Why Sites are Bad | An Immortal Magician Exploration

Sorcery: Contested Realm · by ForceofPhil · August 15, 2026

In 1854, there was a cholera outbreak in the SoHo district of London. Cholera is a fatal bacterial disease of the small intestine that causes severe vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration. The outbreak was so bad that it was dubbed the "Blue Death" because of the skin discoloration it caused. Ten people died in the first week of the outbreak.

Dr. John Snow disagreed with his peers who believed cholera was an airborne illness. He mapped where each death had occurred to identify a pattern and removed the handle from the Broad Street pump. He proved the outbreak was due to contaminated water.

After playing combo {Magician} nonstop since Gothic's release — aiming to sit atop {The Immortal Throne}, among other {Kythera Mechanism}-{Chaoswish} combos — I've come to believe sites are causing my severe vomiting.

Site the Issue

Implicit in {Magician} is the fail rate of not getting to choose to draw a site or spell for turn in exchange for not having to play an Atlas and starting the game with an additional card. That is beneficial when the goal of finding several Uniques as quickly as possible is the goal of the strategy.

Missing a site drop, which is possible in {Magician} in a way that isn't for other avatars, is further punished by allowing the opponent to develop on squares that have the potential to cut off your ability to develop.

{Landmass} decks aim to lock the opponent out of squares, capping how much mana they have access to. Similarly, {Earthquake} and {Mover of Mountains} can rearrange sites to stymie development or blank tri-sites and {The Colour Out of Space}.

I tried idea after idea after idea, thinking my losses were an airborne illness. After mapping why I kept extending my hand across the table, I recognized that the contaminated water supply was relying on sites for mana.

On the flip side, if you actually do have the space to develop sites in the mid-to-late game, much of the viable interaction cares about opposing minions being nearby. Developing a site outside of {Magician}'s nearby range is an outpost for the opponent to safely attack.

If there is an implicit risk that you might not draw sites to develop or that you give the opponent more opportunities when you do, how does one remove the handle from the Broad Street Pump?

Mana Rock and a Hard Place

My mapping of deaths has led me to value spells that provide mana more than sites. {Mix Aer} and {Mix Aqua} don't care if the opponent followed {Imperial Road} into {Landmass} to lock out your squares. Cores and {Key to the City} don't care if there ain't no square. {Four Waters of Paradise} doesn't need an actual paradise.

[water][air] Immortal {Magician}

DECKLIST_START

Minions (6)

1 {Highland Princess} [2][air][air]
2 {Salmon of Knowledge} [3][water][water]
1 {The Lady of the Lake} [3][water][water][water]
2 {Grandmaster Wizard} [6][air][air]

Magics (14)

1 {Plague of Frogs} [1][water][water][water]
1 {Browse} [1][air][air][air]
4 {Gift of the Frog} [2][water][water]
2 {Return to Nature} [2][water]
3 {Four Fat Frogs} [4][water][water]
2 {Dhol Chants} [5][air][air]
1 {Chaoswish} [6][water][water][air][air]

Artifacts (20)

2 {Mix Aqua} [1]
2 {Mix Aer} [1]
1 {Amethyst Core} [1]
1 {Aquamarine Core} [1]
1 {Ruby Core} [1]
1 {Onyx Core} [1]
1 [Key to the City} [1]
1 {Ring of Morrigan} [1]
1 {Kythera Mechanism} [1]
1 {Shrine of the Dragonlord} [2]
1 {Pnakotic Manuscript} [2]
1 {Four Waters of Paradise} [2]
1 {Silver Bullet} [2]
3 {Sunken Treasure} [3]
1 {The Immortal Throne} [4]
1 {13 Treasures of Britain} [4]

Auras (2)

1 {Atlantean Fate} [5][water][water]
1 {The Great Drowning of Men} [7][water][water][water][water]

Collection

1 {Ferryman's Coin} [1]
1 {Dredge} [2][water]
1 {Exhume} [2][earth]
1 {Sisters of Avalon} [2][air]
1 {Scatter} [3][air][water]
1 {Swap} [3][water][water]
1 {Raise Dead} [4][air][air]
1 {Daperyll Vampire} [5][air]
1 {Wendigo} [6][water]
1 {Muirid Formorians} [7][water][water]

DECKLIST_END

Space is extremely tight in this list, but there are still slots I'm looking to cut for additional mana in {Black Obelisk} and an additional threat in {Panpipes of Pom}, which does a really good {Boudicca} impression with all the frogs.

The dream sequence with {Black Obelisk} is:

Turn one, play {Deep Sea}, cast a core.
Turn two, play {Dozmary Pool}, submerge {Black Obelisk}, cast a {Shrine of the Dragonlord} or a second {Black Obelisk}.
Turn three, do something silly with all that mana.

Along a similar line of thought, if the expectation is not to develop sites outside nearby is {Abundance}, which can double your mana leading into turn five if there was any single-mana boost by turn four. The downside is that it requires sites. The upside is being a [5] is good for {The Immortal Throne} and its permanent mana rather than one-shot mana like the mixes or {Four Waters of Paradise}.

Future Findings

Nine months into Immortal {Magician}, and I'm still finding different avenues to take the archetype. It's not a competitive powerhouse yet, but I'm convinced there is something here.