Hello happy people! I hope that your day has been merry and full of bright things!

Today I want to talk about how I have approached building my Type Four Stack and look at tips and tricks you can take away from it. You can find my Stack here - Type 4 Stack - List - Cube Cobra

Here are the rules for Type Four.

• Rule #1 - All players have infinite mana of every type from colorless to snow. You can use this for kickers and entwine more.
• Rule #2 - Each player cannot cast more than one spell per turn.
• Rule #3 - If you cast a spell with an alternate casting cost, then that spell does not count as your spell for the turn. Please note that costs that increase or reduce costs (affinity, convoke) are not alternate costs, but something like cleave is free.

Those are the rules of the game!

My stack has been a work in progress for 15 years and represents a lot of growth during that time. I've pulled and added cards all over the block, and that's pretty powerful.

After you have built the Stack, there are a couple of common ways we play. The first is to draft your stack, three packs worth, and then you play everything you draft. The next is to just grab a shuffled stack of cards like 60 deep and then play with a random stack of cards. Ideally your stack should scale up for multiplayer, and duels alike.

Here are some things to avoid in your Stack making.

Mistake #1 - Burn/Life Gain with an X Cost

The first mistake you want to steer clear of is to stay away from X burn spells like Disintegrate that will kill one player in one turn. You don't want to create an environment where someone wins the game before anyone plays. Cards like Fireball just don't work here. This is also true for X spell life gaining like Stream of Life. As an early rule, double check any X spell with an X effect to make sure it won't break the game, like X card drawing effects like Stroke of Genius. X spells like Heat Ray are good since they only target dorks, and I began my Stack with one, although I pulled it out 2 years ago.

Mistake #2 - Firebreathing/Shade Pump

There are some creatures that seem like they great at first, but then on closer inspection they have a pump spell that will cause them to win in one hit. Consider the otherwise awesome hit Akroma, Angel of Fury. 6/6 beater with flying and uncounterable and two protections? Morph? But she has firebreathing and will kill in one hit. Stay away from Shades and Dragons that pump for mana.

Mistake #3 - Too Many Sorcery Speed Answers

One issue that a Cube crafter can do is to run effects like Desert Twister and Vindicate that seem flexible options for removal but are sorcery speed. No one wants to take off their main step to just destroy the creature about to kill you rather than doing anything proactive. We have loads of instant speed answers like Unmake, Scour from Existence and Anguished Unmaking that will answer things at the end of someone's turn rather than on theirs. Don't lean on sorcery speed answers for targeted removal, just mass removal like Wrath of God and friends.

Mistake #4 - Too Many Targeted Destruction Answers

Another major issue I made in my early days was to run too many destruction removal effects like Terminate and Heat Ray. Sure, they aren't sorcery speed, good stuff! But they won't do anything to things with indestructible. You want instant exiling removal like Vraska's Contempt or Path to Exile.

FYI - Do not run Swords to Plowshares as it will easily give your foe 8-12 life. Run things like Blessed Light instead.

Destruction answers that were not targeted, like Wrath of God and Barter in Blood are welcome additions to your stack

Things to add:

The best place to start looking for cards for your Type Four stack are a few places. First, take a look at your bulk boxes. Do you have a box of "Bad Rares" and/or "Bulk Rares"? That's a great place to start. Some of the best cards in this format are massively bulk, like Searing Wind the second best burn spell for the format. Start here. You could easily unearth some great options for your first Stack.

Another place to look at are rares that were printed in Commander decks like Commander Crimson Vow that you pulled out. Another place is that Commander trade binder of cards that are way too expensive for other formats, and many classic Commander cards that have been dropping in price like Insurrection are great here.

I try to keep at least 50% of my cards being creatures, and then a good number of other problems like planeswalkers and powerhouses like Mind's Eye and lands like Rogue's Passage. These are problems that your foe's will try to end with answers. Then most of the rest are answers.

Let's start with the problems

Problems

Emphasize creatures with these abilities:

• Indestructible - There are classic expensive indestructible cards like Darksteel Colossus that you might be running, and then there are cheap options like Zurgo Helmsmasher that is 0.75 for the cheapest one.
• Flash - Since you can only cast one creature per turn, dropping one on a foe's turn is a powerful move. New creatures like Hullbreaker Horror join cheap versions like Angel of the Dire Hour.
• Shroud/Hexproof - Another way to play keep away is to run stuff with shroud or hexproof that cannot be targeted by your foes for removal. Classics like Empyrial Archangel join cheap options like Plated Slagwurm.
• Evasive - After that, the next place to look at are creatures that are evasive, emphasizing flying first, then menace and trample. Stuff here that fits includes flyers like Goliath Sphinx and tramplers like Colossus of Sardia.
• Haste - Another key keyword to add to your build is haste since there are so many bounces and sorcery speed mass removal answers. Dropping a big beater and then smashing with it forces folks to really push themselves around and can kill a turn quicker. I even run variants of Ball Lightning (although not that) like Lightning Skelemental and Blistering Firecat.
• Cannot Be Countered - The next place to look into are those dorks that cannot be countered, since that is one of the most common answers to a dork. My favorite here is likely to be Nezahal, Primal Tide, which cannot be countered and has a nice body. See also Carnage Tyrant or Sphinx of the Final Word.

After emphasizing beat sticks with those abilities, the next place I'd look are dorks that have interesting abilities to draw cards or answer things. For example, we are running Sphinx of Uthuun to Fact or Fiction on arrival, which is a bulk rare, as well as the pricier Rune-Scarred Demon. We even have cards like Cloudblazer and Karmic Guide here.

Another place I like to dig into are answers like counters on a stick (Draining Whelk) and removal on a stick (Archon of Cruelty). There are also mass removal effects on a stick like Dread Cacodemon and Uktabi Kong that are in here as well.

Now you know what creatures to look for!

Next up, look for enablers of these keywords, like flash with Alchemist's Refuge and haste with Samut, Voice of Dissent.

Answers

The next place to look to are answers!

• Exiling Instant Targeted Removal - We already went over the important of non-destruction, non-sorcery speed answers above. I'm just repeating it here.
• Mass Removal - The next big place to answer stuff is en masse. The biggest threats to answer include cards like creatures (Wrath of God), everything (Obliterate) and everything your foes' control (Plague Wind). Also note that there are some great instant mass removal things like Rout or Starstorm that are really strong as well.
• Sacrifice Removal - Another good answer to indestructible and hexproof/shroud problems is to run sacrifice removal like Barter in Blood and Tergrid's Shadow. Barter is a quarter and the Shadow even cheaper.
• Counters - The most common answer you'll have are counters. You'll want to include tons of counters. Mana costs here mean nothing, and many of the better counters in this format like Counterlash and Confirm Suspicions are cheap for the budget. Look at my Top Ten Non-Free Counters for the format for an idea of where to start. (Top Ten Non-Free Counters in Type Four | Article by Abe Sargent (coolstuffinc.com)) Most of those are very cheap to acquire, and you will likely have a ton of hard counters in your deck stock from Cancel to free counters like Wash Away. Also note that you don't want too many counters. Keep the percentage feasible.
• Bounce - Since you cannot (usually) cast more than one spell a turn, bounce is a strong tempo element since you set someone back a full turn. But bounce is innate card disadvantage, so you'll won't have too many options running around. I just gave you a Top Ten List of the Best Bounce Spells in Type Four to look at (Check it out here) last Friday. Mass bounce is a key effect in here and are cheap, like Upheaval, as well as targeted bounce that draws you a card, like Repulses. Most of the cards in this article are pretty cheap as well.
• Steal - Another key way to answer a nasty permanent is to bring it to your side of the battlefield. I am running every variant of Confiscate that steals any permanent like Volition Reins and the powerful split second Take Possession. Good stuff. I also am running creature stealing and pumping with an evasive ability Spirit Away. I am also running the instant steal card Dominate. These aren't many, but they are nice adjuncts to your removal suite.

The next place to look for are free ways of doing things that count as a free spell for the turn. For example, Crimson Vow's cleave is a free way to cast something, so you can toss in free cards like Alchemist's Gambit and Path of Peril.

Examples that I run include...

• Pitch Spells - The original pitch spell that is good in here is Force of Will. Also pitch counters like Force of Negation, Subtlety, Commandeer and sometimes Misdirection are pretty useful here, but have high price tags. I also run the occasional pitch spell like Reverent Mantra in here as well.
• Foretell - Every foretell spell is free if you take a turn off to exile it on your turn. Consider its power with cards like a free Wrath variant (Doomskar) and a free counter (Saw it Coming). Even a simple card draw spell with foretell is good here (Behold the Multiverse).
• Awaken - Awaken spells are free if you control a land when you cast them and you want to turn that land into a dork. This is admittedly pretty rare, but I've seen it happen. We are running Part the Waterveil and Planar Outburst.
• Emerge - If you sacrifice a dork when you cast this Eldrazi, you get an alternate cost. Rare but used. I only run those that are good by themselves, like Decimator of the Provinces and Elder Deep-Fiend.
• Evoke - Evoke is also an alternate cost with the disadvantage of losing the dork in question. Take Mulldrifter. You can evoke him, for free, on your main phase and draw two cards without taking up your spell for the turn. Or you can hard cast our Elemental friend and then net a 2/2 flying blocker. We have loads of evoke in here like Shriekmaw and Nevermaker.
• Cycling Triggers - Since cycling is not casting a spell, a cycling trigger, like Decree of Silence's ability to counter a spell are great. Consider the Resounding Silence cycle trigger to exile up to two target attackers without counting as a spell and drawing a card. There are some fun counter cyclers from Ikoria like Void Beckoner that are pretty good as well.
• Miracle - Another free way to cast a key sorcery or instant is to draw it and then cast it with the alternative cost of miracle. We have a few key miracle spells in Type Four, like the Wheel of Fortune that can be free in Reforge the Soul, the mass bounce spell of Devastation Tide, the mass reanimation of Entreat the Dead, the Time Walk'ing of Temporal Mastery and the mass removal of Terminus.
• Overload - Overload is a very powerful way to cast a spell for free. Obviously, the biggest heavy hitter is Cyclonic Rift. I also like the free Mizzium Skin, Winds of Abandon, Damn, Counterflux to get a free counter, Street Spasm, Mizzix's Mastery, and Teleportal.
• Bestow - There are a ton of bestow things, but we don't like proactive auras that much in Type Four, so I don't run very many, just Celestial Archon, Chromanticore and Boon Satyr.
• Suspend - Suspend is an alternate cost way of casting something that trades time for a free spell. We have a smaller of suspend cards like Greater Gargadon and Deep-Sea Kraken that are good either way but not that many.

If you do some research, you'll note that there are also other ways to get free casts of your stuff as well, that's only a big step! (like, say, spectacle or Traps).

What next? We have free spells and removal and problems all tucked in. What would I recommend next?

One last thing. Cards that are good in Commander and multiplayer and usually good here, and so finding them in trades and purchases can be key ways to get cards for this format. Living Death? Consecrated Sphinx? Karn Liberated? And then there are budget cards out there to toss in that I love as well like the $0.35 Rogue's Passage or the bulk rare Slayers' Stronghold. Enjoy!