MTG Salvation

Type Four Stack is a fun, casual, multiplayer format meant for quick games full of powerful cards.

The rules of the format are pretty simple:

1. Each player has infinite mana of all types at all times.
2. Each player may only cast one spell per turn.
3. The starting and maximum hand size is four.
4. The deck is a single shared stack, but graveyards are kept separate.

Here's the list!

As you may have noticed, that list is just a bucket of crazy cards, so let me try to explain some of my design choices behind them.

No tutors! I hate tutors. They slow down the game and make everything less interesting.
No errata! Some stack-owners give cards errata to make them function in a format where you can only cast one spell per turn (things like Quicken or Chancellor of the Spires or cascade spells). This is a complicated format and I don't want to complicate it further with errata.
No auto-kills! This format may be quick and deadly, but I don't want people to get kicked out of a game as soon as it starts. So that means no X burn spells or infinitely large creatures.
No oppressive board presences! I don't want to play against things like Legacy Weapon or Azorius Guildmage. They make the game take forever if they aren't answered immediately.
Interaction is good! Every card is answerable.
Weird cards! Playing with strong cards is fun, but playing with strong AND weird cards is better! Having a lot of unique effects makes for more complex and memorable games.
It's cheap! Very few cards in this are worth more than 2 or 3 dollars, and I intend to keep it that way.
Everything is unique! There are no functional reprints or strictly better versions of other cards.

I'd love to hear what you think of my list. Also, you should probably build a stack. They're super fun.

Cool stack. You actually designed this with a lot of the same constraints I used for my stack.

I'd probably look to add some utility lands, as they're a great way to add more actions in a turn. Also, I'm surprised you don't have either Leyline of Anticipation or Vedalken Orrery, as they really make things more interesting. If those cost too much, Alchemist's Refuge will at least let you pull some shenanigans once per cycle.

Thanks. Your list was among those I considered when building mine, so thanks for the ideas.

I understand that utility lands provide some action economy, but they feel anemic compared to a lot of the powerful stuff going on here (says the guy playing Peek). I'll consider them, but I'm not too keen on the idea of topdecking a land in a format where you have infinite mana.

Leyline of Anticipation and Vedalken Orrery are at the top of my trade list. I know how powerful they are, they're just a little out of my price range.

How powerful is Confirm Suspicions? It was on my 'definite add to my Type 4 if I ever update it again' list but a poster replied that it was just too damn strong. Your opinion?

A lot of your cards seem very slow to me but I guess without Oppressive-effects, that's fine. Some of the picks made me smile, reminded me of my earlier versions of my Type 4 stack.

How does Baleful Force play out? It's something that's got me fascinated, lots of card draw but now you're on a clock to win or get it killed.

How do the 'two target Instants' work out? i.e. Foul Renewal (didn't know this spell existed, looks fun) or Lost in the Mist? Do players kill their own things to cancel your spell or did the rules change in Magic where that's fine? Do you find yourself unable to cast them because of a lack of targets?

Confirm Suspicions is very strong. It's easily one of the ten best cards in the stack. I'm not sure how I should be handling cards that are clearly stronger than others. I'll decide what to do with it once I've got some more experience with the stack.

Baleful Force creates this awesome mini-game where you have to A. spend your cards so that you don't have to discard to hand size, and B. kill your opponents before this thing kills you. I think it's a lot of fun. I love cards that create tension like that.

Spells with multiple targets only get countered if all of their targets are made illegal. So Foul Renewal will still Raise Dead even if the other target is gone. There have been a small number of scenarios where these cards can't get cast, but their strength make up for it. Drawing Ever After in your opening hand can be a bummer, but it's so good later on that I think it's still worth playing.

I can also confirm that Confirm Suspicions is strong, but it's not unbeatable or as bad as Overwhelming Intellect ever was. It can also let you better handle annhiliator triggers, along with store cards outside your hand.

Despite the fact that I haven't posted in this thread for two years, the stack is still going strong. The Cube Tutor list is kept up to date.

The two major changes I've made recently are to increase the stack's size by 100 cards and to make every effect in the stack unique (no more functional reprints and no more strictly better/worse cards). There's still plenty of similar cards, but nothing is identical.

Anyway, here are the cards I'm eyeing from Guilds of Ravnica:

Crush Contraband: Great disenchant.
Chemister's Insight: An excellent card advantage spell, but the front half kinda breaks my "No pure-upside card draw spells" rule.
Dream Eater: A weird collection of effects, but they're all good.
Price of Fame: Another entry in the long list of instant speed removal spells with minor upsides.
Doom Whisperer: Manipulating a shared library is one of my favorite aspects of this format.
Experimental Frenzy: I love that it doesn't actually reveal the top.
Bounty of Might: This won't dethrone Decree of Savagery as the best pump spell, but it's possibly still worth running. The fact that you can use it on opponents' creatures is sweet.
Discovery // Dispersal: One of the sickest bounce spells ever. I will be shocked if anyone ever casts Discovery.
Trostani Discordant: A medium army-in-a-can card with an occasionally powerful third ability. We'll see.
Hypothesizzle: Also comes close to breaking the "pure-upside" rule, but I'm probably going to run it anyway. Requiring a creature in play is awkward.
Niv-Mizzet, Parun: He's like Nezahal, Primal Tide but deals damage instead of having an irrelevant protection ability. He'll probably replace Nezahal.
Underrealm Lich: He's like Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar but is actually relevant in combat. Tomorrow is still great though, so I'll probably keep running it.

This set is sweet.