Type Four is awesome! I love it to death!

What is Type Four?

Type Four is a format where you draft a deck and then draw your normal cards. At any time, you can make any amount of mana of any type, from Snow mana to colorless to Blue. However, you are limited to only being able to cast a single spell each turn.

That means that cards that have extra dials on them, such as ones that cycle for an effect or a morph trigger, can add effects to a turn beyond the one/turn restriction. Also note that lands have value as recursive effects, and lands like Maze of Ith or Academy Ruins are strong in Type Four too.

So the format loves things that can be cast instantly, with flash, or with instants. It cherishes counters, as any counterspell is almost uncounterable. There is one side note that any card that has its alternate casting cost paid doesn't count for your limit. If you pay for Force of Will by exiling a Blue card and such, then you can skirt the rules for the format.

It's often played in drafts, but you can just shuffle up a stack, cut it in half or smaller pieces, and then play away. I have a white long box that has my entire Type Four stack.

What am I looking to add from RA? Great question!

The result is an environment with a lot of swinging games and plays.

Honorable Mention #1 - Thought Collapse and Essence Capture

Counters are vital in this format. Any counter in a storm is rough to answer as virtually every counter ever printed can't be countered if I've already cast my spell for the turn! Only a tiny number of effects, such as counters that cycle (Decree of Silence),the aforementioned Force of Will, or a morph that flips into a counterspell (Voidmage Apprentice) are pretty much your only options. Any hard counter is amazing, so Thought Collapse is great! Even a card that only counters dorks is good too, although Essence Capture's +1/+1 counter is almost always meaningless, but I run Remove Soul, which is worse than this! Come on in and get your counter on!

Honorable Mention #2 - Precognitive Perception

Ideally, you never want to cast a sorcery in this format unless it's something powerful and game changing. Most removal, card drawing, and such is important. Card flow is just as important! But you want to emphasize instants effects, including this little number. You can cast it on your main phase if something weird has happened (such as needing to find for an answer to an instant your foe cast on your main phase) because the scry + card draw is very good. But basically instant, draw three, is going to be a useful card. Folks will often draft Opportunity highly because for this reason, so any effect like this is going to be desired in Type Four.

Honorable Mention #3 - Zegana, Utopian Speaker

In the worst case, this is an 8/8 trampler. That's not a bad case! It can win the game! If you randomly happen to control one or more dorks with counters on them, then you can draw card and they get trample. There are a few counter-dorks here and there, such as a lot of creatures with monstrous that are running around.

Breaking people's faces with a 10/10 trampling Shipbreaker Kraken or a 9/9 trampling Arbor Colossus is pretty special! Adapt plays very similarly to monstrous, and you have to assume that any dork with adapt will immediately be its "real size" on arrival to the battlefield. Just like level up and monstrosity are their full size.

10. Mirror March

There are going to be a lot of folks out there excited by the potential of Mirror March. You can easily get an army of dorks, although that isn't too likely. There will be many stories of the bad beats of losing coin flips against the stories of when a simple Cloudblazer was copied enough times that you deck'ed yourself! In this format, haste is critical, and the potential for free dorks is also critical. You have to consider this a real threat, especially when played early with the potential to be a strong card for turn after turn.

9. Ravager Wurm

There are a few keys to unlocking wins in Type Four. One of them is haste. Haste is vital in the format, because you are much more likely to get in a hit prior to a card like #6 below messing up your life. Riot + haste, so look at this as normally a hasted 4/5 that can either destroy a land like Volrath's Stronghold or fighting something. And if you need to make it a little bigger to win the fight and remove haste, then it has that cool option as well. A flexible beater like this is key to winning.

8. Amplifire

If you don't play much Type Four, then you might wonder why this guy is even here! If you, then you understand easily. This format is about big dorks. His random effect will regularly hit Darksteel Colossus, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, or even just Gigantosaurus! These are all going to turn this guy into a 20/20 death dealing machine.

We run a big ol' number of face-smashing dorks that will get you to a winning number as soon as they are flipped. Now sure; you'll occasionally grab a 1/1 Voidmage Apprentice or Draining Whelk. That happens! But the density of these big bodies means that Amplifire is reliably a game-ender.

7. Bedevil

It ain't no Utter End or something similar, but the ability to instantly answer one of three permanent types is something that'll be pretty useful in Type 4. It's not sexy but it works very nicely! Welcome to the team!

6. Kaya's Wrath

Wrath of God effects that wipe the board are incredibly common in this format. Type Four has a lot of big beats that having enough mass removal spells to survive an onslaught is always critical to not dying in the first few turns. Kaya's Wrath will slide right in. The harder to cast four mana is meaningless here as you can always drop Kaya's mad beats on the dance floor. Gained a little life if you had to smash some of your own dorks is a nice little benefit, although unneeded. It's fine as is, with a solid supplement for mass removal.

5. Mystic Snake ...err...Frilled Mystic

We've already discussed earlier the value of cards that counter spells and how good they are in this format. The ability to add them on a dork that can stick around and do things is even better. This is better than Mystic Snake and Mystic Snake is usually a windmill slam first pick. This works with creature-based effects like reanimation, blinking, or bouncing. It's going to be a feel-good moment when you drop a mass-bounce effect like Upheaval or Evacuation. Creature counters are also very valuable against commonly played control cards like Nullstone Gargoyle and Nezahal, Primal Tide. (Or with it, you can still counter stuff while you control a Gargoyle yourself!). Frilled Mystic is strong counter for Type Four!

There are a number of beaters that slow-down or spoil your foe's fun in this format, and creature-based answers have a lot of value in slipping through.

Next?

4. Mass Manipulation

Insurrection is a game-winning effect that you can drop. Now imagine that instead of getting them for just one turn, but losing haste(and untapping), you could steal all of the creatures. Oh, and let's give you the planeswalkers as well, too! If you can target it, then you can steal it! Everything from that Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker to his controller's Niv-Mizzet, Parun is about to switch to your side permanently. That's a big ol' swing!

3. End-Raze Forerunners

At the end of the day, Type Four is really just about punching someone in the face with a giant dork. It's a format that twins Spike and Timmy. Big beaters like these are perfect in this format. It's ability to combine haste with the other two is quite good. Haste is incredibly strong as you punch someone more quickly than otherwise expected. It also brings this strong mini-Overrun ability to the table, giving them both vigilance and trample as well as the bonus to their size! That makes this a perfect dork for your deck and this format. If you play it a naked board, then then you can punch someone for seven damage while keeping your shields up. If not, then you can pump your team, and still swing with the team! It's valuable in both situations, with the vigilance afforded by this to be particularly valuable.

2. Emergency Powers

Up until now, we have had a number of Timetwister and Wheel of Fortune style effects in Type Four. But this is the first time we've had it as an instant so you won't have to waste your main-phase on it if you don't need to. That makes this an incredibly enticing option for your build! You can also cast it in your main phase, like the traditional Wheel/Twister effect, and then net a free permanent for your time, so you won't lose any tempo in this thing.

1. Angel of Grace

If you made it this far, then you know what this format needs. You know what it's looking for. And thus, you will know the many reasons that this is an amazing card for Type Four!

1. Flash! The best thing this has going for it is flash. When you can only play one card per turn, then only by flashing out creatures can you get more than one out per turn. You can drop one at the end of the turn, or get out a surprise blocker. Flash is amazing.
2. Flying. 5/4. A flying 5/4 is relevant. It's not the best. It's not amazing here. But it's always relevant. You can flash and then block a flyer or suck up some damage from a trampling Beast.
3. Saves You. Much like some other flash dorks, this one can save you! You can cast it when someone is about to overrun you on the battlefield or when someone targets you for 10 damage from a Searing Wind and is about to kill you. The flexibility here of saving you from multiple angles is very useful.
4. Free Effect. You know how important getting a free ability is. When you don't have to absorb a spell that turn, getting a free ability is strong. She can linger in your graybeard, and then, when you desire, bump your life total back up to ten life.

The result of these various effects will make her a unique and highly coveted card!

And there we go! What did you think of my list? Anything I miss of value for Type Four? Did you enjoy Type Four? Have you never heard of it until now but want to try it out? Let me know!

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