choose Reflection or Misdirection.
Reflection - Copy that spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.
Misdirection - Choose a new target for that spell.
2/3

This legend follows the way of the Trickster as some Jeskai of old used to, which doesn't sit well with Ojutai's more serious and dignified approach to enlightenment.


NAME, Ruthless Hunter 2BG
Legendary Creature - Naga Warrior
BG, Sacrifice another creature: Choose Dead or Alive.
Dead - Target opponent sacrifices a creature.
Alive - Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a creature card. Put that card into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
2/4

I have two possible backstory ideas for this character: Either a Naga who practices more "primitive" forms of ruthlessness like hunting and trapping, or an Ainok who was taken as a slave by the Silumgar years ago and escaped, using her instincts to survive in the harsh environment of the Gurmag.


NAME, Lightning Rider 2RW
Legendary Creature - Orc Warrior
Whenever ~ attacks, choose Glory or Survival.
Glory - Until end of turn, attacking creatures gain trample.
Survival - Until end of turn, attacking creatures gain lifelink.
3/3

Despite associations with Kolaghan, this is actually meant to be one of the more heroic Outcasts of Tarkir, an Orc commander who puts focus on the welfare of the team as opposed to mindless slaughter, and ends up the leader of a ragtag band of former Kolaghan soldiers who remained loyal to him even as the dragons drove him away. His companions include a female Orc Shaman who has saved her comrades more than once with her magic, a pair of Human siblings, one male and one female, and a trio of Goblin brothers.


NAME, Tracker of the Savage 3GU
Legendary Creature - Human Scout
Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, choose Instinct or Intellect.
Instinct - Reveal the top X cards of your library, where X is that creature's power. You may put a creature or land card revealed this way into your hand, then put the rest into your graveyard.
Intellect - Scry X, where X is that creature's power.
2/4

This is one of the hidden Shamans spoken of in the Planeswalker's Guide to Tarkir Part 2, who serve as Scouts for Atarka and secretly use their shamanic abilities to augment their tracking skills.

Unlike the Heretics, the Defectors willingly rebel against the Dragons, and are more actively opposed to them. Whereas the Heretics retained the color of the Brood but swap the ally color for the enemy color, the Defectors instead abandon the central color of their former Brood in favor of the enemy color, possibly influenced by the Clan centered in the enemy color. The Defectors are designed so that they don't necessarily play into the Brood's strategies, but still play well with the enemy color archetypes from KTK block as well as the old Clan mechanics. Their abilities are meant to enable them to fight Dragons, for each Defector eventually attempts to slay the Dragonlord of the forsaken Brood.

Krumar, Forsaken Survivor 3WB
Legendary Creature - Orc Warrior
Whenever you gain life, you may put that many +1/+1 counters on ~.
At the beginning of your end step, you may move any number of +1/+1 counters from ~ onto other creatures.
3/3

When this Orc was still Kolaghan, he was wounded during a raid on Dromoka territory and left to die, only to be saved by a band of outcast survivors living on the border between Dromoka and Kolaghan territories. Krumar's name was inspired by the all-but-forgotten Abzan tradition of taking in the orphaned children of slain enemies, and now values loyalty above all else. Krumar's abilities each are inspired by flavor: The lifegain trigger represents successful acquisition of food and other supplies, while the counter distribution rewards creatures who stick around (as opposed to, say, Kolaghan's Dashers). And yes, Ageless Entity and Forgotten Ancient were inspirations for Krumar's abilities.


NAME, Defiant Elementalist 2UR
Legendary Creature - Human Shaman
Elemental creatures you control get +1/+1 and have haste.
1UR, : Put onto the battlefield a token that's a copy of another target creature, except it's an Elemental in addition to its other types. Exile that token at the beginning of the next end step.
2/3

This Shaman is sick of living in secrecy for fear of being devoured by Atarka and her "flying lizards", and conjures Elementals able to match and even exceed Dragons in battle. While red cloning effects usually grant haste to copy tokens themselves, in this case making the haste a tribal benefit also allows the Defiant Elementalist to play nicely in an Elemental tribal deck.


NAME, Ancestral Avenger 1BG
Legendary Creature - Human Avatar
~ gets +2/+2 for each creature card you own in exile.
2BG, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: You gain life equal to the exiled card's toughness.
2/2

This Human sought to avenge the persecuted ancestors of their people, the Abzan, and allowed the spirits of those ancestors to possess their body, granting the resulting Avatar immense strength. The activated ability references both the spiritual possession and BG's toughness theme, while the +2/+2 ability works off both the exile ability and mechanics like Delve and Scavenge.


NAME, the Wayward Blaze 1RW
Legendary Creature - Human Monk
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, choose one -

• ~ deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
• Prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn. If damage is prevented this way, you gain that much life.

2/3

This martial artist wields Bloodfire and Soulfire in equal amounts to bring justice to Tarkir, forgoing subtle cunning in favor of speed and ferocity. Subsequently, this fiery monk has been branded a major threat by the Ojutai, and is viewed and hunted as a Dragon slayer like those Jeskai once employed. The concept is based on characters like Son Goku and Ryu, with the first ability reresenting fireballs like commonly seen in video games and more fantastical martial arts stories, while the second ability started as a lifegain effect flavored as meditation and transformed into something similar to Hallow. I'm uncertain about using a modal ability on a Defector seeing as the Heretics already have modal abilities as their current shtick. The original design would basically have added a Lightning Helix effect onto every noncreature spell.


NAME, Elusive Sage 2GU
Legendary Creature - Naga Shaman
Hexproof
Face-down creatures you control have hexproof.
3: Turn target creature you control face down.
1/4

This Naga rejected the corrupt and decadent lifestyle of the Silumgar, hiding out in the Sagu as a hermit who values wisdom. The Sage Ascetic would be the one to ultimately pull the Outcasts together, providing them with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Sarkhan's travel through time and the resulting dominion of the Dragons.