Hello, Nation! Welcome back to your weekly dose of all things casual. Today, I want to talk about Type 4, a format that plays Magic differently. It's one of my favorite formats ever, and I want to go over the rules, some play tips, and some experiences my playgroup has had playing it.

Back in CasualNation #16, I mentioned that Type 4 is one of my favorite variants of Magic. It's a great and unique format!

The reason I'm writing this article today is that I haven't seen many writing about it recently. There used to be Type 4 articles fairly regularly by a group of a few player/writers. I've never dedicated an article to the topic, despite the fact that I adore the format, because there were other voices. Now that those voices are generally talking about other things, I felt it was time to write a full article on Type 4.

What is Type 4? Why is it freakin' awesome?

How to Play Type 4

There are really only a few rules for playing this format. Let's go over them:

1. You build a stack of cards to draft.
2. You Rochester draft the cards based on the number of players you have.
3. All cards drafted are in your deck.
4. You can make any amount of mana that you want, at any time.
5. You may only play one spell a turn.
6. If you play a spell with an alternate casting cost (such as Force of Will), it does not count against your "one spell per turn" rule.

That's the format. Six simple rules to an amazing format. Let's talk about them in turn.

Building Type 4

When your cards are unfettered by casting cost, you can include some of the splashiest cards in the game. The removal is expensive, the creatures are expensive, the other cards are expensive. There are a lot of cheap cards, too, but the vast majority of cards are expensive.

There are really two theories about building a Type 4 stack. I use the second, and a lot of players use the first.

The first theory is that you should include the best cards, and have roughly enough cards for the draft and that's it. With the best cards for the format, they argue over which cards to pull out and which to keep, and it resembles a Cube.

Then there is the second theory. Every time a set comes out, I toss a few cards into my Type 4 box that are good or great in the format. For Mirrodin Besieged, I grabbed Praetor's Counsel, Banishment Decree, Corrupted Conscience, Fuel for the Cause, Darksteel Plate, Treasure Mage, Hellkite Igniter, Fangren Marauder, Quilled Slagwurm, Hexplate Golem, Mortarpod, Skinwing, Strandwalker, Bonehoard, and Spine of Ish Sah.

These are all splashy cards. I generally don't run much equipment, because people would rather spend the one card per turn playing a threat, so I thought it would be neat to try out most of the Living Weapon equipment to see if it plays better.

My goal is to create a diverse experience. One game, you'll flip Darksteel Forge, Bosh, and Mycosynth Golem, along with some great artifact enablers. Another game, you'll flip some Green beats along with Dramatic Entrance.

Decide if you want a large stack that you shuffle and play, with new cards being added all of the time, or a smaller one that plays just the very best, and you hem and haw over what to play in every single little slot. Both are fun. Just roll with one.

One of the most important things for you to not include is an automatic win condition. A Disintegrate just isn't right for the format. Neither is a Firebreathing creature, or a Shade.

I'd stay away from most spells in general. Stroke of Genius, Stream of Life, Blaze, and White Sun's Zenith are serious problems in a mana-free format. There are some that work, such as Repeal and Spell Blast, but most are nasty.

I also try to steer clear of cards that are too broken. Memnarch is stupid good in this format, which I learned very early on. I play only a few permanents that can be used and reused in order to keep people on their toes (Smokespew Invoker is my only constant Wrath effect).

Try to find cards that allow people to get around the rules. Dramatic Entrance allows you to play a creature at an unusual time. Flash creatures are similarly useful. Cycling cards are great, because they are mana-free, so a cycling card with an effect is awesome (my favorite is Decree of Silence). Others I recommend include Root Elemental (flipping it up), plus the usual suspects (Teferi, Vedalken Orrery, a certain Leyline from M11 that shall remain nameless, etc.).

The beautiful thing about this format is that the cards you have that are virtually unplayable in most formats, sitting in your bulk binders and boxes, but are great here. How much do you value cards like Pit Spawn, True Conviction, Aladdin's Lamp, and Rappelling Scouts? It's probably not a whole lot. But here, they are awesome!

I think you could build a great Type 4 stack with a ton of cheap cards, and never have to get cards like Blightsteel Colossus or the more expensive Eldrazi.

People do not like playing sorceries unless they are game-changing. Playing a card on your turn is a precious resource. They want to play creatures, artifacts, and enchantments that will change the game in their favor. While some sorceries have obvious power (Time Stretch, Plague Wind), others are not highly desired. The tension between a great removal spell (Desert Twister or Vindicate) versus sorcery is awesome. Include some great pinpoint-removal spells that are sorceries to test people and give them avenues of escape. As a general rule, stick with instants. There are enough Terminates and Dismantling Blows out there that you won't be forced to rock the sorcery removal as much.

I also don't include more than one copy of a card, just as an FYI.

Some people play nonbasic lands. They can give you an uncounterable ability. Drafting a Maze of Ith just makes me feel nice and warm. If you have a few that would be really good, toss them in. If you add broken ones (Academy Ruins, Volrath's Stronghold), make sure you have answers as well.

Drafting Type 4

Count the number of players drafting. Then double it, and flip that many cards. Starting with the first player, draft a card in clockwise order until the last player gets a pick. Then each gets a second pick, and pick order reverses until the player who picked first gets the last card. Example: four players.

Flip eight cards. Pick order is Player 1, Player 2, Player 3, Player 4, Player 4, Player 3, Player 2, Player 1.

(It's basically a two-round snake-order draft, if you are familiar with that phrase.)

Then 8 more cards are flipped up, and the draft order is Player 2, Player 3, Player 4, Player 1, Player 1, Player 4, Player 3, and then Player 2.

Once everybody has drafted first, you reverse the order for the next round of packs. It would look like this:

Player 1, Player 4, Player 3, Player 2, Player 2, Player 3, Player 4, Player 1. (Note that Player 3 picks in the same place either way in this four-player scenario).

Once everybody has roughly thirty cards, end the draft and you are done. With four players, I'd flip four rounds for thirty-two cards.

Then you shuffle up and play!

Playing Type 4

Someone is randomly determined to go first, draws a card, and off you go. Remember, you can have an infinity of mana in any color all day long. This includes snow mana as well.

Suppose I drop Smokespew Invoker and you have out Rappelling Scouts. I activate my Invoker to shrink your Scouts, and you respond by giving your Scouts pro Black, and I respond by shrinking your Scouts . . . ad nauseam. Who wins?

The defensive ability always wins. In this case, I mean the ability that protects the card, rather than the reactive ability. Granite Gargoyle always beats the Invoker, no matter which goes first. Suppose I try to pump my Gargoyle in response to Jason's Inferno. You trigger the Smokespew Invoker in response to shrink it back down. The Gargoyle still wins. (The reason for this is that the only other rule that makes sense is that the ability that goes second always wins, but that results in silly situations where you never activate an ability at all, for fear that you will lose it in response to anything on the table that can kill it with an infinite activation. This rule plays better, trust me.)

If I play a Bosh, Iron Golem, and you drop a Discombobulate to counter it, I only have a few ways I can counter your counter. I can play something that is not a spell—such as flipping up a Voidmage Apprentice or cycling Decree of Silence. Otherwise, I can use the alternate casting cost of a card (like Force of Will). That doesn't count as my spell for the turn.

With major game-changing spells, the format plays really swingingly. You'll find many games end in a few turns, and people will want to play their drafted decks again.

Additional Thoughts

Let's discuss a few things to keep in mind. Since the decks you'll play have such a small number of cards, you may find yourself getting close to being decked. This is especially true if you are able to draw a lot of extra cards. In multiplayer, often the swinginess of the cards means that everybody is able to cancel everybody, and you have a state of balance. The game can go for a while. It's not every game, of course, but it does happen. Having a few cards that can lengthen your game by restocking your library is a very good thing. Cards like Soldevi Digger, Reminisce, and Reito Lantern are strong additions to your card pool. Don't go overboard. I wouldn't add more than a handful. They are very useful, however.

Make sure your pool has answers to every problem. If you run Genesis, run graveyard removal. If you run Maze of Ith, run some land removal (it can be something like Spine of Ish Sah, rather than Stone Rain, obviously).

I would always steer clear of any card that can kill by itself. It's not just Blaze that's deadly in this environment. Cards like Rockcaster Platoon, Pygmy Pyrosaur, and Howl from Beyond seem a bit much. That doesn't mean there aren't autokill cards in combination, but remove the luck-based element of drafting and drawing an auto-win.

For example, I include Shifting Wall. You can easily make it a 100/100 creature, but unlike most creatures, it can't attack. Cards like Fling and Surestrike Trident can make it an autokill, but you need to have one in your deck. You also need to beware of Agonizing Demise with kicker or Grab the Reins with Entwine. Ouch. (Of course, Grab the Reins can be used by you to fling the Wall at someone, too).

I personally prefer to draft a great defensive card before a great offensive card. To my mind, there's not much difference between a 10/10 Trampler and a 7/6 Scaled Wurm. There is a big difference between Panacea and Moment's Peace. The best defensive cards are so much better than the best offensive cards (in my view). Make sure there are always answers to great defensive cards.

Haste is amazing in this environment. If you play a giant creature, by the time it comes back to your turn, one of these things has likely happened: Someone has played a bigger creature, someone has played a great defensive card (Horn of Deafening, for example), or someone has played a sweeping removal card. A Haste creature means you can get a hit in now with your creature. There is a lot to be said for something as simple as a Volcanic Dragon. It's a great creature, because you force your foes to use precious instant removal on it, or take 4 damage. I like to up the number of Haste creatures in my format as a result. I don't play bad ones, like Talruum Minotaur or anything. I just want the good ones.

When I mentioned Pit Spawn above, one of the things I wanted to point out was that upkeep doesn't matter here (so long as it's just a mana upkeep). Cumulative upkeep or regular upkeep is meaningless. Feel free to include creatures like Pit Spawn, Timbermare, Illusionary Wall, or Force of Nature. This means cards like Arctic Nishoba, Firestorm Hellkite, Tornado, and Arctic Wolves are all pretty good additions to your deck.

Wrap-Up

Take a look through your cards, and find the good stuff for this format. There's a lot out there!

If you want me to write more articles on Type 4, I'd be happy to. I can point out some power cards of the format, talk about the benefits and problems of adding combo elements, and lots more! Just let me know with responses, and I'll be happy to do so. Otherwise, we can make this just a one-of to talk about an awesome format, and then move on.

See you next week,

Abe Sargent