@TheFamilyBerzurcher- great stuff, love your thinking here and I hope it catches on in the way we all communicate about the music. I predict your "Phase IV" will generate some debates as to what should make the cut... it starts to nudge into the realm of subjectivity (which is inevitable with this music and thus not a bad thing...)
In any event, you did a perfect job summing up with you're Phase IV idea what the "Type II" label never quite captured: "...the very reason that many of us have been hooked on Phish -- chasing around the fourth phase..."

Thanks