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So Many Insane Plays — The 2007 Stephen Menendian Type Four Invitational!

Read Stephen Menendian every Wednesday... at StarCityGames.com!
Last week, Stephen took us through an entire Type Four draft, and highlighted the difficult decisions made in this most frenetic of formats. This week’s follow up article takes us through the entire game, play by play and chat by chat, with some of the most powerful cards in the history of the game being thrown about left, right, and center. If you’re looking for something a little different, then this is the format for you!

Last week, I brought you coverage, card for card, of our Type Four draft. Today, I bring you the game, play by play.

Me “This is the best deck I’ve ever drafted”
Doug: “Steve, the best deck ever drafted is sitting to your right.”

Here’s what I drafted:

Stephen Menendian’s Type Four Draft Deck:

Absorb
Acquire
Allay
Altar’s Light
Arashi, the Sky Asunder
Arcane Denial
Armored Guardian
Assert Authority
Bane of the Living
Crosis the Purger
Crowd Favorites
Deflection
Ertai’s Meddling
Force of Will
Forcefield
Glarecaster
Legacy Weapon
Masticore
Maze of Ith
Misdirection
Muddle the Mixture
Murmurs From Beyond
Mystic Snake
Naturalize
Nicol Bolas
Null Brooch
Opportunity
Panacea
Privileged Position
Prophetic Bolt
Rewind
Shattering Spree
Smash
Smokespew Invoker
Spellblast
Spelljack
Spellshift
Swords to Plowshares
Trickbind
Vampiric Tutor
Vex
Voidslime
Whispers of the Muse
Word of Seizing
Wrecking Ball

Video coverage of the draft and game will be up on YouTube, as soon as I get around to posting it.

Here is our seating arrangement:

The Righteous Easter Egg of Names

To begin, after a good deal of shuffling, everyone cut the deck to their left. And per Type Four tradition, we flip our libraries over, and the player with the card having the earliest alphabetical starting word plays first. Letters that came up were S, S, S(kinthinner), R(eya Dawnbringer), T, along with M for Misdirection.

Paul (incredulously): “Does Misdirection win?”

Misdirection goes first! I get to go first. I will start and play will move left.

We draw our hands of five and begin!

My starting hand is:

Legacy Weapon
Privileged Position
Ertai’s Meddling
Force of Will
Smash

This is a pretty solid hand.

TURN 1:

(The capitalized names indicate active player)

STEVE (going first):
I draw Acquire.

Playing Acquire as the first spell of the game is sure to start a fight with someone who will probably be pretty bitter about being the first target in the game. I decide to let someone else start a fight and drop Privileged Position onto the table instead.

Surely that seems like a harmless play, right?

Willie: “Ummmm… no” (and flashes Spite/Malice)

Willie plays Spite/Malice, countering my enchantment!

Me: “Are you SURE you want to do that? Have you read Privileged position? You want to waste your counter?”

(Paul is laughing in the background)

Willie continues to stick the Spite/Malice in my face.

Me: “Fine! Enjoy your wasted counter, Willie!”

Willie: “Will do!”

Steve: “You f***ed with the wrong person, Willie!” (laughter)

SPENCER: Plays Mizzium Transreliquat.

Paul: “Priority passes left. Let’s all pass priority just to get the hang of it.”

Darren: “Pass.”
Willie: “It’s fine.”
Bomholt: “Pass.”
Paul: “Pass.”
Doug: “Pass.”
Steve: “Pass.”

It resolves.

On Spencer’s end step, I play Smash, drawing Altar’s Light.

Paul: “Steve cycles Smash! The first artifact was dead, no matter what it was!”

DARREN: “Holistic Wisdom?”

I grimace at the presence of Holistic Wisdom, a card I find incredibly abusive.

“So, Willie, how do you feel about countering my Privileged Position now?”

“Pretty good”

Bomholt slaps a Dismal Failures on Holistic Wisdom. Darren discards a card, and saving the best for last, plays DARK DEPTHS!

Paul: “That’s dangerous!”

“Ouch!”

WILLIE: “Crown of Convergence?”

Paul: “The deck-stacking machine! And it pumps creatures!”

We pass priority and Crown makes it to the table.

BOMHOLT: “Nevinyrral’s Disk?”

Willie: “What evs”

It’s in.

PAUL: “Heed the Mists.”

He turns over Forbid and draws three cards. He discards Reito Lantern.

DOUG: “Mist Dragon?” Doug plays Mist Dragon

Steve: “I can’t believe how good that card is… … It’s fine”

Spencer: “Red Elemental Blast it…”

Steve: “Thank gawd.”

Doug: “It’ll be back.”

TURN 2:

STEVE: I draw Mystic Snake.

Paul: “What’s gonna happen with that Dark Depths, I wonder? I’m a little bit concerned.”

“Does Disk kill it?”

“No, it’s indestructible.”

“It would be funny to Vanish into Memory that crap.”

Steve: “Do you want me to deal with it?”

Paul: “Maybe…” (coyly)

Spencer: “Yeah, that would be cool.”

Paul: “Yeah, I’m down with that.”

Everyone else nods in agreement.

Steve: “You guys better back me up! I’ll play Legacy Weapon.”

“Yeauss!”

“Oh My!”

Pass the turn.

Willie: “End of turn… Return to Dust.”

Steve: [Reads the card] “It RFGs my Legacy Weapon? Aw, crap! In response, remove the Crown of Convergence! “Also, remove the Dark Depths.”

Darren makes a token in response.

“Kill the token. And just to make Return to Dust fizzle, I’ll have Legacy Weapon target itself!”

Paul: “Take that, Willie! Your spell fizzles!”

SPENCER: “Mindslaver?”

Spencer casts Mindslaver.

“Uh, I hear that card is good in some formats…”
“No response”
“I’m cool with it.”
“Resolves”

Paul: “Uh, usually you do it right away.”

Paul said that just to nudge Spencer into activating Slaver now…

DARREN: “Iridescent Angel…”

Response, Spencer activates Slaver, targeting Darren. Paul’s suggestion worked.

WILLIE: “Grozoth? Resolves?”

It’s good.

After discovering that some cards he thought might cost 9, Willie finally finds Bringer of the Black Dawn.

BOMHOLT: Mike untaps the Disk and plays Jushi Apprentice. It resolves.

PAUL: Paul casts Descendant of Soramaro.

“What’s that do?”

“He’s kind of like Scroll Rack, but not that good.”

“I like how Paul’s talking him down”

“He’s really not that good”

Resolves.

Willie: “On Paul’s end of turn: Mystical Teachings?”

Spencer: “FORK it!”

Paul activates Descendant of Soramaro.

We put Spencer on the clock (he has 60 seconds to find a card).

He finds Will of the Creator.

Will of the Creator
BBBB
Instant – Arcane
Choose one — Put a permanent from your hand into play, or return target card that was removed from game to your hand, you are this card’s owner until the end of the game.

Entwine — pay half your life rounded up

Willie settles on Reiterate, the buyback Fork.

DOUG: Doug draws a card and passes the turn.

TURN 3:

STEVE: I draw Vex, and pass the turn.

SPENCER: Draw, go.

Darren: “End of turn, Agonizing Demise Grozoth with kicker.”

Willie Reiterates it to Descendant of Soramaro.

In response, Spencer plays Will of the Creator with Entwine, grabbing my Legacy Weapon, and puts it into play with the same.

Spencer uses the Legacy Weapon to remove Descendant to fizzle Reiterate so he can’t buy it back.

Willie: “Can you kill Grozoth so I won’t take nine?”

Doug: “In response, Congregation at Dawn?”

Doug searches his library and reveals Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil, and does two damage to Spencer. Doug puts Eternal Dragon and Willbender on top of his library.

Agonizing Demise resolves, and Willie takes nine damage.

DARREN: Spencer Slaves Darren and plays Sway of the Stars!

Paul: “Does Sway shuffle permanents?”

Steve: “Let me see Sway of the Stars.”

Paul: “Can we read that card?”

Steve: “Each player shuffles all of the permanents he or she owns into his or her… sh**… I no longer own Legacy Weapon! Awww. That’s ridiculous.”

Will of the Creator changes ownership!

Sway of the Stars would bring back my RFG Legacy Weapon

Paul: I’m stopping it… Last Word

Priority passes around the table…

Doug: Mindslavering Sway is so good because you don’t lose the card either…

Last Word resolves, and Sway is countered!

Spencer passes Darren’s turn.

WILLIE: “My turn. (Draws a card). Pass.”

BOMHOLT: Mike draws a card with Jushi Apprentice.

“Morph?”

Resolves.

PAUL: “I wish you would have played Sway one turn later, I definitely would have let it in… AEON Chronicler!”

“Is suspend an activated ability?”

“No, its not, it’s a replacement ability.”

“Does suspend count as your spell?”

“Nope!”

One of the only ways to deal with it is Will of the Creator, which is already played.

Paul: “I’m just going to suspend it for a thousand.”

Doug: “Don’t get too greedy, Paul… are you sure?”

“Yeah, only for a thousand.”

Bomholt: “So, now you draw an extra card every turn?”

Paul: “Only for the next thousand turns. I think I’m gonna be done after that… yeah, I’m done.”

DOUG: Draw, go.

TURN 4:

STEVE: Draw Deflection, go.

SPENCER: “JACOWNED!!”

Jacowned
WWWUUUBBBRRRGGG
Sorcery
Until the beginning of your next turn, gain control of each opponent’s turn

Bomholt: “Does it tap or anything?”

Paul: “No, it’s just a sorcery. He Mindslavers everyone.”

Mike: “I’ll Dromar’s Charm it…”

Doug: “Rakso’s Charm…”

Steve: “Wait a second, I may want that to resolve…”

People look at me like I’m crazy. My hand is almost entirely permission. He can’t really do anything to me if he Slaves me, but it will leave everyone else in a seriously weakened position, if not several players completely dead. He’ll probably not be inclined to do anything to me since I would help it resolve. On the other hand, the results are too unpredictable. It starts a powder keg.

Strategically, letting Spencer’s Jacowned resolve would hurt everyone a lot more than me, and probably give me a huge advantage.

I Vex the Dromar’s Charm, trying to get Jacowned to resolve.

Willie: “Swift Silence?”

Awwwww!

At this point, I think about Force of Willing the Swift Silence

“This will change everything… Willie, you’d draw a card for every spell on the stack…”

Ugh, there is no way that if I play Force, Doug and Paul would let it resolve… I’d be down two cards…

“That’s fine, it resolves… Everyone is spelled out, except for Doug and Paul…”

Paul: “Waaiiiit a second… I have a ridiculous opportunity to play spells here. Should I do it? I feel like I have to… Chord of Calling!” (Universal laughter.)

Doug: “I’m the only one that can have relevant priority right now… I don’t care, go nuts!”

Paul: “Oh no, this is ridiculous… Aerial Caravan!”

Swift Silence resolves, Jacowned, D. Charm, and Vex got countered. Willie draws three cards.

Anything on Spencer’s end of turn?

Darren: “Willie, gotcha” (Darren puts Gaze of Adamaro on the table).

Paul: “Oh Willie! Are you fried? ”

Willie: “No… I’m down to two, though. Are you done?”

Darren: “No man, that was Spencer’s end step.”

Doug: “I like how Darren didn’t mention that he wasn’t spelled out…”

Paul laughs. “Didn’t Darren instrumentally blast Willie last time too?”

Steve: “Darren hates Willie.”

Paul: “It was definitely Darren that blasted him with Agonizing Demise! It was his bullets!”

DARREN: “Tatsumasa?”

Resolves.

“What’s that?”

Paul: “If it gets RFGed, it doesn’t come back, but if it goes to the graveyard, it comes back.”

Steve: “Spencer, use Legacy Weapon to remove Aerial Caravan…”

Paul: “Are you sure? I don’t want to have to kill him?”

Spencer: “Hmmm… I don’t want to get screwed if I do it…”

Steve: “I’ll back you up if you do it… okay… RFG Aerial Caravan…”

Paul: “Okay, let’s start revealing: Dismantling Blow… I’ll play it!”

Spencer: “In response, I’ll RFG every permanent on the board…”

Bomholt: “In response, I’ll Disk.”

Spencer: “In response, I’ll RFG every permanent again…”

D-Blow fizzles.

Paul: “It was never going to resolve…”

Everything is RFGed.

WILLIE: “Scroll Rack?”

Resolves.

BOMHOLT: “Crime Steve’s Privileged Position?”

Steve: “Ugh. Not again… Bomholt just won’t stop stealing my cards. Hold on, what does Crime do exactly?”

Bomholt: “It targets a permanent in the graveyard and brings it back under your control.”

I read every card in each of the graveyards, and decide not to Deflect it. Mike gets my Privileged Position.

Steve: “Do you own it?”

Paul: “No, just control it.” “That ownership clause was pretty cool.”

Willie uses Scroll Rack, and then flashes back Mystical Teachings for Controvert.

PAUL: Paul removes a suspend counter from Aeon Chronicler and draws a card, and then another.

Paul plays Quicksilver Amulet

“Priority?”

Doug: “Pass.”
Steve: “Pass.”
Spencer: “Pass.”
Darren: “Pass.”
Willie: “Pass.”
Mike: “Pass.”

Resolves.

Paul: “I’m done.”

Doug: “I didn’t expect that to resolve. End of turn, Orim’s Thunder.”

In response, Paul taps Quicksilver Amulet to put Metathran Aerostat into play!

Aerostat is a scary devil. It’s frightening because you can put multiple activations on the stack to put multiple creatures into play while keeping your Aerostat safe.

DOUG: “Morph, go.”

What could Doug have? Hmmm…

TURN 5:

STEVE: Finally, the turn circles back to me once more… I draw my card and quickly pass the turn to Spencer.

SPENCER: “Bringer of the Red Dawn!”

“He steals guys?”

“Yeah, he’s Ray of Command.”

“He’s Scorpion! He’s like ‘get over here’.”

Willie: “On your end step, kill Bringer with Crosis Charm.”

DARREN: “Hmmm… Pass the turn.”

WILLIE: “Untap, upkeep, draw, Oh man! Winding Canyons, land for turn. Thought Dissector?”

It’s Helm of Obedience for artifacts…

“I’m down with it…”

“It’s fine…”

“Pass.”

BOMHOLT: “Shield of Ages.” (Mike puts Shield of Ages onto the table).

End of Bomholt’s turn, Darren plays Pulse of the Grid

Steve: “Wait… How many cards are in everyone’s hand?”

Doug: “With Daddy Warbucks here, Darren’ll never have the most cards in hand…”

Steve: “Fine…”

PAUL: Draws two cards and passes the turn.

End of turn, Doug cycles Eternal Dragon… revealing Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil, targeting Darren…

Mike: “Is that a triggered ability?”

“Yeah.”

“Eternal can cycle during upkeep? You could do that infinite? Infernal says once per turn.”

Darren: “Pulse again…”

“You have five cards now?”

Darren: “Yep.”

“Didn’t you just have one card?”

“Yep.”

TURN 6:

STEVE: “Draw… go.”

SPENCER: “Tower of Fortunes?”

Resolves.

Spencer: “Draw 4 cards?”

Doug: “In response, Shattering Pulse with buyback.”

Spencer: “I have to discard…”

Willie: “Wait, before you do that, Myojin of Seeing Wind (tapping Winding Canyons)…”

In response, Darren Pulses again.

Pulse and Myojin resolve. Spencer discards.

DARREN: “Dimir Doppelganger?”

“Whaaat??”

Spencer: “I don’t like that at all.”

Paul: “He’s going to Pulse into his graveyard things we don’t know he has! Alright!”

Doppelganger resolves.

End of turn, Willie Scroll Racks.

Doug: “Shattering Pulse in response.”

Willie: “Discombobulate Shattering Pulse.”

WILLIE: Draw, go.

BOMHOLT: “Sneak Attack?”

“Hahah! Memory Lapse?”

Response, Paul plays Blast From the Past with cycle madness kicker buyback! Paul decided that, with Willie and Darren spelled out, it was the best time to play Blast From the Past.

Spencer is hit for two, and a Goblin is put into play.

Memory Lapse resolves, and Sneak Attack goes on top of Bomholt’s library.

End of turn, Paul puts Draco into play through Aerostat.

“Doesn’t that go to your hand?”

Paul: “No, I activated it four times. It happened super fast.”

PAUL: Paul untaps and draws two cards. He ponders for a moment, but just passes the turn.

DOUG: Draw, go.

TURN 7

STEVE: “Play Morph.” (I just drew and played Bane of the Living)

SPENCER: “Upkeep… it’s coming, Paul!” (Infernal Spawn of Evil)

Paul: “Oh, you’re going to hit me with ‘It’s coming’? Okay.”

Spencer: “Combat Medic?”

Paul: “I don’t really like that guy. Hinder to the bottom of your deck, that way you can’t reanimate it.”

Willie: “Um, I’ll let that happen.”

DARREN: “Morph creature?”

Willie: “Response, Canyons in Myojin of Night’s Reach.”

Bomholt: “Frazzle that!”

Steve: “That’s the best possible counterspell for that card!”

Darren: “Pulse of the Grid again?”

Doug: “I would ‘Lawl’ if he Pulsed, Myojined in response, and got the Pulse back.”

Willie: “End of turn, I’ll draw four by removing the Divinity counter.”

Steve: “In response, I’ll Vampiric Tutor.”

Spencer: “In response, Aven Mindcensor.”

“Ouch!”

“I Impulsed instead…”

Willie draws his four, and then Scroll Racks 3.

WILLIE: “Snapback, pitching a Blue spell, targeting Myojin of Seeing Winds…”

Doug: “Unmorph Willbender and bend Dimir Doppelganger back to Darren’s hand.”

Darren: “Um, I can’t counter that… Flip over Kai (Voidmage Prodigy), and sacrifice him to counter Snapback.”

Willie: “Soul Foundry?”

It’s in…

Willie imprints Ertai.

End of turn, Paul Blasts From the Past with cycle madness kicker buyback on Willie, sending Willie to two life.

BOMHOLT: “Willie: on your [Bomholt’s] upkeep, Reviving Vapors…”

Paul: “In response, Blast From the Past you!”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!

Doug: “Wait Willie, you can Scroll in response!”

Willie: “I already know what’s on top. I was going to reveal Who What When Where Why for 18 life!”

WILLIE DIES

Bomholt: “Alright, Sneak Attack again?”

Darren counters it: Spell Burst with Buyback.

PAUL: Draws off Chronicler…Draws for turn…

Steve: “Paul is very powerful.”

Willie: “Paul is very powerful, and he tends to throw his power around by throwing this [CENSORED] level spell. That’s how he displays his power. By cycling it into your [CENSORED].”

Willie’s not bitter. I swear.

Paul has Draco, and attacks Spencer.

RAWR!

Spencer: “Anyone want to help me?”

The group sits in silence.

Spencer: “I thought not.”

SPENCER IS DEAD.

Paul Metathran Aerostats Glory into play…

“Oh man… That was the worst play… why did I do that?”

I have to discard…

Willie: “We’re seeing fewer players… maybe the combat step will actually be used for something. See, I had Cauldron Dance in hand… so things will be drastically less interesting now.”

DOUG: “Evangelize Darren with Buyback.”

Willie: “This is the angle Steve plays: As soon as anyone does anything remotely good, Steve says ‘OMG, that is so good, somebody has to do something… of course, not me, but someone!’”

Willie picks up Bomholt’s Shield of the Ages and puts it in front of the camera. “This card is the centerpiece of Steve’s strategy.”

Steve: “Bomholt, what’s he doing over there! Look at his board!”

(This is my attempt to direct attention to Bomholt’s board position).

Bomholt: “I’ve got two cards in hand! I’ve been Memory Lasped to death…”

Paul: “I’m starting to run out of deck…. This (points to Chronicler) is not a ‘may’ ability.”

Darren plays Evacuation, hoping to save his Dimir Doppelganger from Evangelize.

Paul: “I’ll play Vanish into Memory on Aerostat!”

Steve: “OMG! The Aerostat will phase out until next upkeep! That is so funny!”

Doug: “You’ve got to counter! We need to get that thing into his hand!”

Steve: “Well, Misdirecting it won’t do anything.”

Doug: “Yes it will! Do it to your morph! You can do it without paying the mana cost! You can slide out your guy and he’ll come back face up!”

Steve: “Nah, that’s fine. Vanish resolves.”

(Although cute, I’d rather just replay Bane on my turn than lose its unmorph effect in exchange for Paul’s Aerostat.)

Bomholt: “Wait! I want to Reclaim Crime/Punishment.”

So the stack resolves:

Crime/Punishment is Reclaimed.
Vanish hits Metathran Aerostat.
Evacuation resolves and all of our creatures return to hand.
Evangelize resolves, but Darren has no targets.

TURN 8:

STEVE: “Replay Morph.” (Bane, again)

Pass.

DARREN: “Thicket Elemental with kicker.”

“What’s that do?”

“He Oath’s a creature into play.”

“Myojin of Infinite Rage!”

Bomholt: “Steve, I want to Crime your Privileged Position.”

Paul: “Yep…”

Steve: “We’ve been through this before.”

BOMHOLT: “Play Privileged Position.”

PAUL: “Upkeep… okay, I get this guy back.” (slams Aerostat.)

He discards Glory and Anger because of Vanish into Memory!

Paul plays Prahv!

“Alright! I think I want to make Metathran Aerostat protection from every color.”

“How?”

“With Glory. Does anyone have anything to say about that? … Good. Now, I’ll Aerostat in… STUFFY DOLL.”

“Hold on one second…”

“Aerostat returns back? Why?”

“Because first, I paid for 4, then for 4, then for 5. The guy comes in for 5, then Aerostat returns, then it comes back and it doesn’t realize that it is the same Aerostat.”

“Is anyone Stifling it?”

“Okay…”

“Who has cards in play? You do.” (Paul points at Darren) “I’ll name Darren!”

“For what?”

“For Stuffy Doll. It’s you! Stuffy Doll is you!”

“I’ll activate Aerostat for 4, then 8, 4 then 8.”

“First 8 resolves, is that cool?”

“Vampiric Dragon!”

“Kill Darren!”

“Blast him with Stuffy Doll!”

DARREN IS DEAD.

Willie: “Everyone is just going to die when Paul wants them to…”

Paul: “Except for Bomholt! Stuffy Doll is a worthless piece of trash now!”

Willie: “Thankfully, that combo with Aerostat doesn’t work because Stuffy Doll only targets one player.”

Paul: “It should go faster now.”

Doug: “End of turn, cycle Eternal Dragon.”

“It’s coming too,” two to you Paul.

Paul: “Could you have stopped Vanish into Memory, Steve?”

“Mhm.”

“I decided not to kill you because of that.”

DOUG: “Chaos Orb?”

Everyone is in shock!

Steve: (Pointing at Bomholt and Paul) “You can’t move your cards! You can’t move your cards!”

(Bomholt’s Privileged Position and Shield of the Ages are practically on top of each other. Paul’s board state is a mess of cards near each other).

Paul: “I’ll counterize that…”

Paul plays a counterspell that looks at Doug’s hand when it resolves, and makes Doug discard a card that he names.

Steve: “That’s fine…I’ll pass priority to Bomholt.”

Bomholt: “It resolves.”

Doug: “I have to discard…”

Steve: “Before you discard, I’ll Altar’s Light targeting Privileged Position. It’s finally mine, for god’s sake…”

Bomholt’s open for business, boys!

TURN 9:

STEVE: (I draw Masticore! I have Glarecaster in hand!)

Paul: “Steve, on your upkeep, pro all of my creatures, I don’t want to get Word of Seizinged.”

Steve: “Is this the time?”

(I think to myself… I can play Masticore or Glarecaster now. Is this the time to start to deploy my combo? One of the true skills in Type Four is timing. Wait too long ,and you won’t be able to pull it off. Go in too early, and you’ll get countered or stopped for sure. The question I have at this point is: Should I play Glarecaster or Masticore? With Willie, Darren, and Spencer out of the game, there are going to be a lot fewer spells being thrown around. Bomholt is holed up, Paul is on the attack, and Doug is also turtle-shelled up. I can make an offensive move without opening myself up. The only real risk right now is that my combo will be disrupted. But even then, Paul, Mike, and Doug will be going at it amongst each other. I decide its still the right time to do something, even if there are still too many players to try and successfully defend Glasticore combo.

I play Acquire.

“Hmm. I’m trying to figure out who has what…. Paul’s library is depleted…. Doug or Bomholt…. I’ll target Doug… Sorry dude…”

Bomholt: “Pass.”

Paul: “Is he going to get something that would bust me? It could be MemnarchTime Stop (Paul puts Time Stop on the table).”

Willie: “Paul said this turn’s over…”

Steve: “Paul, cards in hand?”

“Five”

Acquire on Doug’s library still on the stack….

(I’m thinking about whether to back it up with Force… I decline.)

“Time Stop resolves… Acquire is RFGed.”

BOMHOLT: “Academy Ruins! And…. Enshrined Memories for my top 25.”

It resolves.

Paul: “Bomholt gets…”

Mischievous Quanar; Riptide Shapeshifter; Intent, the Dreamer; Memnarch; Voidmage Apprentice; Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni; Hisoka, Minamo Sensei; Uktabi Kong; Scion of the Ur-Dragon; and Azorius Guildmage!

Doug: “Mike, you should have named it for your entire library to stack your deck.”

Bomholt: “I didn’t want to remove all of my creatures.” (Just in case these creatures all got killed, he may need additional win conditions).

Doug: “This game is insane!”

Willie: “There are insane plays… many of them.”

Bomholt discards Uktabi Kong and Scion of the Ur-Dragon.

PAUL: “Draw for Chronicler and for turn… Pro every color my creatures… Metathran Aerostat Draco into play… 4, 4, 16. Pro every color Draco. Attack Steve with Draco and Vampiric Dragon…”

Paul is looking at me with a look of a hunter at the hunted. He’s avoided eye contact throughout the entire game, but now he’s looking at me with a cunning grin on his face. He thinks he probably has me dead, or at least can cause some serious pain. I have a trump trick up my sleeve.

Steve: “Flip Bane of the Living! ALL DEAD!”

Paul: “Whatev. Hold on…” (Paul’s demeanor changes dramatically, and he begins figuring through his hand looking for solutions.)

Steve: “I’ll know you’ll back me up on this one…” (Looking at Doug.)

Doug nods.

Steve: “I’ll Trickbind your ass to next year, Paul.”

Paul: “I think I want to Wild Speculation…”

Steve: “That’s right… Spell Out. SPELL OUT!”

Willie: “What’s Wild Speculation?”

Paul: “I discard a card and get to search for a card of that type…”

Wild Speculation
2R
Instant — Arcane
Discard a card at random. Search your library for a card of the same type.

Paul discards a creature!

Paul: “Yessss!” (Giggling.)

Paul finds Deepfire Elemental.

“What is that?”

“It’s Gorilla Shaman for creatures and artifacts.”

“Blast Shield of Ages into Oblivion and return Aerostat to hand… These other creatures are all dead…”

Doug: “End of turn, cycle Eternal Dragon… Mike, it’s coming too!”

DOUG: Doug returns Willbender with Genesis on his upkeep, and Eternal Dragon.

Doug plays a Morph.

Steve: “I Mystic Snake the morph.”

(My assumption is that Doug played Willbender… if I want to combo out, I can’t have Willbender stopping my pitch countermagic.)

Paul: When you play a massive effect that returns cards from the graveyard, the person with priority responds first, right?

I wish I had my damn Reito Lantern….

TURN 10:

STEVE:
I flash my hand to the camera, it’s:

Glarecaster
Masticore
Arcane Denial
Force of Will
Deflection
Ertai’s Meddling
Assert Authority

I pass the turn to Bomholt:

End of turn. Mike Academy Ruins back Shield of the Ages.

BOMHOLT: “Play Shield of the Ages.”

PAUL: “Draw for Chronicler. Play Tornado.”

Paul is at 17 life.

Paul: “It’s Desert Twister…on crack… Alright… Doug…”

Doug: “Twist the Ruins man… at some point.”

DOUG: “Return dude with Genesis.”

Response, Bomholt puts Memnarch on top of his library.

“Awwwww!”

Paul: “We knew that was going to happen (at some point)!”

Steve: “I’m going to Ertai’s Meddling your Morph for a gajillion…”

Doug: “Is that more or less than a Bajillion?”

Steve: “More.”

Bomholt: “When Ertai’s Meddling counters are removed, it comes back as a 2/2 with no abilities instead of the actual card…”

[Explanation: The spell being countered is a 2/2 creature with no abilities. The card is actually RFG, but once all of the Ertai’s Meddling counters are removed, the spell that comes into play is a 2/2 colorless creature with no abilities.]

“So its Doug’s turn?”

Doug: “Yeah, I have to discard… Cycle Eternal Dragon, Paul it’s coming too…”

TURN 11:

STEVE: (I draw Absorb and pass).

Willie: “Draw, go, the illustrious Type Four play of a, uh, p*ssy.”

BOMHOLT: “Morph.”

Doug: “What could that be? Oh god, it’s Quanar!”

Paul: “I don’t really care…”

Steve: “I’ll Arcane Denial! You draw two on Paul’s turn.”

PAUL: “I’ll draw two, not that I really want to… Um… I try to play Aerostat again.”

Doug: “I’ll Suffocating Blast targeting Aerostat and the Mystic Snake in play…”

Steve: “That’s annoying…”

Doug: “Come on, you can’t hope to ride Snake to victory…”

Paul: “I’ll suspend Phthisis for …5.”

DOUG: “Upkeep, return men with Genesis and Eternal Dragon. Play Mist Dragon, again?”

Willie: “He’s back…”

Doug: “Cycle Eternal Dragon. Paul, It’s coming at you. Paul, what’s your life?”

“Thirteen.”

TURN 12:

STEVE: (I draw Word of Seizing!)

“I’ll play Smokespew Invoker. It beats regeneration.”

Paul: “On your end step, I’ll cycle madness kicker buyback Blast From the Past…”

Steve: “Hold on… You have no other creatures in play other than Aerostat…?”

“Nope.”

“You ass…”

Resolves.

BOMHOLT: “(Azorius) Guildmage?”

“Arizona Guildmage, huh?”

“Discard Firemane Angel…”

Paul: “End step, Dominate Guildmage?”

Bomholt: “Anyone have any creatures?”

Doug: “I have a Mist Dragon.”

“I’ll Clutch (of the Undercity) it (the Guildmage) back to your hand…. It’s loss of life, so you can’t Shield it.”

Mike’s at 15.

PAUL: Paul plays Kaervek the Merciless.

“How big is he?”

“5/4.”

Doug: “Draining Whelk that, 8 counters.”

Paul: “Pro every color, attack Steve with a 1/1 Goblin token.”

Paul has six cards left in his library…

DOUG: “Paul, attack you with Draining Whelk…”

Paul Prahv’s it.

“Evangelize with Buyback on Paul.”

Paul sacrifices a Goblin token.

TURN 13:

STEVE: “Draw and play Nicol Bolas.”

Paul: “On your end step, Capsize with Buyback on the Dragon.”

“Oooh. Paul reveals a big bomb that he’s been holding. Capsize is very annoying.”

BOMHOLT: “Upkeep, gain life with Firemane Angel and put it into play. You still got four turns… huh?” (at Paul)

Paul: “Not if I Clockspinning it…”

Bomholt plays Azorius Guildmage.

Paul: “Arizona Guildmage… It’s cool.”

Doug: “I’ll phase out Mist Dragon…”

Paul: “Try to cycle madness kicker buyback on Blast From the Past, targeting Guildmage. Closer to death…. This guy,” (Paul points to Aeon Chronicler) “is a death sentence… you just don’t get out of this.”

Doug: “End of turn, cycle Eternal Dragon. Paul, coming at you — it’s coming too.”

“Okay, I’m at eleven. It doesn’t matter what my life is… I’m in trouble. “On end step, I’ll kill Shield of Ages.”

PAUL: “Remove suspend counters from Phthisis and Aeon Chronicler. 3 cards left in library. Attack Steve for 2.”

“Okay, I’m at 15.”

Paul discards.

DOUG: Eternal Dragon comes back…

Doug attacks Mike with 8/8 Draining Whelk and 4/4 Mist Dragon.

Mike blocks the 8/8 with Angel and takes four.

Doug plays a Morph.

Steve: “I’m pretty sure its WillbenderAbsorb it… Ugh, it’s Skinthinner…”

Paul drops TEFERI….

Steve: “It’s each player can only play spells at Sorcery speed?”

Mike: “Each opponent…. And all his creatures have Flash…”

Paul: “They do have Flash!”

TURN 14:

STEVE: “So just me and you can play spells?”

Paul: “It’s just me and you, Steverino…”

(If there was a time to play Masticore, it’s now. Everyone else is turned off, and I can control Paul’s Teferi with Masticore. It’s time.)

Masticore!

Steve: “Does this (Teferi) prevent Force of Will from working?”

Paul: “You can only play spells when you could play a Sorcery.” (His voice dripping with meaning.)

Masticore Resolves!

Masticore beats Glory!

I make a huge mistake… I go to my end step…

Paul plays….

KROSAN GRIP.

Steve: “%PI@#(PU)(*@#%!!!!!”

Masticore is dead. Paul knew I had a trump, but also knew that he could answer my trump, and probably guessed that I’d wait to kill his Teferi.

Lesson learned.

This game just ratched up a notch, and Paul looked pretty nice, except for the fact that he was close to decking…

BOMHOLT: “Memnarch?”

(Mike makes his play, hoping to swing things his way. This was the fuse that lit the powder keg.)

Steve: “Oh, that’ll kill Paul’s stuff… you should have waited, Paul!” (I’m still mad at Paul.)

Paul: “Let’s do it now! Hmmm… This is a giant Bee’s Nest. I’m going to put protection from every color on the stack. Are you ready to do it? Twilight’s Call! It’s ALL creatures from Graveyards. Your Mystic Snake, Steve, will counter Memnarch… I made it happen. Because it is Bomholt’s turn, his stuff goes on the stack first… declare any targeting you have… Uktabi Kong trigger is on the stack.”

Paul: “Stuffy Doll triggers?”

Spencer: “It doesn’t trigger, it’s as it comes into play! So he gets it now.”

Paul: “So what’s everyone have?”

Doug: “Skinthinner, Genesis, etc.”

Steve: “Masticore, Mystic Snake, and face up Bane of the Living…”

Paul has a pile of creatures…

Bomholt has Azorius Guildmage, which controls the whole world, but my Masticore can at least threaten everyone else’s creatures, so long as Bomholt permits it.

Bomholt can tap Paul’s army anyway.

Bomholt puts tapping all creatures on the stack.

Paul: “The question is, do you want to see Doug die? It’s Mike’s decision. Do you want to see Doug die? I activate the killing of Doug! Stuffy Doll, Vampiric Dragon, and Teferi!”

Doug: “It would be great if you killed Teferi, Steve.” (Doug shows me Shining Shoal!)

Steve: “Mike, can I kill some of Paul’s creatures? Kill almost all of Paul’s creatures… Are all of the creatures going to die due to Twilight’s Call?”

Paul: “Mike’s are looking pretty lively…”

Steve: “No I mean, do they die at end of turn?”

Paul: “Nope, they live forever.”

Steve: “Oh, this is difficult… I’m sorry Doug, I can’t let you live. I’m going to kill everything but the relevant cards that kill Doug.”

Doug: “Mike, you can Stifle those things… I’m just letting you know.”

Mike lets all of the Masticore pings resolve.

And then Mike lets Paul’s Vampiric Dragon activations to Stuffy Doll resolve, killing Doug.

DOUG DIES.

The Kong activation resolves, but I give Masticore a regeneration shield.

Steve: “Doug, I couldn’t let you live…”

Doug: “Mike could have let me live. Response, cycle Eternal Dragon… It’s coming too, Steve, take two.”

Steve is at 16.

Paul: “It’s going to be Arizona Guildmage versus Steve.”

Mystic Snake counters Memnarch.

Steve: “As soon as I get priority, I’ll kill Teferi with Masticore.”

PAUL: “Remove suspend counters on Phthisis.”

On Paul’s upkeep, kill Teferi with Masticore.

Steve: “On Paul’s end step, I have a spell. I’m going to play Word of Seizing on Azorius Guildmage, uncounterable Split Second.”

Spencer: “OMG, that’s game.”

Ooohhh……

Oohhh!

Doug: “For want of a Nail.”

At this point, I have control over the board. My Masticore is going to wipe out and control the board. I have multiple counterspells in hand to keep a handle on everything, and I have removed the only thorn in my side: Azorius Guildmage. It’s time to begin the final phase of my game plan.

Steve: “Okay, kill all of your men.”

Mike: “Okay, they’re dead.”

Steve: “Kill Paul’s tokens.”

Paul: “Dead.”

Steve: “I’ve achieved God’s status. Is there anything else I can kill, Paul… or anything I should kill? I will kill Azorius Guildmage.”

To mix things up, and try and throw a wrench into the whole game, Paul Infernos.

Paul announces that his intent is to kill Glory.

I put a regeneration shield on Masticore.

Inferno resolves. Paul is at 2, I’m at 10.

Doug: “Mike is going to win this game, I predict.”

STEVE: “Upkeep, discard Nicol Bolas to Masticore.”

Doug had made his prediction, thinking I’d forget about Masticore’s upkeep!

At this point, I can just play Glarecaster, but Paul is positioned to play spoiler. He has one last turn. My plan is to just let him die, and the game will become Mike and myself. I’ll force the Glarecaster into play with my Force of Will backup. I just need one more turn without the game going haywire again.

Paul: “My death has been slated to occur, five minutes from now!”

Steve: “I want you in the game for now…”

Paul: “Until Aeon Chronicler brings me over?”

Steve: “I couldn’t kill you anyway, Paul. You have Prahv.”

Pass.

BOMHOLT: “Upkeep, gain a life and put Firemane into play.”

Steve: “Paul, your Krosan Grip really screwed me up.”

Bomholt: “Plague Wind.”

(Ugh. Precisely the kind of card that I didn’t want to see).

Steve: “Rewind.”

Paul: “Spell Counter…”

Steve: “Paul, I hate you… I’m going to play Force pitching Spell Shift…”

Paul: “Oh! There it is. Force.”

Bomholt: “I’m done.”

PAUL: Upkeep, draw, Paul fails to draw a card. Paul has decked.

PAUL IS DEAD.

STEVE: At this point, my hand has been decimated by countering the Plague Wind. I have a counterspell in hand and Glarecaster. However, I guess that most of Bomholt’s hand are creatures. He’s missed most of his draws with Tolarian Ruins and put a shed-load of cards in hand with Enshrined Memories. It’s a risky play, but I feel that the time is now

“Mike, how many cards are in your hand?”

“Seven.”

“How big is Firemane Angel?”

“4/3.”

“Kill it. Then PLAY GLARECASTER.”

Mike: “That redirects damage?”

Doug: “We Call that Glasticore. It redirects damage immediately.”

Steve: “YEAUSS!”

Doug: “I’m glad that we documented, so we have proof that you win at Type Four…”

Steve: “I win a lot, come on…”

Doug: “I have a girlfriend from Canada…”

Steve: “I WIN!”

Paul: “I was too strong, I was way too powerful for my own good…”

Steve: “I had so many insane plays… I had everything covered…”

FOOD BREAK!

That’s it!

This game wasn’t the most exemplary Type Four game ever played, nor did it have a really complicated stack at any given point. It was useful for showing how my draft strategy was implemented in the game — how my draft choices I made helped me win this game. It shows you how I sat back, let everyone else pick each other apart, and then came in to pick up the pieces. The key bomb I drafted was Word of Seizing.

I definitely made some play mistakes. The key play mistakes I made were:

1) Playing Privileged Position on turn 1. Since I was the first player to play a spell in the entire game, I had to figure that someone was going to want to do something about it. People are very trigger happy in Type Four.

2) Playing the Legacy Weapon on turn 2. I was lured into playing it by Paul. I was in no danger of getting hit by Dark Depths.

3) Not pinging the Teferi immediately. Split Second cards are played in this format. I should have foreseen that Paul might have Krosan Grip. It turns out that my incorrect play here actually hastened Doug’s death. It was still the wrong play.

All in all, a very interesting game. I’ll try and get the video up on the web, and then you can watch the second game as well. I won’t spoil the surprise of who won that one!

I hope you really enjoyed my pair of articles on Type Four. This is a subject I’ve been dying to return to. It took quite a bit of work, but I think it was worth it. It’s such a fun format, and it generates so much interesting discussion.

Until next time,

Stephen Menendian