Hello Battlemages,

I am a long-time Magic player and still enjoy cube drafting or playing Premodern. But since a friend introduced me to the Beta starter decks, I was hooked on Sorcery. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to join any in-person events yet, but I’m sure that will change in a few weeks.

This list is originally copied from Count Tolstoy’s “Freeky Deeky“ BM Tempo-list from Sorcerers Summit Gothic Season 3!

I just added a few pieces and cut others.

Since I could not find any primers for this list then, I wrote a few notes on my thoughts regarding some card choices. That beeing said, Tolstoy has updated his list with an in-depth-primer which you can find here:

https://curiosa.io/decks/cmjnle8qi252izofnrghywj88?tab=primer

Main Goal

Play early threats, disrupt your opponent’s threats, hit early with BM, and finish the game as quickly as possible.

Sites

The main goal is to fully operate on 4-5 sites. Only 3 spells require 5 mana. Atlantean Fate and Whirling Blades are situational blowouts that are worth tapping BM for instead of attacking. That being said, to constantly double-spell you also need 5 mana.

Since I normally operate on just 4–5 sites, I cannot afford to play heavy threshold cards like Mesmerism or Archangel Gabriel. I also declined to play some of my favorite heavy Air-threshold cards like Bane of Aventis or Browse.

I do play Plague of Frogs since Water threshold is much easier to achieve thanks to Floodplain and Deep Sea. I play the defensive Water sites Thin Ice and Troll Bridge to boost the power of my forced movement spells and the Nixie package.

Then I play 2 Ramp-Towers of each kind since they support my game plan the best and are ordinaries, which are not affected by Atlantean Fate.

I play 4 Dual sites as whose are 3 Lighthouses and 1 Colour out of Space.

The best part of playing Water-Air is using Wuthering Heights and its little brother River Rapids, which can act as extensions of your defensive sites and also as catapults for your minions to launch them into your opponent’s territory.

Auras

The Black Plague is a good way to handle opposing blockers and let your BM do its dirty work. Scatter and Displace can move the Plague to your advantage and help it stay longer in the game. Sometimes it makes sense to move your own minions into the area of effect to keep it alive longer. Plague of Frogs can also extend the lifetime of the Black Plague to hilariously long durations. Thats what I call a Black Frog Plague.

Atlantean Fate is everything you want from a Sorcery card. It kills minions, gets rid of pesky artifacts, disrupts your opponent’s threshold, and silences defensive sites.

Edit:

I choose to get rid of the Auras for now, since there are to many villages and other basic Sites around in the meta. I added another Blink and another Shrink since I felt I needed more movement to go around defensive sites like gnome hollows or root spiders. Shrink lets my avatar enter gnome hollows where he can do his dirty deed relatively save.

Artifacts

Besides the flexible Toolbox, which gives me access to forced movement, removal, and artifact/aura hate, I play a little Princess package with Ring of Morrigan and Key to the City.

Ring of Morrigan is a must play with Battlemage, since he is a very mobile Avatar and at best he is always at frontline near to an enemy.

Key to the City is a great way to ignore defensive sites and get into action earlier thanks to the mana ramp.

The Rack is a must-add and, in my eyes, a very problematic card. Since just 3 strikes with BM deal a whopping 18 damage. Also it is nearly impossible to escape with such a long avatar.

You cannot afford to draw dead cards in this tempo shell. That’s why I don’t play Cores.

You can play other broken equipment, but I don’t want to get blown out by a Dispel or Disenchant.

Minions

Highland Falconer is a potential turn-one 3-power minion split across two bodies. It thins your spellbook and grabs Vampire Bats, which can give you a little life back. The 1-power body also acts as a blocker for your BM.

Highland Princess is a blocker that finds you the tools you need.

Pied Piper can heavily punish Village players and Necromancers. In the current meta of Villages, Plague of Frogs, and Border Militia, it is an absolute must-play.

Polar Explorer helps you get your minions around defensive sites or get your BM into action.

Aino can be rough to handle, especially when she comes into play on turn 2.

Coy Nixies, alongside Succubi, give you the forced movement needed to drag enemy minions into your defensive sites.

Fae Changeling is one of the most important cards in the deck. They handle Greater Blood Demons and other big threats that were ramped into, while also providing a blocker to spare you some life loss. They are not good against minions with Charge or strong Genesis effects, so choose wisely what to bounce.

Jack the Ripper handles problematic Mortals, of which there are more than enough.

Lugbog Cat is not played by Tolstoy, and I am not sure why. I guess it has no form of evasion and gets eaten often enough. I will still play it because I think I need more early aggression, and 4 power can be key for Whirling Blades and Grappleshot.

Another option would have been Blue Knight since it comes with pseudo-4 power and can drop the lance for BM or similar plays. Unfortunately, it dies to a lone Vile Imp or Quarrelsome Kobolds.

I also have an eye on Aaj-Kegon Ghost Crabs, which can be tough to handle in the early stages of the game.

Otherwise, I can see myself playing the package of Bane of Aventis, who has a low floor but a very high ceiling; Lady of the Lake, which brings back powerful Mortals like Aino, Jack, or Ruler of Thul, as well as Ring of Morrigan or Toolbox; and Evil Twin, which shines against ramp strategies, charge minions and also Lord of Lies.

But for now, I will go with consistency of the Cat over high upside.

Sturmgeist is an aggressive and elusive striker, which is exactly what I am looking for.

Order of the Sacred Oak is a resilient threat that can also save your front site from land destruction.

Sir Pelleas is one of the few 4-power minions that can safely stay underwater until the turn he attacks favorably. He also handles enemy Nixies if they are in the same body of water and is an excellent target for Whirling Blades.

Ruler of Thul is, in my eyes, an absolute powerhouse and does way too much for this amount of mana. He bypasses defensive sites, buffs your minions, and has Charge himself. Absolute must-play.

Abaddon Succubusses are basically your Nixies 3–4. They can take out a 5-power minion on their own if left unchecked and provide a little lifegain.

Charge is the best keyword in my opinion since you get immediate value if you plan accordingly. Combined with Airborne and 3 power, you get an elusive minion that is hard to block in Gyre Hippogriffs.

Sacred Stag is the other 4-power minion, which is very resilient thanks to Ward. The Deathrite will not come up too often since Stag is likely to attack opposing sites.

Magics

Dodge Roll gives your avatar more evasion to escape powerful attacks, which can generate a lot of tempo.

Plague of Frogs is good in every situation and, at just 1 mana, an auto-include if castable. The Frogs are good blockers to secure enough life to finish your opponent first, and they can also attack with help from Ruler.

Shrinking big minions to kill them with Battlemage, drawing a card, and taking no damage sounds pretty good to me. For now, I play 2 Shrink. Note that you can also shrink your own minions or Battlemage to enter Gnome Hollows.

Polymorph costs 1 more but can handle problematic minions more easily. These removal spells combo well with Ring of Morrigan and Battlemage, which makes them a perfect fit.

Sleep is a nice way to handle problematic cards like Lilith and similar threats. Beware of Quarrelsome Kobolds, Vile Imps, Dragonettes, or Deserts waking up the sleeping minion.

Battlemage needs a crucial amount of forced movement to get into action early without tapping just to move. Blink replaces itself and can give Battlemage unexpected range. I currently play 2 main and 1 in the collection.

Tactical Move lets you move your hole team to get around defensive sites like Troll Bridge or Gnome Hollows. It also gives you the opportunity to reposition after attacks, so you can attack Thin Ice and retreat or save some minions from mass removal like Earthquake.

Build a Bridge and shoot a Grappleshot to get your BM in your opponent’s face. Grappleshot is good at every stage of the game. Early on, it brings your BM into action; midgame, it acts as removal; and if your opponent is on death’s door, it becomes a finishing move. I play 3 main and 1 in the collection. This card also feels unfair when combined with The Rack.

Scatter is one of the most versatile cards in the game. You can push your minions into action, move opposing minions into your defensive sites, pull equipment from an enemy and push them away, reposition your auras, move opposing auras and Omphalos into bad positions, and much more. I prefer it over Swap because it is so versatile.

Swap is a great way to steal equipment and place opponents onto your Thin Ice. I would like to play some more copies main since Swap combos very well with Torshammar Trinket and Thin Ice, but there are board states where Swap simply doesn’t do enough, so I currently play one.

Last but not least, I play 2 Whirling Blades. A board wipe, finishing move, and forced movement spell all baked into one card. Don’t wait forever to use this card, or it will rot in your hand. Your opponents know you are playing it and will try to play around it, which is nearly impossible. If you get a 2-for-1, it is already fine — everything above that is great.

Collection

Toolbox is the most versatile card in the game. For my collection, I chose to play cards with 1–2 mana cost so I can get immediate value from Toolbox the turn I play it.

Disabling minions and killing them with BM is a great way to preserve life. Freeze does exactly this for just one mana. You can also use it as a tempo play to remove a problematic minion for a turn and push your opponent closer to death.

Zap! is still the best finishing spell since it costs only 1 mana and can hit your opponent’s avatar anywhere in the realm. It can also remove masks from Impostors.

As already mentioned, you need a certain amount of forced movement to get your BM into action. Blink does that by also letting you draw a card.

Disenchant is still the best way to get rid of problematic auras and artifacts.

Displace is another versatile card that can move enemy auras away or push enemy minions into defensive sites.

Lightning Bolt acts as removal or as a finishing spell against an Impostor disguised as Ironclad.

Sleep is another answer to large problematic minions.

Tactical Move can get your whole team into action if you were blocked by a defensive site or repositioning your team to not get blown out by mass-removal like Earthquake or Poison Nova.

Riptide can pull enemy minions into your defensive sites even if they have ward or Stealth. In case of an emergency it can act as forced movement for your units.

Grappleshot is the only 3-cost spell in the collection, but it is absolutely worth it.

Maybeboard

Winter Nymph would be decent against Charge minions but has too little power to survive Quarrelsome Kobolds and similar cards.

Phase Assassin is another evasive minion that can act as a weaker Aino. Maybe an option if too many defensive sites become popular.

Aaj-Kegon Ghost Crabs are interesting in the early stages of the game but a terrible draw later on. I would only play them with Pond and a Greater Beast package. In that case, I would likely drop the defensive sites and go all-in aggro anyway.

Bane of Aventis can swing games on its own. Stealing a Sacred Stag or an Archangel is devastating. Worst-case scenario, it is still a 4-power minion for 4. The threshold is hard to achieve, which is why I am not playing him for now.

Evil Twin is very good against ramp strategies or King of the Realm since it overrides the control Genesis.

As a lover of Sir Pelleas, Lady of the Lake is not only a thematic fit but also lets you rebuy powerful Mortals or The Rack. Worst case, she is a 3-power minion for 3 with Spellcaster and Submerge. Heavy threshold requirements and her situational nature keep her in the maybeboard for now.

Sir Tom Thumb would also fit into the Beast package and is a nice defensive piece on his own. We want to be the aggressor, though, which is why I don’t currently play him.

Browse is such a good cheap search spell. However, 3 Air threshold is a steep cost, which is why I don’t play it for now.

Blue Knight comes with a versatile weapon equipped to it and can drop it in favor of BM. Unfortunately, it also dies to Vile Imps and similar cards.

Palibure Bats help me get back buried Artifacts and is the only minion who can survive an Earthquake. Maybe an option with my Falconers

I tried Torshammar Trinket, since it combos well with Swap and Ring and is the perfect mana sink. Since we are playing so few sites and drawing a lot of cards thanks to attacks with Battlemage, it is rare to have unused mana.

There are many more interesting cards to add, but keep in mind that you need a good mix of aggressive/evasive minions, forced movement, and removal to beat a variety of decks.

Feel free to comment — I’m always happy about advice and inspiration!

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Edit July 2026:

Since I think the Courts will have big impact I tweaked the list a little bit.

Atlantean Fate returned to the Main, since I assume Villages will be played less.

I cut Plague of Frogs because it got nerfed really hard and is unplayable if the opponent has a Mock Court.

Overall I added a few exceptionals since they are not affedted by the Courts.

Daperyl Vampire joins the Party to increase the lifegain, since I assume the red Court will make the Fire-Lists even more aggressive.

I cut the Sleeps from the Main since I expect to face more damage-spells and Deserts.

I also cut low-Impact Uniques, like Piper and Jack the Ripper. I think I will see less 0 to 1-power-units on the battlefield from now on.

I opted to play more Air-Threshold-Sites to support Bane of Aventis and Browse, which are 2 very impactful but high-threshold-cards.

Fog Tempo Battlemage

@Skipper