Good magic is the one that doesn't look like an illusion.

If you have a great story, people will love each of its intermediate suspense moments and the revelation of false tracks along the way before getting to a surprising conclusion.

If you were fortunate enough to see Master Payne's C&Bs routine which has many phases you KNOW that the number of phases is what illustrates a good script and not the other way around.

Performer looking for the "good" number of phases are the one who try to show off their skill ... which means that, IMHO, they are totally missing the point about magic: magic is about sharing with an audience not about displaying sleights of hand.

Don't look for the number of phases and the right choice of effect for these phases... Look for (or write or adapt) a great story and learn to "act it", "voice" it, share it (not just perform a routine): this will somehow "dictate the sequence of phases... If you have a problem doing this, read Darwin Ortiz's Strong Magic or Designing Miracles... and get help from quotes taken out from the internet (and cynically and ruthlessly twisted if need be: we are professional liers aren't we?) to condense your script in great lines (kind of like "facts speaks louder than words" and "Magic speaks louder than experienced facts") It's just like good sex! Mae West explained long ago: "It isn't what we do, but how we do it. It isn't what we say, but how we say it, and how we look when we do it and say it."

How many phases?

As many as it takes to drive them into weeping submission, particularly the children and the elderly.

You must be from the school of Eddie Joseph his routines were loooong. Don't get me wrong he had brilliant ideas but man lots of phases.

As for me I think I have three; cups thru cups, vanish and reappearance, and final loads. I keep it short and sweet besides I talk so much during the routine that I don't need anymore.

Define phase.

I suppose you could say my routine has Five Phases. But each of those phases could be broken down into smaller units.

My routine is as long as it needs to be. Which in my case is about twenty minutes or so.

"...(cynically and ruthlessly twisted if need be: we are professional liars aren't we?)"

I prefer the term "Creators of Fantastical Reality".
I try to stick to the truth as closely as I can, for it is easier to remember.

I am not sure how you are dividing up phases, but...
The standard routining that I used for years was pretty basic: Each ball goes through the center cup, toss one ball into the bag to find it back under the cup, then cup thru cup and two final ball loads.

After chopping my cups and <presently> creating new monkey's fist balls:
The routine that I am currently developing is the above with Chop Cup (all three cups are chopped), silk and small cup production and penetration, ending with the two (soon to be three) production balls, all ends in a symmetrical display formation. Not an auto reset routine, but a better routine than before, with a historical aspect added, all performed, standing at my portable table.