MTG Salvation

-- Pardon the mess, attempting to clean as I go! If you notice something is jacked up please let me know! --
Introduction:
Greetings and salutations to all! This post is about type 4, and my attempt to study it as aptly as humanly possible. A question that may be running through your mind as you read this right now is "Just what the heck is type four and how do I play?!" And the answer is actually deceptively simple. The base rules are that players either draft out a 40 card deck or draw from a communal stack until they have some cards in their hand, then they are given infinite mana at any and all points in the game in any color combination they like... With the rule that they may only cast one spell per turn. As one can see from these simple rules, card selection is of paramount importance. While packing your stack full of 400 Crypt Rats may seem like a hilarious idea at first, in my experience the novelty of that has quickly worn off.



History:
I first discovered type 4 while trying to kill time on my lunch break at work. I was completely exasperated with magic in general, I loved EDH sooo much but any time I ever browsed the internet for decklists I always saw that the mana base alone would cost me 3 paychecks to have anything even moderately competitive. I was fed up, even a Serum Visions was 7 dollars! I felt completely hopeless. It seemed at the time that Magic was just something that I could never participate in again... Until I found type 4.

I had first found an article ( http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/sf/49 ) from several years ago featured on wizards of the coast, and I was immediately hooked. All the garbage rares rotting in my "goodstuff" binder became not only useful, but fun. There were intricate interactions to learn and be familiar with, there were mechanics that went from being mundane to being back breaking. Who knew that firebreathing could be this broken!? I also have to give a huge shout out to Tev, who was one of the few lists that I could actually find on google, his list definitely gave me some great ideas for what would become my stack. From that day on I had devoted everything to building up a stack that I could play with my close friends, and hell even strangers. It was, if you'll forgive the horrid pun, a new breath of life.

Since then the internet has been only slightly forthcoming with stack lists and ideas, and it seems like no matter where I look on the internet I can't find a truly comprehensive thread that has ideas for "how much of what" to put into a stack in order to keep it balanced AND fun. As the title suggests, I'm hoping to eventually turn this into some kind of primer for Type 4. I believe that it is truly a wonderful format that, in my experience, has actually made magic fun again. I used to drag myself to my friends house and force myself to play EDH with them, and while it was fun for a time it just got worn out so quickly... But with type 4 it seems like every new game is a chaotic, wild, and fresh experience and I can not recommend this incredible format enough. It's just the bees knees!!!

... But something seemed off about the stack listed on that article... It seemed so fast and so brutal! Why would anyone want to play a stack like this where someone could potentially die before they even got to cast their first spell? It was with that in mind that I made my own stack, wanting games that actually had interactions, games where we could use these things to explore concepts like "the stack" or "priority" to newer players without boggling their brains. I slaved over google for what seemed like the better part of 2 weeks, combing through anything I could think of that was even close to a type 4 stack, picking and choosing certain cards that seemed fun, but not broken. From that crucible my converse shoebox was reborn in utter glory.

But before we get into theoretical decklists and what I commonly refer to as "the breakdown", I have decided to answer the most common question I always get when I whip out my shoebox.

RULES:
So what is type four and how do I play? The basic rules are as follows: You have infinite mana at all points, your starting hand size is 5 (max is still 7), and you can only cast ONE SPELL PER TURN.

However, one of the beautiful things about a casual format is that you can create your own house rules or modify the current rules to suit your individual play groups taste. The way my stack plays is that the entire stack is shuffled up, then either 45 cards are dealt to each player and drafted, OR if we're feeling particularly lazy, 40 cards are dealt out to each player. From there we give ourselves about a minute to look at the cards we've been given or drafted, then shuffle up and draw the starting hand. In my stack it's common to draw 5 with a max hand size of 7, just like the basic rules. This part, once again, is completely open to the discretion of your playgroup, but I have found in my experience that 5 cards keeps my stack operating at optimum efficiency without bogging it down into a counterspell war. In a type four stack designed with only commons and uncommons, it may be too few cards to start a fluid game.

Once the game actually begins my house rules guide the game:
1) Players have infinite mana of any color combination they choose at any point in time that they choose.
2) Players may only cast ONE (1) regular spell per turn, HOWEVER, cards that have an alternate cost do NOT count towards this limitation. Examples are included but not limited to flashback, bringers (WUBRG instead of their mana cost), morph, and cycling. Abilities that lower the mana cost of a spell and cards with a kicker or multikicker cost are NOT alternate costs. Examples are delve and convoke.
3) Players may play one land per turn in addition to their one spell per turn.
- Ex) Okay I'm going to play Timbermare and play Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion, then attack with the timbermare and give it doublestrike until EOT!
4) If two activated abilities counter each other and create an infinite loop, the defensive ability wins.
- Ex) Smokespew Invoker's ability is always countered by azorius guildmage's ability.
5) Quicken effects do not count toward the one spell per turn rule, however the spell that is quickened does.
-Note:There are very few quicken type cards in magic's history, and while you can simply put multiple copies of Quicken into your stack; it's been my experience that a single copy of Savage Summoning in a stack is much more fun than 25 copies.
6) If a card directly contradicts the rules, the card wins.
- Ex) Fist of Suns makes all cards have an alternate mana cost, which means that if you announce that you are playing cards with the alternate cost, they do not count towards the limit.
7) If you have a card with an activated ability that does not require it to tap, you may activate that ability as many times as you wish.
- Ex) Arcades Sabboth can theoretically make himself a 7/1,297,584 any time the player that controls him has priority.

A Note on Quicken Type Spells:
So this is an interesting subject that I feel needs to be brought up. Quicken type effects are a fun way or adding a great surprise element to the game, or can potentially set up a dinky combo to win the game on your turn. I haven't really thought of a percentage of these type of cards to add to a stack, however I will point out that cards like these should probably be the only ones that you have multiple copies of in a stack. My reasoning behind this is that cards like this are very few and far between. In fact out of my searching I've only found less than five that do anything even remotely like it.
Quicken
Autumn's Veil
Overmaster
Savage Summoning

I'm choosing not to include stuff like Silence and Orim's Chant in this particular listing because in my opinion the card is a preventative shut down instead of a proactive enabler. Orim's Chant is the type of card you play during someone's upkeep to hose them, not to help your guys push through.

A Note On "Un-" Cards
This particular portion of the history of Magics card pool is where things start to get a little "fuzzy" and makes this truly a casual format. Some people, if they wish, may include un- cards at their disposal to give the stack a little more of a "friendly" feel. This is perfectly acceptable and encouraged, as the point of type four is to just have fun with friends by play a bunch of crazy spells that would normally be back breaking in a regular game of Magic...

But having said that I personally will never put an unglued or unhinged card into my type 4 stack ever. If, under extreme duress, I were coerced into putting a few of those type of cards into the deck I would only put in the following cards:
Booster Tutor - Since we're given access to a large stack, as long as there are 15 left over cards by the time they're dealt or drafted out then by all means throw that bad boy in! Not only does it allow for the gods that be to push a game a certain way with a card not normally available in the pool, sometimes it can just completely fizzle and everyone will giggle and hee-haw that the person using it has awful luck.
Rare-B-Gone - In a format like this where an alarming majority of back breaking cards are rare, a little guy like this goes a long long way.
Ashnod's Coupon - Me and my friends always drink when we play, so it's nice to sit at the table while the person who's whooping everyone's ass has to get up out of his seat to get me another beer. Good times!

A note on relative power level
Here's the true heart of a stack. Remember that ultimately the stack is designed to be fun and casual first and foremost. The beautiful thing about a type 4 stack is that after taking these basic rules in hand, you can mold them and make them suit your play groups playstyle. This is especially inherent in card selection. My cube is designed specifically to meet the needs of my groups playstyle, and as a result we shy away from cards like door to nothingness, but in a more cut throat stack, that card may be too slow. When building, make sure that if you choose powerful bombs, that you also have powerful answers. Nobody wants to see an Emrakul turn one if you have nothing in your stack that can answer it.

With these basic rules in hand, I encourage people to try to make up their own house rules, use this along with planechase cards or archenemy cards, don't be afraid to proxy out cards for your stacks, etc. You don't have to be rich to have a fun and unique stack, you just need a basic land and a sharpie marker. The only thing I do recommend is that your stack size is divisible by 40 and at least 320 cards, this way if you have a smaller play group you can get a couple of good games out of your stack before having to reshuffle the whole thing, and if you have a larger play group the drafting is a little less cut-throat.

But I think you guys have heard enough of me babbling about what it "could" be. Without further ado,I present to ~~~~~~~you!!!!%!Y^&#$U@!!@^@@@!Q!!^Y&&!!~~~~~~

The List




http://essentialmagic.com/Decks/View.asp?ID=1021081


Now that you've had a chance to see how absolutely crazy this could potentially be, I've decided to show what no other stack has shown, at least in my personal searches through the catacombs of google. This is my current ratio of spells that I have in the stack, and I feel as if the percentages are appropriate for a healthy stack that doesn't simply give each player a handful of counterspells and nothing else, or a "300 wrath, 10 creature, 10 draw spell" split. I can not stress the importance of balance enough when attempting to build your first stack.

As a personal experience, when I was building my first stack I was told to include every hard counterspell that I could either get my hands on or proxy, and as a result cards that had counterspell effects made up almost 50% of the entire stack! When we first drafted that stack there was literally 2 creatures between four people, and the only reason anyone else continued to play without a single creature in their drafted deck is because one person drafted Alladin's Ring and the other person drafted a Take Possession! With only one spell per turn, a fistful of counterspells isnt as good as it may seem in a normal game, and it became stale very quickly.

As if that miserable failure weren't embarassing enough, the second time I rebuilt my stack I put almost no counterspells and no wrath effects in the deck at all. The results were varied, but they always ended in either pure catastrophe by one person cheating a bunch of permanents into play or by every player slowly playing one creature a turn and bludgeoning each other to death in boredom. So with those horrible failures in mind I attempted to get a rough percentage of what should be in a beginners type four stack. Here are my results thus far.

Artifact/enchantment - 11.96%
Artifact/enchantment Hate - 3.67%
~!~~!~!This is supplemental, and only the hate part of this is included in the total percentage!~!~~!~
This section I felt was necessary to include only to show people that there's no point in playing artifacts or enchantments in your stack if you're not going to at least give them the opportunity to activate one time. Tower of fortunes wins games, but not if every opponent has three naturalizes in their hand at all points in time. Keeping this 1-to-3 ratio can also help prevent stale draws. There's no point in having infinite mana if you have no legal targets for any of your spells. It is also important to note that creatures can sometimes be artifacts as well.

Wrath – 10.40%
Single Kill - 11.62%
Counterspells – 10.09%
I'm sort of bulking these guys together because since the format does usually involve beating the crap out of your opponent with a large creature, they're all used for the purpose of preventing that. It is important to note that just throwing 800 counterspells into the stack isn't always a great idea, as it can make the game stale and full of aggravation. Make sure that the creatures in your stack at least match the amount of beaters you have in your list. This way, you can still in the very least "get through" with utility creatures. This will also make your opponent think twice about whether they should just counter every creature you play, or save it to attempt to stop your dedicated removal.

Draw/tutor – 11.93%This part of the stack is pretty self explanatory, but also pretty important to talk about. Using draw spells and tutors are great, and they can really help to swing a game, but it's incredibly important not to put too many powerful draw spells in the deck. Cards like Prosperity, while seemingly innocuous, could completely wreck the game for everyone by decking everyone. It sucks. But less obvious cards could be something like Whispers of the Muse. It may seem silly, but what it basically translates to is a free draw on each opponents turn that can't be stopped until someone actually dedicates a counterspell to it. Since this is a casual format I can't say that these cards should be banned entirely, as they can technically get counterspelled, but it's still a lot to think about when you take into account the power band you want to put on your list.

“Utility" – 19.57%
These are cards that I consider to be useful utility creatures and spells that provide awesome effects or enable free spells, discard, life gain, a way for your beaters to get through, a way to shut down your opponents beaters, etc. These guys are where each stack can really become unique and a creative player can thrive when making their first stack.

Pinch Hitters – 21.71%
The bread and butter. These guys are your dedicated beaters and game winners, capable of getting the job done or punching through for those last couple of points of damage.

Recursion/Snatch - 11.01%
This part is fairly necessary; with all the counterspells and removal spells flying around, we have to find some way to dig those guys back up or take ugly hateful things away from our opponents (to kill them with it). I want to note here though that this part of a list can be modified to any way you see fit, and can be changed out with more of anything else. If you want more counterspells or lugdoyfs or vesuvan shapeshifter type effects, take away from this section.

Suggested ban cards and the watch list in the next post!

Sources:

A note about "Win-Now"Cards ((Thank you raidersgoldberg))
Win now cards are things, that when given access to infinite mana, can be super crummy to play against. For examples, it's easy to see that cards like stream of life and fireball usually translate to "I'm going to deal 700 damage to everyone" or "I'm going to gain 13.5x10^38 life, and grab a beer while you guys duke it out amongst yourselfs. I still win! =D". banefire is definitely a no-go in something where infinite mana is a normal thing.

Creating your own cards
Recently I came across a group of people who were making their own cards with Magic Set Editor in order to compliment their actual card pool. They had all kinds of neat stuff that they had thought would be unique cards. I thought that since I'm trying to keep this primer up to date and accurate, I may as well add a section here for it. I have spoiler tags now, and nothing is in it currently except for a little example card but if anyone comes up with a cool card idea they can post it in this little section and give them due credit.


SUGGESTED banned list

I wrap this post up with what i would like to refer to as a "suggested banned list". As I have said before, this is a casual format, and people are allowed to play anything they want in here, but I have had a good chance to play my stack and test it almost exhaustively. With that testing, I have noticed a pattern with the following cards, and they are guys that I just refuse to put into my stack anymore because they do more than turn a game around; in my testing they seem to just completely wreck the entire mood of the table when someone sees these cards resolve.

-Any type of fireball/stream of life effect (Think Kaervek's Torch or Alabaster Potion )
-Anything with firebreathing (Sometimes this isn't always straightforward. This can include cards likeConsumptive Goo, Gerrard's Battle cry or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa or Flamewave invoker. Notable exceptions are card like Stormcloud Djinn, since you can't just activate the ability recklessly.)
-Fist of suns
-Most Eldrazi (Ulamog's Crusher is pushing it, but can be played in most situations)
-Aetherling
-Hypnox
-Chainer, Dementia Master
-Nezumi Graverobber
-Mischievous Quanar
-Dark Depths
-The Cheese Stands Alone
-Barren Glory
-Crush of Wurms
-Lich's Mirror (I decided to add this card to my banned list because it was brought to my attention that if someone steals Lich's Mirror, the person who steals it loses the game, the lich's mirror stays on their battlefield and they just shuffle back up and start the game with the stolen lich's mirror still on the battlefield. This is a rare occurrence but Dominate is a card in the stack and I'm not going to cause any more headaches than I absolutely have to.)
-"win-now" cards. This is where it gets interesting. In my experience I tend to shy away from guys like Selesnya guildmage because their presence on the board almost always immediately ends a game.
-Sphinx's Tutelage

Cards that might be too stronk
- Reito Lantern. This card can be possibly degenerate when combined with cards like Planar Portal. The possibility of having a lot of counterspells at your disposal over and over and over again can potentially cause some games to be ugly. Adding to the watch list for now, because it does still mainly do it's intended purpose, which is to keep people from decking themselves.
- Whispers of The Muse. This card basically translates into "draw a card every single turn". Pretty much the only way to stop this is to just burn one of your counterspells on it. It can be handled, but only with extreme caution.


From here gang I encourage you to just go out and experiment! Have fun and tell me what everyone thinks! Please help me find cards that are overpowered like the above cards if you decide to build your stack! I'm trying to turn this into a good reference compendium for people just getting into the format!
-LucasBear

This spot to be used for decklists that I have found or decklists that have been provided to me by other people. I will attempt my very hardest to give credit where credit is due. I am also going to use this as a way to see what new cards might be too powerful out of the newest sets as well as what could be awesome to go into someones stack.

I must first provide a disclaimer, and that is as follows: I have NOT done anything to these lists except possibly, maybe, corrected spelling errors; they do NOT belong to me, they will NEVER belong to me (Every stack is supposed to be unique), I do not promise that they are good, I am not claiming that they are terrible, and I have no idea what type of house rules each of these individuals use in order to play their stack. For all I know, they may have a house rule that a person is allowed to play extra spells every turn, but has to get hit in the balls for each spell played beyond the first. While that may not sound like a lot of fun to you; the people who play with those rules and have that particular stack may absolutely love it.

Newest set: Dragons of Tarkir
Good cards:
Cards too strong:

raidersgoldberg's list!
Tev's List!
Kirblinx's List!
--Small List--CTKnoll's List
clustro's list --Un cards--
--small list, communal stack, un cards--deathangel's list

Updates and changes to the stack!

11/20/2014
After much deliberation I have decided to "ban" these three cards in order to keep this format as fun as possible without just ruining the table. If you commonly draft with 4 or more people, these cards can still function, but they tend to make the game very unfun and uninteractive for anyone on the opposite side of the table.
Out:

• Crush of Wurms
  
• Aetherling
  
• Fist of Suns

In:
World Queller - I think this card is a decent beater, and can be powerful enough to effectively control the table, without being so back breaking that it completely ruins the game. It's the kind of card people have to think about playing around instead of just throwing the first spell they see.
Archon of the Triumvirate - Similar Reasoning here, I think this guy is a decent beater to replace aetherling, because it does cause some moderate annoyance... But it doesn't have an effect that makes it automatically avoid every spell your opponent tries to kill it with. In testing, we found that the only card that killed Aetherling was sudden spoiling, and the only card that could take it was Take Possession. It didn't seem very fair, and the person that drafted it usually got hated out of the game as quickly as possible.
Magmatic Force - This guy is a solid beater to help replace the absence of crush of wurms, and a free lightning bolt every turn on top of your normal spell is just a wonderful thing. Plus he can reasonably be dealt with, instead of using my rules and trying to fight off six 6/6 wurm tokens as early as turn one.

12/05/14
After hell week (finals week) I should be able to spend a little more devotion to this thread. I've added new cards to the "almost needs to be banned" list, and I HAVE BEEN GIVEN PRIMER STATUS HALLELUJAH!!!

12/17/14
Merry early christmas and all that mess!!! I managed to dig up a few more lists for reference, I know they're super hard to find and i'm trying to consolidate as many as I can. Possibly more to come.

5/13/15 added a new poll for people so I could gather important data on a subject I seemed to have forgotten about entirely.

Finally a primer for type 4! My play group absolutely loves this format and it is near and dear to me. I have tied way too much up into my type 4 deck as I also try to foil/promo everything I can. I will work on getting my list up, but it is 500 cards deep so it will take me some time.

For us, we shuffle the deck then split it evenly among all players. Starting hand size is 5, maximum hand size is still 7. Alternate costs are tricky but we have settled on suspended cards not counting as your spell for turn nor does the spell cast off of cascade. This primer also needs to point out that no win-now spells/abilities are allowed such as Fireball effects or anything with the Firebreathing type effects. Yes this format leads to some turn 1 kills and infinite combo kills, but with multiple players it is usually kept in check. Cards such as Dark Depths need to be used with caution as it does win on one swing and is a land so not counted towards casting a spell and it is indestructable. I have seen a turn 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Dark Depths, turn 2 Slayers' Stronghold and Aurelia, the Warleader, kill 4 players. Also note that nobody should be able to mulligan their opening hand. It may get too dangerous to do.

Here is the complete list as it currently stands:

Land (12):
Alchemist's Refuge
Arena
Boseiju, Who Shelters All
Desolate Lighthouse
Hall of the Bandit Lord
Maze of Ith
Miren, the Moaning Well
Prahv, Spires of Order
Slayers' Stronghold
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
Volrath's Stronghold
Winding Canyons

Artifacts (29):
Aladdin's Lamp
Aladdin's Ring
Alter of Shadows
Amber Prison
Amulet of Unmaking
Damping Engine
Eye of Doom
Grimoire of the Dead
Helvault
Heroes' Podium
Jester's Mask
Lich's Mirror
Mirari
Nevinyrral's Disk
Null Brooch
Pentagram of the Ages
Perilous Vault
Plague Boiler
Planar Portal
Predator, Flagship
Pyxis of Pandemonium
Reflecting Mirror
Sensei's Divining Top
Spine of Ish Sah
Tower of Eons
Tower of Fortunes
Vedalken Orrery
Wand of Ith
Worldslayer

Creatures (249):
Adarkar Valyrie
Anavolver
Ancient Ooze
Angel of Salvation
Angel of Serenity
Angel of the Dire Hour
Angelic Arbiter
Arashi, the Sky Asunder
Arbiter of Knollridge
Arbor Colossus
Arcanis the Omnipotent
Archangel of Thune
Archetype of Imagination
Ashen Rider
Aurelia, the Warleader
Autochthon Wurm
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Avatar of Hope
Avatar of Might
Avatar of Woe
Aven Fateshaper
Balefire Dragon
Baleful Force
Bane of Progress
Bane of the Living
Baneslayer Angel
Big Game Hunter
Blazing Archon
Blightsteel Colossus
Blinding Angel
Blood Tyrant
Bloodfire Colossus
Borborygmos
Bosh, Iron Golem
Braids, Cabal Minion
Bringer of the Black Dawn
Bringer of the Blue Dawn
Bringer of the Red Dawn
Butcher Orgg
Caldera Hellion
Callous Oppressor
Celestial Archon
Champion of Stray Souls
Chromanticore
Chromeshell Crab
Clever Impersonator
Cognivore
Colossus of Akros
Consumptive Goo
Crater Hellion
Craterhoof Behemoth
Creepy Doll
Crosis, the Purger
Daxos of Meletis
Darksteel Colossus
Dimir Doppelganger
Dosan the Falling Leaf
Dread
Dread Cacodemon
Draining Whelk
Duplicant
Duskmantle Seer
Elvish Piper
Empyrial Archangel
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Ertai, the Corrupted
Ertai, Wizard Adept
Etched Oracle
Eternal Dragon
Eternal Witness
Evil Twin
Experiment Kraj
False Prophet
Firemane Angel
Frost Titan
Furnace Dragon
Garza Zol, Plague Queen
Genesis
Gilded Drake
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Glen Elendra Archmage
Glory
Griselbrand
Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer
Hateflayer
Havengul Lich
High Priest of Penance
Hoarding Dragon
Hoverguard Sweepers
Hundred-Handed One
Hunted Troll
Hushwing Gryff
Hythonia the Cruel
Infernal Spawn of Evil
Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil
Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
Ink-Treader Nephilim
Intrepid Hero
Ith, High Arcanist
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Jiwari, the Earth Aflame
Jugan, the Rising Star
Kamahl, Pit Fighter
Kami of the Crescent Moon
Karmic Guide
Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Keiga, the Tide Star
Kheru Spellsnatcher
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Kjeldoran Royal Guard
Knacksaw Clique
Knollspine Dragon
Kodama of the North Tree
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Laccolith Titan
Lhurgoyf
Linessa, Zephyr Mage
Lord of Shatterskull Pass
Luminate Primordial
Luminous Angel
Mageta the Lion
Magister of Worth
Magister Sphinx
Magnivore
Magus of the Abyss
Magus of the Mirror
Manaplasm
Mangara of Corondor
Masako the Humorless
Medomai the Ageless
Merieke Ri Berit
Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
Mindslicer
Moldgraf Monstrosity
Molten Primordial
Mortivore
Myojin of Cleansing Fire
Myojin of Life's Web
Myojin of Night's Reach
Myojin of Seeing Winds
Mystic Snake
Narset, Enlightened Master
Necropolis Regent
Necrotic Sliver
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Nicol Bolas
Novablast Wurm
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Oros, the Avenger
Oversoul of Dusk
Pearl Lake Ancient
Pentarch Paladin
Perplexing Chimera
Phage the Untouchable
Phantasmal Image
Phantom Nishoba
Phyrexian Ingester
Phyrexian Metamorph
Plaguebearer
Planar Guide
Prime Speaker Zegana
Primeval Titan
Purity
Quicksilver Dragon
Quicksilver Gargantuan
Rafiq of the Many
Reiver Demon
Resolute Archangel
Restoration Angel
Reya Dawnbringer
Rhox
Root Elemental
Royal Assassin
Rubinia Soulsinger
Rune-Scarred Demon
Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
Ryusei, the Falling Star
Sakashima the Impostor
Scavenging Ooze
Scion of Darkness
Seizan, Perverter of Truth
Sekki, Seasons' Guide
Sepulchrual Primordial
Serendib Sorcerer
Serra Avatar
Shadowborn Demon
Sheoldred, Whispering One
Shieldmage Advocate
Shipbreaker Kraken
Silent Arbiter
Silent Specter
Silver Seraph
Simic Sky Swallower
Sisters of Stone Death
Skarrg Goliath
Sower of Temptation
Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Stalking Assassin
Stingmoggie
Stonecloaker
Stone-Tongue Basilisk
Stronghold Assassin
Sunscape Battlemage
Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Teneb, the Harvester
Terastodon
Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
Thicket Elemental
Thorn Elemental
Thornscape Master
Thousand Winds
Thraximundar
Thundermare
Thundermaw Hellkite
Thunderscape Battlemage
Tidespout Tyrant
Timmy, Power Gamer
Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
Torchling
Trap Runner
Twilight Shepherd
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Underworld Cerberus
Urabrask the Hidden
Utvara Hellkite
Vengeful Archon
Venomspout Brackus
Venser, Shaper Savant
Verdant Force
Vesuvan Doppelganger
Void Stalker
Voidmage Apprentice
Voidmage Husher
Volrath the Fallen
Willbender
Windbrisk Raptor
Witch Hunter
Woodfall Primus
Worldspine Wurm
Wurmcoil Engine
Yore-Tiller Nephilim
Yosei, the Morning Star
Zealous Conscripts
Zoologist

Counterspells (38):
Arcane Denial
Assert Authority
Bant Charm
Bone to Ash
Cancel
Common Courtesy
Counterflux
Countermand
Counterspell
Decree of Silence
Discombobulate
Dismal Failure
Dismiss
Dissipate
Double Negative
Dromar's Charm
Fervent Denial
Foil
Forbid
Induce Paranoia
Lost in the Mist
Mystic Genesis
Negate
Overwhelming Intellect
Pact of Negation
Planar Chaos
Punish Ignorance
Put Away
Rewind
Spell Blast
Spell Counter
Spelljack
Spite//Malice
Statute of Denial
Suffocating Blast
Swift Silence
Thwart
Vex

Planeswalkers (16):
Ajani Vengeant
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Chandra, the Firebrand
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Garruk, Apex Predator
Garruk, Caller of Beasts
Gideon, Champion of Justice
Jace, Architect of Thought
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Karn Liberated
Kiora, the Crashing Wave
Liliana Vess
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Venser, the Sojourner

Wraths (37):
Akroma's Vengeance
All Is Dust
Austere Command
Balance
Blasphemous Act
Damnation
Day of Judgment
Devastation
Devastation Tide
Dimensional Breach
Disaster Radius
Dregs of Sorrow
Duneblast
Evacuation
Fated Retribution
Fell the Mighty
Final Judgment
Flowstone Slide
Forced March
Gaze of Granite
In Garruk's Wake
Life's Finale
March of Souls
Merciless Eviction
Obliterate
Overwhelming Forces
Pernicious Deed
Phyrexian Rebirth
Plague Wind
Rare-B-Gone
Rout
Starstorm
Sunscour
Supreme Verdict
Terminus
Wave of Reckoning
Wrath of God

All Other Spells/Enchantments (119):
Acquire
Aether Mutation
Agonizing Demise
Archangel's Light
Barrin's Spite
Barter in Blood
Bearscape
Beast Within
Blatant Thievery
Breaking//Entering
Bribery
Cabal Conditioning
Commandeer
Confiscate
Consuming Vapors
Creeping Renaissance
Crime//Punishment
Cruel Ultimatum
Crush of Wurms
Curse of the Swine
Dawn of the Dead
Death Mutation
Death Pits of Rath
Debtors' Knell
Demonic Tutor
Desert Twister
Detonate
Devouring Light
Dig Through Time
Disembowel
Dominate
Dreadbore
Eye for an Eye
Fact or Fiction
Fated Return
Fissure
Flesh//Blood
Force Bubble
Form of the Dragon
Gifts Ungiven
Head Games
Heroes Remembered
Hero's Downfall
Hit//Run
Holistic Wisdom
Honor the Fallen
Hull Breach
Hymn of Rebirth
Hypergenesis
Ill-Gotten Gains
Impulse
Increasing Ambition
Insidious Dreams
Insurrection
Invincible Hymn
Kaboom!
Lava Flow
Lethal Vapors
Living End
Maelstrom Nexus
Maelstrom Pulse
Malevolent Awakening
Memory Plunder
Mind Unbound
Mirror Strike
Mystical Teachings
Neck Snap
No Mercy
Nostalgic Dreams
Oblation
Oblivion Ring
Obzedat's Aid
Orim's Thunder
Path to Exile
Pattern of Rebirth
Phthisis
Price of Knowledge
Proper Burial
Pulse of the Grid
Ray of Distortion
Rescue from the Underworld
Rise of the Dark Realms
Rootgrapple
Savage Beating
Searing Wind
Serene Sunset
Shriveling Rot
Silence the Believers
Slaughter Pact
Spin Into Myth
Spinal Embrace
Spirit Away
Stitch Together
Sultai Charm
Survival of the Fittest
Swords to Plowshares
Take Possession
Telemin Performance
Tempt with Reflections
Terminate
Thought Reflection
Time Reversal
Time Stop
Titanic Ultimatum
Tooth and Nail
Torrent of Fire
Tsabo's Decree
Twilight's Call
Unexpectedly Absent
Utter End
Victimize
Vindicate
Violent Ultimatum
Walk the Aeons
Wargate
Whip of Erebos
Wing Shards
Wit's End
Yawgmoth's Agenda

Many of the creatures in this list function as wraths, counterspells, removal and draw as well. I have a strong graveyard recursion theme woven in this deck as well so nothing really stays dead. There are several big, hard to deal with threats but it balances out with the sheer power of everything. Games usually are intricate, fun and people tend to win out of nowhere. Reanimate an opponents Phage for them is always fun as is bouncing it out and back into play. I have worked really hard on balancing the threats with what can remove them. Let me know if anyone has questions!

Thank you very much for your input sir! I'm actually very glad the you brought the matter of "win-now" cards to my attention, I had mentioned something about them in extreme passing but I feel as if the matter does deserve more attention in my primer as those cards are super unfun to play against.
As far as restrictions on one card per turn things are concerned, either was can be acceptable and each style has a unique card pool available to it. In my experience, however, it seems to me that allowing extra spells through alternate costs makes the game more fluid and dynamic, allowing players to not only play big beefy guys, but put articulate thought into the structure of their turns. It does suck not being able to play mischievous quanar because of the alternate cost rules though. Food for thought.

It is amazing how fast a game can turn around. Last night we played type 4 and had a person use Rise of the Dark Realms the turn after a pseudo board wipe from a Violent Ultimatum. Urabrask the Hidden was among the cards reanimated and he killed 3 of his 4 opponents with the swing on attack while knocking the last opponent to 3 (he was at 64 still). He passed the turn and his remaining opponent, whom had no cards in hand top decked a Insurrection and swung for well more than lethal.

I love this format!

Alrighty so after some testing I have made a few additions to what can be viewed as a banned list. Let me know what you guys think! I'm always happy to see any post on here, even if its just to say that my idea is awesome or if you have some card suggestions. I'm about to bring my stack up to 400 cards.

Today I have done a MAJOR overhaul on the content of this thread and I believe that the main posts are nearing completion. Wish me luck on getting my primer tag!

Update! This article is now officially a primer! Thank everyone soo so much for the views and comments!

Update! Finals are officially over thank christ so now I can devote myself to thinking about this a lot more! Hope everyone has a happy holiday! More to come =3

Update! After a lot of hard thought I have decided to replace Ancestral Recall with Jace's Ingenuity. Not a very major change, but I have decided that I would rather have a cheap junk card that does almost the same thing as opposed to a 15.7 quadrillion dollar card. Since mana cost doesn't matter, it just makes more sense.

Jace's Ingenuity is actually better in Type 4.

I'm surprised that MTGSalvation decided to do a Primer on Type 4 considering the format is just so varied. What you find acceptable in your stack vs. mine will be vastly different. This could be due to hand size limits, starting hand size or starting life, as just a basic example. Also, I find less players interesting in Type 4 with the rise of EDH. Type 4 originally started out as a way to use all your bombastic junk rares and EDH has turned that junk into gold. Like Bribery was a $1 rare instead of the $15 it is today.

I agree with your assessment that type 4 has fallen by the wayside a little since the rise of EDH, but it is still a wonderful format in which we can kind of unwind from a hard day of slinging spells at a tournament or something of the like. It's always fun to play with friends. As far as the variation on rules goes i'm hoping that with this primer I can offer some type of solidarity to the format. I'm hoping to eventually turn this into a kind of lexicon for people, much like they did with EDH when it was brand new.

Update: Added a new poll as of today, don't forget to vote!

Update: After some thought, I have decided that Controvert is an acceptable "repeat" counterspell for my stack. The contingency of recover is good in that If you have it and need a little help to swing the game in your favor, it'll make your opponent think twice about blowing up your guys.

Wow, thanks for the effort you've put in here. This is much more comprehensive than the wiki article I had written back in the fall.

I do share in Tev's apprehension with your seemingly definitive language regarding power level in the stack. Some groups want a very fast-paced and powerful version of Type4. Others may want to construct a pauper stack and enjoy the variety this offers. I have been guiding my stack towards a medium power level that attempts to encourage longer games. But to say that everyone that is doing it differently is doing it incorrectly just doesn't seem right to me. Even stating that the "alternate casting cost rule" is a fixed aspect of Type4 seems like pretty strong language to me. Some players don't even use the "cube drafting" set-up aspect, and prefer to play closer to a "Fat Stack" set-up with Type4 rules. I don't think any of these players are doing it incorrectly, as long as they're having fun with it. Even going as far as acknowledging that there are variations in many of the rules would do a lot to make this primer more all-encompassing.

A few other comments:

• Nice find on the Stormcloud Djinn as a reasonable Firebreather for lower powered stacks. I'd probably include Dragon Whelp as a reasonable option as well, along with anything in the "Flowstone" family. Also, I'm not sure why you're including several of the Invokers separately from the other firebreathers, while also excluding things like Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, Shade's Form, Gerrard's Battle Cry, and Mirror Entity from your list.
• Some cards I have excluded from my stack due to power level, which you may want to consider for your "ban list": Griselbrand, Blightsteel Colossus, the three, Eldrazi titans, Baneful Omen, Knollspine Invocation, Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang, and Sadistic Sacrament (when playing from separate 40-card decks). Again, these are things that may work fine in high-powered Type4 cubes, but I feel are on the high end of power level for me.
• You have some strange choices of low-powered cards in your list. Like, Horned Helm, Stir the Grave, and Serra Angel. These seem like they're relatively generic, and many similar cards could be put in their place with a slightly more interesting or more powerful effect. Is there a personal or nostalgia related reason you're choosing these over other cards?
• I'm not sure why you felt the need to single-out artifact/enchantment removal in your break-down of percentages. The amount of removal that is necessary is going to be totally dependent on the prevalence of artifacts and enchantments in the larger cube. I use many more non-basic lands in my cube than you do, so I need to ensure that there are answers to these as well, which you have not mentioned at all in your primer. Versatility should be the name of the game in removal selection.

Hello there sir! Thank you very much for the input on my primer I will put these thoughts into heavy consideration. Especially segregating invokers from firebreathing effects. I think I will simply make an addendum as far as the firebreathing clause is concerned and tell people to think outside the box (I.E. using some of those aforementioned cards as examples).

As far as my wording choices are concerned, I try to tell people that this is a casual format and that they are welcome to kind of make up their own rules, but at the same time I have noticed that through all of my searchings through the internet the only thing I haven't found out of a type four article is some kind of solidarity. This is what i'm trying to offer with my primer by telling people that "This is the general way one should play, however feel free to take this base idea and run with it". That way if someone just wants to study the idea of a type four stack without being dropped on their ass I kind of provide a cushion. It's like when EDH first started the rules were that you could only use the dragons from legends, until people started to branch out and explore to develop something truly incredible.

I very well may choose to add those cards to the suggested banned list, as I said I'm still trying to get people to brainstorm with me so that I can hammer out a general set of rules and a general stack that is fun without being just stupid. The only card i'm hesitant to ban is Knollspine Invocation. My logic on this is that with such a small hand size and maximum handsize it pretty much turns into a "cast One With Nothing on yourself, then kill someone". It can be potentially dumb in a small game, but in a multiplayer game it's a good way to give universal hate to yourself.

My reasoning for including dedicated artifact/enchantment removal is because I'm trying to make this primer so that even a brand new player could come to this primer and find literally as much useful information as humanly possible, one of the things that I never understood as a new player (over a decade ago .__.) was how to properly sideboard. Especially against artifacts and enchantments. Most new players only care about clubbing people to death with big beefy creatures, and it's important to show them that there are other ways of winning besides a Ulamog's Crusher stomping around. Being able to kill something like a Door To Nothingness or something is an important thing.

Some of my card choices are currently a little poor, but only because I've been very stressed with school. Horned helm is kind of dinky I admit, I really wanted Sparring Collar in that slot because the ability to give a creature instant speed first strike is super powerful. you can also give a guy instead speed trample with Horned Helm, but I feel like the first strike would be better. Even then some of the cards are just filling up space right now.

Quote from LucasBear »

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As far as my wording choices are concerned, I try to tell people that this is a casual format and that they are welcome to kind of make up their own rules, but at the same time I have noticed that through all of my searchings through the internet the only thing I haven't found out of a type four article is some kind of solidarity. This is what i'm trying to offer with my primer by telling people that "This is the general way one should play, however feel free to take this base idea and run with it". That way if someone just wants to study the idea of a type four stack without being dropped on their ass I kind of provide a cushion. It's like when EDH first started the rules were that you could only use the dragons from legends, until people started to branch out and explore to develop something truly incredible.
...

I think this is really, really important, because it is a casual format. There is no place and no time where a competitive Type4 tournament is going to take place. As such, the "primer" really needs to take a much different approach than something written for a competitive deck archetype in one of these forums. I do applaud your efforts, and encourage all of us in the community to keep helping as we can.

As for an "official starting point", I've always looked to this article from Wizards' official website, and this article on Eternal Central. Both have full lists of the stack, and although both are technically outdated, you can pull a lot of information from ratios of card-roles in both cases.

Ah now I had never actually found the article from Eternal Earth, the only one I could ever find was the mothership article that you mentioned from over a decade ago.

As far as your reasoning on my wording choice you very well may be right, I may need to approach it from a much different style. I know that this well never in 150,000 years be sanctioned by WoTC but at the same time I want to bring this into a more revealing light so that if someone were to go 1-3 drop at their first tournament they could squeeze into a strangers type 4 game and know exactly how to play and possibly make new friends and turn something crummy (the drop) into something awesome and fun.

Update, added a small section about powerbands or lack thereof on a stack, more to come later!

• Rise of The Hobgoblins
  
• Sunhome Guildmage
  

These seem broken for this format. More so the guildmage due to creating hasty tokens, but having an immediate swarm like that demands a wrath or counter or everyone scoops.

Which is why I invented my 2-1 Rule:
2 Cards win in 1 Turn; i.e. Olivia Voldaren + Glarecaster or Deadeye Navigator + Siege-Gang Commander
2 Turns win with 1 Card. Blightsteel Colossus or Akroma, Angel of Fury.

That's the fastest the deck can go. With that criteria, Sunhome Guildmage obviously fails. Rise of the Hobgoblins does not. It creatures Infinite Creatures once so the opponent has a turn to deal with it. I wouldn't use Rise of the Hobgoblins as it is not good enough.

My upper limits for Infinite is that I don't allow Infinite Creatures and Infinite Power. It's possible to answer one or the other, it's hard to do both; which is why Selesnya Guildmage is too much. The main issue is that it does it on demand, so too many options are ineffective against X: Make X/X. This is why I prefer Infinite to have some sort of 'shut off valve'. For example, Skeletal Vampire can't keep making more bats, so damage like Starstorm can handle that. Silence the Believers should be able to handily take out Infinite Power creatures, but couldn't do so against Infinite tokens because it's possible to spam it out again.

That's my "Double Infinite" rule, I guess. Perhaps I should update my main stack. I'm fine with Infinite once, double Infinite is too much. i.e. If I cast Starstorm or Silence the Believers, a Selesnya Guildmage ignores both of those Wrath effects. For damage, their P/T just increases to ignore it and for targetted removal, she can just pump out more. In that case, you need a hard Wrath and that's too narrow to use.

@Xenannigans that's why I always tell people that generally most X spells are a bad thing (although there are a couple like Captain's Maneuver that aren't too powerful and can help to take down a big guy) but to use their own discretion as well as to be a little more creative when they think about firebreathing. In a format like this I generally ban any kind of firebreathing, whether it be Shivan Dragon or a Gerrard's Battle Cry.

@Tev and that's actually a pretty good rule. It also goes to show that each stack can be customized completely at the users discretion. Whereas I tend to shy away from infinite anything, in your stack it would definitely be interesting but not degenerate, as Rise of the hobgoblins could be handled easier because it brings out dudes one time but you can't keep squeezing them out over and over and over again.

I will say that this primer has definitely been one hell of a learning experience as far as my wording choices are concerned lol.