Shadows over Innistrad Type 4 Review

Hello everybody and welcome to the Shadows over Innistrad Type 4 review!  We’ve got quite a few good spells today, so let’s hop into the set!

Archangel Avacyn: Flash creatures always deserve at least a glance, and Avacyn delivers some interesting effects.  Stopping Wraths is always nice, and a 4/4 isn’t atrocious.  Her flipped side provides with some damage and a reasonable flying body.  Not a god-tier bomb, but certainly playable.

Startled Awake:  This is really only playable if mill is a legitimate strategy in your stack and if you do draft/sealed.  Otherwise you’re just fueling graveyard shenanigans for your opponents, and a 1/1 isn’t going to get the job done.

Thing in the Ice: It might take a few turns to flip this guy, but a 7/8 that bounces the board isn’t something to scoff at.  Looks fun.

Duskwatch Recruiter:  This lets you draw all your creatures, which seems a little too powerful for my stack, but your mileage may vary. 

Sage of Ancient Lore: Flipping werewolves is pretty hard in Type 4, but this guy flips into a pretty big dude.  Probably not good enough, but looks interesting.

Westvale Abbey: On its front side, the Abbey is essentially a Forcefield of sorts.  However, if you’re able to flip it, Ormendahl is pretty boss, ruining your opponent’s lives while adding to your own.  Definitely a hoop to jump through, but the reward is good.

Angel of Deliverance: Sorcery, creature, and instant are almost always going to be in your yard, so getting one more shouldn’t be too hard (most likely artifact).  The Angel hits with a respectable body, and no matter what she does hit she gets rid of the best dude on the battlefield.  Looks solid.

Declaration in Stone: A solid removal spell that is political, easing the sting of killing the best creature by letting your opponent draw a card.  Sorcery speed hurts, but the effect isn’t bad.

Descend upon the Sinful: A wrath that exiles, but will occasionally also give you a 4/4 to start beating with.  Solid card, and one I’m hoping to get my hands on. 

Drogskol Cavalry: A card for infinite stacks that gains infinite life with its infinite creatures.  Probably really good in those, but avoid in normal stacks.

Eerie Interlude: Flickering can be real good at times, but I hesitate to actually burn a card on it.  Instant speed helps though, so try it out and see if you like it.

Expose Evil: Investigate is essentially a cantrip, but you can avoid max hand size discarding if that’s a thing and can also hide cards from discard spells.  The ability here is also fine, preventing some big dudes from hitting your face.  Reasonable card.

Humble the Brute: Kill a fatty outright while investigating.  Pretty solid removal spell for many stacks.
Nahiri’s Machinations: Make blocking a real bad idea, while also making one of your dudes hardy when he attacks.  Not a bad card, probably shines in combat heavy stacks.

Odric, Lunarch Marshal: Making your team have keyword soup is pretty fun.  Odric seems pretty entertaining in combat oriented stacks.

Silverstrike: Killing attacking creatures is relatively weak, but gaining some life is nice.  Playable.
Broken Concentration: A counterspell that works if you discard it too.  Strictly better than Cancel, so obviously playable.

Confirm Suspicions: My pick for best Type 4 card in the set, this is essentially a counterspell that draws 3 cards.  Love it, play it, and respect it.

Deny Existence: A counterspell that exiles the creature it counters.  Seems fine, if a bit limited.

Engulf the Shore: My group plays it that you have infinite basic lands if you need them, so this is pretty good, bouncing the board at instant speed. 

Epiphany at the Drownyard: The infinite stack welcomes a card that lets you mill half your deck while drawing the other half.  Normal stacks do not.

Forgotten Creation: Slightly hard to block, but more importantly lets you recycle your hand, which is always welcome for me.

Jace, Unraveler of Secrets: With an essentially unbeatable ultimate, Jace draws you a few cards before almost always being brutally murdered by your opponents.  Which makes him pretty fun.

Ongoing Investigation: Looks very unintuitively powerful, since you can trade in creatures in your graveyard for cards in hand, while rewarding you for attacking.  

Rise from the Tides: Looks pretty silly for lower power stacks, as you can easily make 10+ zombies in the late game with this.  Not something I’ll be playing, but not unplayable.

Trail of Evidence: I was sure that there was already a card that essentially did this, but that is not the case.  Looks powerful, and very comparable to Jeskai Ascendency which ended up being a really good card.  I’ll be trying it out.

Behold the Beyond:  If I played tutors this would be a fun card.  Most likely this reads “draw a 2 card combo and protection”, so I’d be wary about playing it.

Ever After: Getting 2 guys back from the dead is pretty solid.  Nothing much to say here, but it does work.

From Under the Floorboards: A build-your-own infinity card, if I wasn’t anathema to this type of effect no matter how janky this might actually be relatively fair.

To the Slaughter: Not super exciting, but I’ve played diabolic edict before, so it’s not garbage.

Triskaidekaphobia: Any card that say’s “Loses the game” is worth a look, and this does enough for you that it might actually be good.  Try it out.

Gesitblast: Well this is pretty good.  The spell itself isn’t worthless, but the real fun comes from having a free Fork in your yard.  Probably good in all stacks

Seasons Past: Drawing a bunch of cards is good.  Having those cards be ones you’ve already played is better.  Most likely this draws in the range of 2-5 cards, which is perfectly reasonable, and sometimes you can live the dream with it.  Plus, if the game goes really long, you’ll never deck out.

Second Harvest: Instant speed makes this low opportunity cost and allows people to build some pretty fun decks.  I like it.

Soul Swallower: This guy gets really big really fast.  Trample makes him sure to get through.  Not exciting, but fairly neat. 

Altered Ego: A clone that makes your guy infinitely large.  Seems legit.

Anguished Unmaking: There’s plenty of better removal out there, but this gets the job done in most cases.

Fevered Visions: Draws you the cards first, and provides some constant damage to slowly whittle away people.  Not bad.

Sigarda, Heron’s Grace: Making a lot of tokens is pretty good in the late game, and having hexproof is a nice bonus.  Smaller body, but still reasonable.

Sorin, Grim Nemesis: Sorin draws you cards and domes people simultaneously.  Even if he was just a sorcery with the text of the first ability it’d be a reasonable card to play, and there’s the possibility he sticks around for you to do it multiple times.  Plus, a 6 point drain isn’t a joke either (though only on creatures).  Highly playable.

Tamiyo’s Journal: While the searching turns me off of this, it’s a nice push-pull dynamic with this card.  Do you save up to tutor, or just have a personal howling mine?  Decisions are great when they’re all upside.



And that wraps us up here!  Shadows over Innistrad looks to have many solid playables, mainly in white and blue (big surprise).  I’m looking forward to playing the set, and will definitely be looking to build a Blue Clue deck in the future.  Thanks for reading!

Oath of the Gatewatch Type 4 Review

Hello everyone and welcome to another Type 4 set review, covering Oath of the Gatewatch.  Apparently I never posted this, so let’s get cracking.  While Battle for Zendikar was relatively lackluster, having mainly utility and removal cards with a few cool fatties, Oath at first glance looks to be back in Khans levels of power for Type 4.  Let’s check it out!

Deceiver of Form: Quick note so I don’t have to address it again: yes, you can get colorless mana in Type 4, along with snow mana, and every other color.  With that out of the way, this guy looks sweet.  An 8/8 is always a good body, but his ability encourages you to draft both token makers and sweet dudes.  Probably not for competitive, high powered stacks but certainly a fun card.

Endbringer: A plethora of abilities, not atrocious stats, but this guy will mostly be known for being an Archivist every turn once you untap.  Perfectly fine card, definitely add one.

Kozilek, the Great Distortion: Holyyyyyy…  This guy is the realest of deals.  An uncounterable draw up to 7, a massive, hard to block body, and the ability to impose your will on the table.  Absolute monster, basically every stack should add one if you can get him.

Thought-Knot Seer: I’m liking this guy simply because exiling troublesome cards is far better than discarding them, and the player you let draw does not have to be the same player you stole from.  Plus his body isn’t depressing.  Try him out.

Walker of the Wastes: Obligatory infinite/infinite with trample for stacks that want that sort of thing, which isn’t mine.

Warping Wail: This is a counterspell that also kills small utility dudes.  Odd card for sure, but is probably playable.

Eldrazi Displacer: Infinite flicker is really good, as in broken and should be avoided except by the same people who want Walker of the Wastes.

Dazzling Reflection: Pretty entertaining card, especially in infinte stacks.  Gain a billion life and prevent their guy from doing damage seems fun.

Immolating Glare: Serviceable removal if you’re lacking it, not the best but playable in lower power stacks.

Linvala, the Preserver: Fairly unexciting tbh, but it does come with 8 power of flying if the time is right.  Playable.

Deepfathom Skulker: Nifty card, hit your opponent with your team and draw a bunch of cards.  Playable

Dimensional Infiltrator: Oh look, you get to exile your opponents deck now to bypass their Emrakul.  Infinite stack only.  Honestly these kind of cards are pretty obvious, so I’ll assume you can figure out which ones are infinite stack (Hint: the one’s that kill everyone in one card)

Void Shatter: Another dissipate.  I really like dissipate.  I like dissipates that technically aren’t blue.  Play it.

Crush of Tentacles: Surge is an alternative cost, so this card can be cast with another spell if your group allows alt cost spells to be played, no rule of law enforced.  Getting an 8/8 while bouncing the board is pretty sweet. 

Negate: Countermagic is countermagic, and negate is criminally underrated.  Play it.

Overwhelming Denial: An uncounterable counterspell that helps you win fights (since you get to surge).  Playable no matter what rules you use, just gets even better with alt costs allowed.

Roiling Waters: I can only imagine that if this were an instant it would be the most rage inducing spell ever.  Sadly, you have to settle for sorcery speed blowouts.  Great before combat to get your guys through, and you get 2 cards as well.  Love it.

Sphinx of the Final Word: The obligatory “Your opponent discards a wrath” spell of the set, this sphinx punishes those who dare interact with you in any way besides conceding.  Doesn’t have the biggest body, but his abilities more than make up for it.  Play him.

Dread Defiler: Just when your opponents thought themselves safe from your fatties, you bring this guy out and kill all of them.  Very powerful, and will result in a lot of rage. 

Inverter of Truth: This is probably pretty good, as if you already played those cards you must want to play them again.  I’ll be trying him out.

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet: Interesting because he exiles their dead stuff and gets you some dudes to boot.  Or to eat.  One of the two.

Remorseless Punishment: A fun card for you, not so much for your opponents.  Probably not very powerful, but looks like a beating.  Try it out.

Eldrazi Obligator: A 3/1 haste that steals a guy is a pretty nice way to end a game, plus his ability is on cast so pretty hard to counter.  Playable.

Chandra, Flamecaller: A rare planeswalker that seems insane in Type 4 simply due to the 2^nd ability.  Mindmoil is one of my favorite cards, and this looks pretty much better.  The first ability isn’t a slouch either, as 6 hasty power can kill people in the late game, but that second ability is incredible.  And I guess it can kill tokens.

World Breaker: A big guy that keeps coming back from the dead to ruin their pretty little trinkets.  Plus his trigger is on cast.  Great card.

Mindmelter: Exile your opponents’ hands, then hit them with a 2/2 I guess.  Or abuse the fact that they only get 1 card a turn and can never counter your stuff by ruining their lives with big monsters.

Baloth Null: Draws 2 cards if you were running a creature heavy deck/stack.  Pretty powerful imo.  Try him out.

Mirrorpool: Two playable abilities on a land.  This is pretty much an auto include if you can pick one up

There you have it, Oath is looking to be a pretty solid set for Type 4.  Sadly, a lot of the good stuff is at mythic or are sure to be chase rares, but it’s really good stuff.  Kozilek is first pickable from many packs, and Mirrorpool is definitely up there too.

Tune back in this weekend for Shadows Over Innistrad, featuring a bunch of sweet mechanics both new and old along with one of my new favorite wraths and a counterspell that might beat out Overwhelming Intellect as my favorite.