Written by portland_stew

One Friday night in late August 2025, having recently put together my first Sorcery: Contested Realm (SCR) deck, I stopped by my local game store (LGS): The Portland Game Store, hoping to catch casual games. Alas, it was the only week in six months that no other SCR players attended the weekly meet-up. The Friday Night Magic: The Gathering (MTG) crowd was trying to fire a draft, but had an odd number of players, so I joined.

I drafted spaceships. I quit MTG over five years ago, but I still love drafting any trading card game (TCG). The draft was fun, but the highlight was talking up SCR to everyone. I’m happy one of those opponents (who kicked my butt) was Bobby “Ringslay.” A few weeks later, Bobby was cracking SCR packs at Friday casual play and became an active, skilled addition to our local SCR scene.

Bobby and I talked at length in the months thereafter about SCR strategy. From Limited to deck building to tactics on the board, we often made next-level realizations. We enjoyed discussing SCR so much that we decided to copy Zac and Phil and launch our Sorcery Strategy podcast on YouTube. Our focus is on providing strategy content for players who have mastered the basics and are ready to graduate from the introductory level. And thus, “Sorcery 102 – Beyond the Ordinary” was born.

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10. Why Draw a Site Instead of a Spell?

SCR’s most significant advantage indicator is typically the number of rectangles you control in the Realm. The second is number of spells in hand. Drawing a spell each turn should be the default decision.

A common mistake new players make is drawing a site at the start of their turn without a clear plan. They think they want more mana or want to build to a larger minion later in the game. Even so, drawing a spell can acrue more action to cast early to bridge to bigger spells. Drawing a site for turn isn’t always wrong, but your Avatar, with few notable exceptions, can always tap to draw a site. You lose half a card per turn if you draw a site instead of a spell. Tapping to draw a site on one turn and then tapping to play a site will see two spells through that cycle instead of one.

When Should You Draw a Site for Turn?

Draw a site for turn when doing so enables a specific play that solves a problem, or if you know you need to rush to a certain amount of mana to really “turn on.” For example, many decks hit their stride at four mana. Drawing a site in on turn two or three might be right to leverage site placement.

The mistake I make often is drawing a site for turn to cast a spell that is strong, but doesn’t answer a threat. If I want to cast my Lilith sooner, I draw sites on turns four and five. This would allow me to cast Lilith two turns sooner than I would following the two-turn cycle of tapping my Avatar for a site. However, if my opponent has removal, which they usually will early in the game, it would squander those draw steps — I’d have effectively lost three spells to their removal: Lilith plus the two spells I didn’t draw.

9. Your Avatar Can Block! (and other blocking tricks)

This is important in Limited where you may have hit enough mana to play the cards in your deck. Rather than tapping to draw a site, you can leave your avatar untapped to defend important minions.

A opposing Skeleton with Gift of the Serpent can kill your Lord of Lies, but your untapped Avatar can block that play. Many times I’ve forgotten this and had my plans foiled by my opponent’s untapped Avatar.

Understand the way that blocking is simultaneous, whereas attacking is one unit at a time. When you block with your Avatar, you can protect a minion from damage, or allow a minion to “trade-up.”

For example, the opponent attacks your 2-power minion with their 3-power minion, you block with your Avatar and choose to keep the 2-power minion in combat. Your 2-power minion has effectively killed their 3-power minion. Your opponent could choose to deal all three damage to your Avatar and let your minion live, but that is unlikely since the intial attack was against your 2-power minion.

Let’s say you have two 2-power minions and your opponent has a single 3-power minion. To kill their 3-power by attacking, you have to attack with each 2-power separately, resulting in each absorbing 3 damage and dying. If you wait to double block, then your opponent must divide 3 damage among those two minions, so only one will die.

8. Is This the Race I Can Win?

Learn to identifying when you are within range of a win. Generally, both players are always improving their board, but there comes a moment where you can set up a win and may need to weaken your board to convert damage.

Ringslay often makes the mistake of not putting the opponent to Death’s Door when possible to maintain a stronger board. I often notice when I am two turns from a win, and will blowout an attack if it seems unlikely that my opponent can put me to Death’s Door on their next turn. Learning to identify when the game becomes a race to Death’s Door rather than a battle over board position is a subtle but necessary skill.

7. Nothing Sticks

A habit I had to break early was thinking that anything I played would be around on my next turn. Cards with genesis value or that function as “removal bait” is important.

If I have two cards in hand, I will often cast the lesser first hoping it baits their removal to clear the way for my stronger threat to stick. Allowing your opponent build a strong board if more often than not a mistake, even if you are, too. Board presence is typically the most critical aspect of a match. The player who holds board advantage for more of the game typically wins.

6. Don’t Stack Your Minions

There is less removal that can kill one minion at multiple sites than multiple minions at one site. Spreading your minions out provides better coverage for blocking and more avenues for attacks. Don’t stack minions on one site. Don’t line minions up or put them in two-by-two squares.

5. Five-Mana Mass Removal: Know It, Expect It, BE PREPARED!

Atlantean Fate, Poison Nova, Earthquake, and Whirling Blades are the poster children of mass removal at five mana. Pay attention to how you position units against an opponent with five mana.

Familiarize with the mass removal is essential to improving. Position your units based on the mass removal your opponent could deploy. A one-for-many trade in SCR is a massive signal toward the eventual.

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Mass Removal That Matters

Auras

The Black Plague
The Great Famine
Atlantean Fate

Artifacts

Rhongomyniad
Rolling Boulder

Minions

Hotwheel
Balor of the Evil Eye
Infernal Legion
Death Dealer
Hellstar

Magic

Arcane Barrage
Chain Lightning
Rain of Arrows
Blaze
Blaze of Glory
Flame Strike
Heat Ray
Ice Lance
Murder of Crows
Warp Spasm
Chaos Twister
Firebreathing
Holy Nova
Ball Lightning
Earthquake
Hellfire
Lava Flow
Peasant Revolt
Poison Nova
Snowball
Whirling Blades
Wreathed in Righteousness
Call of the Sea
Cone of Flame
Flame Wave
Powerwish
The Flood
Corpse Explosion
Day of Judgment
Major Explosion
Wrath of the Sea
Craterize
Meteor Shower

Sites

Fields of Camlann ( genesis)
Vesuvius ( sacrifice it)

4. What’s Under Your Feet

Pay attention to sites, both where you place your and where your minions are! Sites define SCR. Account for sites with abilities that can control minions somehow.

On Board

River Rapids
Thin Ice
Troll Bridge
Maelstrom
The Manor at Daperyll Hill
Wuthering Heights
Briar Patch
Bottomless Pit
Old Mortimer’s Den
Roots of Yggdrasil
The Void

Genesis Effects

Arid Desert
Red Desert
Remote Desert
Vast Desert
Fields of Camlann ( genesis)
Silent Hills
Quagmire
Rift Valley (not a genesis, but similar)
Babbling Brook
Bog
Mudslide

Activated Abilities

Vesuvius ( sacrifice it)

Learn what removal each element can access to inform where to place minions. Typically, it is better to stay on water against earth-heavy opponents and on land against water-heavy opponents. Staying on Ordinary sites can dodge Atlantean Fate.

The Atlas is half the size of the spellbook. Strategies that hinge on sites rather than spells are be twice likely to successfully implement their plan. I have lost many games simply by failing to recognize obvious plays that were apparent because of the sites in the Realm.

3. Order of Operations

Order of operations is complex because different orders are correct in different scenarios. Sometimes, you should tap to draw a site before playing spells to see what your next site is. Other times, it’s better to leave your Avatar untapped when playing spells so that you can reposition the Avatar to cast a spell depending on your opponent’s response. Even the threat of repositioning can be potent.

Proper order of operations can prevent getting swept away by executing your plan for the turn, which might cause missed opportunities that arise between steps of your turn. For example, you might cast Gift of the Serpent on a minion, planning to attack and kill something. Often, I will play Gift of the Serpent and attack before I looking at the card I drew for turn. However, the card I drew might be Grappleshot, which would let kill their minion without trading.

Order of the Sacred Oak by Jeff A. Menges

Fully resolve each action and evaluate the result pays dividends. SCR is a “one action at a time” game. Not declaring all your attacks at once can open up possibilities. I constantly see players say, “I attack with these three minions here.” Order of operations dictates attacking with each one at a time. Doing so may create opportunities or help you notice an option not apparent before.

2. Know the Decks

Familiarity with your deck may sound obvious, but it really is important to know exactly what your deck contains to play to possible outs. Consistent practice can broaden playlines and inform ways to tweak your build.

Deep familiarity with deck informs playing to the odds of what you might draw. Familiarity with archetypes in your metagame will also improve your play. Even when I’m losing to strong players, I often hear them muttering about what cards they are playing around. That deep familiarity with what cards could be in a deck based on its Avatar, its elements, and the context of the Realm differentiates good strategic play from top tier tactics.

1. Be Chill and Kind!

It may sound trite, but taking your SCR skills to the next level requires being kind and friendly. The game itself is incredible, with amazing strategic depth, but the welcoming, kind community is what allows it to continue its steady growth. Players’ willingness to share advice and discuss strategy that encourages everyone allows the collective play level to rise.

As Bobby and I play games, we explore play lines, talk through our thoughts, and share different lines we Considered post-match. If you can engage your fellow sorcerers with chill, kind vibes, you will learn more from each game. Keeping the community chill, kind, and welcoming makes it more fun and strengthens the collaborative and encouraging atmosphere.