[Editor's Note: The link to the original Type 4 Primer can be found here.]

Well, Betrayers has finally hit the scene, and it's time for me to do what I've been threatening to do for a while now: write the Type 4 set review for it. This time, in addition to just saying what is good for normal Type 4, I'll also point out a few cards that are powerful or just cool if you happen to be playing with a lot of arcane spells or spirits.

The reason I'll be doing this is that there are a fair number of people out there who just can't track down that Infernal Spawn of Evil or can't afford to buy a Chaos Orb, and have to stick to a newer card pool for their stack. In addition, I happen to know that one Jacob "Jacob" Orlove is putting together a Kamigawa block stack, and if that turns out to be fun, then I see no reason why this guide shouldn't help on that end.

But before we get into the meat of the review, let's say a few words about everyone's favorite creature type:

Ninjas
Sadly for Type 4 players everywhere, the ninjas in Betrayers of Kamigawa are largely unfit for our format. For one thing, our creatures tend not to swing as much and when they do, they don't necessarily get to do any damage at all, let alone damage to the opponent (and when they do, we generally want it to happen). Even so, some of the effects provided by the various ninja are compelling, such as drawing a card or destroying a creature. Nonetheless, there are only a couple that are really good enough to play with, and only one of those should really be used.

So what is that usable ninja? If you guessed your shiny, flashy, prerelease Ink-Eyes, well then you'd be correct. A 5/4 regenerating body is no slouch by itself, but Ink-Eyes has the added benefit of being able to reanimate your opponents' creatures. Even if you aren't able to ninjutsu her in, the threat of her can work to your advantage and if she ever happens to actually hit, well, then you're way ahead of the game. On a creature like this, regeneration and five power is just icing on the ninja cake.

The only other ninja that's even worth considering for a normal Type 4 stack is Okiba-Gang Shinobi, which has the exceptionally powerful ability to make your opponent discard 2 cards. The problem with this is that discard is a grossly mean effect, and it really tends to be a buzzkill when someone is forced to lose a couple cards. I really recommend no more than three or four discard effects in a stack of 300, and even that can ruin the game sometimes.

Of course, if you're limiting your card pool like Jacob is doing, there's little reason to avoid using the ninjas. On the whole, effects are going to be less powerful, and something like randomly drawing a card off of Ninja of the Deep Hours or bouncing something with Mistblade Shinobi is going to have a greater impact. It's just that those guys don't really compare to things like Whispers of the Muse and Capsize.

Cards That Are Totally Sweet
Betrayers isn't as great for Type 4 as Unhinged was, but there are a number of cards that are amazing. These are the cards that are really worth your while and you should definitely be playing with.

Shining Shoal
Simply amazing. Though I don't believe this card is as game-breaking in Constructed as Aaron Forsythe, it's still an excellent card and even better in Type 4. Infinite damage redirection like Captain's Maneuver is rare, but insanely powerful. This card is an auto-include.

Disrupting Shoal
Auto-include. You won't use the alternate casting cost very often, but it's another very solid counterspell. Besides, we're already playing the White one, and we loves us some cycles, even if two of them are far too powerful to use unless you're insane like the Brass Man and think infinite effects are awesome.

Heed the Mists
Though slow at sorcery speed, this card still stands to draw you an insane number of cards in a typical Type 4 stack. Sure, every once in a while you might turn up a low-cost removal or utility spell, but just as often you'll turn up something like Draco and draw 16 cards.

Sway of the Stars
An excellent reset button, this card does more than other draw 7's in that it completely resets the game state, entirely erasing any advantage any player had built up. The only downside is that it leaves you having played your spell for the turn, and at a vulnerable 7 life. If you live the rest of your turn though, everyone is at an even footing. Our erstwhile Vintage World Champion Carl Winter had this to say: "Sway the Stars is f***ing AWESOME. My friend Rob had Tower of Eons going for infy turns until I topdecked Sway and completely reset the game. Rob was then able to Rage out another guy whilst I attacked for the kill."

Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
As I mentioned earlier, this is really the only Ninja worth including in a normal stack, but wow is she worth it.

Sickening Shoal
The last of the three shoals that can be played in a normal stack, this one is very good at handling creatures that otherwise can't be destroyed (I'm looking at you, Colossus). Why is this on the must-include list but Eradicate isn't? Well, for one, the Shoal is part of a cycle of cards, and as I said earlier, we loves us some cycles. Second, many groups play with the rule that if you use an ACC for a spell (typically excluding costs like the WUBRG for Bringers), then that spell doesn't count for your spell for the turn. This rule makes Misdirection and Force of Will better than Deflection and Counterspell, and also makes Sickening Shoal very, very good.

Heartless Hidetsugu
This guy is just crazy - the anti-Beacon of Immortality. Stealing half of a player's life at instant speed is just too good to pass up. The only downside to this guy is that he doesn't have haste, and he can be killed by just about every piece of removal in the stack.

That Which Was Taken
The only reason any of us play with any Myojin besides the White and Black ones are because of their divinity counters make them indestructible. The ability to make any number of our permanents indestructible (albeit at a slow rate), is extremely good, not to mention the potential for occasionally recharging a Myojin.

Cards That I Like, and Would Consider Playing With
These cards are ones that I'm looking at for inclusion. This list isn't comprehensive, as this set contains a number of cards that are of fair quality for Type 4 but don't scream out as being awesome. I'm just going to list a few cards from each color here, so feel free to look for more on your own and discuss them in the forums.

The Whites
Final Judgement
Generic Wrath effect #2,345, this does have the benefit of removing the creatures from the game. A solid addition to any stack, this is particularly useful if you have reanimation effects running rampant or have particular difficulties dealing with regenerators or indestructibles.

Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo
Though Opal-Eye can't attack, his abilities are strong enough that he is very worth playing with. Another infinite toughness blocker like Crowd Favorites, Opal-Eye additionally has a Pentagram of the Ages-like effect.

Ward of Piety
This card can turn any of your creatures into a Glarecaster. Though I probably won't play with it, if you happen to like letting your players more easily put together combos like Glasticore (Glarecaster + Masticore = gg), then Ward of Piety is for you.

The Blues
Jetting Glasskite
A solid beater, this guy also has the additional advantage of being relatively difficult to kill. Not quite as good as an untargetable creature, the fact that the Glasskite also has flying works to his favor. Without a Wrath or a Masticore, the Glasskite requires two players working together to kill him. He's already in my stack, and I suggest you put him in yours as well.

Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
If just one creature with this ability is solid, then giving it to all of your creatures is great. Kira will likely serve as a magnet for any creature removal, but that's removal that isn't going at your other men. In the meantime, all of your men have a shield protecting them from most harmful effects.

Minamo's Meddling
Better than a vanilla counterspell, getting an opponent to reveal his hand can grant everyone some worthwhile intelligence. This is a card that gets much better if your stack is packed with arcane effects.

Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
A utility creature with a decent back-end, this library manipulation effect can be very strong. I'd never thought of using Sylvan Library before, but filtering the top 3 bombs of a stack filled with bombs could be amazing.

The Blacks
Eradicate
Another removal spell that RFG's instead of destroys, this is good if you need to mitigate reanimation effects or deal with an indestructible, but just another removal spell otherwise.

Stir the Grave
At sorcery speed, this probably isn't going to work any miracles on its own. Still, there are a lot of creatures in the average stack worth recurring, and with infinite mana this can go grab any of them.

Toshiro Umezawa
To be honest, I'm not sure how this guy is going to shake out, but I bet he could be very good. Creatures die left and right in Type 4, and being able to replay instants is always fun, particularly if you put them there with something like Intuition or Gifts Ungiven.

The Reds
Crack the Earth
Similar to the way Barter in Blood is a wrath effect in this format, this can wipe a board. Particularly useful if someone has some really annoying permanent like Legacy Weapon on the table keeping people from playing theirs.

Flames of the Blood Hand
The damage Flames does is actually secondary to its other, and far more powerful effect. With life gain as good as it is in Type 4 (Tower of Eons, Granny's Payback, Beacon of Immortality, etc.), the ability to prevent it at instant speed can be very strong, and keep an opponent within striking distance.

In the Web of War
An excellent card for those of you who like to turn sideways, this also has really awesome interactions with creatures that have tap abilities. No longer do you have to hope Arcanis lives through a round or even an end-of-turn step in order to use him. With this card, he draws three cards right away.

Overblaze
A weaker Savage Beating is all this card really is, but the effect is still strong and can catch an opponent off guard.

The Greens
Enshrined Memories
With infinite mana, this can pull all of the creatures in your deck into your hand. You probably wouldn't want to do this, but still, it's something to consider. More importantly, you can use it to get a quick couple of creatures when you need them. The downside of this card is that it's difficult to control, and is probably best used when you have a reliable way of reanimating creatures you've discarded.

Splinter
A basic way to deal with some of the more troublesome artifacts like Darksteel Colossus or Legacy Weapon.

The Artifacts
Ornate Kanzashi
We play with things like Thought Dissector and Grinning Totem, so why not a card that lets us do such things every turn? The only problem with Ornate Kanzashi is that you're taking a gamble that the top card of an opponent's library is better than anything you have in your hand.

Cards that Would be Totally Awesome if You Had Lots of Arcane Spells and Spirits
Do I really have to explain this? [No. Knut, who thinks people got it the first time]

Oyobi, Who Split the Heavens
If you play with a lot more random arcane spells and spirits than I do, this guy would be really cool. Only a 3/6 himself, regular casting of arcane spells and spirits will let him amass you a horde of flying 3/3's pretty quickly.

Ribbons of the Reikai
This card is only good if your stack has lots of spirits, and almost worthless otherwise. If it does however, you'll be drawing a lot of cards with this.

Goryo's Vengeance
A limited Corpse Dance, this is probably very useful in a stack such as Orlove's Kamigawa block one, where a very high percentage of your men will be Legendary. This could even be useful in a normal stack, where though the Legendary creatures will be fewer in number, they will most likely all be seriously broken.

Body of Jukai
While normally an 8/5 trampler would be nothing special, if you have a lot of spirits this guy can get pretty nutty. Most important to note is that Soulshift of 8 can bring back all of the Dragon Spirits and a couple of the Myojin.

Kodama of the Center Tree
When you have no spirits, this Kodama kinda sucks. If your stack is chock-full of them however, he can get pretty huge.

Cards That Suck
Don't make me hurt you.

Heart of Light
This card has some interesting political aspects. You could pacify a creature with nifty abilities that could nevertheless kill you if it swung while allowing its controller to still use its other effects. It's also an alternative answer to Masticore. Nonetheless, this is probably too narrow and weak in application to be truly useful.

Kami of the Honored Dead
I at first thought this card might be an okay replacement for Exalted Angel if you can't get your hands on one, but then I read it again. It's maybe worth playing instead of some random vanilla fatty if you still have any. Otherwise it's completely forgettable.

Mending Hands
Maybe if you really need more damage prevention. There are much better cards for this though.

Minamo Sightbender
Cute, but of arguable utility. There's a lot better, but unblockability in this format can mean a quick death. Use it if you like, but I'm not going to bother.

Quash
There's really no need for this. Though it isn't more narrow than say, Exclude, it doesn't cantrip and its other effect is only marginal since there aren't many cards that allow spell recursion.

Reduce to Dreams
This has interesting applications. A board can be completely turned upside down just with this one spell, and this can compensate if you feel your stack is a bit low on enchantment or artifact removal. I still feel it's very weak though, and I won't be playing with it.

Iwamori of the Open Fist
5/5 tramplers are nice and all, but the drawback on this guy is far too great.

All of the Guys that Add Mana to Your Mana Pool
What the hell would you do with it?

The Genjus
What the hell would you cast these on?

Mirror Gallery
Just what the hell do you think this would accomplish?

And there you have it, my take on Betrayers of Kamigawa as it relates to Type 4. Before I go, I'd like to offer my thanks to Doug Linn, a.k.a. Hi-Val on The Mana Drain, for making this beauty of a card for my stack (and yes, it is double-signed by the man himself):

Really Good Looking Tutor
Instant - B

As an additional cost to play Really Good Looking Tutor, you must compliment an opponent.

Playing Really Good Looking Tutor does not count against your limit of spells per turn.

Look through your library for any one card, reveal it and place it in your hand. Shuffle your library afterwards.

There are a couple of errata, which in no way detract from the awesomeness of this card. First, backhanded compliments don't count and second, if Doug happens to be in the vicinity when you play this, complimenting him allows you to get two cards instead of one.

Until next time,
-David 'Klep' Kleppinger
dr.klep@gmail.com