Kelvan is a born sorcerer, having always had a knack for magical mischief since he was a child. But the nature of his magic - requiring precise focus, gestures, and body alignment - has always felt oppressive to him. His father was an artist, and an eccentric one at that. He fell in love with a fire juggler from the Cult of Rakdos, and Kelvan came along soon after. So it’s no surprise that Kelvan has struggled to find a way to use his magic for more expressive purposes.
 
But Kelvan did just that. In his performance troupe he took on the role of presenter, having a strong voice and eloquent manner, and performed using marionettes which he carves and paints himself. Many of the troupe’s visual effects were conjured by Kelvan either magically or through tinkering with small machines. His force of personality and uncanny sense of timing soon made Kelvan the director of the troupe and de facto leader.
 
While the consistency and security Kelvan’s magic influence brought was appreciated by his troupe, their fellows in the Cult of Rakdos felt that things were a little too safe. It wasn’t long before they decried the utter lack of bloodshed and death on display at their shows. As they gained notoriety and drew bigger crowds, so too grew they ire of their peers. One day, the demon lord Rakdos himself attended. At first it seemed like a vote of confidence from their dear leader, but soon other cultists in performance garb were interrupting the show with their own deadly stunts, sabotaging Kelvan’s machinery, and tearing apart all of their equipment. Rakdos snatched a marionette and crushed it in his hand before dropping its blackened husk to the ground. Kelvan’s troupe was exiled and forced to flee Ravnica, never to be heard from again.