Spell Types
Now that you understand the role of lands and how different colors
or schools of magic approach the game, take a look at the types of spells
you will be casting over the course of a Magic game. For the purpose of
learning the game, there are effectively two categories of spells that you to
know:
• One-time spells.
• Permanents.
While mostly self-explanatoiy, this section will explain each
category and begin going over the different kinds of spells that fall into
each.
One-Time Spells
One-time spells are exactly like they sound like: Spells that can only
be used once. After they ve been cast and their effect is resolved, they go
to a special game zone called the graveyard which is analogous to a discard
pile in other card games. There are two kinds of one-time spells and how
they play differs quite substantially.
The first type of spell is what is known as a Sorcery. Each turn of a
game of Magic is broken down into several phases, which you will learn in greater detail soon. For now, though, just understand that you and your opponent each take turns throughout a Magic duel and any Sorceiy card can only be played during your own turn and when there are no other spells being played. Due to their timing restrictions, Sorceries are often more expensive to cast and have larger effects. 18 A Sorcery card. Our second type of one-time use spell is called an Instant. As opposed to Sorceries, Instants can be cast any time you have priority. That means on your turn or on your opponents turn when they are trying to cast their own spells! There are many types of Instant spells from offensively boosting your own creatures to defensively stopping your opponent's spells. Since they can be played anytime, most instants are cheaper and have smaller effects. 19 Instants can be offensive or defensive in nature. Two important terms that relate to these card types are Sorcery speed and Instant speed. In Magic talk, the first refers to a spell that can only be played during the main phase of your own turn with no other spells attempting to resolve. The latter refers to anything that can be played on both your or your opponents* turn as long as you have priority. This is also relevant to Permanents because, with rare exceptions, these can only be played at Sorcery speed, though often once a Permanent is in play it has abilities that may be used at Instant speed.
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