Deck building in Sorcery: Contested Realms has more moving parts than most card games. You're not just choosing cards — you're engineering two separate decks that must work in harmony: your Spellbook and your Atlas. This guide walks through the key principles.
Deck Composition
A Sorcery Constructed deck consists of three parts:
- 1 Avatar — your commander-equivalent, not counted in either deck
- Spellbook — at least 60 cards (Minions, Magics, Auras, and Artifacts)
- Atlas — at least 30 Sites (your mana base)
Both the Spellbook and Atlas have no maximum size — but leaner decks are generally more consistent.
Card Copy Limits
The number of copies allowed per card depends on its rarity:
| Rarity | Max Copies |
|---|---|
| Ordinary | 4 |
| Exceptional | 3 |
| Elite | 2 |
| Unique | 1 |
Understanding Thresholds
Every non-site card in Sorcery has a mana cost and possibly a threshold requirement. The mana cost is how much mana you spend to play it. The threshold is the minimum number of sites of a given element you need in play.
For example, a card costing 4 with a ◆◆ threshold (two Earth) can only be cast if you control at least two Earth sites — even if you have 4 mana from other sources.
This creates a second axis of constraint beyond raw mana. You need:
- Enough total mana (controlled sites)
- Enough elemental thresholds in the right elements
Building Your Atlas (Site Deck)
With a minimum of 30 sites, most competitive decks run 30–35 sites. Your Atlas is your primary mana source, so it's worth treating it with as much care as your Spellbook.
Step 1: List your threshold requirements. Look at your Spellbook cards and group them by threshold. If you have many cards requiring Fire threshold, Fire is your primary element.
Step 2: Set a threshold target. For your primary element, you want to hit the first threshold by turn 2–3 reliably. Running roughly half your Atlas in your primary element gives strong consistency for the first threshold.
Step 3: Allocate the rest. Your remaining sites cover secondary and tertiary elements. If you have powerful double-threshold cards in your second color, you need enough sites of that color to hit the second threshold reliably by mid-game.
Mana Curve — Spending Mana Efficiently
Your mana curve describes how much mana your spells cost across turns. In Sorcery, you play one site per turn from your hand, so your available mana grows by 1 each turn (roughly).
An aggressive deck's curve looks like:
- Turn 1–2: 1-cost and 2-cost minions
- Turn 3–4: 3-cost spells and minions
- Turn 5+: Powerful finishers
A control deck's curve looks like:
- Turn 1–3: Cheap interaction (removal, small threats)
- Turn 4–6: Card draw, medium threats
- Turn 7+: Game-ending threats and Avatar abilities
The most common mistake in new decklists is too many expensive cards. It feels good to include every powerful 6-cost minion, but if your curve tops out at 6+ with nothing to do on turns 1–3, you'll fall behind faster decks before you ever cast them.
Multi-Element Thresholds: Handle With Care
Cards with double or triple elemental thresholds are among the most powerful in their element, but they require careful Atlas construction. If you're running cards with three Earth thresholds, you need a heavily Earth-focused Atlas — which leaves little room for a second element.
High-threshold cards are a commitment to near-mono-element play. Use them when you're confident in a dedicated color strategy.
Using SorceryRec to Validate Your Build
Once you have a draft decklist, use the Avatars section to check what the community runs with your Avatar. If your top-end finisher only appears in 30% of decks while a cheaper alternative appears in 80%, that's a signal to reconsider.
Pay special attention to the site distribution in popular decks — it's often the most underrated part of a build and the easiest place to improve consistency.
Iterating Your Deck
The best decks are built through iteration, not inspiration. After each play session:
- Note which cards you never wanted to draw
- Note which threshold you struggled to hit
- Check if your curve had gaps (turns you had nothing to play)
Small adjustments — swapping a few sites, cutting one high-cost card for a cheaper option — often have bigger impacts than dramatic overhauls. Treat deckbuilding as tuning, not rebuilding.