The Basics:
1)Unlimited quantities of mana - Each player has access to an arbitrarily large quantity of mana at all times. Sometimes this is interpreted as each player controlling an infinite number of indestructible, shrouded basic lands, which would affect any cards which reference a player controlling these basic lands.
2)One spell limit on each turn - A player can only cast one spell on each turn, as if an Arcane Laboratory were in play at all times. A player can play one spell on their own turn, as well as a spell during each opponents' turn as long as they would normally be able to do so.
Gameplay)
Players begin the game with a 40 card library dealt from the stack, 20 life, and a starting hand of 5 cards. Like in the Commander format, in a multiplayer game, the first player in the game draws a card on their first turn, and turn order proceeds clockwise around the table. Each player draws one card during the draw step of their turn, and phases of the turn follow the normal turn structure for Magic. If a player has more than 7 cards in their hand during their discard step of the cleanup phase, they must discard cards from their hand until they reach 7 cards.
Play during a game of Type 4 proceeds with "chaos" rules - this is to say that there are no restrictions on who a player is able to attack with their creatures or target with their spells.
Gameplay typically favors the "defensive" player when iterations of infinity are in opposition to one another. For example, if a creature with a Firebreathing ability is blocked by a creature which can increase its toughness comparably (such as
Crowd Favorites
), the blocking creature will survive. Accordingly, if a player can activate an ability on a card without tapping (such as
Plaguebearer
) it can be countered indefinitely through means such as the second ability of
Azorius Guildmage
.
A player will win the game of Type 4 by being the "last man standing", either by eliminating all opponents, or by winning through alternate means. All win conditions usually seen in Magic gameplay are also valid here. Damage, poison, and mill are all viable win-conditions. Cards which state that a player "loses the game" (such as Door to Nothingness) or that a player "wins the game" (such as
Barren Glory
) are also valid win conditions.
