Order of Succession: Tracing Heirs Through MTG Lore

Order of Succession: Tracing Heirs Through MTG Lore

In TCG ·

Order of Succession MTG card art by Magali Villeneuve, a blue sorcery from Commander 2013

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Tracing Heirs Through MTG Lore: a Blue Path of Influence

Magic: The Gathering thrives on the dance of power, wit, and the delicate art of influence. Some of the most memorable moments come not from clashes of dragons or armies, but from the quiet, cunning politics that ripple through a table during a game. In that spirit, the rare sorcery Order of Succession invites you into a tabletop parable about lineage, loyalty, and leverage. The spell operates in a theater where blue’s strength isn’t just about counterspells and card draw, but about shaping who wields which creature for a season—or a moment—at the table 🧙‍♂️🔥.

Released as part of Commander 2013 (set code c13), this blue card is a four-mana, hard-hitting reminder that the throne is a revolving door in multiplayer magic. With a mana cost of 3U, it’s the kind of spell that rewards thoughtful timing and a little crowd-reading. Its rarity—rare—and its place in a Commander-only environment signal that this is a card built for social strategy and political theater as much as for pure efficiency. The card’s flavor text, “Long live . . . me,” under Magali Villeneuve’s elegant illustration, leans into the tongue-in-cheek ambition that defines many legendary houses and long-running dynasties across the Multiverse. It’s as much about the lore of succession as it is about the act of passing the tokens of favor at the table 🎨.

How the spell plays out at the table

Order of Succession is a blue sorcery with a deceptively simple premise: choose left or right. From there, you start with yourself and move in the chosen direction. Each player must choose a creature controlled by the next player in that direction, and each player gains control of the creature they chose. On the surface, that sounds like a chaotic creature-swapping ritual, but in practical terms it’s a masterclass in table politics and timing ⚔️.

In a Commander game, where every table is a mini-society with its own power players and fringe agents, this spell becomes less about which creature you steal and more about which you force others to hand over. Do you aim to snatch the most immediate threat to your strategic plan, or do you instead gingerly pull a key blocker or mana-producer your neighbor relies on? The choice—left or right—sets a temporary social contract in motion, often reshaping alliances and rivalries for the rest of the game. That’s blue’s hallmark: to rearrange the board not merely by force, but by information, consent, and a touch of inevitability 🧠💎.

Lore threads: succession, governance, and the blue edge

Order of Succession sits squarely at the intersection of governance and manipulation. In MTG lore, succession is a recurring theme—who inherits the crown, who wields influence, and who gets to define the terms of loyalty. Blue has long mined those questions for strategic advantage, preferring to outthink, outmaneuver, and outwit rather than outmuscle. The card’s flavor text hints at a certain appetite for recognition and continuity: “Long live . . . me.” It’s a wink at the perennial MTG motif of power being less about birthright and more about the tides you can set in motion at the table 🧙‍♂️.

From a broader perspective, this spell also echoes the climate of many MTG worlds where dynastic politics shape alliances, betrayals, and treaties. On a plane where councils and covenants can shift overnight, blue’s capacity to reassign authority—through choice, insight, and timing—adds a layer of strategic depth that doesn’t always show up in a single blowout win. It’s not just about “who has the biggest creature”—it’s about who can steer the conversation, who can influence the table’s tempo, and who can keep a chair warm for a rival’s ambitions until the moment is right 🔥.

“A little order goes a long way—until someone new claims the throne.”

Flavor, art, and collectibility

Magali Villeneuve’s art brings a regal, calculating mood to the card, with the flavor text nudging players toward a sly, self-serving humor. The design emphasizes blue’s elegance and cunning: a four-mana spell that invites a social maneuver rather than a straightforward battle, a reminder that in MTG, heads can turn as quickly as blades in a kenning of kingdoms. For collectors, Order of Succession sits in a fascinating place—printed in Commander 2013 as a rare in a nonfoil lane, it’s not the flashiest staple, but its symmetry of idea and play makes it beloved by players who enjoy the chess-game flavor of EDH. And though its market price sits modestly around a few dollars, the card’s memory in many players’ minds is priceless—the night a savvy player turned a seemingly simple spell into a table-turning moment 🎲.

In the end, the card’s beauty lies in its dual nature: a neat, efficient puzzle on the battlefield and a miniature allegory about leadership, loyalty, and the tenuous grip of power. It captures a fragment of MTG lore where the political and the practical intersect, and where the soft power of blue can be just as decisive as a counterspell or a rare planeswalker card.

If you’re looking to deepen your own table’s flavor, consider pairing this spell with other blue manipulation tools that reward planning and negotiation. It’s not just about who ends up with which creature; it’s about the stories that emerge when players read the room and decide what kind of order they want to build—one subtle, elegant move at a time 🧙‍♂️🎨.

While you’re exploring the lore and the cards, a quick nod to a different kind of gadgetry can’t hurt your setup. If you’re hunting a reliable bridge between your hobby and daily life, check out the Neon Gaming Mouse Pad 9x7 Neoprene Stitched Edges—great for late-night tuning sessions as you map out your next round of throne-room politics online. Neon Gaming Mouse Pad 9x7 Neoprene Stitched Edges 🖱️💎

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Order of Succession

Order of Succession

{3}{U}
Sorcery

Choose left or right. Starting with you and proceeding in the chosen direction, each player chooses a creature controlled by the next player in that direction. Each player gains control of the creature they chose.

"Long live . . . me."

ID: 11f68867-a46c-447f-9061-2bc4dbdde206

Oracle ID: 1b95970c-e7eb-41c4-a8d2-9889b64b3c63

Multiverse IDs: 376441

TCGPlayer ID: 71871

Cardmarket ID: 264732

Colors: U

Color Identity: U

Keywords:

Rarity: Rare

Released: 2013-11-01

Artist: Magali Villeneuve

Frame: 2003

Border: black

EDHRec Rank: 15142

Set: Commander 2013 (c13)

Collector #: 52

Legalities

  • Standard — not_legal
  • Future — not_legal
  • Historic — not_legal
  • Timeless — not_legal
  • Gladiator — not_legal
  • Pioneer — not_legal
  • Modern — not_legal
  • Legacy — legal
  • Pauper — not_legal
  • Vintage — legal
  • Penny — not_legal
  • Commander — legal
  • Oathbreaker — legal
  • Standardbrawl — not_legal
  • Brawl — not_legal
  • Alchemy — not_legal
  • Paupercommander — not_legal
  • Duel — legal
  • Oldschool — not_legal
  • Premodern — not_legal
  • Predh — not_legal

Prices

  • USD: 0.46
  • EUR: 0.43
  • TIX: 0.33
Last updated: 2025-11-15