When Champions of Kamigawa came out, I was already familiar with Type 4. I'd played some games with many different stacks at that point, and I was really excited about the potential of some of the new cards. But our story doesn't begin there.

No, our story begins earlier, when I was having an innocuous conversation with TMD's Brassman (Andy Probasco) about his famously-overpowered T4 stack. He mentioned in passing an earlier stack, made with just Onslaught block cards. Between the morphs and the "overcosted" spells, the block made for a very interesting T4 environment. Although I didn't realize it at the time, I filed the information away for later use.

So now we return to the release of Champions. Or, to be more accurate, several months after the release of Champions. I'd seen some of the new cards shine in T4, but not as many as I'd hoped. I'd always pick Rend Flesh and Wear Away a little higher than I should, because I was hoping to splice Reweave. Unfortunately, that tended to be the limit of arcane spells in most stacks, so I never got my chance... Until, that is, I remembered Brassman's story, and realized that Kamigawa block would make an excellent T4 stack. There were all kinds of cool legends, and splice to get around the "one card per turn" limit. The more I thought about building such a stack, the more the idea appealed to me. Too many of the stacks I'd played with were more or less the same - I certainly didn't want to go through all the effort of building a stack just to have one that's ten cards different from all the others, especially since I was rarely at a tournament without at least one T4 stack anyway.

Then, as if to confirm my decision, the first time I started asking around for Champions cards, I found a guy who had been trying to assemble a set, but had sold off the chase rares. After picking up a Kokusho and a few other cards, I was ready to build my stack. I posted my version here at the Mana Drain (note: all my house rules are also listed in that thread).

Cards listed in parenthesis appear in multiple categories.

* after a cardname means the "basic land" requirement has been sharpied out.

Counterspells:
(Disrupting Shoal)
Hinder
Hisoka's Defiance
Minamo's Meddling
Quash
Sideswipe
Squelch
Thoughtbind
Time Stop

Splice Spells:
Blessed Breath
Candles' Glow
Consuming Vortex
Dampen Thought
Glacial Ray
Hideous Laughter
Horobi's Whisper*
Kodama's Might
Psychic Puppetry
Reweave
Soulless Revival
Through the Breach
Veil of Secrecy
Vital Surge
Wear Away

Other Arcane Spells:
Blind with Anger
Call for Blood
Cleanfall
Crack the Earth
Crushing Pain
Dance of Shadows
Devouring Rage
Disrupting Shoal
Eerie Procession
Ethereal Haze
First Volley
Heed the Mists
Ire of Kaminari
Lava Spike
Otherworldly Journey
Peer Through Depths
Petals of Insight
Pull Under
Quiet Purity
Reach Through Mists
Rend Flesh
Ribbons of the Reikai
Sift Through Sands
Terashi's Grasp
Terashi's Verdict
Three Tragedies
Toils of Night and Day
Unchecked Growth

Other Spells:
Befoul
Flames of the Blood Hand
Gale Force
Gifts Ungiven
Hanabi Blast
Mindblaze
Reciprocate
Rend Spirit
Reverse the Sands
Soulblast
Stir the Grave
Sway of the Stars
Time of Need
Twist Allegiance
Yamabushi's Flame

Lands:
Hall of the Bandit Lord
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Shizo, Death's Storehouse

Enchantments:
Genju of the Realm
Honden of Cleansing Fire
Honden of Infinite Rage
Honden of Life's Web
Honden of Night's Reach
Honden of Seeing Winds
Night Dealings
Night of Soul's Betrayal

Creature Enchantments:
Blessing of Leeches
Cage of Hands
Mark of the Oni
Mystic Restraints
Ragged Veins
Serpent Skin
Uncontrollable Anger

Artifacts:
General's Kabuto
Moonring Mirror
Reito Lantern
Sensei's Divining Top
(Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang)
That Which Was Taken

Beats:
Body of Jukai
Earthshaker
Godo, Bandit Warlord
He Who Hungers
Hikari, Twilight Guardian
Hired Muscle
Iname, Death Aspect
Iname, Life Aspect
Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
Jugan, the Rising Star
Kami of Lunacy
Kashi-Tribe Reaver
Keiga, the Tide Star
Kodama of the South Tree
Kodama of the North Tree
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Konda, Lord of Eiganjo
Kuro, Pitlord
Kyoki, Sanity's Eclipse
Moss Kami
Myojin of Cleansing Fire
Myojin of Infinite Rage
Myojin of Life's Web
Myojin of Seeing Winds
Ryusei, the Falling Star
Scuttling Death
Seizan, Perverter of Truth
Silverstorm Samurai
Sire of the Storm
Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
(Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang)
Teller of Tales
Thousand-legged Kami
The Unspeakable
Uyo, Silent Prophet
Yosei, the Morning Star

Utility:
Azami, Lady of Scrolls
Eight-and-Half-Tails
Hana Kami
Hearth Kami
Hisoka, Minamo Sensei
Horobi, Death's Wail
Initiate of Blood
Jushi Apprentice
Kami of Ancient Law
Kami of Old Stone
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Kiku, Night's Flower
Kitsune Diviner
Kitsune Riftwalker
Masako the Humorless
Matsu-Tribe Decoy
Matsu-Tribe Sniper
Mistblade Shinobi
Nezumi Cutthroat
Ninja of the Deep Hours
Ogre Marauder
Okiba-Gang Shinobi
Orochi Eggwatcher
Pain Kami
Samurai of the Pale Curtain
Tallowisp
Walker of Secret Ways
Waxmane Baku

Betrayers Cards I Am Planning To Add:
Ashen Monstrosity
Boseiju, Who Shelters All
Crawling Filth
Cunning Bandit
Eradicate
Final Judgment
Fumiko the Lowblood
Goryo's Vengeance
Heartless Hidetsugu
Hero's Demise
Higure, the Still Wind
In the Web of War
Isao, Enlightened Bushi
Ishi-Ishi, Akki Crackshot
Jetting Glasskite
Kami of the Honored Dead
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Lifespinner
Neko-Te
Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo
Ornate Kanzashi
Overblaze
Oyobi, Who Split the Heavens
Patron of the Akki
Patron of the Kitsune
Patron of the Moon
Patron of the Nezumi
Patron of the Orochi
Pus Kami
Reduce to Dreams
Ronin Warclub
Scour
Shining Shoal
Sickening Shoal
Throat Slitter
Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
Torrent of Stone
Toshiro Umezawa
Umezawa's Jitte
Ward of Piety
Yomiji, Who Bars the Way

To summarize: nine counterspells, fifteen splice spells, thirty-one other Arcane spells, fifteen normal spells, three lands, seven creature enchantments, eight other enchantments, six artifacts, thirty-seven fat creatures, and twenty-nine utility creatures, with forty-one Betrayers cards not yet added.

In terms of gameplay, the stack is a ton of fun. You get all the normal T4 moments: huge creatures, splashy effects, and endless surprise instants. A few aspects are different: life totals are harder to change with spells (no Urza's Rage, no Beacon of Immortality), and there are no combo kills. There's also the unique experiences of this stack, like splicing five cards onto a Reach Through Mists, getting out a bunch of Hondens, or just surprising someone with a ninja.

No one wants a card-by-card analysis in T4 articles, but I do want to talk about a few specific cards, to highlight certain aspects of this stack:

Night Dealings
A very powerful tutor effect, this card turns into a miniature Soothsaying with Sensei's Divining Top. In order to save time and cut down on unnecessary shuffling, I made a house rule that lets a player with both of those cards stack any three cards from his deck on top (because otherwise he could activate Night Dealings for zero, check the top three cards with Top, and repeat until he got the cards he wanted anyway).

Genju of the Realm
I had more lands and some Soratami in here, but they were weak. I left in some lands that are (barely) playable on their own, but I didn't want to cut this guy, because the card is just so awesome. So, I decided to have him not require a land to enchant. To avoid confusing players new to the stack, I put a little slip of paper in his sleeve that says "it just works." I left Uyo as a vanilla 4/4 flyer for now.

Otherworldly Journey
This is an arcane instant, so it's obviously useful just for that, but the sheer variety of things this card can do is amazing. Oh, sure, it can counter removal, or remove your creature with combat damage on the stack, and it can save you from a rampaging attacker - but it can also get your creature back if it's been stolen by Keiga or Ink-Eyes, and it makes a great response to Sway of the Stars. None of those abilities might be spectacular on their own, but taken all together you get a very playable card - which may seem strange to some T4 players, because combat tricks are basically unplayable in Wrath of God- and bomb-heavy normal stacks.

Tallowisp
All the cards with good spiritcraft triggers are playable, even this guy (he may not look weak to you drafters - but trust me, normal T4 players probably skipped this paragraph).

On a side note, the coolest play I've seen with the instant-speed enchantment is using them to trump Crack the Earth. Myojin of Cleansing Fire (with a divinity counter) was the card saved that way both times I saw this happen.

Silverstorm Samurai
Instant-speed anything is awesome in T4, because otherwise you're stuck with a huge handful of cards that you can't play quickly enough (especially since I use seven-card starting hands). While it'd be nice to drop these guys to block and kill something, you're probably better served playing them at the end of someone's turn, and then just attacking with them. If they happen to turn into a ninja, well, that's just a bonus.

Time Stop
This is obviously the best Counterspell in the stack, but there isn't much competition. Disrupting Shoal is solid because you can splice stuff onto it, and Minamo's Meddling stops splicing craziness - but after that you're looking at cards like Hinder and Hisoka's Defiance. With so few counterspells overall, and even fewer good ones, I have to be very careful what bombs I allow in the stack. Myojin of Night's Reach and Nezumi Gamerobber were deliberately left out. Another interesting effect is that people have to respond to spells with some kind of trick, rather than a counter. It's actually much more interesting.

That's a small sample of the awesomeness that is my Kamigawa block T4 stack. I urge readers to not only consider making such a stack of their own (bonus! it's easy to foil out), but to consider other niche stacks. What would an all-white T4 stack look like? Maybe someone out there wants to find out. Experimentation is the key, because as fun as my stack is, it's only the tip of the iceberg.

Jacob Orlove
Team Meandeck
Moderator, TheManaDrain