The 29 Best Blue Sorceries in Magic Ranked

Ponder | Illustration by Dan Scott

Each of the colors in Magic has its specialties. For example, if you want a big stompy creature, you’re most likely going to be looking at green cards. Of all the colors, blue seems to have the best selection of instants and sorceries. They’re often reasonably priced, and many have very powerful effects that other colors aren’t able to recreate.

While a lot of blue’s spell power comes from instant speed cards like counterspells, the color also has quite a few great sorcery speed spells. Some of these are just very good early game cards that allow you to fix your draws, while others have very splashy effects like giving you extra turns or allowing you to steal some of your opponents’ cards.

When ranking these cards, I mainly looked at how powerful of an effect they had and their mana values. Some of the higher ranked cards here may not end up being the best for certain formats as they’re perhaps a bit too slow outside of a game like Commander. Alternatively, some of the cheaper cards that are great in quick formats won’t seem as impactful elsewhere. It’s still important to consider what your needs are when deciding which to include one card over another.

What Are Blue Sorceries in MTG?

Temporal Mastery | Illustration by Franz Vohwinkel

Blue sorceries in Magic are cards that cost blue mana and have the sorcery type. Sorcery cards can only be played during the main phases of your turn, and not in response to other spells.

While multicolored spells with blue in them are considered blue sorceries, this list only looks at sorcery cards that are only blue and no other color.

#29. Mass Manipulation

Mass Manipulation is pricey, but it can also make a big splash. It works very well in control decks that can deal with early game threats because you can use this card to steal a late game bomb. This card can also be very effective in Simic decks that ramp a lot or decks that can copy spells easily.

#28. Ravenform

Targeted removal isn’t exactly blue’s specialty, so Ravenform can be a nice inclusion to make up for this. Its foretell ability also means you can stick it in exile and just bust it out when you need it, saving you space in your hand and giving you the peace of mind that it will be available even if you’re forced to discard cards.

#27. Temporal Mastery

Temporal Mastery is priced about the same as your average extra turn spell, but its miracle ability gives it an edge. With cards like Mystical Tutor and a lot of scry abilities in blue, you can thumb the scale on this miracle and get an extra turn for only 2 mana.

#26. Treasure Hunt

Treasure Hunt is a nice card to draw when you’re getting mana flooded. It can also be used in some janky combos to mill yourself and pull off a Laboratory Maniac style win. This is especially easy in Oathbreaker when paired with Jace, Wielder of Mysteries so long as both cards stay legal.

#25. Reshape

Reshape allows you to tutor a card and put it into play for only 2 mana more than its original cost. This is a great deal, and there are plenty of blue artifact builds that can take advantage of it.

#24. Exhaustion

Exhaustion significantly cuts down on what your opponent can do on their next turn. While there are some decks that can get around this, in some cases you’ll basically be buying yourself a free turn for only 3 mana.

#23. Blue Sun’s Twilight

Blue Sun's Twilight is a reasonably priced steal spell, which becomes even more valuable after you hit 5 or more for your X value. I also like its versatility, allowing you to steal a cheaper creature early on if need be.

#22. Shape Anew

Shape Anew is a good way to get rid of hard to remove artifacts like Darksteel Forge or The One Ring. While there’s a chance your opponent will hit an even better card, it isn’t likely if you play this spell wisely. For example, removing a Blightsteel Colossus with it is usually a good trade, but I wouldn’t target something like an Arcane Signet.

#21. Distortion Strike

Sometimes you just need to punch through a little extra damage, and Distortion Strike allows you to do that for a very low price. This card can be especially effective in an infect deck where its small buff is much more significant. Having rebound is also a great quality of this card because you’ll get two chances to use it for only 1 mana.

#20. Thoughtcast

Artifact decks are likely able to cast Thoughtcast for only 1 mana. Even if you just control a few artifacts, it’s no worse than a typical card that would draw you two. This means it isn’t that big of a risk to include and can also end up being much cheaper than your average draw spell.

#19. Treasure Cruise

Treasure Cruise is a pretty bad early game draw, but once you have a good number of cards in your graveyard it becomes very effective. Self-mill decks can make very good use of this card since you’ll likely have plenty of cards that you don’t need sitting in your graveyard.

#18. Tasha’s Hideous Laughter

Tasha's Hideous Laughter can be a little hit or miss, but it can also absolutely devastate land-heavy decks or decks with lots of low mana cards. Even decks with higher mana value on average end up milling a few cards, so this card is an easy choice for any mill deck.

#17. Mind’s Desire

Mind's Desire is a bit of a gamble, but it can pay off pretty well if you’re lucky enough. In storm decks you’ll likely get multiple chances to hit something good, making it even more likely to be worth its mana value.

#16. Curse of the Swine

Curse of the Swine is a particularly good bit of blue removal. It’s both flexible and more comprehensive than removal that just destroys something. I use this card in a lot of my mono blue Commander decks because it’s one of the best ways to remove multiple threats in blue.

#15. Tinker

Tinker allows you to trade any artifact you control for any in your deck, allowing you to ditch even a token for a card with a huge mana value. Grabbing cards like Blightsteel Colossus or Portal to Phyrexia at such a cheap price can easily give you an early advantage. If there’s one thing holding this card back, it’s that it’s illegal in most formats.

#14. Maddening Cacophony

Maddening Cacophony is a pretty good mill card for only 2 mana, but it really shines when you’re able to kick it. Milling half your opponents’ libraries takes away a lot of resources from them, or you can combine this card with something like Bruvac the Grandiloquent to fully mill them and likely win the game.

#13. Echo of Eons

Echo of Eons is somewhat expensive for a wheel, but it does make up for that with its flashback ability. If you’re running a wheel-heavy deck, this card is also easy to toss in your graveyard and cast for its lower cost.

#12. Day’s Undoing

Day's Undoing is a wheel card with some extra abilities slapped on. Whether these make the card better or worse really depends on your build, but it can be good if you aren’t playing a deck that utilizes your graveyard, especially if your opponents are. It can also allow you to make temporary effects permanent when it ends the turn.

#11. Windfall

Windfall is a more basic wheel card, which I think is slightly better in more scenarios than Day's Undoing. Even if it doesn’t end up drawing you seven cards, it still gives each player an equal number of cards, and it allows you to still have access to your graveyard.

#10. Expropriate

Expropriate offers your opponents a pretty difficult choice, and you’re likely to get a very big advantage no matter what they choose. Since you also get to vote, you’ll always be guaranteed at least one extra turn, making this card worth its high casting cost.

#9. Preordain

Preordain is a good way to fix some of your draws and help thin out your deck. It’s super cheap and replaces itself making it a good early game keep but also not a dead draw later in the game. Unlike some 1-mana cards….

#8. Fabricate

Fabricate is one of the better artifact tutors, especially since it puts the card you’re tutoring for right into your hand. With low-cost artifacts, you can often play them the same turn you searched for them, and this card is also great at finding combo pieces in certain decks.

#7. Time Warp

Time Warp is a relatively cheap extra turn spell. This likely allows you to cast it and some other spells in the same turn. This means you’re more likely to be able to cast it alongside something like Galvanic Iteration and double up on your extra turns or just get more value out of each of your turns.

#6. Show and Tell

Show and Tell can allow you to drop a big threat for very little mana. This card can be a good include for decks that force opponents to discard cards or decks that run bounce spells because they can ensure you get more value out of this card than your opponents.

#5. Time Spiral

Similar to Day's Undoing, Time Spiral is a wheel spell mixed with graveyard hate. What makes it much better is the fact that it also untaps up to six of your lands. This essentially makes the spell free and allows you to take a full turn with all the new cards in your hand.

#4. Timetwister

Timetwister is very similar to Time Spiral, but it only costs 3 mana. This means you can play it earlier on if needed, which can be important for quicker games or formats. While this card was undoubtedly more powerful before the 4-of-a-kind restriction was placed on Magic, it’s still a solid card.

#3. Ponder

Ponder helps you plan out your next few draws pretty effectively, and it replaces itself which is nice. The ability to shuffle is also very important on a card like this in case you get stuck with several cards on top that aren’t going to be helpful.

#2. Bribery + Acquire

It’s a very good chance that at least one of your opponents runs a strong creature or artifact that’s both over 5 mana value and can give you a big advantage in the game. Not only will Bribery or Acquire allow you to take that card for cheaper than it’s worth, you’re also taking it away from that player as a possible resource. Additionally, getting to look through an opponent’s deck can give you a better idea of their strategy and other big threats to look out for.

Which of the two cards is better really just comes down to who you’re playing against and what you find in their decks. Since they’re functionally very similar and there’s some manner of chance involved, I figured they earn the same spot on this list.

#1. Time Walk

Based on what it does, Time Walk is the absolute best blue sorcery. You’re more likely to get use out of some others since this card is illegal in almost every format, but this is due to just how powerful it is. Two mana for an extra turn is way too good, and it’s very easy to see why this card earned a spot in the Power 9.

Best Blue Sorcery Payoffs

Some of the best blue sorceries have very powerful effects on their own without needing some sort of payoff to go with them. One of the best ways to make these cards even more powerful is with spells that copy other spells. Something like The Mirari Conjecture or Ral, Storm Conduit makes spells like Expropriate or Bribery even more impactful than they already are.

When it comes to cards like Preordain that can help fix your draws, one good payoff can be cards that look to topdeck things. You could potentially set up a way to Polymorph or Chaos Warp one of your own cards and get an even better one off the top of your deck.

Many great blue sorceries have wheel effects, so a good payoff for them can be cards that punish your opponents for drawing. This could be creatures like Nekusar, the Mindrazer or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. There are also cards like Phyrexian Tyranny and Underworld Dreams that have similar effects.

Wrap Up

Expropriate | Illustration by Zack Stella

Blue sorceries are some of the best in the game. Though many of them can be expensive, blue is a great color for control decks that are looking to make late-game plays anyway. Blue also has a lot of great cards and commanders that support decks running a lot of instants or sorceries, meaning many of these cards also synergize well with other cards in the color.

Are there any blue sorceries you think belong on this list? Does a card being legal in more formats change how powerful you think it is? Let me know in the comments or on Draftsim’s Twitter.

Thank you for reading and I’ll see you next time!