The rules, ready
for the table.

The goal of this rulebook is to get you up to speed and ready to play your first games of Sorcery: Contested Realm. For new players, carry on from here, have someone guide you through a game, or visit www.sorcerytcg.com/how-to-play ↗ where you’ll find tutorial videos and more. For experienced players, this rulebook will handle most of your queries, but you can also explore the Codex (curiosa.io/codex ↗) for even more detail. The game uses terms and keywords that are important to know. When these come up, they have been bolded to not only help you identify important words and concepts, but to also tell you that you can find more information about that word in the glossary, starting on page 32.

Avatars are summoned to a contested realm with one goal: to vanquish their opponents and claim sole dominion. In order to win, you must defeat any opposing Avatar by first reducing their life total to zero, placing them at death’s door, and then delivering a final death blow to the weakened Avatar. This severs the enemy’s connection to the realm and grants you victory!

For your first few games, you might want to use preconstructed decks, which will get you straight into the action. Or you can craft your own decks, balancing and tuning their powers to fit your play style (see page 26). The world of Sorcery grants you endless possibilities!

Air is the element of Knowledge and Power, dabbling in forces beyond mortal control to acquire the magical means to respond to any battlefield situation. An attunement with air grants you both mobility and tactical options thanks to its ability to teleport units around the realm and to increase its available spells.

Earth is the element of Enduring Strength, defined by its focus on fielding and enhancing martial forces throughout the realm. An attunement with earth grants you the ability to affect your atlas and minions that can dominate the battle through teamwork and sheer fighting power.

Fire is the element of Desire and Destruction, willing to do whatever it takes to secure victory in the realm. An attunement with fire grants you an array of explosive spells and abilities that can create bursts of speed or burn friend and foe alike in great gouts of flame.

Water is the element of Charm and Trickery, ready to adapt and disrupt the strategies of the enemy as it manipulates all. An attunement with water grants you a powerful homefield advantage that will slowly engulf the realm and the ability to position the enemy right where you want them.

Some text is intentionally informal or necessarily compact. Use common sense and be cool.

Your Avatar represents you and your connection to the realm. Though but a pale echo of your true might, everything you do within the realm is done through your Avatar. Avatars have some key characteristics:

• Each Avatar has a name ①.
• Avatars have a starting life ②, which will rise and fall during the game and tells you how much the Avatar can endure before being placed at death’s door. This is also the Avatar’s maximum life, which cannot be exceeded.
• Avatars also have an attack power rating ③ that tells you how hard they hit in combat.
• Avatars have a game text box ④ that describes their special abilities.

All Avatars are Spellcasters, which means they can cast spells, most often from your hand. Finally, Avatars can never enter a region other than the surface and ignore many negative effects.

A unit is a collective term that includes both Avatars and minions. Some cards might specify one of these types of units, but most affect units in general.

A site is a locus of power within the realm that you may explore and exploit. Sites are usually played by activating your Avatar’s ability, though they may enter the realm in other ways. You and your opponent can also attack each other’s sites to cause your Avatars to lose life, so make sure to defend yours. Sites have some key characteristics:

• Sites have a name ①.
• Sites have a typeline ② that describes key things about that card, such as rarity.
• Most sites have elemental symbols that increase your elemental affinity ③, which you will harness to use spells and abilities (see page 18).
• Sites have a game text box ④ that describes their special abilities.
• Sites will provide you with mana, an important resource that you will need to play cards and use abilities during your turn (see page 17).
• Sites have two levels: surface and subsurface (see page 13).

When a site is destroyed it is placed in its owner’s cemetery as normal, but rather than creating a new void, the site is instead replaced with rubble. Rubble is a neutral land site that no player controls, and provides no mana or threshold. Note: You can use tokens or a face down site to represent rubble on a square.

Spells represent all of the magical might you are able to bring to bear on this realm. These include minions to help you defend your lands and attack the enemy, powerful artifacts that will help you tip the balance of power, magics of channeled energy that will overpower foes, and auras of lasting elemental magic to impose your will on areas of the realm.

Minions are your greatest allies, assisting you with myriad unique abilities in offense and defense. Minions have a few key characteristics on their card:

• Each minion has a name ①.
• Each minion has a mana cost ② that you must pay in order to play it.
• Minions have an elemental threshold ③ that your elemental affinity must meet in order to be played.
• Minions have a power rating ④ that reflects how hard they hit in combat. It also describes how much damage they can take before dying. If the minion receives damage equal to or greater than that value, it dies.
• Minions have a type line ⑤ that describes key things about that card, such as subtypes and rarity.
• Minions have a game text box ⑥ that describes their special abilities.

Tokens are small-sized cards that work more or less the same as regular cards while in the realm. The major difference between cards and tokens is that tokens are never part of a player’s deck, and they can never formally exist in any zone except within the realm. If a token would be placed anywhere else, it is instead removed from the game entirely. Note: You are free to use anything you want to represent tokens.

Artifacts are various relics, edifices, tools, gear, gadgets, devices, and baubles, often charged with lasting enchantments by wizards of old. Artifacts have some key characteristics on their card:

• Each artifact has a name ①.
• Each artifact has a mana cost ② that you must pay to play it.
• Artifacts have a type line ③ that describes key things about that card, such as subtypes and rarity.
• Artifacts have a game text box ④ that describes their special abilities.

Artifacts have a variety of subtypes, including armor, weapons, relics, devices, documents, automatons, or monuments. While most artifacts are standard objects that can be carried into battle, others such as automatons and monuments have some further characteristics and restrictions.

Automatons are artifacts that are minions. As such, they have a power rating (5), have the same basic abilities as regular minions, and cannot be carried like regular artifacts.

Monuments are an artifact subtype that cannot be carried.

Auras are mostly incorporeal, but lasting, manifestations of elemental power. They usually impact a large area within the realm, conferring boons or conditions within their reach. Auras have some key characteristics on their card:

• Each aura has a name ①.
• Each aura has a mana cost ② that you must pay in order to play it.
• Auras also have an elemental threshold ③ that your elemental affinity must meet in order to be played.
• Auras have a type line ④ that describes key things about that card, such as rarity.
• Auras have a game text box ⑤ that describes their special abilities.

Magics are transient spells that have immediate impact and then dissipate as soon as they resolve. Magics have some key characteristics on their card:

• Each magic has a name ①.
• Each magic has a mana cost ② that you must pay in order to play it.
• Magics also have an elemental threshold ③ that your elemental affinity must meet in order to be played.
• Magics have a type line ④ that describes key things about that card, such as rarity.
• Magics have a game text box ⑤ that describes their special abilities.

The realm is a 5x4 square grid where most cards are played. These twenty squares begin as pieces of the void that you and your opponent may fill in with sites as you expand your domains.

Each player has two decks of cards—an atlas of at least 30 site cards, containing maps to domains waiting to be explored, and a spellbook of at least 60 spell cards, filled with all of a player’s accumulated magical knowledge. Players will draw cards from these decks over the course of a game. When it comes to these decks, keep a few things in mind:

• The exact order of the cards in these decks is unpredictable, thus whenever you search your atlas or spellbook for a card, you must shuffle it afterward.
• Some effects allow you to place or reorder known cards on the bottoms or tops of decks. After doing so, you do not shuffle it.

Each player has a cemetery which represents a record of spent magic, dead minions, and broken artifacts. Whenever any of your cards are discarded, destroyed, resolved, or otherwise expired, place them face-up in your cemetery. Players may freely examine the contents of any cemetery at any time and the order of the cards in a cemetery is irrelevant.

Cards drawn from your spellbook or atlas decks are kept in your hand. Your hand should remain hidden from your opponents, however the number of atlas and spellbook cards you hold may be observed and asked, due to the card backs being distinguishable. There is no maximum hand size and the order of the cards in your hand is irrelevant.

Clear some space in the middle of the table for the realm.

Players place their Avatars on the square in the middle of their bottom row.

Players shuffle and place their atlas and spellbook decks nearby, leaving some space for their cemeteries.

Players may either decide who has the first turn, or otherwise randomly choose who goes first.

Each player draws three cards from their atlas and three cards from their spellbook. If you’re not satisfied with your initial hand, you may take one mulligan. To take a mulligan, return up to three cards from your hand to the bottom of their respective decks in any order. Then redraw the same number of cards you returned from each deck.

As an Avatar loses life, from either taking damage directly or their sites being attacked, its connection with the realm weakens. When an Avatar’s life is reduced to 0, they are now at death’s door and can no longer gain life. At that moment, the wounded Avatar becomes immune to damage for the rest of that turn. After that brief and desperate window, any damage dealt to the Avatar is a death blow, finally severing their connection to the realm and signaling their defeat.

The realm is split into twenty squares. These squares begin as pieces of the void that you and your opponent may fill in with sites as you expand your domains.

The void is a region of incorporeal nothingness on top of which you will build your physical domain. Any minion that somehow finds its way into the void (whether in whole or in part) is immediately banished (removed from the game) unless it has an ability that specifically allows it to exist there (such as Voidwalk).

As you and your opponent expand your domains, you will replace void squares by playing site cards on them. These sites will form up to create bodies of water and land for your units to traverse and conquer.

Sites can be separated into two main types. Water sites are identified by the water threshold icon (marked with Water). All other sites are considered land sites, including sites with no threshold icons and rubble.

As sites are played, they will begin to form bodies of water and spans of land. A contiguous cluster of adjacent water sites is known as a body of water. Similarly, a contiguous cluster of adjacent land sites forms a span of land. It is possible to have more than one of each, or for the realm to be completely land or water.

For example, the two Spring Rivers and the Aqueduct form a body of water (1). Even though the Aqueduct has an Earth icon, it also has a Water icon, so it is a water site. The Autumn River is a separate, single-site body of water (2), since only adjacent sites are considered and not those placed diagonally. The Steppe and Dark Tower form a span of land (3), and the Arid Desert is its own single-site span of land (4).

Each site is made up of two levels, above and below the card. A site’s upper level is generally referred to as the surface and its lower one is the subsurface.

The upper level of all sites form a region known as the surface. This is where units will typically move and wage war on the enemy. All units above a site are considered to be on the surface.

The subsurface is divided into two regions, depending on what type of site it is. The lower level of a land site is part of the underground region. Similarly, the lower level of a water site, is part of the underwater region. Existing in the subsurface is extremely hazardous and minions that somehow find their way there immediately die, unless otherwise allowed to do so with special abilities (see page 38).

When cards enter a site’s surface level, place it atop the site to show that it is on the surface, or slide it under the site to show that it occupies the subsurface. If a card refers to something atop a site, it applies to something on the surface of the site, but not anything below it. Similarly, if a card refers to something under a site, it applies to something in the subsurface of the site, but not anything above it.

Altogether, there are four regions in the game:

• void
• surface
• underground
• underwater

For example: The Porcupine Pufferfish ① occupies the Underwater region under the site in its square.

The Headless Haunt ② occupies a square in the Void region.

The Cave Trolls ③ occupy the Underground region under the site in its square.

The Sea Serpent ④ and Diluvian Kraken ⑤ occupy the Surface region atop the sites in their squares, as does the King of the Realm ⑥ atop the site in his square.

Perhaps the single most important key concept to understand is how to identify areas in the realm relative to your card’s position.

A location is defined as one region in one square.

“Here” and “There” are used to contextually refer to the location(s) that a card occupies. For most cards, such as avatars, minions, and artifacts, that means one location. For most auras, it means the 2x2 area they occupy. For sites, it means two locations, their surface and subsurface.

Sometimes you will need to target things in the realm. Spells and abilities can only target things within the Spellcaster’s or referencing card’s same region.

Sometimes a card will need to identify something in an adjacent or nearby square.

• Adjacent: Refers to the card’s own square, and the squares that it shares a border with.
• Nearby: Refers to the card’s own square, and all squares that surround it, including those diagonally. These five squares are These nine squares are adjacent to the card nearby the card

Only locations that are in the same region as the referencing card (or its Spellcaster) are considered adjacent or nearby locations.

In this example, the King of the Realm ① is beset by enemies on nearly all sides! Some pose a greater threat than others. Let’s take a closer look. The King is adjacent to the Sea Serpent ② because it is next to him on the surface of the site and therefore in the same region. Similarly, the Diluvian Kraken ③ is nearby the King. The King is not adjacent to the Headless Haunt ④ because the Haunt is in the Void region.

The Cave Trolls ⑤ are not adjacent to the King because they are burrowed and are therefore in a different region. Similarly, the Porcupine Pufferfish ⑥ is not nearby the King because it is submerged. The Pufferfish and Cave Trolls are not adjacent to each other as they are in different regions, underwater and underground, respectively. Similarly, the Pufferfish is not adjacent to the Headless Haunt, nor are the Cave Trolls nearby the Headless Haunt.

A step is the minimum unit of distance between two adjacent locations. Some card abilities will have an effect that will happen a step away or even several steps away from where the card is or its origin point. In these cases, it will say that it happens X steps away.

The start phase is the first phase you complete during your turn. All abilities that last “Until next turn” now end. Then: Step 1. All of your cards that are tapped now untap. Step 2. All of your sites now provide their mana for this turn. Step 3. Trigger abilities that happen at the start of the turn. Step 4. Finally, draw a card from either your spellbook or atlas.

The main phase is where most of Sorcery’s actions and events take place. During this phase, your units can be ordered to do two types of actions. They can:

• Cast a spell from your hand if they are a spellcaster (see page 17) or,
• Activate one of their abilities (see page 20)

You may have your units do these as many times as you have resources to do so, and in any order you like. For example, you might move a minion, then cast a spell with your Avatar, and then move another minion.

The end phase is the last phase you complete during your turn. Step 1. Trigger abilities that happen at the end of the turn. Step 2. Players remove all damage from their minions in the realm. Step 3. Effects that last for your turn now end. Step 4. Your turn ends. Note: Avatars do not heal automatically at the end of the turn in the same way as damage is removed from minions, however they can heal using spells and other card effects.

If you are the first player to take a turn in the game, skip Step 4 of the Start Phase.

During your first Main Phase, your Avatar needs to establish their domain within the realm. To do this, you must use your Avatar’s ability to play a site to your Avatar’s square.

All of your Spellcasters use mana to cast their spells and some abilities may also draw from this power. You can only gain mana during your turn and lose any unspent mana at the end of your turn.

At the start of your turn, all of your sites provide one mana each, forming a mana pool for you to draw from. When one of your sites enters the realm, it immediately provides one mana. If you lose a site, the mana it provided this turn is not removed from your mana pool. If you gain control of an enemy’s site during your turn, it does not provide you with mana until your next turn. Other card types might also provide mana turn-after-turn in a manner similar to sites, or simply increase your pool for the current turn.

Spells cost mana to cast. This is identified by the card’s mana cost in the upper left hand corner. To cast that spell, you must be able to pay the cost from your available mana. You cannot pay a mana cost if the amount required exceeds the mana available.

For example, your sites each provide one mana that you can spend this turn ①. Currently, that number is three. Note that your opponent’s Aqueduct does not provide you mana ②. In your hand ③, you have some minions and a site. You could play both the Sedge Crabs and Polar Explorers as their total mana cost is three. You don’t currently have enough mana to play Captain Baldassare with his mana cost of four. However, you do have a site, Maelström, that you can play using your Avatar’s ability ④. Playing Maelström would bring your total available mana up to four, allowing you to play Captain Baldassare, saving the Crabs and Explorers for a later turn.

In addition to mana, you will often need to meet an elemental threshold to cast most spells or use some abilities. Spells and some abilities will have one or more elemental symbols (Fire for fire, Air for air, Water for water, and Earth for earth) next to the mana cost on spells, or to the left of abilities in text boxes.

To play that card or use that ability, you must have at least as many matching symbols on the sites you control, plus any others granted by spells or abilities. Elemental threshold is not spent like mana. It is simply a minimum affinity you must have for the specified elements to use some cards. All artifacts and most abilities have no threshold at all, so you need only to ensure that you can pay any associated costs to make use of them.

For example, your Floodplain, Autumn River, and Maelström sites each grant you one Water affinity ①, however Boneyard does not ②. So your affinity is currently three Water ③. Note that your opponent’s Aqueduct does not grant you affinity ③.

In your hand ④, you have some minions, including Adept Illusionist and Polar Explorers, both of which you want to play this turn. Because elemental affinity is not spent or lost when playing cards, you just need to check each card’s elemental threshold and see if your affinity is equal to or greater than the threshold. This means that you can play both the Illusionist and Explorers this turn since they each only require a threshold of two Water, compared to your affinity of three Water.

Some spells might require affinity with different elements. Like with other spells, you must be able to meet all of a spell’s required threshold in order to cast it. So for example, to cast Sir Pelleas, you’ll need to control sites with at least one Air and two Water threshold symbols. Cards that have different element symbols count as a spell of each of those affinities. So Sir Pelleas is both an Air spell and a Water spell at the same time.

When a minion spell has been cast, it summons the minion under your control atop any of your sites, and they remain in the realm until something causes them to leave play. Note: There is no limit to the number of minions that may occupy the same site, though it’s rarely a good idea to concentrate your forces in just one spot!

A minion that entered the realm this turn, whether from being cast or from another card’s effect, suffers from summoning sickness until the end of turn as it prepares for battle. A minion suffering from summoning sickness cannot tap, or be tapped, to pay for costs associated with any ability. This includes any additional abilities that may have been granted by spells and artifacts. Note: When you summon a minion on your turn, it enters play untapped, so you may use it to defend on your opponent’s turn.

When an artifact spell is cast, it is conjured into the realm atop any site you control or directly into the waiting hands of one of your units. A unit can carry any number of artifacts.

When an aura spell is cast, it conjures the aura at the intersection of four squares, though some specify the border between two, or even just a single square. Auras are said to occupy the surface of any sites at those squares, as well as any void, affecting them (or other things located at those sites) in some way.

Magics are the only cards in the game that do not enter play when they are cast, and do not have a lasting presence in the realm. A magic spell simply does what it says it does, and then goes to its owner’s cemetery.

Cards in the realm can be tapped as a resource, spending their energy as a cost to activate various abilities. Tap abilities are usually written as, “Tap → Ability text.” A player may also need to tap a card as a cost related to other spells or abilities on other cards. To tap a card, turn it 90° to the right from its upright position ①. A card that has been turned 90° in this way is “tapped,” while an upright card is “untapped.” Cards can also untap at certain points in the game. To do that, simply turn it 90° to the left back into its upright position ②.

Sites come into play through your Avatar’s activated ability: “Tap → Play or draw a site” ①. However, there are some other cards that can bring them into play as well. When you play a site, it must be placed:

• on void ② or rubble ③, and
• adjacent to another site that you control ④ or as close as possible to your Avatar if you control no sites.

There can only be one site per grid square, which means sites are generally placed on an adjacent void, permanently extending the physical boundaries of your domain within the realm. Sites can also be played on rubble, replacing it entirely.

Every unit can tap to activate the Move and Attack ability, which allows it to optionally move, then optionally attack something at its location. When using this ability, declare the intended movement path and resolve it. After resolving all the movement, then decide if you attack at that location (see page 22).

When moving a unit, its journey is broken down into individual steps. By default, units can move one step. However, some abilities allow units to take additional steps (such as Movement +X) and other abilities allow units to take steps diagonally or even into different regions (see page 13). To move a unit using the Move and Attack ability, you first declare each step the unit will take, and then you resolve the steps in order. When you declare movement, the only restriction is that you may not repeat specific steps. Normally, this means that you will simply declare a single step, from the surface of one site to the surface of an adjacent site.

For example, your Amazon Warriors have tapped to use their Move and Attack ability and you declare a step from the surface of the Rustic Village to the surface of the Holy Ground.

If your units have movement-enhancing abilities, or there are movement modifying effects in play, you might choose to declare a more complex path. As you resolve each step, you confirm that it is a legal step at that moment. If it is not legal, you do not take that step, and continue resolving anything remaining. If your unit takes at least one step, it has moved; if it takes zero steps, it has not moved.

If an effect instructs a unit to take a step or move one step, the unit may modify its step via abilities like Airborne, Voidwalk, Burrowing, and Submerge. If a card instructs you to pick a target up to X steps away, you cannot apply movement abilities; you simply count one adjacent square per step, without changing regions.

You may only attack enemy units or the surface of enemy sites that are at your location. When using the Move and Attack basic ability, you must resolve any movement before declaring and resolving your attack. As you resolve the attack, you confirm it is a legal target at that moment, and if so, your unit has attacked.

Attacking For example, the Amazon Warriors tap to declare a Move and Attack. The Amazon Warriors first declare and resolve their movement. Once they’re done moving, they have the option to attack.

If you attack an enemy unit, either as your original intent, or because your opponent defended (see page 24), the units involved will fight. To fight, units strike each other simultaneously. When a unit strikes, it deals damage equal to its power.

Carrying on from the example above, the Amazon Warriors and Rimland Nomads now fight, striking each other simultaneously.

The Amazon Warriors deal five damage to the Rimland Nomads who deal two damage in return.

Some units may be able to land their blows before their enemy can respond. Units that strike first resolve their strikes before their target can resolve theirs. If multiple units in the same fight are able to strike first, they all strike at the same time. Then any surviving units without that ability make their strikes.

If more than two units are involved in a fight (usually as a result of intercepting or defending), the controller of each side may allocate their units’ damage among the enemy as they wish.

Some minions have their Power split into an offensive value, or Attack Power and a defensive value, known as Defense Power. When it strikes, use the first one, and when damage is being allocated to them, use the second. Cards that modify a unit’s Power do so to both Attack and Defense Power, so for example Overpower will increase both Attack and Defense Power by two.

Attack Power is noted on the left over the sword, and Defense Power is on the right over the shield.

Damage dealt to minions persists until the end of the turn. A minion that accumulates damage greater than or equal to its power immediately dies and is placed in its owner’s cemetery. Note: Zero damage is not any damage at all, so units with 0 power must take at least 1 damage to die.

Continuing our attack example, the Amazon Warriors suffer two damage from the Rimland Nomads.

While this does not kill them, if they take three more damage this turn, they will die. On the other hand, the Nomads suffer five damage, well exceeding its power of two and so it immediately dies.

Throughout the game, you track your Avatar’s life. Damage dealt to an Avatar with one or more life reduces their life by that amount. Damage dealt to an Avatar on death’s door causes a death blow (see page 11) and ends the game.

If you attack the surface of an enemy site and your opponent doesn’t defend, simply strike the site, damaging it and causing the controlling Avatar to lose that much life. Importantly, attacking a site cannot deliver a death blow because it causes the controlling Avatar to lose life, not take damage directly. You can still attack the sites of an Avatar at death’s door, but it will not usually affect them.

For example, the Amazon Warriors attack your opponent’s undefended Red Desert striking it for 5 damage. Your opponent’s Avatar of Fire then loses five life.

Remember: Losing life like this is not damage.

Defend is one of two basic abilities that you can use on your opponent’s turn, because it is a triggered ability (the other is Intercept, described on page 25). When an enemy attacks another unit or site in your unit’s range of motion, your unit may tap to defend, moving to the attack’s location and joining the fight. Any number of units may defend against an attacker. During this movement a defending unit may use any of its movement abilities, such as Airborne, Burrowing, Movement +X, Submerge, or Voidwalk. If the original target of the attack was a unit, the defender’s controller may decide if that unit remains in the fight, or is removed. If the original target was a site, it is automatically removed. Remember: Only “attacks” can be defended; attacks are only caused by the Move and Attack basic ability, or very specific card text that uses the word “attack.”

In this example, let’s say that your Rimland Nomads are attacked by the Amazon Warriors again. But this time you have an untapped Sand Worm at an adjacent site. You can then tap your Sand Worm and move it to the location of the Rimland Nomads to defend them.

You can then decide to remove the Nomads from the ensuing fight. If they remain, they will be involved in the battle and your opponent will be able to allocate damage to them. However this may be a good idea since together the Sand Worm and Nomads can take down the Amazon Warriors. If you choose to remove the Nomads, they cannot be allocated damage, but will leave the Sand Worm to take on the Warriors alone.

Intercept is one of two basic abilities that you can use on your opponent’s turn, because it is a triggered ability (the other ability is Defend, described on page 24). When an enemy using the Move and Attack ability finishes its movement and then chooses not to attack, any of your units there may tap to intercept and fight that enemy. Units can not move when they intercept. They must already be at the enemy’s location.

Intercept For example, your opponent’s Seasoned Sellsword minion has tapped to use its Move and Attack ability, moving to the Rustic Village and then choosing not to attack. Now the untapped Amazon Warriors can intercept, forcing the Seasoned Sellsword into a fight.

Each unit can activate their Pick Up basic ability once per turn, which allows it to pick up any number of target artifacts at its location that are not currently being carried. The Drop basic ability allows a unit to drop any number of artifacts it’s carrying. Each unit can activate the Drop basic ability once per turn, as long as it hasn’t interacted with the realm this turn. See the Glossary for “interact.”

A unit can carry any number of artifacts, which will move with the unit throughout the realm. If a unit is carrying any artifacts when it leaves the realm, the artifacts are dropped. If a unit and an artifact it is carrying stop sharing a location due to some effect, the artifact ceases to be carried.

Artifacts carried by a unit are controlled by the player who controls that unit. Artifacts that could be carried but are not currently being carried are uncontrolled. Artifacts that cannot be carried normally (e.g. Automatons and Monuments) are controlled by the player who conjured them.

The type line of a spell or site describes the card’s rarity. This tells you how many copies of that card you can have in your deck. Each player may include:

• up to four copies of any ordinary cards
• up to three copies of any exceptional cards
• up to two copies of any elite cards
• only one copy of any unique cards in a deck

Your Avatar does not count toward any of those totals, and is not in that sense a part of either of your decks.

Most cards in Sorcery have one or more special abilities printed in their game text box that change the default rules of the game or grant new interactions outside of the basic abilities.

A passive ability has an ongoing effect that is always active, as long as the card is in the relevant game zone. Typically, this zone will be the realm, but some cards have abilities that specify things they do, or enable you to do, while in your hand, or while in the cemetery, etc.

An activated ability takes effect simply by stating your intention to do so and paying any related costs, such as tapping or spending mana. By default, only the controller of a card can use its activated abilities, and only during the main phase of their own turn, when nothing else is already happening.

A keyword is a word or phrase that functions as shorthand for a longer piece of rules text. They are used to communicate concepts that require more text than what will fit on a card. You can find these longer explanations in the glossary on page 32.

A triggered ability requires that a specified condition is met, or a specified event occurs, to automatically take effect. These abilities can be recognized by their use of words such as “when,” “whenever,” and “at [a specified moment],” though a few cards have nonstandard wording due to space constraints.

A unit is said to have entered a location, site, or a void if it was not occupying that particular spot, and now it is (even if just for a moment as a result of Movement +X, for example), or when it was summoned or conjured there.

Teleportation effects move a unit directly to a specified location without taking any steps in between.

Some cards can move freely within the realm or in a defined area. When a unit uses the Move and Attack or Defend abilities they spend no steps when moving, as long as the starting and ending locations of the step satisfy the moves freely condition.

Some effects will push, pull, or drag things, or simply cause them to be moved. This is forced movement, and is not modified by a unit’s abilities, such as Airborne, Burrowing, Submerge, or Voidwalk. Units that cannot move by activating their own abilities, can still be moved by other cards and effects. If an effect causes a unit to ‘take a step’ or ‘take up to X steps’ this is not forced movement, and the unit can modify these steps with their abilities. Units that cannot move by activating their own abilities, also cannot carry out any steps granted by these effects. Note: A unit that is made to move, either by a spell’s effect or is otherwise forcibly moved does not tap and cannot be intercepted, as it is not moving as part of the Move and Attack basic ability.

If a site moves to another square, everything atop and under it moves with it (however, those cards are not considered to have moved). Generally, a site can only move or be moved to a square without another site – a void. Any cards in that void are now placed atop the site that was moved in.

Some units can carry other units. A unit with this ability, picks them up or drops them in the same manner and time as it would artifacts (see page 25). Units that have Airborne, Burrowing, Submerge, or Voidwalk confer those abilities to units they are carrying while they are carried. A unit being carried may still cast spells or activate abilities as normal. If the carried unit moves to a location that the carrying unit doesn’t occupy, the unit ceases to be carried.

Some cards have abilities that deal damage or otherwise affect units or multiple sites over a wide area. To simplify rules text and illustrate the extent of these spells, some cards contain a damage grid in their rules box. Damage grids may use a bold square to indicate the center of the card’s effect, or a dot to show the Spellcaster’s location on the grid. By default, a damage grid indicates that the ability deals damage to each unit at locations within the area of effect and within the same region, though cards may specify otherwise.

Units normally occupy only one location while in the realm, however some units may occupy multiple locations at once due to their enormous size. Such oversized units follow the regular rules for summoning, so you choose a single site you control when you cast the minion spell. As they enter the realm, you choose a 2x2 area that it can legally occupy, which must include the summoning location. To represent the minion’s locations, place the card at the intersection of those sites. An oversized unit is at each of the sites (or void squares) that it occupies, so it can be standing on both land and water sites (or void squares) at the same time. Therefore, if grid damage is dealt to multiple such locations, oversized units take damage equal to the sum of the damage dealt on all of the locations they occupy. The same applies in general for any effect that checks whether something is true about an oversized unit’s site. When an oversized unit moves, you choose a direction and all parts of it move in that direction. If any part of it can’t move in the chosen direction, then it can’t move in that direction at all. When attacking, oversized units still target only a single enemy or site.

When an oversized unit is teleported, it must be to a location or set of locations that conforms to its size restrictions and is otherwise legal for that unit to occupy.

You have ownership of all of the cards you bring to a game of Sorcery. You are, therefore, the owner of those cards. The owner of a card does not change during the game. A card is always returned to its owner’s hand, shuffled into its owner’s deck, or sent to its owner’s cemetery regardless of who controls the card when it leaves play. While the owner of a card is most often its controller, control of cards in play may change over the course of a game. When rules text uses phrases like “your minions” or “your sites,” that refers to those things that you control, and not to those things that you own.

A projectile’s flight begins at the shooting unit’s location and travels within the same region in a cardinal direction. Its flight continues until it either reaches the edge of its region or it reaches the first unit (enemy or ally) along its path, ignoring any allies at the projectile’s starting location. Different projectiles will have different effects, but will most often deal damage to the impacted unit. In the event of multiple valid units, the player that fired the projectile chooses which unit the projectile hits.

Cardinal directions from the card

For example, your Lava Salamander casts a Firebolts spell to the right towards the opponent’s House Arn Bannerman. Each of the three projectiles travel in the chosen cardinal direction, starting at the Salamander’s location and travelling over the Arid Desert, avoiding the burrowed Cave Trolls, which are not in the same region. When they arrive at the Rustic Village, you can have the first two projectiles hit the Bannerman, which suffers two damage and dies. Unfortunately, the third projectile then hits your own Seasoned Sellsword, since projectiles hit friend and foe alike!

Auras and minions with passive abilites will have an ongoing impact on the realm. These static effects should be applied at all times, even while resolving other effects or actions, and take precedence over triggered abilities.

If the resolution of one event triggers an ability, a new event will be inserted into the storyline. The new event is added at the current moment, temporarily interrupting any remaining events on the Storyline. Once this new event has been resolved, the story will continue. If multiple events are competing to be added at the same point on the Storyline, the non-active player places their events first, then the active player places their events on the Storyline after them. If either player has multiple events of their own, they can place them in whatever order they wish.

Your Ghost Ship’s movement has resolved, triggering both its summon ability and the hunting instincts of the opponent’s Giant Shark. As the non-active player, your opponent places their ability on the storyline first.

If a card leaves the realm, any of its events stay on the Storyline but are unable to resolve. If any event is unable to resolve when it comes up, simply ignore it and continue to the next event.

Ghost Ship moves: void 13 to surface 12. Giant Shark moves: surface 11 to 12. Giant Shark fights: Ghost Ship. Ghost Ship summons a spirit. Ghost Ship attacks.

Some text is intentionally informal or necessarily compact. Use common sense and be cool.

Sorcery: Contested Realm is built around the four classical elements:

Air Earth Fire Water

Step 1: Untap all of your cards in the realm. Step 2: All of your sites provide their mana. Step 3: Trigger abilities that happen at the start of the turn. Step 4: End the Start Phase by drawing a card from either your spellbook or atlas.

Your units can cast spells and activate their abilities. You may take these actions as many times as you have resources to do so, and in any order you like.

Step 1: Trigger abilities that happen at the end of the turn. Step 2: Players remove all damage from their minions in the realm. Step 3: Effects that last for your turn now end. Step 4: Your turn ends.

Regions: Surface, Underground, Underwater, and the Void are all separate regions in the game. Location: The exact location of a card is determined by its square and by the region that it occupies. Here & There: “Here” and “There” refer to the location(s) that a card occupies. For most cards, such as avatars, minions, and artifacts, that means one location. For most auras, it means the 2x2 area they occupy. For sites, it means two locations, their surface and subsurface. Target: Spells and abilities can only target things within the Spellcaster’s or referencing card’s same region. Adjacent: Refers to the card’s own square and the squares that it shares a border with. Nearby: Refers to the card’s own square and all squares that surround it, including those diagonally.

Adjacent & Nearby Locations: Only locations that are in the same region as the referencing card (or its spellcaster) are considered adjacent or nearby locations. Steps: A step is the minimum unit of distance between two adjacent locations.

• If the text of a card contradicts the rulebook, the card text takes precedence (pg 5).
• If you are the first player, you do not draw a card on your first turn (pg 16).
• Cards and abilities add events to the Storyline (pg 31). If multiple events compete to be added at the same moment, the non-active player’s events are added and resolved first, and then the active player’s.

Quick Reference Guide

Many units have keyword abilities printed in their game text which have rules associated with them. The most common of these keywords are listed below as well as in the glossary (page 32).

This unit may fly while on the surface, gaining the following benefits: When taking a step this unit may move diagonally and can only be intercepted by other units if they have Airborne or Ranged. This unit cannot be targeted by attacks, unless the attacking unit has the Airborne ability.

This unit can be safely summoned to, exist in, and operate normally underground. When taking a step, it can move from the surface of a land site to the underground level there, or vice versa.

This unit can tap, or be tapped, to pay for costs associated with any ability on the turn it is summoned.

When this unit dies, do what is stated before placing it in the cemetery.

While disabled, a minion loses all abilities (including basic abilities like Move and Attack), doesn’t strike when fighting, can’t cast spells, and can’t take any action granted by another card or effect (ie. strike, shoot a projectile, take a step, etc.). A disabled minion can still be forcibly moved or tapped by effects

When this card enters the realm, do what is stated.

This unit can’t take steps.

Any strictly positive amount of damage this card deals to a minion is enough to kill.

This unit may move up to X additional steps when using the Move and Attack or Defend abilities. To move multiple steps at once, choose a destination and a path to it then traverse that path one step at a time. You may need to resolve automatic triggers (or apply “always on” passive abilities), some of which may prematurely stop the motion of the unit.

This unit has “Tap → Shoot a projectile that stops after 1 (or X) steps. Strike the impacted unit”. This unit may also intercept Airborne units.

This card may cast spells.

Minions with Stealth cannot be targeted by spells or abilities from your opponents (including attacks), they can’t be intercepted, their attacks can’t be defended, and projectiles cannot hit them. Stealth is tracked with a stealth token, and it’s lost after the minion interacts with the realm. Non-minions cannot have Stealth, but an Artifact carried by a minion with Stealth gains the same benefits.

This unit can be safely summoned to, exist in, and operate normally underwater. When taking a step, it can move from the surface of a water site to the underwater level there, or vice versa.

This unit can be summoned to any void location and safely exist and operate there. When taking a step it can move into an adjacent void, or out of the void and onto the surface of an adjacent site (or directly to the subsurface if they can operate there).