Sorcering

Sometimes when you look at cards, and you want to determine whether they are good cards or not, or whether they would fit into a particular deck, you have to imagine them as other cards. Also, while I'm playing a game, I have to think about "Sorcering" (the topic title), and see if that's effective. But before we get to Sorcering, let's talk about the other examples.

In the Lorwyn block, we got

Enchantment - 2B [U]
Whenever you play a spell during an opponent's turn, you may have target player lose 1 life.

So the first thing you you should ask yourself is, how many times will I trigger that, and how many times do I need to trigger that to make the card worthwhile?

So, you might want to change the spell, into something like

Sorcery - 2B
Target player loses X life.

Now, we have to determine X. Would you use this card, if X was:

1: no.
2: no
3: maybe in limited, but probably not
4: probably in limited, maybe in constructed
5: yes

So now you ask yourself, how often, in a game, will this happen? Remember, you would play this enchantment on turn 3, so it does use up your 3rd turn, AT BEST; if you draw this late game, there's a good chance you won't play as many instants after you play it, compared to if you played it on turn 3.

Anyway, so what I'm saying is that I would not use this card, because I don't think I will play that many spells in an average game, on an opponents turn, providing that this card is in play.

Example 2: Where Ancients Tread - 4R [R]
Enchantment - Whenever a creature with power 5 or greater comes into play under your control, deal 5 damage to target creature or player.

So once again, think of the spell differently.

Sorcery - 4R - Deal 5 damage to target creature or player.

Or

Sorcery - 4R - Deal 5 damage to target creature or player. Deal 5 damage to target creature or player.

I would play the first one in a limited deck, and I would play the second one in any deck. Now, what are the chances I play a creature with power 5 or greater, after turn 5, OR after I play this card? If I play this card early, I'm pretty sure I would end up playing 3 or more huge creatures afterwards, so this card is that amazing. If I draw this late game, I can probably still end up bringing a big creature out, and thus this card will be worth it for me.

Of course, there are a bunch of other cards which you have to think about differently. If you want an exercise, look up these cards and think about them: Polluted Bonds, Dire Undercurrents, Fable of Wolf and Owl, Prowess of the Fair, and Mighty Emergence.

Sorcering

I guess I shouldn't call this sorcering, cuz I thought of a few other cards that we can think about differently. First, to define, Sorcering isn't really about Sorceries... but it is about playing something slower than you normally would or could, to act as a surprise card. Another Sorcering term is thinking about an enchantment as a sorcery, so it would be an enchantment except the effect only lasts for one turn. I will get to one of the main points of this article at the bottom, but be patient. So... just a few questions here and there.

Look up Wound Reflection. The card's been done, as a Sorcery, that costs 1 less. Now it's an enchantment so it lasts longer, which is awesome.. but would you still use it if it was a sorcery? I think you would. I think it's great enough that you would.

There's a preview card currently, called Knight of Alara. Check it out. So it would make sense to play it early and your creatures will have awesome power and toughness for the rest of the game. But consider playing it on the turn that you win? Would you play this?

2GW - Sorcery
Choose 2 target creatures you control. They each get +3/+3 until end of turn. All other creatures you control get +2/+2 until end of turn.

I think that card's pretty good. You may want to play it as a sorcery on some turn at the end of the game, rather than as a creature early game.

Relentless Assault. Great card. Whenever I think of Relentless Assault, I think of attacking with six 5/5 creatures, and then untapping them all and attacking again. But have you ever considered using it on turn 5, to just attack for another 4-5 damage? Even then, Relentless Assault is a usable card. Similarly, you think about doing great things with Temporal Extortion in late game, but you may want to get the tempo advantage on turn 5. It's not too bad.

Last but not least - playing Equipment as Enchant Auras. The neat thing about equipment is being able to play it early and have it do nothing, and then next turn equip it to someone and be awesome. The problem is, during that turn where it's doing nothing, your opponent will see it, and they will respond accordingly. That 0/2 ornithopter on your side wasn't a threat before, but now with the equipment, it's kinda scary. So instead of continuing with their aggressive ground attack, the opponent will play his willow-wisp and your attack is ruined.

The great thing about Magic is that your opponent doesn't know the cards in your hand a vice versa, so you're able to deploy trickery and glory at different parts in the game. The above example of playing an equipment kinda ruins it; the opponent will see the equipment and react accordingly.

So this is the real sorcering; playing equipment as enchant auras; that is, instead of paying for the equipment in one turn and equipping it the next, you do both on the same turn. It's rather quite expensive, but sometimes it's oh very worth it. What equipment am I talking about?

The one and only... Quietus Spike.

Equipment cost 3, Equip cost 3; Or, Enchant Creature Aura for 6 mana; and once again, you can Sorcerize this. Would you take:

Sorcery - 6
Target player loses half of his or her life.

Yes. Yes you would. Quite often would Quietus plans be foiled if played as an equipment, but played as an aura... it's dirty, so very dirty.