In a small pond recently filled with big fish, and dominated by three big whales, it isn’t easy fitting in, and fighting to the top of the pool for those fish flake thingies. But here’s the thing, out of all the new fish with fancy scales, or fan favourite IP, being unceremoniously dump-trucked into the local pond, there is one that is distinctly something else… something old and sharp, honed for the modern world. A baby shark lurking with the Koi fish.
So lets take a look at the teeth on this newcomer, that might not have captured much attention yet, but once it grows big enough, may end up being an apex predator.
I have only recently come across Sorcery: Contested Realm. So I am going to cover what has stood out to me, and we’ll break it down into five immediate points of unusual interest.
Art
Art is quite clearly at the core of the S:CR philosophy. Much of the art is reminiscent of the early days Magic The Gathering art. In fact, it has many of those artists are back in force to design for Sorcery. It has a clear and obvious vision that the art for this game will be of high quality, diverse in it’s aesthetic, and real. Take a look at many of the other booster packs on the shelf and it is easy to cover over the title, pick randomly, and get roughly the same thing. There are a sea of anime waifu sets, and everything that isn’t will almost certainly by computer drawn. Whilst this definitely isn’t necessarily bad, it does lead to a homogenised, and at least for me, generic feel. Putting my tinfoil hat on, I think the us of AI image generation or correction, will bleed it’s way steadily into many TCGs.
Sorcery goes it’s own way with a growing stable of talented artists producing real art by hand. It not only adds an extra path of collection for those with more money than me to invest in canvas art, but it also makes the art feel tangible and authentic. My binder feels like a gallery. There are no throw-away pieces, and foils in ordinary (common) rarity feel like treasured pulls for their own sake.
I think it is important to honour and support named artists. Whilst it isn’t unique to Sorcery, is clearly a focus. Every card maximises the art as much as possible, The card quality (other than one rough printing) maximises the cards for colour and detail, each set even comes with an art card listing the contributing artists. The diversity of style and palette on a core theme feels vibrant and deep. I have little mini foil collections by artist and they spark joy.
Gameplay
Yeah okay, it looks great. But the car’s no good if it doesn’t drive. Well, luckily this game handles like a F1 monster truck. Yeah, okay, so I don’t know much about cars either. But still. I would describe S:CR as a traditional card card game with a few fixes and some new dynamics that will be big draws. We aren’t going to dissect the gameplay here, that would be its own blog entirely, but we can hit some headlines.
Ex-Site-ing Resource Mechanics
Yeah that one was a stretch. S:CR is doing something new with mana generation. Your resource cards ‘Sites’ are locations which sit in their own deck and can be drawn from separately. Leading to far fewer instances of getting mana blocked. Additionally they feed into Sorcery’s grid design, where sites become physical locations that your other cards can traverse, coming with their own unique effects and flavour. They feel logically consistent and make for a chess-like strategic experience. How you build and deploy your cards matters, many magic cards even have orientation and thematically consistent shapes. You can also attack or destroy these cards with varying mechanics, opening up a level of battlefield strategy.
This extends to the consistent narrative of the cards. Ships may only be able to be cast and traverse water sites, monsters that dig may be able traverse under the land, arial monsters may be the only way to go over walls. It feels like a self-consistent story with lore accurate effects, rather than a roulette wheel of matching game design choices with a random IP or divorced artist base. Sorcery gets a lot of attention for it’s grid based system giving a traversable plane, but not enough credit for incorporating a Z (up-down) plane with which to drown, bury and assault your enemies. I briefly got into the shallows of Chess a few weeks ago, and as a new player to both games, I got feel good flashbacks of realising my Bishop could ballistic missile itself across the board to cause havoc through an opening. Sorcery offers a familiar thrill, and I can’t wait to see how that element of gameplay evolves and players learn positioning synergies alongside card mechanics.
Avatars the last Spellbenders
Each player starts with an Avatar of their choice. Effectively offering a class that shapes the way their deck can play the game, They are so far, extremely interesting and offer a wide variety of starting points that helps diversify the meta. But again, it is from a lore and vibes point of view which this appeals to me. I played a lot of hearthstone, and played a lot of mage.. because I played a lot of mage in WoW… and it became an almost comfort blanket. Where I could specialise my time an effort in making the most of that specific character. For those who like MTG Commander, this will equally give a similar feeling. The avatar list itself is expanding with the upcoming Gothic set release and I am excited to test and play, finding what works best, or more likely, which one I find cool.
On a flavour point that didn’t quite vibe with me, your non-site deck, is called your ‘spell book’. The deck of spells which your avatar is casting onto the battlefield. Whilst the cards themselves refer to them variously as creatures, relics, mortals etc. It doesn’t quite make head-sense for me to magically cast a pack of wolves or a siege ballista.
Theming
Similar to Erik’s ‘I’m going to die on this hill’ approach to organic free-range art. It is also clear that the commitment to strong fantasy theming is resolute. In a world where New-York bagel eating pigeons are the first horsemen of the apocalypse for other games, Sorcery seems intent in deeds and words to make it like they used to. Erik’s are clearly happy to keep things fresh by exploring different genre’s of fantasy, with the first expansion Arthurian Legends exploring real world English mythos, and the upcoming Gothic set definitely having Good vs. Evil meta theming through ghosts, demons, angels, and dark ages coding. It is a long way of saying, that although Sorcery doesn’t have the instant appeal of One Piece, or Gundam with those existing fanbases, what it might have instead is longevity. How long before any IP grows stale, or are just killed off so that they can come back for a different TCG variant in a few years? Drawing on the obvious comparison right now, Universes beyond has been incredibly divisive for the MTG player base. I make no determination on if the allegations of design slop are accurate. But what I can say is, at least until Erik’s is acquired by some mega-monopoly, their menu is shaping up to be a big ol’ list of home-cooked favourites.
A last point on theming that also touches on gameplay and availability, is that their rarity of cards effects the number of that card you can have in your deck (Unique: 1, Elite: 2, Exceptional: 3, Ordinary:4, Wolves: Unlimited). Yes that last one is an odd one out, and the basis of an enjoyable meme deck. The point is that it feels like it makes sense, there should only be one Merlin the wizard, just like there can only be one Dolly Parton. But you want creepy bog cats? Have four! it also means that you really do only need one of the best in set cards. It feels more achievable to collect. Will there come a day with full unique decks? Maybe, but with that will come a lack of draw consistency. At the moment it just feels right, the special stuff is special, but the mechanics at the core of the deck still matter.
Pricing & Availability
Okay, here is a big one for any new set. How much does it cost and how easy is it to get. I won’t go too much into pricing, because in all honesty it varies. That being said online retailers, including this one, make acquiring sealed product very easy in the UK. I have been able to pick up both Beta and Arthurian Legends reliably across printings. That being said Erik’s Curiosa, do have distribution issues. This became a more acute point when trying to get a hold of the mini-set release DragonLord, featuring decent cards and jaw-dropping art by Ed Beard Jr. Rumours abound that the entire UK got 14 boxes of the 13 card set. Whilst those in America who could attend various conventions managed to snag 5+ boxes each. That one isn’t on UK retailers, it is on Erik’s distribution to sort out. All that being said, they seemed to really hear the mood music on that one, and I am hopeful future mini-sets will be better printed or distributed. I don’t actually see much of the America-centrism going away just yet, but life is the long game.
It is not all doom and gloom. With people fist-fighting in Costco over other TCGs, there is thankfully a lack of scalpers (Dragonlord aside) plaguing this game. It means that I can get my boosters and boxes at retail and enjoy the experience of opening them without thinking of a return on my money, or worrying that it will be the last pack I can get hold of. I hope it stays that way. Actually. Stop reading this, I want it to stay under the radar a little while longer. Stop reading. Oi. Stop. …fine. It was worth a shot.
The last point is definitely a marmite, love it or hate it classic. The set release schedule is looooong. One big, and one mini-set a year. Don’t get me wrong, the main sets are big enough, Gothic coming in at 440 cards, but it is still a universe beyond MTG’s 7 sets in 2026 (Get it? UB?).
For some players though, a year between major sets will be too long, they want a fresh meta at about the same pace as a haircut. But for me it’s just right. It means I can collect thoughtfully, and without panic, I even have a chance at master setting if I choose. It means the meta can shift and settle, but that my deck won’t be useless 2 months from now. It also makes Sorcery TCG an ideal ‘second tcg’, not falling behind the curve even if only dipping in sporadically.
The honest truth has also been covered off by Erik’s Cruise themselves. Commissioning hundreds of hand drawn artworks per set, reviewing early drafts, printing and everything else just takes time. You can’t rush art.
Definitely not a cult (Community)
With any underdog group of early(ish) adopters, it isn’t a surprise that it has mostly devolved into an underground network of diehards predicting the second coming of Magic. The bad stuff is up front on this one. Most local card shops aren’t running game nights for it, let alone organised play. Every one I have asked has said ‘Oh yeah we have had a few people ask, but we need more’. I think that a threshold will eventually be breached, and once people play it will be a dam break. But until then, best enjoy the TableTopSimulator mod edition. My final point is on card conventions and events. In the US they are plentiful, resplendent with promo cards, exclusive access to material and artist signings. In the UK, best enjoy a cup of tea and try not to think about it. But to complement sandwich in this community foot-long, the people that I meet about this are completely sold. Hook-line-and fisherman. They don’t like it because of nostalgia, or suffer through for IP, they don’t play because their friends do, or because they have sunk years into something that used to be what they wanted. They just like it. Hell, I love it. Because it is, in and of itself, a fantastic game.
Sum Up
I haven’t covered much of this game, I don’t even know most of the game, but I would highly recommend you take a look around and see more for yourself. Buy a booster pack, watch some content, and walk over the cliff edge of hyper-fixation that converts shiny cardboard into serotonin.
Enjoy!
