Mock Court may have fundamentally changed how Sorcery: Contested Realm decks need to be built.
In this late-night brewing session, Force of Phil breaks down the evolution of his Immortal Throne Magician deck and explains why Mock Court represents a new kind of “universal guardrail” for deck construction.
The previous version of Magician leaned heavily on Frog synergies, Sunken Treasure, Deep Sea Mermaids, Plague of Frogs, 13 Treasures of Britain and other engines that could generate enormous amounts of card advantage.
But Mock Court changes the equation.
If a single turn-one card can make your ordinary minions effectively unplayable, Phil argues that the answer isn't necessarily finding a way to beat Mock Court — it's building your deck so that Mock Court doesn't punish you in the first place.
That leads to a completely different Magician build.
This version moves away from the Frog package and toward Fire/Earth, with a dense collection of card-draw engines, Cores, Wiccan Tools, Philosopher's Stone, Searing Truth, Morgana Le Fay, Demonic Contract, Blood Mana, Poison Nova and the Immortal Throne combo.
We also get deep into:
- Why Mock Court is a “universal guardrail”
- Why the Frog version of Magician struggles against it
- Searing Truth as the replacement for Sunken Treasure
- Wiccan Tools + Philosopher's Stone
- Demonic Contract and unique Demons
- Why Magician wants extremely dense card draw
- Managing the deck's inherent Site flood
- Immortal Throne scaling
- Kythera Mechanism + Chaos Wish
- How Fields of Kamlin and Mirage help against aggro
- Building the Collection for Demonic Contract
- Example opening hands and mulligan decisions
- Why adhering to Mock Court may actually make Magician a better deck
This is still an early version of the list, but Phil is already seeing a lot to like.
What do you think? Is Mock Court forcing Sorcery deckbuilding in a healthier direction, or is it simply shutting down too many strategies?
00:00 Mock Court Changes Magician
02:52 The Frog Magician Build
06:00 Why Mock Court Breaks the Old Deck
10:30 The New Immortal Throne List
16:00 Demonic Contract & Card Advantage
21:00 Searing Truth Replaces Sunken Treasure
25:00 Sites, Mirage & Fields of Kamlin
29:55 Building the Collection
36:50 Goldfishing & Mulligan Decisions
43:30 Final Thoughts on Universal Guardrails
