Art by Jason ChanType 4 is a casual multiplayer draft format.
Rules for play:
Each player has an arbitrarily large quantity of mana at all times.
Each player may only play one spell per turn.
If a spell would be cast without paying mana, it does not count towards your one spell per turn. This includes Force of Will-type "pitch spells," and cards cast without paying their mana costs such as those cast off of Mind's Desire or cascade triggers, but it does not include alternate casting costs for something like a Morph card, because it still requires mana.
Activated abilities (obviously) do not count towards the one spell per turn limit. You can activate Memnarch as many times as you want. Unearth, Channel, Eternalize, Cycling, and other activated abilities are (obviously) not spells either.
When irresistable forces meet immovable objects, the immovable object wins. For example, Crowd Favorites will never die to Harbinger of the Hunt.
Players begin the game with 20 life and 7 cards in hand.
The card pool is typically drafted through a Rochester-style draft. Packs are drafted until each player has drafted 30 cards.
- Vorpal Sword
- Calibrated Blast
- Azorius Guildmage
- Soulfire Grand Master
- Dauthi Voidwalker
- Mnemonic DelugeMordenkainen
- Reiver DemonGriselbrand
- Macabre MockeryGrave Endeavor
- Dire Fleet RavagerStormbreath Dragon
- Cleansing NovaKlauth's Will
- Mind's DesireFevered Suspicion
- Eat to ExtinctionHurl Through Hell
- Garruk's HordeProgenitus
- Soul ManipulationOjutai's Command
- IonizeVoidmage Prodigy
Maybe surprisingly, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms (and it's associated commander release) actually brings a good number of new cards to Type 4. In addition to the 10 card shifts, I'm also adding a neat little package to the stack, more on that later.
Mordenkainen is just sweet. Make some big doggos, draw some cards, can't find too much not to like here. Mnemonic Deluge gets cut. It is undoubtedly powerful, but I find the card to be too slow, as in, it takes too long for something good enough to copy to get in a graveyard. I think most of the time, Spelltwine is going to be better, and I think Memory Plunder is better than both.
Daddy's home. You might wonder how Griselbrand is even remotely okay, but my cube is meant to be drafted in 30 card decks, so you can't really go too wild. It's insanely powerful, sure, but it's been fine in previous iterations of the stack. Reiver Demon is more of a "diversity" cut, as there are several similar effects, so it's relegated back to the maybeboard.
Grave Endeavor for Macabre Mockery is a pretty obvious upgrade.
I'm excited for Vorpal Sword. I used to run Phage the Untouchable and I do run Door to Nothingness and Infinity Elemental so I'm not afraid. If you lose to it, you deserve it. Is 5 equipment enough for Godo, Bandit Warlord?
Calibrated Blast is sweet. Next.
Stormbreath Dragon is one of my favorite Magic cards, and is mostly a better Dire Fleet Ravager.
Klauth's Will over Cleansing Nova is mostly about instant speed. I wish you could choose fliers or non-fliers, like Heaven // Earth and Harbinger of the Hunt but what can you do?
I want Mind's Desire to work more than anything, but if they're going to print something like Fevered Suspicion then I'll give up the dream. Jeez.
Hurl Through Hell is just a value upgrade on Eat to Extinction.
Progenitus has protection from everything, including Garruk's Horde, specifically.
So now for the neat little Ojutai's Command package, four mana value 2 creatures (and the Valki, God of Lies already in the stack.) Azorius Guildmage and Voidmage Prodigy used to be the backbone of the Type 4 Wizard deck back in the day. Voidmage Prodigy along with Dauthi Voidwalker are both sick with Corpse Dance. And Soulfire Grand Master is busted. I really, really wish Combat Medic was mana value 2, and I also wish Dire Fleet Daredevil and Snapcaster Mage worked.
One last note about Voidmage Prodigy, I would really like to get the morph mechanic back in the stack.
That's all for now.
