Defiant Survivor

Commanders that run Defiant Survivor most

Deck counts from EDHREC.

• Yarus, Roar of the Old Gods: 710 decks
• Rip, Spawn Hunter: 477 decks
• Kaust, Eyes of the Glade: 348 decks
• Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor: 130 decks

Often played with Defiant Survivor

Cards that show up in the same decks on EDHREC.

• Killer's Mask
• Conductive Machete
• Innocuous Rat
• Rageform
• Fierce Invocation
• Bashful Beastie
• Arashin War Beast
• Cursed Windbreaker
• Veteran Survivor
• Savior of the Small

Rulings

• 2024-09-20: If something tries to turn a face-down instant or sorcery card on the battlefield face up, reveal that card to show all players it's an instant or sorcery card. The permanent remains on the battlefield face down. Abilities that trigger when a permanent turns face up won't trigger, because even though you revealed the card, it never turned face up.
• 2024-09-20: If a face-down creature loses its abilities, it can't be turned face up with a disguise or morph ability because it will no longer have that ability (or the associated cost) once face up.
• 2024-09-20: If a face-down spell leaves the stack and goes to any zone other than the battlefield (if it was countered, for example), you must reveal it. Similarly, if a face-down permanent leaves the battlefield, you must reveal it. You must also reveal all face-down spells and permanents you control if you leave the game or the game ends.
• 2024-09-20: A permanent that turns face up or face down changes characteristics but is otherwise the same permanent. Spells and abilities that were targeting that permanent and Auras and Equipment that were attached to that permanent aren't affected unless the new characteristics of the object change the legality of those targets or attachments.
• 2024-09-20: You must ensure that your face-down spells and permanents can be easily differentiated from each other. You're not allowed to mix up the cards that represent them on the battlefield to confuse other players. The order in which they entered should remain clear, as well as what ability caused them to be face down. (This includes manifest, disguise, cloak, morph, and a few older effects that turn cards face down.) Common methods for doing this include using markers or dice, or simply placing them in order on the battlefield.
• 2024-09-20: If a manifested creature would have disguise or morph if it were face up, you may also turn it face up by paying its disguise or morph cost, as appropriate.
• 2024-09-20: Survival abilities (and other abilities that trigger at the beginning of your second main phase) will trigger at the beginning of the second main phase you take in a turn. They won't trigger during your third, fourth, or other additional main phases in a single turn, if effects somehow cause you to have more than two main phases.
• 2024-09-20: If a creature's survival ability triggers but that creature is untapped when the ability begins to resolve, that ability won't do anything.
• 2024-09-20: If a double-faced card is manifested, it will be put onto the battlefield face down. While face down, it can't transform. If the front face of the card is a creature card, you can turn it face up by paying its mana cost. If you do, its front face will be up.
• 2024-09-20: Turning a permanent face up or face down doesn't change whether that permanent is tapped or untapped.
• 2024-09-20: To manifest dread, look at the top two cards of your library. Manifest one (by putting it onto the battlefield face down) and put the other into your graveyard. The card you put onto the battlefield becomes a 2/2 face-down creature with no name, mana cost, creature types, or abilities. It's colorless and has a mana value of 0. Other effects that apply to the permanent can still grant it any characteristics it doesn't have or change the characteristics it does have.
• 2024-09-20: If a creature with a survival ability isn't tapped when your second main phase begins, the ability won't trigger at all. You won't be able to tap it during your second main phase in time to have that ability trigger.
• 2024-09-20: Some cards in the Duskmourn release have abilities that trigger "whenever you manifest dread." In circumstances where you are instructed to manifest dread but can't perform some or all of the steps of manifesting dread (probably because your library has one or fewer cards in it), these abilities will still trigger.
• 2024-09-20: If a creature's survival ability triggers but the creature leaves the battlefield before the ability resolves, use its tapped or untapped status as it last existed on the battlefield to determine whether or not the ability will do anything.
• 2024-09-20: If your library contains only one card when you manifest dread, you'll look at that card and put it onto the battlefield face down. You won't have the option to put it into your graveyard instead. If your library contains no cards when you manifest dread, you won't do anything.
• 2024-09-20: Because the permanent is on the battlefield both before and after it's turned face up, turning a permanent face up doesn't cause any enters-the-battlefield abilities to trigger.
• 2024-09-20: At any time, you can look at a face-down spell or permanent you control. You can't look at face-down permanents or spells you don't control unless an effect instructs or allows you to do so.
• 2024-09-20: Because face-down creatures don't have a name, they can't have the same name as any other creature, even another face-down creature.
• 2024-09-20: Any time you have priority, you can turn a manifested permanent you control face up by revealing that it's a creature card (ignoring any copy effects or type-changing effects that might be applying to it) and paying its mana cost. This is a special action. It doesn't use the stack and can't be responded to.
• 2024-09-20: Unlike a face-down creature that was cast using a disguise or morph ability, a manifested creature may still be turned face up after it loses its abilities if it's a creature card.