Why I’m Getting Into Sorcery: Contested Realm

This article has been much teased and I’m happy to finally discuss the new card game I’ve started playing casually. The game is Sorcery: Contested Realm which is relatively new Indie TCG from Erik’s Curiousa. The elevator pitch for the game would probably be something like what if you could play a game that is like old school Magic: The Gathering, only it has traditional art from some of the best fantasy artists around, and promises not to release too many cards and oversaturate the market? If that sounds appealing to you, then read on as I talk a bit more about the game and why I’ve started playing it.

As I discussed in Why I can’t quit TCGs/CCGs, I played Magic starting around the time of Ice Age and I remember those times fondly. When I heard that Sorcery hearkens back to early Magic: The Gathering, it certainly caught my attention. I’ve since also learned a bit about what Magic: The Gathering is like currently after not following it for a decade or so. The biggest and most obvious thing being that Magic cards are being pumped out by Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro. There are currently seven sets coming out this year which might not sound like a lot to an outsider but it is an insane volume. There used to be one or two sets in a given year back when I started Magic and that felt a lot more palatable. As you can probably imagine, the bigger the card pool, the harder it is to know all of the different cards people can play. There is also a problem with collectability which I will get into later. All this is to say, Magic is suffering from the same thing a lot of hobbies/interests are in the last ten years or so. The people who make it have decided that it is more profitable to make too much product and not worry if they lose some fans in the long run because of burnout because they’ll most likely make more from “whales” as they are cynically referred to by some. It is really a shame to see and it is one of the last trends of the last ten years or so.

Personally, I would not be interested in playing a TCG where the metagame is shifting rapidly and there are tons of sets coming out. That just isn’t a fun environment for someone looking to play casually like myself. And that’s where Sorcery comes in. They are committed to one major card set a year and so far, they’ve stuck to that. There are currently three unique sets released and the game launched in 2023. To me, that is much more manageable to keep up with and feels financially feasible, even with my somewhat limited budget currently. My hope is that Sorcery sticks to this model long term as I think the game is really benefitting from it. Quality over quantity and all of that. Its worth noting that Sorcery’s model is popular with players generally but there is absolutely a segment of people who wring their hands and complain that we should be getting more content quicker. This tendency is common amongst tournament/competitive players, in general, I find and their anxiety here is unfounded. If a game is consistently good, people will find and play it. Yes, their interest may wander sometimes but ultimately, quality wins out and that seems to be the focus with Sorcery: Contested Realm.

The other major selling point is something you can already see. The card art is just outstanding in Sorcery. As you can probably imagine, it makes me nostalgic for when I first got into Magic and started seeing beautiful fantasy art for the first time. At the same time, Magic’s art can be inconsistent in the early sets and there is definitely a mix of more cartoonish styles with more realistic looks which doesn’t necessarily help. Sorcery does not have this problem, from what I have observed, and so many of the cards I’ve seen are just beautiful to look at. The cards tickle a fancy that I didn’t necessarily realize that I had, if that makes sense. Emphasizing traditional art is refreshing to me as well. Obviously, all miniature painters like myself are traditional artists and I drew traditional art about ten years ago before that, so that style of art really appeals to me. But more than that, traditional art is less prevalent and less appreciated nowadays. Digital art is seemingly easier to make and its everywhere nowadays. To be able to see and hold traditional art in card form is more novel than it probably should be but I’m really glad that Sorcery gives people that opportunity at the same time. There’s no doubt that the art is a big part of what makes the game so collectable as well.

Of course, this is a card game and the rules matter too. So far, I’ve only purchased the Beta Preconstructed decks and played a few games against myself to test out the rules and see if it is indeed fun or not. I’m happy to report that I’ve enjoyed it thus far, even with the fact that I’m playing a head-to-head style game (like playing Warhammer against yourself essentially). What do I like about it? Well the first thing is the grid system. You and your opponent play on a shared 4×5 grid (an example pictured above) where you play sites and minions. You can only play your minions on your sites and then they can move and attack your opponent. Your avatar which is generally some sort of wizard like in Magic: The Gathering but also can move around the grid and potentially attack things or be attacked. While I’ve heard people compare this to board games and wargames, I would say it is a bit more like chess. Comparisons aside, the grid system is very tactical, which I’ve enjoyed compared to the way Magic works where you basically lay out all your creatures and lands on your side and attack your opponent’s side of the board which feels more abstract. It also makes the battlefield seem a bit more tactile since you can see your sites on a board which makes them feel more like real locations. Its easier to imagine the minions and avatars moving around and doing battle as well.

The ruleset also has some incredibly strong theming. Many of the cards function exactly like how they should feel in a game like this. I’m reminded of the thematic designs in Arkham Horror: The Card Game which is a really high complement. Take for example this card, Craterize.

This card looks like a meteor hitting something and guess what, it plays exactly like that! If you see the little chart on the bottom-right, it shows how the site most impacted by the meteor gets absolutely pummeled and then everything around that receives a little less damage and then a little further away than that, its the same thing. This is incredibly good card design and I can confirm from having used this card once in the preconstructed decks, it does a stunning amount of damage and is a blast (no pun intended!) to play. This card is not a one-off, there are a lot of cards I’ve played with where I think, this is a really thematic card and is thoughtfully designed. While I’ve certainly seen Magic cards that are thematic, I don’t recall seeing the same volume as in Sorcery. Part of that goes back to how Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro have just made too many Magic cards that I think it waters them down to some degree. It also has players rapidly searching for the most powerful cards at the expense of everything else. There’s absolutely no shame in that, especially in the competitive scene, but it isn’t what I’m looking for out of a card game either.

And that brings me nicely onto the overall approach of Sorcery. It is meant to be a kitchen table game. For many years, all of the Magic: the Gathering that I played was “kitchen table”. I take this term to mean playing casually at home with friends and family, not really caring too much about who wins, just trying to have a good time. I haven’t seen tons of Sorcery cards yet, as my collection is small at this point and I want to enjoy discovering new cards as I collect them so I’ve tried to steer clear of spoilers as much as I can. From what I have played, the kitchen table approach is very clear as there are a lot of cool cards that do fun and thematic things. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of decks I can build and what kind of fun thematic approaches you can take with the game. Building your own unique decks is a really fun part of TCGs and I think Sorcery will definitely provide some of those, especially if I have a like-minded opponent and in this case, I do. My brother is also interested in playing and so at some point, we will play either online or in-person and see how that goes. I’ve had fun playing solo thus far and wouldn’t have qualms about playing the game strictly that way, if he decides he doesn’t like it. I’m not sure if that is an option for everyone because the game certainly is best played with others but if you don’t know anybody else interested, solo is more doable with Sorcery than a lot of other TCGs.

And finally, Sorcery is a pretty collectible game overall. Part of that is the beautiful art each card has and a card design that really shows it off. Another part is that, the limited number of sets make the game much more possible to collect. If someone is currently collecting all of the Magic cards that have ever come out, they probably have a couple of closets full of cards, even if they only have one copy of each card (which is pretty unlikely). There have been that many cards released. Sorcery’s release model is much more compact and so it feels like I can collect the cards and keep up, while still maintaining my other hobbies. Time will tell if that proves to be the case, but there are a lot of other card games where I would never dream of such a goal. The most important thing about Sorcery is that its cool looking and I want to collect it. Feeling like there aren’t a lot of filler cards in the sets, definitely helps with that. There are also expensive and hard to get cards like ones that feature Frank Frazetta’s art or just are very desirable if you can get them as a foil card as well. So there is a chance of getting something cool in any pack of cards you open which is what you want.

To close, I didn’t attempt to cover everything that is cool about Sorcery and there are other things I like about it but I wanted to give a high-level pitch and reasonably concise description of why the game seems so cool to me. I looked at quite a few card games before settling on Sorcery. Cyberpunk TCG and its indie “cousin” Neuroscape TCG both look pretty cool, for example, but the nostalgia that Sorcery evokes and the coolness of the game rules and card art is what sucked me in. I have no idea how much I will talk about Sorcery in the future, as this website focuses on miniature wargaming, but if I continue to enjoy playing and collecting it, I’m sure it will surface in some shape or form.