My Type 4 Stack
I built this Type 4 stack to provide the exciting Magic gameplay that I had been missing recently. I always like to describe playing Type 4 as "playing the exciting turns of an EDH game."
Gameplay
The rules I play by:
Players have infinite mana of any color (and colorless) available at all times.
Each player can only cast one spell on each turn.
Players start the game with only 5 cards (since they don't need to play lands for mana).
Players start with 20 life.
For mulligans, players may set aside any number of cards from their opening hand and then draw that many cards. The set-aside cards are then shuffled into their deck.
Hand size is still 7 cards.
If the game is multiplayer, the first player does get to draw on their first turn
Players have their own library (it's just easier to split it up)
I usually just end up shuffling up a big stack of the 300 cards and splitting it between players evenly. You could theoretically draft it, but I always just want to get to the games! This stack plays best with 3+ players, though I often end up playing with only 2. It's just a little unbalanced with only 2 players, as one player can usually resolve a key spell and then keep protecting their board advantage for the win.
Most games end up being a balancing act of threat assessment, as you try to run your opponents out of relevant cards before you stick your best threat (or card draw spell). Also, it immensely helps to know all the intricacies of the comprehensive rules, as some very weird stacks can happen in this format. That being said, this is a great format to learn all those intricacies as well.
Design
I used the following constraints when designing this stack:
No errata - one spell per turn means one spell per turn
No infinite power creatures or infinite damage to players
No oppressive board presence cards (e.g. Legacy Weapon)
Reduce the amount of time players spend durdling while others wait on them
Encourage a back and forth playstyle instead of allowing easy wins, or needing specific answers
Cards must be cheap enough that I don't care how others treat them
Unlike many lists I've seen, I didn't try to skirt the rules on the cards using errata - this makes it easier for new players to learn the rules without explaining a bunch of exceptions. For the "one spell per turn" rule, you won't find any Cascade, Diluvian Primordial or Possibility Storm-type effects here. One spell means one spell. Activatedabilities on the other hand... Also, morphs still count towards your one spell per turn, and I didn't include cards that require you to have any basic lands, like Anger or Walk the Aeons.
I designed this list to be fairly portable, so I didn't include any token makers or tutor effects. Tokens make it hard to tell what's what, unless you want to go through the trouble of finding the right token from a pile you always need to bring along. Since I don't draft my stack, tutoring can be really boring, as everyone then needs to wait for the player to read every card in their "deck." I've found increasing the amount of card draw and reducing the must answer threats has made tutoring unnecessary.
I've also tried to keep the format free of "I win" type cards. LegendaryEldrazi, Memnarch, Polukranos, and Griselbrand need not apply. I've greatly restricted hard to kill or hexproof cards, as they always require specific answers that may not come up (which ties in with the lack of tutors above). I tried to include a number of removal and counterspells that have interesting restrictions, meaning they won't kill or counter everything. I specifically avoided cards that create oppressive board presences as well, as beingoppressed isn't very fun. Only a few permanents have/give haste, so you also don't have to worry as much about dying out of nowhere.
Another thing that ended up being degenerate when I was building this was excessive card draw (suprise). I ended up cutting a lot of the repeatablelarge card draw, to make it more of a struggle for resources. Also, when players have access to a large number of cards, turns take longer, as each player has to evaluate each card as another thing they could do. That being said, I have a lot of cantrip removal and counterspells, and many cards give two-for-ones, so there are still ways to get card advantage. Planeswalkers are also out, as they are just too hard to deal with using simple attacking (sticking a creature is hard in my stack), and I don't want to include a bunch of cards solely to deal with them.
I also included a light reanimation theme, but tried to make it more of a way to make games come to an eventual end, instead of making it a strong early win strategy. Along with this, I tried not to include too much graveyard recursion, as I didn't want to include a bunch of slots to fight graveyard effects. Similarly, I made artifacts (and to a lesser extent, enchantments) harder to destroy than normal, but didn't include very many of them either. This is mainly to balance for their effects not really providing a tangible effect on the board the turn they are cast.
And my last design constraint was to make the cards be fairly cheap, monetarily. The reason is that I didn't want to worry about the cards when bringing it out with random players at the local store. I don't care (too much) if people mishandle the cards, and I have less to worry about if someone decides to steal some cards. In the end, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed ended up being the most expensive card (at ~$17), and the whole stack costs under $560 (~11/19/16), for an average card cost of under $2. So if you're wondering why Cryptic Command or Vendilion Clique or similar are missing, that's why, not because I don't have copies.
For a lower powered stack, I'm surprised you're using Nezumi Graverobber since he tends to win right on the spot. Or is it that you lack the combo creature cards? He's still a very effective Rise of the Dark Realms.
Also, Yet Another Æther Vortex is positively insane. It makes each individual turn last like 5 minutes as you keep resolving the creatures. Luckily, it negates Enters the Battlefield effects for creatures because the Creature does not enter but is immediately in the Battlefield.
Why Mob Rule over Insurrection? It's not like you're going to say no to all the creatures.
I also saw Stuffy Doll but you seem to lack any ability to combo with it. I guess that's intentional? Also, no Glarecaster?
Nezumi Graverobber is really powerful, but it usually plays out like a Rise of the Dark Realms that skips one player's graveyard. Plus I have a pretty high counterspell count in my stack, so the trick is getting it to resolve. It's basically serving it's purpose here as a way to make sure that games can end.
Yet Another Æther Vortexis insane, but it's a card I love playing with. It just bends peoples' minds when it's in play.
I didn't really want to have Insurrection in here as it usually just ends up reading like Door to Nothingness. Mob Rule provides a similar effect, but makes you work for the kill. I still don't have a ton of games with it though, so it may end up being too good/bad in the end.
Stuffy Doll was added mainly for a defensive/rattlesnake card, and to help get more of a board presence. Early testing ended up showing that removal and counters were too strong, so it was hard to ever get more than 1 creature in play. That being said, I'm aware that it's not a super powerful card here - I just haven't found a better replacement yet.
I have a few control stealing effects, but I think Grab the Reins just doesn't quite fit with what people want it to do - it often just works as a better Backlash, but reads poorly. I went with Spinal Embrace and Word of Seizing for these effects instead.
Yeah, Type 4's a blast! Masticore (and effects like it) are a little oppressive, imo. I wanted most creatures to only do a board wipe a single time, not sit in play and machine-gun everything people try to do.
These updates effectivly finish the trimming of the broken card-draw spells from the stack, as well as tightening up a few of the less-useful slots.
Updates: Overwhelming Intellect -> Psychic Strike - Overwhelming Intellect is a big offender when playing two-player games, as the person who draws it just ends up winning every time. In 3+ player games, it just ends up being a must-counter, which to me isn't that ineresting of an effect. I was looking for another smaller counter/draw effect to come in here, but I already have all the others in my stack. Psychic Strike comes in to at least power up graveyard strategies more quickly.
Opportunity -> Vigean Intuition - Opportunity is another overpowered draw effect, as it just becomes correct for the person with it to wait until others are out of spell-plays at the end of someone's turn. I would be ok if this only drew 3 cards, but at 4 it's too strong. Vigean Intuition comes in as an effect with a bit more play to it, though I expect it will still be correct to name "instant" most of the time. As a side note, the reminder text is still correct, as there aren't any Planeswalkers or Tribal cards in the stack
Backlash -> Grab the Reins - As noted by Tev, this is just a better version of the effect, as it gives the player the choice on how to use it.
Unmake -> Reality Shift - Unmake always read as a very boring (though powerful) effect to me. Wanted to give some more play to this slot - it may sometimes be correct to target your own creature now.
Boros Fury-Shield -> Channel Harm - Channel Harm can prevent damage from multiple creatures and non-attacking-creature sources. While Boros Fury-Shield can let you mess with other people's combat step, I wanted to give the newer card a chance. Still not certain about this swap.
Dismantling Blow -> Second Thoughts - I have never seen Dismantling Blow cast in my stack, largely due to the lack of targets. I was mainly including this as a single cheap way to deal with an artifact or enchantment, but I'd prefer not to spend an entire slot for the effect when other cards can provide greater flexibility and deal with any permanent. Bringing back Second Thoughts, as that card does basically all I want out of a removal spell.
Humble Defector -> Ancestral Memories - Humble Defector never really did what I wanted it to do. After playing more with the card, it was clear I wanted a better draw-two in its place. One that can fill up the graveyard for reanimation effects is just icing on the cake.
Debt of Loyalty -> Grim Return - Better version of the same effect, as you don't have to worry about not being able to regenerate from a destruction effect. I'm still not sure if this effect is worth including, though there aren't any other instant speed permanent reanimation effects to include at this point (come on functional reprint of Fated Return).
Confound -> Frazzle - Confound always lacks targets and rots in peoples' hands. Frazzle should always be able to find something to counter, and is a nice counterpart to Pyroblast.
Dig Through Time price drops due to rotation out of Standard, you should replace Ancestral Memories but double checking your list I see that you already have it. I find it odd that you think Opportunity is overpowered, though I definitely agree with you on Overwhelming Intellect being oppressive if it resolves. The average creature costs something like 6-7 mana, so it's easy to get too much for "so little" if you're going for a more low powered stack. While it is a tutor, I think it's a better draw spell and the effect is very narrow so it shouldn't take forever to search with Firemind's Foresight
For a Grim Return effect, there's Miraculous Recovery. It's only your creature but it's another Instant Speed Zombify. There is also Betrayal of Flesh. Yes, you don't have the 3 Lands to pay for Entwine but it's still Instant Speed Zombify or an unconditional kill spell - flexibility is powerful. And if you do happen to have 3 Lands to sacrifice to Entwine I don't know if that player deserves to win or lose but they deserve something.
I think Scatter Arc is more appropriate of a replace for Confound than Frazzle. I'm not big on conditional counters, as they tend to screw over players who are behind, but a cantrip against the more powerful type in the stack seems solid to me. But going over your stack I see you have that as well, including Dispel. Though I do see you don't have that many conditional counters so I guess Frazzle shouldn't hurt.
Yeah, Dig Through Time was in as soon as I saw it spoiled I've seen Opportunity cast a bunch in my stack, and it always ends up putting the caster way ahead. I've never noticed any similar issue with Jace's Ingenuity, which leads me to my card draw cutoff of 4 (at least at instant speed with no restrictions). Still trying to avoid tutors, so Firemind's Foresight is out. I'd rather have someone look at the top couple cards and choose one than have them look at the top all of the cards and choose one.
I saw Miraculous Recovery, but I'm trying to have an effect that works on any graveyard. I've noticed many games end up filling up only one or two players' graveyards with creatures, and when that happens these cards become dead draws. I also found Corpse Dance, but it has the same limitation, and would require graveyards be kept in order (as no other cards in my stack care about graveyard order currently).
Sadly, Scatter Arc is already in my list, so I can't swap it in. I've included a lot of conditional counters because it leads to more dynamic games where players can't just counter everything without thinking. Counterspells aren't just a known quality in my stack - each plays different than the other ones. It also helps that I don't have as many must answer threats, as each individual counter doesn't need to pull as much weight.
That being said, it looks like the new command cycle from Dragons of Tarkir will yeild up at least one more cantrip counter in Ojutai's Command. I'm also looking at Stratus Dancer as another useful morph to include. Onboard counterspells are always nice, and he has a semi-reasonable body afterwards. Oh, and of course Dragonlord Silumgar can at the very least replace Sower of Temptation.
I completely understand being against Tutors. I went through a no-Tutor phase because I just got tired of people casting a Tutor to really just look at their goodies, instead of go after a particular card for the answer they need it to be. Then again, I designed my Stack to be Drafted while yours is just split up. Plus a lot of players just don't have an expansive card pool so they actually need to read every card.
If you're trying to stay useful with Zombify effects by "any graveyard" then I'll repeat Betrayal of Flesh. It is your own yard but it is Instant Speed and if you don't have a creature then it's an unconditional kill spell.
The past few times we played my stack, we kept getting into situations where every threat was answered immediately and nobody resolved any draw effects. This caused the games to stall out with multiple turns spent passing around the table looking for any type of non-reactive spell. As such, with this update I've tried to do a few things:
Increase the number of threats
Decrease the number of answers
Make the threats a bit more resilient
I also wanted to take this time to do a slight rebalancing. Here is the breakdown of spell types and what I wanted to aim for (current to ideal):
121 to 125 Creatures (and effective creatures)
132 to 125 Instants (and effective instants)
25 to 25 Sorceries
8 to 5 Artifacts (non-creature)
9 to 15 Enchantments (non-transient)
5 to 5 Land
Some of the above shifts are caused by needing more threats, but the lack of great artifacts and abundance of great enchantments was the other big switch. I'm also aiming to keep 50% of the cards in my stack able to function at instant speed, so this required a shift from instants to adding a bunch of flash creatures. Taking these requirements into account, it meant adding 4 creatures, removing 7 instants, removing 3 artifacts, and adding 6 enchantments. Additionally, 7 creatures with flash needed to be added to make up for the loss of instants. That left me with the following changes:
You seem to have added a lot more 'chaos cards' to the stack. Oath of Druids, for example, is powerful because you can make a deck around it. In Type 4, everybody's going to be putting random creatures into play. Is this to make the games more interactive? Because to me it looks like it'll just be a wild mess.
The to instants is a good fix for the problems I'm hearing. It's a much more interesting solution than moving to City of Solitude or some such.
Just adding some updates from the cards that have been released over the past year. Basically looked for cards that were underperforming or not doing fun things and tried to replace them with better/more fun cards.
Erebos, God of the Dead to Void Winnower - Erebos never really did much, and getting enough devotion was unrealistic. Void Winnower continues the "opponents can't" theme.
Lord of the Void to Stormbreath Dragon - Stormbreath finally dropped to a reasonable price, so it was an easy addition. Punishes those who draw too much too.
Deadeye Navigator to Savage Knuckleblade - Deadeye was either broken or did nearly nothing, usually the latter. Knuckleblade is a reasonable beater that can protect itself.
Dregs of Sorrow to The Great Aurora - Dregs always had trouble targeting things and was often countered when it would have done something. The Great Aurora should at least do something interesting until I get sick of it and find a replacement.
Artifacts
Akroma's Memorial to Blade of Selves - With all the EtB effects, Blade should do some work. Not entirely sure on this one, but Akroma's Memorial's biggest selling point is the haste, which doesn't do much as a sorcery speed card.
hey.. so i was wondering if anyone's got any insight into cards like recurring insight and profound journey and other rebound cards. does it/should the rebound count as the 1 spell per turn rule or should it count as 1 spell first, then a freebie the second time round?
In my stack I only allow a single spell per turn without any special errata, so yes, the Rebound effect would count as your spell for the turn. In fact, this is why I don't have any Rebound effects in my stack - what seems like a great play the first turn can cost you the game when you're forced to cast the same spell on the next turn.
However, Type 4 doesn't have any formal rules committe or anything, so you're free to use any erratas you feel make it the most fun/balanced for your environment. I know there are plenty of Type 4 stacks out there that have all sorts of errata to get around the one spell per turn rule.
Updates from Oath of the Gatewatch & Shadows over Innistrad, along with some balance fixes. A lot of games were actually going really long, as creatures couldn't stick around long enough to do damage. Also, given the power of some of the recent lands that have been printed, I've decided to remove 5 instants in favor of lands. Once in play, most lands act like instants anyway.
Finally, I've decided to include some Clue token cards in this update, even though I generally don't use tokens, since clues will usually just be cached in for cards immediately.
Swaps
Radiant's Judgment to Blighted Fen - Radiant's Judgement was contributing to creatures not getting through, and thus games taking a long time. Blighted Fen is a least a warning not to attack into it. It can also be played around by having more than one creature in play.
Opportunity to Blighted Cataract - Opportunity again has proven just a bit too strong for my stack. Blighted Cataract is nice uncounterable way to add some card flow.
Second Thoughts to Flamekin Village - Swapping out a removal spell for a way to actually get damage through quicker. I'll be keeping an eye on these two haste lands to make sure they don't lead to less interactive gameplay. While getting damage through is important, I don't want to do it at the expense of people dying out of nowhere.
Capsize to Hall of the Bandit Lord - Same as above. Also, Capsize always drew a lot of agression to the caster, as people hate playing agianst repetative situations. For what it's worth, Hall is the more likely haste land to keep be blanced, as it provides a reasonable downside for the ability.
Ready // Willing to Haunted Fengraf - Ready//Willing never ended up getting cast very often. It was in fact one of the cards that I would always mulligan away in an opening hand. Haunted Fengraf provides a different way to ensure you have a creatures, along with a bit of randomness.
Creatures
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger to Kozilek, the Great Distortion - Ulamog was a reasonable legendary Eldrazi, but it introduced a milling aspect that I didn't really want to be a win condition in this stack. Kozilek is a perfect replacement - a big threat that draws cards, even if it doesn't resolve. If it does resolve, it has a relevant ability and hits even harder than Ulamod did, along with being somewhat unblockable. My only worry is that Kozilek proves too powerful for my stack.
Demon of Death's Gate to Sphinx of the Final Word - Demon of Death's Gate, while a powerful flier that must be answered, often just didn't resolve or was killed by removal or a wrath effect before it did anything. Sphinx of the Final Word should provide a bit more of a sturdy flier that actually gets a chance to have an effect.
Odds // Ends to Geistblast - Wanted to try out another copy effect, as well as add some incidental direct damage. Odds was never really used as a counterspell (or copy) anyway.
Sorceries
Extract from Darkness to Breaking // Entering - Basically a lateral swap, but Breaking//Entering seems like the cooler card and has a bit more play to it. Also wanted to see if the haste could power this up a little.
Artifacts
Blade of Selves to Tamiyo's Journal - Blade seems like a good idea, but in practice it just meant more people had incentive to kill your creature before it was able to attack. Tamiyo's Journal should provide some card advantage at least, with the option to save up clues for a tutor effect. I know I usually avoid tutors in my stack, but delaying 4 turns and skipping 3 card draws to do it seems like a reasonable cost (similar to Enter the Dungeon). In any case, I don't expect it to be used as a tutor most times it's played.
Enchantments
Well of Ideas to Triskaidekaphobia - We played a game with Well of Ideas and it just ended up dragging out the game a really long time. I wanted to try a different board enchantment that would lead to the game ending more quickly.
Hedonist's Trove to Ongoing Investigation - Hedonists Trove was good at ending the game, but it lead to really long turns as there were so many options to go through. Ongoing Investigation should end up being about as strong in the late game, but will come with a downside of clearing out your own graveyard of creatures if you use the life gain. As reanimating a large number of creatures is how many games end, this seems like a good downside to introduce.
Holistic Wisdom to Trail of Evidence - Holistic Wisdom ended up being fairly oppresive, as it would endlessly rebuy the same counterspells and draw spells. Trail of Evidence is at a similar power level, but at least doesn't lead to repetitive gameplay.
I also looked at Archangel Avacyn, as it's a very strong flash creature. However, I don't really want to deal with random people at a store pulling the card in and out of the sleeve when it transforms. Also, given the current price of Avacyn, I'm doubly not interested.
Rattlechains was also a consideration, but with only 4 other spirits in the stack, it doesn't really do enough; both as a creature and as an ability.
Do you want to play with errata or not? Some people love errata, others do not. Some even come up with custom cards to play with.
I lean towards no errata because Type 4 is already complex even if you know the cards and the interactions. No need to muck things up with further complications.
So, the question is are those cards worth it without errata? People lean towards no. People who do play with errata of some kind definitely lean towards yes. So, it's your call.
Updates from Eldritch Moon and Conspiracy: Take the Crown. The stack has been playing really well lately, with lots of intractive games and no real stalls to speak of. Games also haven't been too quick either. With this update I wanted to provide a bit more hand disruption to prevent a single player from getting way ahead on cards and running away with the game. I also wanted to curb some of the higher power level cards to avoid some of the randomness of the winner being the one who drew the overpowered card.
Flash Creatures
Silumgar Sorcerer to Spell Queller - Will be a bit of an upgrade usually, and will still prevent using a kill spell to get your own spell back. Also allows getting your spell back in certain circumstances (usually wraths).
Wolfir Avenger to Stunt Double - Wolfir Avenger was one of the weaker flash creatures. Stunt double should be a fun replacement.
Creatures (and Effective Creatures)
Nezumi Graverobber to Selvala's Stampede - Nezumi Graverobber is a card I've let slide on power level, since it helped to make sure the game ended. Selvala's Stampede should give 2-3 creatures most times it resolves, which should be a lower powered way to finish the game. Besides, Chainer, Dementia Master is still available as a more balanced version of this effect.
Phyrexian Ingester to Custodi Lich - Ingester was a nice two for one, but Custodi Lich is a three for one, while offering a little more play. It also adds the Monarch mechanic to the stack, which seems like fun.
Phyrexian Metamorph to Lashweed Lurker - I've added another clone to the flash creatures section, and I don't want to have too many clones. Otherwise they can start to get stuck in players' hands. Lashweed Lurker will act as an (usually) uncounterable kill spell, along with a reasonable body.
Bringer of the Red Dawn to Distended Mindbender - Bringer was a bit slow to trigger, needing to survive for an entire turn. It also has a counterpart in Dominus of Fealty. Distended Mindbender should provide some hand disruption that the stack has been largely lacking.
Instants
Last Word to Summary Dismissal - I've added a bunch of uncounterability to the stack, but I wanted to remove a bit in favor of interaction. This also adds another way to counter abilities.
Careful Consideration to Fortune's Favor - Careful Consideration was almost always cast as an instant, so it was usually just a card selection spell. Fortune's Favor should be more interesting and actually provide card advantage.
Chastise to Blessed Alliance - Blessed Alliance offers a little more play without being a targeted removal spell. The life gain usually will be a bit less, but shouldn't be that big of a loss.
Sorceries
Thieves' Auction to Expropriate - Thieves' Auction never was cast very often, and even when it was, it didn't do much. Expropriate should be a very strong replacement.
Necromantic Selection to Capital Punishment - Capital Punishment should still act as a wrath most of the time, but it should have some upside that's less narrow than Necromantic Selection. Also adds a good way to deal with indestructible creatures.
Terminus to Balance - Balance should have a little more play to it than Terminus, while also punishing over-drawing on cards. Also adds a little more land destruction after the last update added more lands.
Artifacts
Mirari to Lich's Mirror - Mirari was a very powerful card, but usually was just a must counter. If it ever resolved, it took over the game. Lich's Mirror is an interesting way to avoid death without the normal consequences of being very far behind. It can also act as a draw 7 if you have a way to kill yourself.
Enchantments
Endless Whispers to Mind's Dilation - Endless Whispers was always a low priority to play since it didn't affect the board immediately, as well as being symmetrical. Mind's Dilation is like another Lurking Predators, but a bit more balanced.
Updates from Kaladesh & Commander 2016. Not much to update on general gameplay, things have been working well. This update is mostly to try out some new cards along with a couple small tweaks.
Swaps
Clever Impersonator to Vesuvan Shapeshifter - Morphs have been a bit stagnant in gameplay because 50% of them are just counterspells, and since there's only 6, you have a reasonable idea of what each one could be. Meanwhile, Clever Impersonator is basically just a clone that can copy 20 extra cards in this stack. By swapping it out for Vesuvan Shapeshifter, I get another interesting morph and nearly the same ability.
Flash Creatures
Angel of Salvation to Selfless Squire - Angel of Salvation has been pretty good in play, but the thing that always felt a bit weak is that it only prevents 5 damage. Selfless Squire forgoes saving creatures for a much bigger effect, along with the ability to stabilize the board on future turns by just being gigantic.
Creatures (and Effective Creatures)
Air Servant to Storm Elemental - I wanted to curb the power of the tap flyers ability a little bit by attaching a cost. Storm Elemental also will give some play to other cards in the stack, like Yet Another Æther Vortex.
Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni to Noxious Gearhulk - Ink-Eyes is a card that always looks like it should work well in this format, but the reality is that often when you are about to trigger it, you either don't want to (because you have a better creature out), you don't have any targets for the damage trigger, or the defending player will fire off a kill spell once you swap it into play. Noxious Gearhulk will provide an easier two-for-one and add some lifegain to the stack to help you survive.
Savage Knuckleblade to Combustible Gearhulk - Savage Knuckleblade was one of the weaker cards in the stack, as it basically just plays as a hasty 6/6 that can bounce itself. Combustible Gearhulk will have a similar power level in play, but can also put a painful decision to one of your opponents when it enters the battlefield.
Breaker of Armies to Stonehoof Chieftain - Most of the time Breaker wasn't really bigger than the stuff it attacked into, so its must be blocked effect was really a downside. I wanted to try out a bit more of a robust threat in the Chieftain.
Sower of Temptation to Runehorn Hellkite - Sower is basically just a control magic, as the 2/2 flying body doesn't do much most games. I also have a duplicate of the effect in Dragonlord Silumgar. Runehorn Hellkite will add a more powerful flying body along with an effect that can allow you to get back into a game that you're behind in.
Instants
Commandeer to Insidious Will - Insidious Will is basically an upgrade to Commandeer, except in a few edge cases.
Sorceries
Enter the Dungeon to Cruel Entertainment - Enter the Dungeon has to be one of my favorite cards in the stack, but I have to face the fact that it's either never cast or never resolves. Really, it has literally never resolved once since I've built the stack Removing it also gets rid of one of the tutors in my stack, which is a plus. Cruel Entertainment should be an entertaining replacement.
Lands
Yavimaya Hollow to Geier Reach Sanitarium - Yavimaya Hollow is a pretty powerful card once you resolve a creature. It's also spiked up to nearly $20, which is above what I prefer cards to cost in my stack. As such, I'm swapping it out for the Sanitarium, which also helps keep games moving forward.
I built this Type 4 stack to provide the exciting Magic gameplay that I had been missing recently. I always like to describe playing Type 4 as "playing the exciting turns of an EDH game."
Gameplay
The rules I play by:
Most games end up being a balancing act of threat assessment, as you try to run your opponents out of relevant cards before you stick your best threat (or card draw spell). Also, it immensely helps to know all the intricacies of the comprehensive rules, as some very weird stacks can happen in this format. That being said, this is a great format to learn all those intricacies as well.
I used the following constraints when designing this stack:
I designed this list to be fairly portable, so I didn't include any token makers or tutor effects. Tokens make it hard to tell what's what, unless you want to go through the trouble of finding the right token from a pile you always need to bring along. Since I don't draft my stack, tutoring can be really boring, as everyone then needs to wait for the player to read every card in their "deck." I've found increasing the amount of card draw and reducing the must answer threats has made tutoring unnecessary.
I've also tried to keep the format free of "I win" type cards. Legendary Eldrazi, Memnarch, Polukranos, and Griselbrand need not apply. I've greatly restricted hard to kill or hexproof cards, as they always require specific answers that may not come up (which ties in with the lack of tutors above). I tried to include a number of removal and counterspells that have interesting restrictions, meaning they won't kill or counter everything. I specifically avoided cards that create oppressive board presences as well, as being oppressed isn't very fun. Only a few permanents have/give haste, so you also don't have to worry as much about dying out of nowhere.
Another thing that ended up being degenerate when I was building this was excessive card draw (suprise). I ended up cutting a lot of the repeatable large card draw, to make it more of a struggle for resources. Also, when players have access to a large number of cards, turns take longer, as each player has to evaluate each card as another thing they could do. That being said, I have a lot of cantrip removal and counterspells, and many cards give two-for-ones, so there are still ways to get card advantage. Planeswalkers are also out, as they are just too hard to deal with using simple attacking (sticking a creature is hard in my stack), and I don't want to include a bunch of cards solely to deal with them.
I also included a light reanimation theme, but tried to make it more of a way to make games come to an eventual end, instead of making it a strong early win strategy. Along with this, I tried not to include too much graveyard recursion, as I didn't want to include a bunch of slots to fight graveyard effects. Similarly, I made artifacts (and to a lesser extent, enchantments) harder to destroy than normal, but didn't include very many of them either. This is mainly to balance for their effects not really providing a tangible effect on the board the turn they are cast.
And my last design constraint was to make the cards be fairly cheap, monetarily. The reason is that I didn't want to worry about the cards when bringing it out with random players at the local store. I don't care (too much) if people mishandle the cards, and I have less to worry about if someone decides to steal some cards. In the end, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed ended up being the most expensive card (at ~$17), and the whole stack costs under $560 (~11/19/16), for an average card cost of under $2. So if you're wondering why Cryptic Command or Vendilion Clique or similar are missing, that's why, not because I don't have copies.
1 Adarkar Valkyrie
1 Angel of Serenity
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
1 Archangel of Strife
1 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Ashen Rider
1 Avatar of Slaughter
1 Azorius Guildmage
1 Batterskull
1 Chainer, Dementia Master
1 Chromanticore
1 Combustible Gearhulk
1 Conquering Manticore
1 Custodi Lich
1 Dack's Duplicate
1 Damia, Sage of Stone
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Dawnbreak Reclaimer
1 Distended Mindbender
1 Dominus of Fealty
1 Dragonlord Dromoka
1 Dragonlord Kolaghan
1 Dragonlord Silumgar
1 Drogskol Reaver
1 Echo Mage
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
1 Ertai, Wizard Adept
1 Etched Monstrosity
1 Fleecemane Lion
1 Gaea's Revenge
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Glissa, the Traitor
1 Greenwarden of Murasa
1 Hamletback Goliath
1 Hateflayer
1 Havengul Lich
1 Hypnotic Siren
1 Hythonia the Cruel
1 It That Betrays
1 Kaervek the Merciless
1 Kalonian Hydra
1 Karmic Guide
1 Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
1 Kederekt Leviathan
1 Konda, Lord of Eiganjo
1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
1 Lashweed Lurker
1 Luminate Primordial
1 Magister of Worth
1 Mercurial Chemister
1 Metathran Aerostat
1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1 Mindwrack Liege
1 Moldgraf Monstrosity
1 Molten Primordial
1 Myojin of Cleansing Fire
1 Myojin of Life's Web
1 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Pelakka Wurm
1 Perplexing Chimera
1 Phyrexian Delver
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Quicksilver Gargantuan
1 Runehorn Hellkite
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Sedris, the Traitor King
1 Selvala's Stampede
1 Sepulchral Primordial
1 Shorecrasher Elemental
1 Simic Sky Swallower
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
1 Soulfire Grand Master
1 Sphinx of the Final Word
1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Stonehoof Chieftain
1 Storm Elemental
1 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Stuffy Doll
1 Sunscorch Regent
1 Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang
1 The Mimeoplasm
1 Thicket Elemental
1 Thraximundar
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Timmy, Power Gamer
1 Tyrant of Discord
1 Ulamog's Crusher
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Void Winnower
Morph Creatures (7):
1 Exalted Angel
1 Kheru Spellsnatcher
1 Krosan Cloudscraper
1 Root Elemental
1 Stratus Dancer
1 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
1 Voidmage Prodigy
1 Angel of the Dire Hour
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Cloudthresher
1 Containment Priest
1 Darksteel Sentinel
1 Draining Whelk
1 Dualcaster Mage
1 Ethereal Ambush
1 Fleetfeather Cockatrice
1 Great Oak Guardian
1 Hushwing Gryff
1 Illusory Ambusher
1 Inspired Sprite
1 Mystic Snake
1 Notion Thief
1 Pearl Lake Ancient
1 Restoration Angel
1 Selfless Squire
1 Spell Queller
1 Stonecloaker
1 Stunt Double
1 Surrak Dragonclaw
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Voidmage Husher
1 Wydwen, the Biting Gale
Instants (& Effective Instants) (120):
1 Absorb
1 Abzan Charm
1 Æthersnatch
1 Agonizing Demise
1 Annihilate
1 Bant Charm
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Bone to Ash
1 Brutal Expulsion
1 Captain's Maneuver
1 Cauldron Dance
1 Chaos Warp
1 Cinder Cloud
1 Comeuppance
1 Confirm Suspicions
1 Controvert
1 Counterflux
1 Countersquall
1 Crackling Doom
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Decree of Pain
1 Decree of Silence
1 Desertion
1 Desperate Ravings
1 Dig Through Time
1 Discombobulate
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dismal Failure
1 Dismiss
1 Dissipate
1 Dissolve
1 Dominate
1 Domineering Will
1 Double Negative
1 Dream Fracture
1 Dromar's Charm
1 Eaten by Spiders
1 Enhanced Awareness
1 Essence Backlash
1 Exclude
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Fall of the Gavel
1 Far // Away
1 Fated Retribution
1 Fated Return
1 Fervent Denial
1 Forbid
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Fortune's Favor
1 Geistblast
1 Grab the Reins
1 Hinder
1 Insidious Will
1 Intellectual Offering
1 Jeskai Charm
1 Krosan Grip
1 Lay Bare
1 Lost in the Mist
1 Malicious Affliction
1 Meditate
1 Memory Lapse
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Momentous Fall
1 Murder
1 Mystic Confluence
1 Oblation
1 Ojutai's Command
1 Overwhelming Denial
1 Parallectric Feedback
1 Prophetic Bolt
1 Punish Ignorance
1 Pyroblast
1 Reach of Shadows
1 Reality Shift
1 Redirect
1 Reins of Power
1 Reiterate
1 Remand
1 Repeal
1 Repulse
1 Resounding Silence
1 Resounding Wave
1 Reviving Vapors
1 Rout
1 Scatter Arc
1 Scour from Existence
1 Sickening Shoal
1 Silence the Believers
1 Silumgar's Command
1 Simic Charm
1 Slaughter
1 Soul Manipulation
1 Spell Blast
1 Spell Burst
1 Spell Crumple
1 Spelljack
1 Spinal Embrace
1 Spite // Malice
1 Starstorm
1 Steam Augury
1 Stonewood Invocation
1 Sultai Charm
1 Summary Dismissal
1 Summoning Trap
1 Swift Silence
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Thoughtflare
1 Time Stop
1 Trickbind
1 Tsabo's Decree
1 Turn // Burn
1 Twilight's Call
1 Undermine
1 Urza's Rage
1 Valorous Stance
1 Vigean Intuition
1 Voidslime
1 Whispers of the Muse
1 Wild Ricochet
1 Word of Seizing
1 Ancestral Memories
1 Austere Command
1 Balance
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Blast of Genius
1 Breaking // Entering
1 Breakthrough
1 Capital Punishment
1 Cruel Entertainment
1 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Crux of Fate
1 Duneblast
1 Expropriate
1 Ghastly Conscription
1 Infernal Offering
1 Living Death
1 Mob Rule
1 Praetor's Counsel
1 Rare-B-Gone
1 Rise of the Dark Realms
1 Soulscour
1 Supreme Verdict
1 The Great Aurora
1 Time Stretch
1 Twisted Justice
Artifacts (5):
1 Lich's Mirror
1 Quicksilver Amulet
1 Tamiyo's Journal
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Whip of Erebos
Enchantments (15):
1 Common Courtesy
1 Curse of Echoes
1 Evolutionary Leap
1 Future Sight
1 Grave Betrayal
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Lurking Predators
1 Mind's Dilation
1 Ongoing Investigation
1 Phyrexian Unlife
1 Take Possession
1 Trail of Evidence
1 Triskaidekaphobia
1 Yawgmoth's Agenda
1 Yet Another Æther Vortex
Lands (10):
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Blighted Cataract
1 Blighted Fen
1 Flamekin Village
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Prahv, Spires of Order
1 Slayers' Stronghold
1 Winding Canyons
Also, Yet Another Æther Vortex is positively insane. It makes each individual turn last like 5 minutes as you keep resolving the creatures. Luckily, it negates Enters the Battlefield effects for creatures because the Creature does not enter but is immediately in the Battlefield.
Why Mob Rule over Insurrection? It's not like you're going to say no to all the creatures.
I also saw Stuffy Doll but you seem to lack any ability to combo with it. I guess that's intentional? Also, no Glarecaster?
I also see Grab the Reins is missing, so I guess you didn't want people tossing Hamletback Goliath around?
Mid-Tier:
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG
Yet Another Æther Vortex is insane, but it's a card I love playing with. It just bends peoples' minds when it's in play.
I didn't really want to have Insurrection in here as it usually just ends up reading like Door to Nothingness. Mob Rule provides a similar effect, but makes you work for the kill. I still don't have a ton of games with it though, so it may end up being too good/bad in the end.
Stuffy Doll was added mainly for a defensive/rattlesnake card, and to help get more of a board presence. Early testing ended up showing that removal and counters were too strong, so it was hard to ever get more than 1 creature in play. That being said, I'm aware that it's not a super powerful card here - I just haven't found a better replacement yet.
I have a few control stealing effects, but I think Grab the Reins just doesn't quite fit with what people want it to do - it often just works as a better Backlash, but reads poorly. I went with Spinal Embrace and Word of Seizing for these effects instead.
Updates:
Overwhelming Intellect -> Psychic Strike - Overwhelming Intellect is a big offender when playing two-player games, as the person who draws it just ends up winning every time. In 3+ player games, it just ends up being a must-counter, which to me isn't that ineresting of an effect. I was looking for another smaller counter/draw effect to come in here, but I already have all the others in my stack. Psychic Strike comes in to at least power up graveyard strategies more quickly.
Opportunity -> Vigean Intuition - Opportunity is another overpowered draw effect, as it just becomes correct for the person with it to wait until others are out of spell-plays at the end of someone's turn. I would be ok if this only drew 3 cards, but at 4 it's too strong. Vigean Intuition comes in as an effect with a bit more play to it, though I expect it will still be correct to name "instant" most of the time. As a side note, the reminder text is still correct, as there aren't any Planeswalkers or Tribal cards in the stack
Backlash -> Grab the Reins - As noted by Tev, this is just a better version of the effect, as it gives the player the choice on how to use it.
Unmake -> Reality Shift - Unmake always read as a very boring (though powerful) effect to me. Wanted to give some more play to this slot - it may sometimes be correct to target your own creature now.
Boros Fury-Shield -> Channel Harm - Channel Harm can prevent damage from multiple creatures and non-attacking-creature sources. While Boros Fury-Shield can let you mess with other people's combat step, I wanted to give the newer card a chance. Still not certain about this swap.
Dismantling Blow -> Second Thoughts - I have never seen Dismantling Blow cast in my stack, largely due to the lack of targets. I was mainly including this as a single cheap way to deal with an artifact or enchantment, but I'd prefer not to spend an entire slot for the effect when other cards can provide greater flexibility and deal with any permanent. Bringing back Second Thoughts, as that card does basically all I want out of a removal spell.
Humble Defector -> Ancestral Memories - Humble Defector never really did what I wanted it to do. After playing more with the card, it was clear I wanted a better draw-two in its place. One that can fill up the graveyard for reanimation effects is just icing on the cake.
Debt of Loyalty -> Grim Return - Better version of the same effect, as you don't have to worry about not being able to regenerate from a destruction effect. I'm still not sure if this effect is worth including, though there aren't any other instant speed permanent reanimation effects to include at this point (come on functional reprint of Fated Return).
Confound -> Frazzle - Confound always lacks targets and rots in peoples' hands. Frazzle should always be able to find something to counter, and is a nice counterpart to Pyroblast.
For a Grim Return effect, there's Miraculous Recovery. It's only your creature but it's another Instant Speed Zombify. There is also Betrayal of Flesh. Yes, you don't have the 3 Lands to pay for Entwine but it's still Instant Speed Zombify or an unconditional kill spell - flexibility is powerful. And if you do happen to have 3 Lands to sacrifice to Entwine I don't know if that player deserves to win or lose but they deserve something.
I think Scatter Arc is more appropriate of a replace for Confound than Frazzle. I'm not big on conditional counters, as they tend to screw over players who are behind, but a cantrip against the more powerful type in the stack seems solid to me. But going over your stack I see you have that as well, including Dispel. Though I do see you don't have that many conditional counters so I guess Frazzle shouldn't hurt.
Mid-Tier:
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG
I saw Miraculous Recovery, but I'm trying to have an effect that works on any graveyard. I've noticed many games end up filling up only one or two players' graveyards with creatures, and when that happens these cards become dead draws. I also found Corpse Dance, but it has the same limitation, and would require graveyards be kept in order (as no other cards in my stack care about graveyard order currently).
Sadly, Scatter Arc is already in my list, so I can't swap it in. I've included a lot of conditional counters because it leads to more dynamic games where players can't just counter everything without thinking. Counterspells aren't just a known quality in my stack - each plays different than the other ones. It also helps that I don't have as many must answer threats, as each individual counter doesn't need to pull as much weight.
That being said, it looks like the new command cycle from Dragons of Tarkir will yeild up at least one more cantrip counter in Ojutai's Command. I'm also looking at Stratus Dancer as another useful morph to include. Onboard counterspells are always nice, and he has a semi-reasonable body afterwards. Oh, and of course Dragonlord Silumgar can at the very least replace Sower of Temptation.
If you're trying to stay useful with Zombify effects by "any graveyard" then I'll repeat Betrayal of Flesh. It is your own yard but it is Instant Speed and if you don't have a creature then it's an unconditional kill spell.
I'm also excited for the New Command Cycle.
Mid-Tier:
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG
I also wanted to take this time to do a slight rebalancing. Here is the breakdown of spell types and what I wanted to aim for (current to ideal):
Some of the above shifts are caused by needing more threats, but the lack of great artifacts and abundance of great enchantments was the other big switch. I'm also aiming to keep 50% of the cards in my stack able to function at instant speed, so this required a shift from instants to adding a bunch of flash creatures. Taking these requirements into account, it meant adding 4 creatures, removing 7 instants, removing 3 artifacts, and adding 6 enchantments. Additionally, 7 creatures with flash needed to be added to make up for the loss of instants. That left me with the following changes:
Creatures - Add 4 with flash
Creatures - Swap 3 to have flash
Instants - Remove 7
Artifacts - Remove 3
Enchantments - Add 6
After that, there were a number of other changes I also wanted to make to both to try new cards and/or fill holes that I had noticed:
Creatures:
Instants:
Sorceries:
Artifacts:
The to instants is a good fix for the problems I'm hearing. It's a much more interesting solution than moving to City of Solitude or some such.
Mid-Tier:
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG
Creatures
Flash Creatures
Instants
Sorceries
Artifacts
Enchantments
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
However, Type 4 doesn't have any formal rules committe or anything, so you're free to use any erratas you feel make it the most fun/balanced for your environment. I know there are plenty of Type 4 stacks out there that have all sorts of errata to get around the one spell per turn rule.
Finally, I've decided to include some Clue token cards in this update, even though I generally don't use tokens, since clues will usually just be cached in for cards immediately.
Swaps
Creatures
Instants
Sorceries
Artifacts
Enchantments
I also looked at Archangel Avacyn, as it's a very strong flash creature. However, I don't really want to deal with random people at a store pulling the card in and out of the sleeve when it transforms. Also, given the current price of Avacyn, I'm doubly not interested.
Rattlechains was also a consideration, but with only 4 other spirits in the stack, it doesn't really do enough; both as a creature and as an ability.
Do you want to play with errata or not? Some people love errata, others do not. Some even come up with custom cards to play with.
I lean towards no errata because Type 4 is already complex even if you know the cards and the interactions. No need to muck things up with further complications.
So, the question is are those cards worth it without errata? People lean towards no. People who do play with errata of some kind definitely lean towards yes. So, it's your call.
Mid-Tier:
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG
Flash Creatures
Creatures (and Effective Creatures)
Instants
Sorceries
Artifacts
Enchantments
Swaps
Flash Creatures
Creatures (and Effective Creatures)
Instants
Sorceries
Lands