The Future Sight symbol for Sorcery cards.
Sorceries, like instants, represent one-shot or short-term magical spells.[1][2] They are never put into the in-play zone; instead, they take effect when their mana cost is paid and the spell resolves, and then are immediately put into the player's graveyard.
Sorceries and instants differ only in when they can be played.[3] Sorceries can only be played during the player's main phase, and only when nothing else is on the stack.[4] Instants, on the other hand, can be played at any time, including during other player's turns and while another spell or ability is waiting to resolve.
Rules
From the Comprehensive Rules (April 12, 2024—Outlaws of Thunder Junction)
- 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.
References
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