I agree, I think I'll try a simple rule of up-to two rolls a turn.

So far, with 170 cards spoiler, I have these on my to-get list:

Conqueror's Pledge
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Lorthos, the Tidemaker
Mindbreak Trap
Rite Of Replication
Sphinx of Lost Truths
Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet
Sorin Markov
Summoning Trap
Terra Stomper

I want the planes cards but not the other cards that come with the theme decks. *goes to scour ebay*

I have the old vanguard cards but my group never wanted to play with them. I can see their point - they were very unbalanced. They're good if you pick a vanguard avatar then then draft the stack, so you can draft with your avatar in mind. But recently we've mostly been cutting the stack up and just playing rather than drafting.

The big octopus seems quite fun. I'll find a space for him if I manage to draft one but I won't go out of my way to buy him.

I play Legacy Weapon and Progentius and I think they're both fine.

Djinn illuminatus I had in there for a while until it actually resolved .. then my playgroup made me take it out
Dark Depths was in for a decent period and then got removed. It was slightly too good, though I can see it coming back. The main reason I like it is because I have it in foil together with the foil Marit Lage token .
Whispers and BFTP were staples in my stack for a long time, but I went through the stack one evening and took out all the "annoying" or "time consuming" cards. Those two went, as did things that take time searching the library like SotF and gifts ungiven. I think powerwise they're both OK, but they are too unfun for our stack.
Never played with treasure trove, consumptive goo or walking archive.

I used to play flash of insight until one person realised that you can stack your whole deck after you tutor. 3 minutes of deck stacking later, I decided to take it out.

I don't play with firebreathers but I had a few effects that bordered on firebreathing like Corus of the Conclave. I have taken them out now.

Planechase could be sooooo good in type four, but it doesn't quite work under the current rules. With infinite mana you could role the plane dice as many times as you want. Does anyone have any solutions? Maybe just allow 2 rolls of the die every turn?

Conflux and Obelisk of Alara look good. I won't be playing countersquall because it's only slighly better than negate, a card I don't play. I've been trying to think of ways that Traumatic Vistions is better than counterspell. So far I've come up with: Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil, Panglacial Wurm, getting cards in the yard for threshold (hunting grounds?) and for just shuffling your library (say if you've seen some bad cards on the top with avian fateshifter).

Haha yup, the only time you'll be happy to Thicket Elemental into Phage

Probably you won't be allowed to concede the game. But in type 4 does mana burn exist? With infinite mana you could mana burn yourself out at any time.

I think Sarkhan looks interesting too, and am also excited by the unearth mechanic.

It's not an official spoiler, but it's on mtgsalvation and looks very spicy if true:

This could well lead to interesting situations where players try to kill themselves in response to artifact destruction!

Yes it's a sorcery, but lifegain has always been good in type 4. There are quite a few token generators to combo with this (storm herd, one doezen eyes, symbiotic wurm to name a few)

@Metamind:
By not doing an 8-man draft? IMHO eight is too big for playung the game out, it just takes too long. 4-5 people is better. We only play before a normal booster draft, so not a whole lot of time available.

Ooooh, sailor.

Ouch! I tried and don't like withered wretch, he dies to easily in wraths. Faerie Macabre is a good suggestion though. Added to this new card and that should be enough. We do play with genesis, glory, corpse dance etc.

I still think he's worth trying. He's mainly for the effect, but 4 damage is still 1/5 of a starting life total.

This is the guy:

Oh, err, I took it out pre-Time Spiral. Split second is a great reason to bring it back - thanks!

Just surveying opinions on the following cards which we feel are on the borderline of being too powerful. Note: we play with no firebreathers, no glarecaster and no ACC rule.

Mist Dragon - we took this out once we realised that whoever cast it won the game
Door to Nothingness - this is still in our stack since it is amusing and has only been sucessfully activated once
Djinn Illuminatus - this has never been in our stack - has anyone played with it?
Blast from the Past - this got taken out for sheer annoyingness (and power level)
Tower of Fortunes - this is insanely good but is still in the stack
Homura - He left the stack because of our no-firebreathers rule, but I'm considering re-adding him
Corus of the Conclave - May get added for similiar reasons.
Greater Morphling - He was in for a long time with the bushido crossed out but eventually 18 points of hasty shadow damage proved too good.
Richard Garfield - We actually allow people to name any card with him. It has led to ending the game, but it is very entertaining so he stays.

Also after playing for a while, we decided to take out cards that slowed the game down. So many tutors got ommitted (gifts ungiven, intuition, survival of the fittest), keeping just a few like Tooth and Nail. We just got too bored of waiting for people to choose their fourth card for gifts ungiven. Whispers of the Muse, Urza's Rage and Sway of the Stars got taken out too for annoyingness reasons.

So far I've got the following noted down to find for my stack:

And 8/8 flying first strike is just about on the borderline of being playable in type 4, but this will go in my stack for the coolness factor and ease of getting a foil version (it's the release promo). I guess also you can limit the damage from agonising demise

Currently I have Night Soil and Cremate as my only graveyard removers. This will be a third I think.

I just removed Spin into Myth from my stack (only have a limited number of sleeves (about 250), so have to remove a card when I add one). Unmake is only marginally better but it's quite cool so I think I'll add it.

Not amazing but a decent body on a true believer.

Permenant over creature makes it so much better than red bringer. A very nice addition.

Apparently there's a rumoured creature with persist that sacs to counter a spell. That would definitely be nice.

Also,

Chorus of the Conclave   4GGWW
Legendary Creature - Dryad Lord   Rare
Forestwalk
As an additional cost to play creature spells, you may pay any amount of mana. If you do, that creature comes into play with that many additional +1/+1 counters on it.
3/8

Passes the "Not as good as Door" test, but still an awesome creature.

8 powerful cards came up in a draft this week, what would you pick? In what order would you expect the rest to go? Bear in mind the stack does not have Glarecaster or Nezumi Graverobber when considering T&N. I think the guy picked opportunity.

The only cards I run out of the ones listed are Memnarch, Chainer, Blast from the Past and Gleemax. We like a relatively low powered stack (no firebreathers, no glarecaster) because we prefer attacking with big monsters over assembling a combo. I also recently took out Planar Portal and Mist Dragon.

So what's the verdict on Homura? I kinda like him. The only problem is if you play him and you have a way to kill him that turn, eg by having a masticore on the table. Then he's much better than Door or Chimeric Coils. Still, he's in my stack and staying there until more people complain about him.

I hate Mist Dragon. It's not quite powerful enough to justify taking out of my stack, but if someone resolves it they nearly always win. Gah!

After plenty of time to aquire and play with betrayers in Type 4, what do people think are the fun cards to play with? Here are mine.


Cards I thought would be good and were good:

Final Judgment - although I've been trying to cut down on the number of wraths in my stack, having taken out the crappier ones like Savage Twister, Final Judgment is quality because it deals with everything except Mist Dragon and Tatsumasa.

Minamo's Meddling and Disrupting Shoal - I like a lot of counterspells in my stack, and these are as good as any.

Ink-Eyes - The ninjitsu is amazing when attacking with utility creatures like mystic snake or willbender.

Shining Shoal - this turns many cards like Bloodfire Colossus into a liability.

Sickening shoal - Mediocre creature kill but it's in a cycle, and as everyone knows, cycles are good.


Cards which were better than expected:

Sway of the stars - I like funny symettrical effects in T4 like Grip of Chaos and Yet Another AEther Vortex. This is cool too. It's especially good for dealing with a person who gained a lot of life in a stack without firebreathers, and in my case replaces Blessed Wind.

Enshrined Memories - Just what do you set X at?

Overblaze - Can be useless, but can be hilarious with Bosh or Heartless Hidetsugo


Cards which were worse than expected:

That which was taken - OK, indestructibility is good, but TWWT itself is vulnerable and a huge target. It's good in combination with the white Bringer though, and still in my stack.

Pus Kami - The soulshift has never come up. Otherwise it's sorcery-speed removal on a par with pain kami and skinthinner, both of which I removed from my stack.

Heed the mists - Netting you a lot of cards on your own turn is less good if you have to discard down to seven without opportunity to use any of them. There's also the chance of it hitting something crap like 8.5 tails or Gleemax.

Body of Jukai - I overestimated the usefulness of the soulshift

Jetting glasskite - Not big enough and still vulnerable.

Heartless Hidetsugo - There aren't enough circumstances where this lives to become active AND you want to activate him.

Mine is probably buyback, because I love casting Corpse Dance over and over again. Coming a close second is splice.

I chose Cabal:

1 Cabal Coffers        
2 Cabal Pit
22 Swamp
4 Lingering Death
4 Gangrenous Goliath
4 Gravedigger
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Cabal Executioner
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Cabal Patriarch
1 Gravespawn Sovereign
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
4 Cabal Interrogator
4 Cabal Archon

Sweet, thanks for taking the time to type this up.

Uba Mask is definitely going on my list of things to try in my stack, right alongside Urza's Hot Tub when I can get a copy.

Imagine I'm playing against a Life deck who has successfully comboed out to gain a billion life. I then put Platinum Angel in play and believe my opponent has nothing in his deck that can remove it, hence I will eventually win by decking. Can I get a judge to force my opponent to concede? This would involve getting a judge to look at my opponent's decklist to confirm he has no way to remove the Angel, or to otherwise win. This would cause the judge to make the assumption that I would not be stupid and kill my own angel (eg by blocking with it). Would my opponent refusing to concede, despite having no way to win, count as stalling?

I think the only way to get infinite life in my stack involves Gleemax, eg Reviving Vapors into Gleemax, Awe Strike on Boshing Gleemax etc.

However, we have many ways to deal with a lot of life, eg Phage, Aggravated Assault, Door to Nothingness, Chainer/Kokusho/Clone. We don't run Nezumi Graverobber or Glarecaster.

Hi! Can you plainscycle an eternal dragon with a Damping Matrix in play?

Damping Matrix
 Color= Artifact    Type= Artifact    Cost= 3     MR(R)
Text (MR): Activated abilities of artifacts and creatures can't be played unless they're mana abilities.

So does eternal dragon count as a creature when it's in your hand?

Thanks for your time.

Just a quick note: It's generally better to pile shuffle into a number of piles which is not a factor of the number of cards in your deck. So for a 40 card limited deck you should not do an 8, 5 or 4 pile shuffle, and for a 60 card constructed deck you should not do a 6, 5 or 3 pile shuffle. I generally do multiple 7 pile shuffles with rifle/press shuffling in between.

Don't mean to cast doubts on anyone's character, and I'm sure with all the side shuffling your deck is perfectly randomised, but I just thought this might be a helpful tip.

Handy Link

Have you tried Worldly Tutor? Running 8 Goblin Recruiters seems strong. Of course the mana base will have to be adjusted.