Sorcery

The Future Sight symbol for Sorcery cards.

Sorceries, like instants, represent one-shot or short-term magical spells. They are never put onto battlefield; instead, they take effect when their mana cost is paid and the spell resolves, and then are immediately put into its owner's graveyard.

Description

Sorceries and instants differ only in when they can be casted. Sorceries can only be casted during the player's main phase, and only when nothing else is on the stack. Instants, on the other hand, can be casted at any time, including during other player's turns and while another spell or ability is waiting to resolve.

Rules

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 307. Sorceries
  • 307.1. A player who has priority may cast a sorcery card from their hand during a main phase of their turn when the stack is empty. Casting a sorcery as a spell uses the stack. (See rule 601, “Casting Spells.”)
  • 307.2. When a sorcery spell resolves, the actions stated in its rules text are followed. Then it’s put into its owner’s graveyard.
  • 307.3. Sorcery subtypes are always a single word and are listed after a long dash: “Sorcery — Arcane.” Each word after the dash is a separate subtype. The set of sorcery subtypes is the same as the set of instant subtypes; these subtypes are called spell types. Sorceries may have multiple subtypes. See rule 205.3k for the complete list of spell types.
  • 307.4. Sorceries can’t enter the battlefield. If a sorcery would enter the battlefield, it remains in its previous zone instead.
  • 307.5. If a spell, ability, or effect states that a player can do something only “any time they could cast a sorcery” or “only as a sorcery,” it means only that the player must have priority, it must be during the main phase of their turn, and the stack must be empty. The player doesn’t need to have a sorcery card they could cast. Effects that would preclude that player from casting a sorcery spell don’t affect the player’s capability to perform that action (unless the action is actually casting a sorcery spell).
    • 307.5a Similarly, if an effect checks to see if a spell was cast “any time a sorcery couldn’t have been cast,” it’s checking only whether the spell’s controller cast it without having priority, during a phase other than their main phase, or while another object was on the stack.

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Sorcery

A card type. A sorcery is not a permanent. See rule 307, “Sorceries.”

Subtypes

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

Spell Type

A subtype that’s correlated to the instant card type and the sorcery card type. See rule 304, “Instants,” and rule 307, “Sorceries.” See rule 205.3k for the list of spell types.

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 205.3k Instants and sorceries share their lists of subtypes; these subtypes are called spell types. The spell types are Adventure, Arcane, Lesson, and Trap.

Arcane and Trap are the two spell types. They may theoretically appear on Sorceries and Instants, however the Trap subtype is only used on Instants.

Legendary sorceries

Dominaria debuted legendary sorcery cards that capture extraordinary moments from characters' pasts. These powerful spells can be unleashed only with the assistance of a legendary creature or planeswalker on your side of the battlefield.

You can't cast a legendary sorcery unless you control a legendary creature or a legendary planeswalker. Once you begin to cast a legendary sorcery, losing control of your legendary creatures and planeswalkers won't affect that spell. Other than the casting restriction, the legendary supertype on a sorcery carries no additional rules. You may cast any number of legendary sorceries in a turn, and your deck may contain any number of legendary cards (but no more than four of any with the same name).

Friendly to sorceries

Blue and red are the two colors that most appreciate instants and sorceries and reward the player for playing them.