[MtG] Type 4 - Mirrodin Besieged Set Review

This is the first in a series of set reviews for Type 4. Given that this is the first time I've been blogging in a long time, I'll start with Mirrodin Besieged and work my way backwards. Most of the time, I'll be comparing the cards with an existing T4 staple. In cases where I deem the staple to be better, it goes without saying that if you cannot find said staple, the analyzed card will be a good substitute.

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The immediate comparison would be to put this next to Kirtar's Wrath. The latter sweeps regenerators clean, but Phyrexian Rebirth's creature token is often much bigger, albeit without evasion. Which would be more valuable? In the end, it depends on your Stack. Many "modern" stacks have only a few regenerators, replacing creatures with that ability with the "new regeneration:" Indestructible. In such a case, you might as well get the larger token from the bargain.



Compare this to Windbrisk Raptor. The first difference you'll notice is that this creature grants all your creatures flying, whereas the Raptor does not. Is this important? On the surface, it seems like the answer is yes, until you realize that most T4 beaters already fly or have some other form of evasion. If your stack is lacking evasive beaters, then this creature's ability is a step up from the Raptor. If your stack is filled with evasive beaters, then the Raptor's superior 5/7 body increases its survivability and beatdown power. The lifelink is golden though, so if your stack has room for both, so much the better.



A bit to small to be a proper beater, this sphinx is more utilitarian in that he draws you cards. The potential reward is great. To exceed the value of Opportunity, it must survive for two of your opponent's turns (Two cards drawn each for two opponents plus someone spending a card to kill this = 5 cards). Any longer than that and this guy just became ridiculous.



Stealing one of your opponent's creatures is still a great form of removal. This of course must be compared to the standard Control Magic. For a comparison, just answer the question: Do you want a stolen beater to have Infect? Well... if it's hugely huge, with a power of 10 or greater, then the answer is universally yes. Remember, 10 poison counters is death. Any more is icing. Same goes for any evasive creatures that can kill in two swings, which is most of the decent beaters in a stack. Also, if the stolen creature is hard to kill or has immunities, it makes a great defender due to the -1/-1 counter buildup on enemy creatures.



Creepy art, check. "Counter target spell" hard counter text, check. Secondary effect, check. Need another hard counter to replace one of your vanilla Cancels or Counterspells? More than decent.



Bouncing two permanents, given the Rule of Law, can be crippling. Only downside is that there's a much better card out there that's much much harder to counter. If you don't have it, this is a decent tempo card for the stack (and kills those annoying Marit Lage tokens too).



This is one for the mass creature kill lists. It's a Flowstone Slide or Mutilate that kills even Crowd Favorites. The reshuffle effect goes great with cards like Aladdin's Lamp or Planar Portal.



It's small, has no evasion, and will kill barely anything. The secondary effect is similarly mediocre given that this won't kill anything save for a token-happy player who's sitting behind a swarm of 1/1's and 2/2's. It does combo well with Ixidron, but little else.



There are certain... artifacts of a very nasty nature that have a tendency to keep coming back, either by their own power or due to recursion combos. This would be an excellent way to make sure they never show up again, and you get a two-for-one.



Do you have this in your stack? Or this? Or even this? If so, don't bother with this strictly weaker version whose only redemptive value is being reshuffled. If you're missing those cards, then you might consider putting this in, provided you ave a decent number of green-colored beaters.



Wow. Just... wow. At last, a Yawgmoth's Will effect even better than the original card that T4 can use. Easily a top pick, and well worthy of the mythic rarity. Even better, its mana cost suggests it won't be very useful in Constructed, keeping the price of this gem low. Probably the best T4 card in the set.



Great abilities. The fact that he can't be countered is always excellent in T4. Trollshroud is the best kind of untargetability, and regeneration is always good for mixing it up with other creatures. He's SMALL. He's 2/2 below the T4 beater minimum. That's not so bad in itself until you combine it with his other drawback. He doesn't EVADE. He doesn't affect anything on the board but himself. So he's too small and non-evasive to be a beater, and has no utility save for blocking. Nail in the coffin. Save this for constructed formats.



Let's go through the process of analyzing this planeswalker the way we did the others.

Question 1: Do his non-ultimate abilities do something that is playable in T4 at sorcery speed?
Question 2: Is his ultimate powerful enough to warrant using him anyway?

Answer 1: In an artifact-heavy stack, there might be enough artifacts going around to warrant his <+1> ability, but chances are, 5 cards is nowhere deep enough to dig. His <-1> ability changes one of your existing artifacts into a vulnerable 5/5 creature. Certainly not sterling. I suppose you could turn one of an opponent's artifacts into a creature then kill it with creature kill, but why would you spend a planeswalker on a two-card sometimes-useful combo?

Answer 2: Uhm. No. Ultimate is next to useless. Tezz should stick to Constructed, thankfully.



Remember what I said about artifacts of a certain nature that are hard to get rid of? This is a sterling example. He's not just tough. He's a beast. He kills in one hit. Legitimately. As in, without using or needing infinite mana. The last creature to be able to do this was Phage the Untouchable, and unlike her, this guy has no drawbacks. His presence legitimizes the existence of a few other "attack to kill" creatures in your stack. Imagine combining this guy with Miren, the Moaning Well and "Ach, Hans, Run!" Definitely a T4 staple and the second best T4 card in this set.



Is this better than Mortivore? It doesn't regenerate, but unlike Mortivore, it can stack onto your most evasive creature and can attack for massive damage. Imagine this on Skithiryx. Normally, when you judge equipment and creature enchantments for the stack, you'd have to determine if you really want the enhancements they provide, or would you just rather have a quality creature instead? By coming with its own built in creature, the Bonehoarder solves that problem for you.



Hmm... I look at this, and I realize it's technically a Shield of Kaldra reprint for T4. Then I take a glance at Spearbreaker Behemoth and Deathless Angel and realize that it's no longer necessary.



Right now, the only poisonous creatures worth T4 attention are the colossus and Skithiryx. Losing 2 life and milling six cards isn't worth using this to replace cards like Aladdin's Ring or Helm of Obedience.



This reminds me of Eye of the Storm in that it's making my head throb just trying to imagine the horrors of this in an 8 player table. I'd skip this, but if you're a fan of chaos multiplayer, then this is a must have.



Why would I use Meddling Kids and not this? Perhaps it's because the kids can shut down spells and entire strategies, including spells that can get rid of the kids. This guy? Not so much. He shuts down permanents, but that's it. And besides, if I wanted to shut down activated abilities, there's Azorius Guildmage.



The last card up for review is this baby, strictly better than Vindicate or Desert Twister. Being a solid artifact, it can be recursed more easily than sorceries which do the same thing. This plus Bosh. Think about it.

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That's it for Mirrodin Besieged. Next, I work my way backard and review Scars of Mirrodin.

[MtG] Type 4 - Evaluating Creatures

How does one evaluate whether a creature is good enough for Type 4?

To use an oft-mentioned quote, it's not all about size. But yes, size matters.

This environment is filled with the nastiest spells in Magic. The sooner an opponent is dead, the better. That's one less guy to worry about. And the most reliable way to kill someone is still to turn creatures sideways and send them into the red zone. Big creatures. Gigantic creatures. The kind that make Constructed beaters like Blastoderm or a fully-realized Wild Nacatl look shrimpy.

However, not all good Type 4 creatures are huge. A lot of the most useful ones are below average size, or downright tiny.

Creatures in Type 4 are generally classified into two categories: beaters or utility. It's a rare creature that can fit both classifications, and those are often some of the most coveted creatures for the format.

Beaters
What makes a good Type 4 beater?

Here's where the size comes in. What counts as "average" in Type 4? In general, if a creature's Power + Toughness is greater than or equal to 12, that makes it average. Anything larger is better, anything smaller puts in doubt its status as a beater. In general, a 5/5 or smaller creature had better be doing something else. If its purpose is to smash your opponent into powder, then 5/5 is too small.

There are a few exceptions of course. A 4/3 with double strike is decent, if not spectacular. A slightly below average-sized creature can still be a frightening beater given the right set of abilities:


Also, as with Constructed Magic, creatures with evasive abilities are better than normal. You might also classify a creature as having no evasion, "standard" evasion, or true evasion.

Standard evasive abilities include, from best to worst, fear/intimidate, flying, and trample. They're better than having no evasion at all, but flying and trample are also weaker in this format than in most other formats. Flying is weaker because it's the most common form of evasion in T4 and so many beaters fly. Two 6+ power fliers facing off in the sky is a normal occurrence. Trample is similarly weaker because with few exceptions, you won't be getting in for much. Your 8/5 trampler doesn't seem as good when they block with a 6/6.

True evasion in T4 represents creatures who simply can't be blocked as an inherent part of their design. Considering that blocking is often fatal in this format, this is an important thing.


If your group follows the right house rule (like we do), the more common form of unblockability is landwalk, because every player is considered to have one or infinite numbers of every basic land in play (depending on the individual rule). This makes any kind of landwalk function. The huge islandwalkers in particular are of interest.


Beaters that can do more than smash face are also more valuable. Ideally, a beater must be able to inflict its combat damage and still be able to use whatever abilities it has. One of the best abilities is lifelink, or something similar. Gaining life in multiplayer while inflicting damage is very useful (also termed "lifegain on a stick").

Other abilities which get triggered by attacking, or inflicting combat damage can be just as effective, if not more so.


Utility
The utility creature can be small in size, because its primary function are its abilities, rather than its ability to smash in the red zone. The most valuable of these are the ones who have activated abilities which can be used multiple times, eg. Don't require the creature to tap.

Of those, among the most coveted for stacks are known as the "Masticores," because they're able to wipe the board of all other creatures, and can keep the board clear until someone destroys them.


There are many creatures with such abilities, but many of them are broken and unfair in an environment with infinite mana. Oona can remove every colored card from all opponents' libraries and create a huge horde of faeries besides, Selesnya Guildmage can creature infinite saprolings and pump all of your creatures to infinite power and toughness, and Reckless Embermage can kill the entire table.

Such creatures can be legal provided there's sufficient errata or house rules, such as setting the value for X, or limiting certain abilities to a particular number of activations per turn. Even without such creatures though, there are many powerful abilities that can still be considered fair despite infinite applications.

Next in value are the creatures who affect the board simply by being in play. Ideally, they have a clause that limits negative abilities to opponents, or limits positive abilities to just you.


The weakest kind of abilities are enters-the-battlefield trigger abilities, because normally, you only get to use those once. Imagine them as being sorceries with creatures attached. So if you put in a utility creature that has those abilities, make sure they do something really useful or really versatile. Being a little sizable helps too.


Combination
As mentioned earlier, creatures which have utility abilities and classify as beaters are among the best creatures in T4. Be sure to grab those whenever you see them, because they quickly become staples that you'll never want to get rid of (at least, not unless they print something strictly better.

[MtG] Type 4 - The Basics of the Best Casual Format Ever

This is the initial entry to my series of blogs on the Type 4 format, which is meant to document the development of my group's Type 4 Stack, analysis of cards for their value in Type 4, and discussion of certain house rules and how they affect card choices and the overall play experience.

As a brief introduction to the topic, Type 4, also known as Limited Infinity, is a casual Magic the Gathering format that's based on two primary principles:

1. You have infinite mana of every color and type (including colorless and exotic types like snow mana).
2. The Rule of Law is in effect; aka. You may only cast one spell per turn.

A single communal pile or Stack of cards is assembled, drafted, and then games are played using all drafted cards (no sideboards), often in a single multiplayer table.

The fun is that with infinite mana, you can pretty much use the most degenerate, high-cost spells you have. Within limits of course. Spells and effects which can kill people outright shouldn't be used in the Stack. Those with X costs should be especially regulated for brokenness (ex. Fireball for infinite damage to all opponents, Healing Stream for infinite life, Stroke of Genius to make someone draw infinite cards).

Otherwise, toss in every crazy high cost rare or abusable card ability you can find. I won't go too much into it, especially since there's already a great article on the subject written by Steven Menendian.

Instead, I'll move onto the house rules used in my Stack. These house rules justify some of the card choices in the Stack itself, as well prevent individual errata on any of the cards.

1. You may cast one additional alternative cost spell per turn on top of your standard spell per turn. Examples of these are cards with alternative costs (ex. Force of Will), cards which cost 0 mana (ex. Pact of Negation), or whose costs have been reduced to 3 or lower by special conditions (ex. Avatar of Woe).
2. The maximum value of X in any cost is 20.
3. Effects/abilities which pump power, draw cards, or copy spells/effects can only be activated twice per turn per card.

That's enough for an introduction. For the next entry, I'll discuss the mainstay beatstick creatures of the stack, and which ones are stand-ins for replacement.