# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Lotus Field Combo is a Historic combo-ramp deck built around resolving and exploiting `Lotus Field`, then converting repeated untap effects, card selection, and graveyard recursion into a spell-chain finish. The registered strategy name is `Lotus Field Combo`; the active format is `Historic`; the current archetype and mechanic tags are `combo` and `ramp`. Runtime decisions should treat this deck as a proactive engine deck with light interaction, not as a generic control deck, tempo deck, or creature-combat deck.

The registered deck passes the provided active validation contract: `60` main-deck cards and `15` postboard cards. The main deck contains exactly: `3 Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `4 Expedition Map`, `4 Consign to Memory`, `2 Consider`, `2 Into the Flood Maw`, `1 Stifle`, `4 Hidden Strings`, `4 Pore Over the Pages`, `2 Lórien Revealed`, `2 Ponder`, `2 Stock Up`, `2 Wish`, `4 Artist's Talent`, `3 Underworld Breach`, `4 Deserted Temple`, `4 Lotus Field`, `4 Spirebluff Canal`, `3 Island`, `3 Otawara, Soaring City`, and `3 Steam Vents`. The sideboard contains exactly: `3 Brotherhood's End`, `3 Leyline of Sanctity`, `2 Surgical Extraction`, `1 Abrade`, `1 Grapeshot`, `1 Into the Flood Maw`, `1 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `1 Tendrils of Agony`, `1 Tome Scour`, and `1 Underworld Breach`.

The list is best classified as a hybrid Lotus Field build rather than a fully stock template. It uses familiar Lotus Field engine elements such as `Lotus Field`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, and `Wish`, but the exact shell is deck-specific because it combines `Artist's Talent`, `Underworld Breach`, main-deck `Consign to Memory`, main-deck `Into the Flood Maw`, and a compact sideboard finish package. A pilot should not assume outside staples, alternate finishers, extra tutors, commander protection cards, or absent utility cards exist unless they appear in the registered decklist or are shown by the rules engine as legal game objects.

The core role concern is that the deck must assemble mana before it can dominate the game. `Lotus Field` is the central engine land, `Deserted Temple` and untap spells can multiply its output, and `Expedition Map` increases access to the required land pieces. Early decisions should value hands and lines that plausibly reach a functional `Lotus Field` engine, but the pilot must respect visible pressure, known disruption, and actual legal actions before committing to a slow setup.

The mana-base concern is that the deck is blue-red but functionally engine-dependent. `Island`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` provide normal colored setup mana, while `Lotus Field` and `Deserted Temple` provide the explosive mana once the engine is online. The pilot should not treat every keepable two-land hand as stable if it lacks access to `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, strong selection such as `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, or a credible draw path into the engine.

The legality concern is that every runtime choice must come from Veles and the rules engine, not from deck theory. The guide may recommend looking for `Lotus Field`, sequencing `Hidden Strings`, or planning around `Wish`, but the decision agent must choose only displayed legal action IDs, respect current priority, visible mana, stack contents, zone visibility, and known revealed information, and avoid asserting that a spell can be cast, copied, targeted, escaped, wished for, or resolved unless the engine exposes that legal action.

The opponent-information status is unknown for this specification batch. No opposing archetype, decklist, sideboard, public game state, or metagame field has been supplied, so the default pilot posture is open-field Historic combo play: prioritize engine assembly, preserve interaction when visible threats or stack pressure justify it, and avoid naming opponent cards in policy fields unless Veles has observed them or a later matchup section explicitly marks them as `opponent:` examples.

## Thesis
Lotus Field Combo assembles `Lotus Field` plus untap effects, land access, and high-density card flow, then turns the resulting mana into a spell chain that wins through `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, and sideboard payoffs. The first priority is to make `Lotus Field` functional; the second priority is to convert that mana into cards with `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, and `Lórien Revealed`; the final priority is to commit to a win line only when the visible resources, graveyard, mana, and stack position support it.

This deck is not trying to trade creatures, win normal combat, or answer every opposing permanent. It uses `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Stifle`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, and postboard interaction to buy the turn or protect the engine, but long games are favorable only when the engine continues generating mana and cards. Do not spend interaction merely because it is legal; spend it when it protects `Lotus Field`, preserves enough life/time to combo, stops a visible lock piece, or prevents a stack/ability event that would break the current commitment.

The win plan should stay conditional until Veles exposes legal actions. `Wish` can access registered sideboard payoff tools such as `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, `Underworld Breach`, or interaction, but the pilot must choose only visible legal actions and should not assume a postboard card is castable, lethal, or correct without current mana, storm/spell count, graveyard, library, and priority context. `Underworld Breach` turns graveyard volume into repeated resources when legal, but it can also consume the graveyard quickly, so the commitment gate should compare whether waiting produces more mana/cards versus whether visible pressure or disruption makes waiting worse.

## Role Package
- Threats: `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` is primarily an untap piece, not a combat threat, and should be valued for engine function before damage. `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` is a sideboard alternate-win threat when accessed or boarded, but only if the legal action and library-state context support that route. `Grapeshot` and `Tendrils of Agony` are sideboard kill payoffs, not early interaction spells unless Veles shows a legal emergency line.

- Payoffs: `Wish` is the main bridge from engine mana to the sideboard finish package, especially `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, and the extra `Underworld Breach`. `Pore Over the Pages` is also a payoff because it can convert excess mana into cards while untapping engine resources. Treat payoff commitment as a reasoning-heavy choice when the opponent has visible pressure, open interaction, graveyard hate, or a relevant stack object.

- Engines: `Lotus Field` is the central mana engine, and `Deserted Temple`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` are the primary ways to reuse that mana. `Expedition Map` is the main land-engine access card and should often find missing engine lands rather than decorative utility. `Artist's Talent` belongs in the engine/velocity package, but Card text check required for exact level timing, cost modification, and card-flow usage; follow engine-exposed legal actions and treat it as conditional support, not a guaranteed combo by itself.

- Velocity: `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, and `Pore Over the Pages` find engine pieces, refill during combo turns, and smooth hands that otherwise contain too much mana or too many payoffs. Selection should prioritize missing engine access first, then untap density, then payoff access, unless survival interaction is immediately required.

- Interaction: `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Stifle`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Abrade`, `Brotherhood's End`, and `Surgical Extraction` are tactical tools for buying time or protecting the engine. `Consign to Memory` and `Stifle` should be held for stack or ability events that matter to the current plan when possible. `Into the Flood Maw` and `Otawara, Soaring City` are tempo exits against visible blockers, hate pieces, or pressure, not default value plays.

- Protection: `Leyline of Sanctity` protects the pilot from targeted disruption or damage plans when boarded or present in opening-hand contexts, subject to legal pregame actions. `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` are the main in-game protective cards. Protect engine continuity over minor card advantage when a single disrupted `Lotus Field` turn loses the game.

- Recursion: `Underworld Breach` is the primary recursion card and should be treated as a commitment engine rather than a casual value spell. The extra sideboard `Underworld Breach` can be a `Wish` target or boarded resource, but using either copy requires enough graveyard material and mana to continue after the first escape sequence.

- Mana: `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Island`, `Steam Vents`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` form the mana package. Early lands should enable blue setup spells and red support while moving toward `Lotus Field`; post-engine decisions should preserve enough colored mana for the actual legal payoff chain.

- Sideboard modules: `Brotherhood's End` is the sweeper module, `Leyline of Sanctity` is the protection module, `Surgical Extraction` is the graveyard/disruption module, `Abrade` is artifact/removal flexibility, `Into the Flood Maw` is extra tempo interaction, and `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, and `Underworld Breach` are the `Wish` and post-board finish/engine modules.

## Primary Win Conditions
- `Wish` payoff kill: Assemble `Lotus Field` with untap access from `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, or `Deserted Temple`, then use the mana and spell chain to cast `Wish` for a registered sideboard payoff such as `Grapeshot` or `Tendrils of Agony`. Prioritize this path when Veles shows enough current or reachable mana, enough spell count or repeatable casts, and a clear legal route to the postboard card; do not assume lethal from storm-like text unless the rules engine exposes the legal action and the visible count supports it. Protect the commitment with `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` only against stack objects, abilities, or permanents that would stop the engine or the payoff turn.

- `Underworld Breach` recursion kill: Build a graveyard with `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Pore Over the Pages`, spent `Expedition Map`, interaction, and earlier untap spells, then commit to `Underworld Breach` when repeated legal casts can convert graveyard cards into mana, cards, and a finish. Prioritize this line when waiting is risky, the graveyard is large enough to pay escape costs through the first failed attempt, and visible graveyard interaction is absent or beatable. Avoid firing `Underworld Breach` as low-impact value when the graveyard is thin, the mana chain is incomplete, or the only legal follow-up spends the resources needed for `Wish` or a payoff.

- `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` alternate win: Use `Wish` or post-board access to `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` only when the engine can cast it and the library/graveyard context makes the alternate-win route plausible. `Tome Scour` can support a self-mill route when legally available through `Wish` or sideboarding, but the pilot must target and sequence only from visible legal actions and must not assume an empty-library win without engine confirmation. Prioritize this route when direct damage payoffs are unavailable, prevented, extracted, or visibly insufficient, and when the deck can survive the turn cycle or win immediately through the legal draw/mill sequence.

- Engine-first setup: Use `Expedition Map` to find missing `Lotus Field` or `Deserted Temple` before chasing utility, unless the visible board requires `Otawara, Soaring City` as interaction. Use `Artist's Talent` only according to rules-engine legal actions; Card text check required for exact level, cost, and card-flow implications, so treat it as support for velocity rather than a guaranteed win condition.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Hard-cast sideboard payoff pressure: `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Tome Scour`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, and the sideboard `Underworld Breach` can become real cards after `Wish` or sideboarding, so secondary wins should follow the same legal-action discipline as primary combo turns. Choose this route when the main `Wish` chain is constrained but the current hand, mana, or graveyard already supports a registered postboard card.

- Small-creature damage is a fallback, not a plan: `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` can attack only when Veles exposes a legal attack and the creature is no longer needed to untap `Lotus Field` or `Deserted Temple`. Use combat damage to shorten the clock when the opponent is nearly dead or when combo resources are exhausted, but do not trade away `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` if it is the visible route to restarting the engine.

- Value-control drift can buy another combo turn: `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Stifle`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Brotherhood's End`, `Abrade`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, and `Surgical Extraction` are not the deck's main win conditions, but they can create enough time for a later `Lotus Field` turn. Use them to answer visible hate, lethal pressure, graveyard disruption, or stack events that matter; avoid spending them on marginal tempo if the hand still needs protection for a future commitment.

## Emergency Lines
- Behind on life or board: Stop sculpting if visible attackers or damage sources create a short clock, and prioritize legal actions that preserve a turn cycle: `Into the Flood Maw`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Brotherhood's End`, `Abrade`, or a faster `Wish` payoff attempt. If the only viable path is combo now, accept a lower-resource commitment rather than passing with no survival line.

- Behind on cards or engine pieces: Use `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, and `Pore Over the Pages` to find `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, untap effects, or payoff access in that order, unless immediate interaction is required. Keep hands or lines with mana but no card flow only when `Expedition Map` or visible draw actions can bridge into the engine.

- Behind on mana or missing `Lotus Field`: Preserve early blue sources from `Island`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` for selection and interaction while moving toward `Expedition Map` or natural `Lotus Field`. Do not sacrifice tempo to utility land choices if the deck cannot yet cast its setup spells.

- Graveyard or recursion disrupted: Shift from `Underworld Breach` toward direct `Wish` payoff, `Pore Over the Pages` refuel, or `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` if legal and supported. If `Underworld Breach` is removed or unusable, stop valuing graveyard volume as a win by itself.

- Win conditions removed or inaccessible: Reassess from visible zones only, then choose between rebuilding with card flow, using remaining `Wish` targets, attacking with `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, or buying time with interaction. Never concede from assumption; force Forge to prove no legal route remains.

## Resource Model
- Life is a combo clock buffer: spend life from `Steam Vents` only when the untapped red or blue source changes the current turn's legal actions, protects a `Lotus Field` setup, or enables a same-turn engine push. Preserve life when the hand already has blue access and the opponent's visible board threatens a short clock.

- Hand size is engine fuel: keep cards that combine `Lotus Field`, untap effects, selection, and payoff access, and convert excess sculpting spells into graveyard volume only when they move toward `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, or a missing mana piece. Do not hoard `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, or `Lórien Revealed` if the hand lacks `Lotus Field` access.

- Mana is the central resource: a resolved `Lotus Field` plus `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, or `Deserted Temple` is worth more than ordinary land count. Protect the first `Lotus Field` turn from tempo loss by ensuring the sacrificed lands have already produced needed setup value.

- Board presence is mostly infrastructure: treat `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Artist's Talent`, and a non-attacking `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` as engine pieces, not battlefield pressure. `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` should be spent on combat only when it is no longer needed as an untap resource or blocker and Veles exposes a legal attack that does not weaken the next combo turn.

- Graveyard is a second hand for `Underworld Breach`: selection spells, spent `Expedition Map`, interaction, and previous untap spells increase later recursion density. Avoid exiling key engine cards through `Underworld Breach` lines unless the current legal sequence is already converting them into mana, cards, or a win.

- Exile matters because recursive lines consume it: track which cards leave the graveyard during `Underworld Breach` turns and stop assuming a loop remains once `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Wish`, or payoff access is gone. If graveyard access is disrupted, pivot back to direct `Wish` or draw-based rebuilding.

- Lands are both mana and costs: early `Island`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` cast setup spells, then become acceptable `Lotus Field` sacrifice material once their color role is covered. `Deserted Temple` is usually not sacrifice fodder when it can untap `Lotus Field`.

- Sacrifice fodder is limited to lands for `Lotus Field`: do not value creatures or permanents as disposable unless Forge presents a legal cost from a visible card. The deck is not built to sacrifice `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` or `Artist's Talent` for value.

- Tempo is bought selectively: use `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` to stop visible hate, lethal pressure, or interaction that blocks the engine. Do not spend tempo tools on harmless permanents if the combo turn needs protection.

- Information comes from selection and public zones: use `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, and visible opponent actions to decide whether to sculpt, protect, or go now. Never assume hidden disruption; weigh only public mana, known cards, revealed cards, and legal stack actions.

- Sideboard bullets are `Wish` resources and post-board cards: `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, sideboard `Underworld Breach`, `Abrade`, `Brotherhood's End`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, `Surgical Extraction`, and sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` should be treated as precise answers or finishers, not generic cards to fetch without a visible purpose.

## Mana Guide
- Blue access is mandatory early: keep hands that can cast `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Stifle`, `Hidden Strings`, or `Expedition Map` on time, with special preference for `Island`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, or `Otawara, Soaring City`. Mulligan hands with no blue and no credible `Expedition Map` path unless Veles shows a strong alternative legal setup.

- Red access is required for major commitments: preserve or fetch red from `Spirebluff Canal` or `Steam Vents` when the hand contains `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, or `Artist's Talent`. Card text check required for exact `Artist's Talent` sequencing, so prioritize red for confirmed legal casts and do not assume it fixes or generates mana.

- `Lotus Field` timing should minimize lost development: play it when sacrificed lands have already produced early selection, `Expedition Map`, or protection, or when the next legal untap chain makes the loss irrelevant. Avoid playing `Lotus Field` too early if sacrificing lands leaves no colored source for follow-up actions.

- `Deserted Temple` is strongest after `Lotus Field`: sequence it as utility rather than color fixing, and do not keep a hand that relies on `Deserted Temple` as an early colored source. When both are present, preserve `Deserted Temple` for untap turns unless the rules engine exposes a clearly necessary land-sacrifice choice.

- `Otawara, Soaring City` is both land and interaction: play it as a blue source when the hand needs mana stability, but hold it when another blue source exists and a visible hate permanent, creature threat, or tempo-sensitive object may need its channel-like utility. Card text check required for exact activated ability cost and restrictions.

- Shock-land decisions should be tied to legal actions: play `Steam Vents` untapped when it enables immediate selection, interaction, `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, or a protected `Lotus Field` turn. Play it tapped when the same turn has no meaningful use for the extra mana or life is under pressure.

- Play lands before draw spells when the legal line needs mana now: make the land drop first if it unlocks `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Expedition Map`, `Hidden Strings`, `Consign to Memory`, or a protection spell this turn. Delay the land drop before `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, or `Pore Over the Pages` when current mana already casts the spell and the draw/selection may reveal whether the land should be `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, a color source, or utility `Otawara, Soaring City`.

- Mulligan mana rules are strict: keep hands with blue source plus `Expedition Map` or `Lotus Field` access and at least one velocity spell; be suspicious of hands with only colorless utility, only expensive draw, or `Lotus Field` without enough lands to sacrifice. A slower hand with `Consign to Memory` may be keepable against visible or known fast disruption only if it still advances toward `Lotus Field`.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keeps start with blue mana plus `Lotus Field` access: keep `Island` or `Spirebluff Canal` plus `Expedition Map`, `Ponder` or `Consider`, and any untap engine such as `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, or `Deserted Temple`. This hand has setup, selection, and a clear turn-three or turn-four engine path.

- Strong keeps can already contain `Lotus Field`: keep two other lands, `Lotus Field`, one cheap setup card, and either `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, or `Artist's Talent`. Prefer this over speculative multi-draw hands because it does not need to find the core land.

- Medium keeps need a credible search chain: keep blue source plus `Expedition Map` plus `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, or `Consider` if the hand has at least two lands or a visible path to land drops. These hands are acceptable when they can spend the first two turns finding `Lotus Field` or the untap half.

- Risky keeps are interaction-heavy but engine-light: keep `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or `Stifle` hands only when they also have blue mana, land drops, and at least one real engine finder. Do not keep four interaction/setup spells with no `Lotus Field`, no `Expedition Map`, and no selection unless the matchup demands survival and the hand still casts spells.

- Automatic ships lack blue or a core path: ship hands with no blue-producing land, hands relying on only `Deserted Temple` for mana, one-land hands without `Ponder` or `Consider`, and hands containing expensive cards like `Pore Over the Pages`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Wish`, and `Underworld Breach` without early mana. Ship `Lotus Field` hands that cannot produce two other lands to sacrifice before the deck can recover.

- Matchup-dependent keeps change with pressure: against fast creature pressure, prioritize blue land, early selection, and `Into the Flood Maw` or post-board `Brotherhood's End`; against discard or direct targeting, post-board hands with `Leyline of Sanctity` may be keepable if the remaining cards still function. Against graveyard pressure, do not keep an `Underworld Breach`-only plan unless `Wish`, `Pore Over the Pages`, or direct `Lotus Field` development can win without graveyard certainty.

- Play keeps should be proactive: on the play, favor `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, `Artist's Talent`, and clean land sequencing over reactive `Consign to Memory` hands. On the draw, a slightly slower hand with `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, or `Into the Flood Maw` is stronger because the opponent is likelier to present a visible stack or permanent before the combo turn.

- Trap hands look powerful but strand actions: avoid `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, and no cheap blue spell because the hand may sacrifice lands before it can convert mana. Avoid double `Underworld Breach` hands without graveyard fuel, and avoid double `Wish` hands without red mana or enough mana to cast the fetched payoff.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1 should create a path to `Lotus Field`: cast `Expedition Map` when available, otherwise cast `Ponder` or `Consider` to find `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, land drops, or an untap engine. Hold `Consign to Memory` or `Stifle` only when the opponent presents a legal stack object worth answering or the matchup makes early disruption more important than setup.

- Turn 1 land choice should preserve colors: lead `Spirebluff Canal`, `Island`, or untapped `Steam Vents` when it casts `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, or `Consign to Memory`. Play `Otawara, Soaring City` as a land when blue access is otherwise missing; hold it only when another blue source already supports the turn and a future bounce line may matter.

- Turn 2 should convert setup into certainty: activate or prepare `Expedition Map` for `Lotus Field` if the hand lacks it, cast `Artist's Talent` when red is available and Veles exposes a legal cast that improves future combo turns, or use `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, or `Lórien Revealed` when land drops or engine pieces are missing. Card text check required for exact `Artist's Talent` level or mode timing, so choose only legal actions exposed by the engine.

- Turn 2 deviations protect the combo turn: hold up `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` when a visible permanent, triggered ability, activated ability, or spell would stop `Lotus Field`, graveyard recursion, or survival. Do not spend these cards on low-impact objects if the next turn needs protection.

- Turn 3 is the normal `Lotus Field` commitment turn: play `Lotus Field` when two expendable lands are available and the follow-up hand contains `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Deserted Temple`, or selection that can bridge to them. If the hand cannot use the extra mana yet, consider delaying `Lotus Field` to cast `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, or `Consider` first.

- Turn 3 combo attempts require a gate: go now only when visible mana, known cards, graveyard fuel, and legal actions indicate that `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Deserted Temple`, `Underworld Breach`, or `Wish` can continue the chain. If interaction is visible or the chain lacks payoff access, sculpt instead of tapping out.

- Turns 4-5 should either win or assemble inevitability: chain `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, and `Deserted Temple` around `Lotus Field`, then use `Wish` to access a legal sideboard finisher or answer. Use `Underworld Breach` when the graveyard contains enough cheap selection, untap spells, or payoff access to justify exiling cards.

- Turns 4-5 deviations answer blockers to the engine: use `Into the Flood Maw`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Abrade` through post-board access, or `Brotherhood's End` after sideboarding only when the visible board or stack threatens lethal pressure, a hate permanent, or a disruption point that prevents the combo. Fetching a sideboard answer with `Wish` should solve a current obstacle or create a deterministic finish.

- Late game is about conserving deterministic outs: protect `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, `Hidden Strings`, and `Pore Over the Pages` because each can restart a stalled engine from a single `Lotus Field`. If graveyard resources are depleted, prioritize raw draw and selection from `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, and `Pore Over the Pages` over speculative recursion.

- Late game finish choices must follow legal payoff text: choose `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach` through `Wish` only when the visible legal action and current resources support that line. Do not assume storm count, library size, or self-mill legality beyond the rules-engine output.

## Card Roles
- `Lotus Field` is the deck's central mana engine: commit it when two other lands can be sacrificed and the hand or graveyard can immediately convert triple mana into `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Deserted Temple`, or `Wish`. Do not play it just because it is available if sacrificing lands leaves no blue spell, no untap effect, and no next-turn recovery path.

- `Deserted Temple` is both acceleration and combo redundancy: preserve it when `Lotus Field` is already present or imminent, because untapping `Lotus Field` is often stronger than making early colorless mana. Treat hands with only `Deserted Temple` as unstable unless another colored source or `Expedition Map` is already available.

- `Expedition Map` is the cleanest setup card: cast it early when `Lotus Field` is missing, activate it before spending mana on speculative selection, and fetch `Lotus Field` unless the engine already has one and visible needs point to `Deserted Temple` or a blue land. Do not overvalue holding `Expedition Map`; the deck usually wants certainty, not surprise.

- `Hidden Strings` is the primary untap converter: cast it when legal targets and mana make the chain advance, especially with `Lotus Field` plus another useful permanent or `Deserted Temple`. Avoid firing it into an empty continuation unless it produces a necessary bridge to `Pore Over the Pages`, `Wish`, or `Underworld Breach`; the card is much worse as a one-shot ritual with no follow-up.

- `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` is an untap spell first and a creature only when the engine is not ready or a body matters for survival. Prioritize the legal mode that untaps `Lotus Field` or another decisive mana permanent during combo turns, and cast it as a creature only when Veles exposes no useful untap line, a blocker is necessary, or the game has slowed enough that body plus future utility is relevant. Card text check required for any exact cycling or triggered details, so follow engine-presented legal actions.

- `Pore Over the Pages` is the major draw-and-untap bridge: use it after `Lotus Field` can pay for it and the untap will restore mana for more actions. It is often the best mid-combo spell because it digs while refunding tempo; before `Lotus Field`, it is usually stranded and should not justify a keep by itself.

- `Underworld Breach` is the recursion engine and fragile commitment card: cast it when the graveyard already contains enough cheap selection, untap effects, or payoff access to make the turn materially progress. Do not expose `Underworld Breach` just to replay one weak card unless pressure forces a low-resource attempt; graveyard size, visible hate, and available mana should decide whether to go now.

- `Wish` is the sideboard access valve: hold it until it either finds a finisher, finds an answer, or adds a missing combo piece such as sideboard `Underworld Breach`. Fetch `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, or `Tome Scour` only when current legal actions, mana, library state, graveyard state, and storm or draw context support that route; do not assume a payoff is lethal without visible proof.

- `Artist's Talent` is a proactive engine-support permanent when its legal text improves selection, cost flow, or combo velocity. Card text check required for exact level, trigger, and mode behavior, so the pilot should choose only engine-exposed actions and treat it as a setup piece rather than a guaranteed win condition. Cast it early when red mana is available and the hand already has land development; delay it when `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, or `Consider` is needed to find `Lotus Field` first.

- `Consign to Memory` is stack protection and tempo interaction: hold it for visible spells, activated abilities, or triggered abilities that threaten the combo turn, disrupt `Lotus Field`, stop `Underworld Breach`, or create lethal pressure. Do not spend it on low-impact objects when the hand is close to winning; its highest value is protecting the decisive turn or buying exactly enough time to reach it.

- `Stifle` is a narrow but high-leverage one-of: use it on a visible triggered or activated ability only when the ability materially affects mana development, combo safety, survival, or the opponent's own decisive turn. Because it is singleton interaction, do not fire it for convenience when `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or a combo win can handle the same problem later.

- `Into the Flood Maw` is a flexible bounce or reset tool: use it to remove a visible hate permanent, interrupt pressure for a turn, clear a blocker only if combat unexpectedly matters, or protect the combo from a permanent-based lock. Avoid spending it on ordinary creatures when life total and clock do not demand it; the deck's answer density is low, and `Wish` may need it to bridge sideboard games.

- `Ponder` is the best cheap sculpting spell when the deck needs a specific category: cast it early to find `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, a missing colored source, or an untap spell, and cast it mid-combo when mana remains and the next card matters. Preserve known-good tops when they complete the chain; shuffle or bottom-equivalent decisions should be based on visible hand gaps, not generic card quality.

- `Consider` is the instant-speed smoothing card: use it when holding interaction, when the top card is unknown and the hand needs land or engine density, or during `Underworld Breach` turns if recasting it adds meaningful graveyard churn. Do not cast it automatically before a known `Ponder` setup or when preserving a specific top card is important.

- `Stock Up` is a slower selection and resource card: cast it when the deck has reached stable mana but lacks a combo component, payoff access, or protection. It is weaker than direct `Lotus Field` access in the first two turns, but valuable after the first engine attempt stalls because it can find fresh density without relying on the graveyard.

- `Lórien Revealed` is a blue card-advantage and fixing role-player: use its available legal mode to secure land drops or refuel when the game slows, but avoid keeping hands that rely on casting it before `Lotus Field` without enough mana. Card text check required for exact cycling or search behavior; select the legal action that solves current mana or card-flow constraints.

- `Spirebluff Canal` is the preferred early colored land: lead it when it casts `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Consign to Memory`, or `Artist's Talent` on curve. Its value drops later if it enters tapped, so early sequencing should often use it before `Steam Vents` or `Otawara, Soaring City` when life total and colors permit.

- `Steam Vents` supplies both key colors: use it untapped when the turn needs immediate blue or red for setup, interaction, or `Artist's Talent`, and preserve life only when the visible clock is low and another source casts the same spells. It is one of the better sacrifice candidates to `Lotus Field` after it has produced its early color.

- `Island` is the safest blue source: keep it for early cantrips and interaction, and value it highly in hands with `Consign to Memory`, `Consider`, `Ponder`, or `Into the Flood Maw`. It cannot cast red setup or postboard cards, so pair it with `Spirebluff Canal` or `Steam Vents` when possible.

- `Otawara, Soaring City` is both land and interaction: play it as a land when blue access is otherwise missing or when curving into `Expedition Map` and selection matters more than future bounce. Hold it only when another land already covers blue and a visible permanent-based disruption line makes the channel-style role more important. Card text check required for exact activation costs and reductions.

- Sideboard bullets matter through `Wish` even before sideboarding: `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, and sideboard `Underworld Breach` are payoff or engine-access targets, while `Brotherhood's End`, `Abrade`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, and `Surgical Extraction` are matchup tools. Use `Wish` for these only when the visible problem or finish is concrete, because spending a turn on the wrong postboard card can strand the combo.

### Card Hover Notes

#### Vizier of Tumbling Sands
- Deck role: Main deck, 3 copies, core untap piece and occasional emergency body.
- Role type: mechanic enabler; mana/fixing/ramp; engine piece.
- Deck-specific job: Converts `Lotus Field` into extra mana by untapping it, usually through cycling plus the cycle trigger; hard-cast it only when a 1/3 body or repeated `{T}: Untap another target permanent` matters.
- Timing: Cycle during combo turns when `{1}{U}` plus the untap trigger produces more mana than it costs, especially with `Lotus Field`; cast as a creature only when blocking, future untaps, or slow-game resilience is worth spending three mana.
- Inputs / outputs: Cycling consumes `{1}{U}` and the card, draws one card, adds a graveyard card for `Underworld Breach`, and triggers an untap of target permanent; creature mode consumes `{2}{U}` and later taps to untap another target permanent.
- Mode map: Creature mode gives a reusable untapper but is slow; cycling mode is the main Lotus line because it draws and untaps immediately; the cycle trigger can untap `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, or a color source, while the creature tap ability cannot target Vizier itself.
- Partners / packages: Best with `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Hidden Strings`, and `Underworld Breach`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Deserted Temple` as Lotus untap effects.
- Failure modes: Do not cycle before `Lotus Field` is available if the hand needs Vizier as the only future untap; do not attack or trade it away when it is the visible way to restart the engine.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against fast creature decks, blocking is correct only when it prevents lethal or buys the exact combo turn; against control/combo, preserve it as spell-chain material.

#### Expedition Map
- Deck role: Main deck, 4 copies, core land tutor/search piece.
- Role type: tutor/search; mana/fixing/ramp; role glue.
- Deck-specific job: Finds the land that makes the deck function, usually `Lotus Field`; after Lotus is secured, it finds `Deserted Temple` for extra untaps or `Otawara, Soaring City` when a bounce land is the needed answer.
- Timing: Cast early, especially turn one; activate before speculative card selection when the missing card is clearly a land. Save activation only when holding up `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Consider`, or `Into the Flood Maw` matters more this turn.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{1}` to cast, then `{2}`, tap, and sacrificing Map to search your library for a land card, reveal it, put it into hand, then shuffle; the sacrificed Map fuels `Underworld Breach`.
- Partners / packages: Targets `Lotus Field` for the engine, `Deserted Temple` for Lotus multiplication, `Otawara, Soaring City` for channel access, `Steam Vents` for Island/Mountain colors, `Spirebluff Canal` for early blue/red, and `Island` for untapped blue.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Lórien Revealed` finding `Island` or `Steam Vents`, but Map can find any registered land.
- Failure modes: Do not fetch decorative utility when no `Lotus Field` is visible; do not spend the activation mana if it prevents a required protection spell during the opponent’s decisive turn.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against artifact hate, recognize that Map can be removed before activation; against fast pressure, Map should secure Lotus quickly rather than set up a long utility line.

#### Consign to Memory
- Deck role: Main deck, 4 copies, core stack protection and narrow tempo interaction.
- Role type: interaction-stack; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Counters target triggered ability or colorless spell that would stop `Lotus Field`, break `Underworld Breach`, interfere with `Wish`, or create a lethal turn; replicate lets extra mana copy the spell for multiple legal targets.
- Timing: Hold for a spell on the stack or triggered ability that changes the combo turn, not for low-impact value. During a Lotus turn, leave blue mana up when the opponent can present a relevant colorless spell or triggered ability.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{U}` plus optional replicate payments of `{1}` each; each copy counters one target triggered ability or one target colorless spell.
- Mode map: Base cast answers one legal target; replicate copies the spell for each `{1}` paid and may choose new targets, useful when multiple triggered abilities or colorless spells are on the stack.
- Partners / packages: Protects `Lotus Field`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Underworld Breach`, and `Wish`; works alongside `Stifle` for triggered abilities, but Consign also hits colorless spells.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Stifle` for abilities; no other current-list card counters a colorless spell.
- Failure modes: Do not claim it counters a colored non-colorless spell; do not spend it on a harmless triggered ability if the opponent can still stop the actual payoff.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against colorless spells, artifact-style engines, and triggered hate; weaker when the opponent’s disruption is ordinary colored stack interaction or resolved battlefield pressure.

#### Consider
- Deck role: Main deck, 2 copies, cheap instant-speed selection and graveyard fuel.
- Role type: card selection; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Smooths early draws toward `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, missing lands, or untap effects while stocking one card for `Underworld Breach`.
- Timing: Use early when the hand lacks land access or a missing engine class; hold until opponent end step when representing `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, or `Into the Flood Maw` matters. During Breach turns, recast only if the graveyard can afford the escape cost.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{U}`, surveils 1 by looking at the top card and optionally putting it into your graveyard, then draws a card; adds itself to the graveyard after resolution.
- Partners / packages: Finds `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Underworld Breach`, and `Wish`; feeds escape for `Underworld Breach`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Ponder` for one-mana selection, but Consider is instant and fills the graveyard more directly.
- Failure modes: Do not cast it before resolving a known-good `Ponder` top unless drawing that card now is intended; do not surveil away the only available payoff or land when that is the current bottleneck.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Better against control when holding mana open; against aggro, use it proactively if finding `Into the Flood Maw`, `Brotherhood's End`, or a fast Lotus line is required.

#### Into the Flood Maw
- Deck role: Main deck, 2 copies, plus Sideboard, 1 copy; tempo bounce role player and Wish-accessible lock-breaker.
- Role type: interaction-removal; modal utility; sideboard bullet; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Buys the turn or clears a permanent that stops the combo; without gift it returns target creature an opponent controls, while promising the tapped Fish expands the target to target nonland permanent an opponent controls.
- Timing: Use when bouncing the target changes lethal math, removes a hate permanent for the combo turn, or protects a payoff line. Avoid spending it on an ordinary creature if the current clock still allows setup.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{U}` and one card; with gift promised, the opponent creates a tapped 1/1 blue Fish creature token before the bounce effect, so the tempo cost matters.
- Mode map: No-gift line targets only a creature an opponent controls and returns it to its owner’s hand; gift line gives that opponent a tapped Fish and instead targets a nonland permanent an opponent controls, including artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker, but not land.
- Partners / packages: Protects `Lotus Field`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, and `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` by removing a blocker, hate permanent, or lethal attacker.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Otawara, Soaring City`; `Abrade` overlaps only against target creature or artifact after sideboarding/Wish.
- Failure modes: Do not target your own permanent; do not promise the Fish when creature-only bounce already solves the problem; do not treat temporary bounce as permanent removal unless winning immediately follows.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: High value against permanent hate, single large threats, and fast attackers; lower value against discard-only or counterspell-only opponents.

#### Stifle
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, singleton precision stack-interaction slot.
- Role type: interaction-stack; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Counters target activated or triggered ability, except mana abilities cannot be targeted; the best uses stop a visible ability that disrupts Lotus mana, graveyard access, payoff resolution, or survival.
- Timing: Save for high-leverage ability windows because there is only one copy. Use immediately only if the ability would remove the next combo turn, create lethal, exile the graveyard before Breach, or stop an engine piece.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{U}` and one card to counter one legal activated or triggered ability on the stack; does not answer a spell on the stack.
- Partners / packages: Protects `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, and `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` from ability-based disruption.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Consign to Memory` for triggered abilities; Consign cannot counter activated abilities, while Stifle cannot counter colorless spells.
- Failure modes: Do not target a mana ability; do not hold it for a resolved permanent if the only relevant object is a spell or ability currently on the stack.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against triggered hate, activated graveyard hate, and ability-based combo; often cuttable against creature decks where battlefield pressure matters more than stack abilities.

#### Hidden Strings
- Deck role: Main deck, 4 copies, core Lotus untap converter.
- Role type: mechanic enabler; mana/fixing/ramp; engine piece.
- Deck-specific job: Turns `Lotus Field` into mana-positive action by untapping it and often another relevant permanent; cipher is rarely the main plan but can matter if `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` safely connects.
- Timing: Cast when at least one target, preferably `Lotus Field`, makes the turn advance. Avoid firing it as a low-value tap/untap spell with no follow-up unless it bridges into `Pore Over the Pages`, `Wish`, or `Underworld Breach`.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{1}{U}`, targets up to two permanents through two “may tap or untap” choices, and can produce extra mana when untapping `Lotus Field` or `Deserted Temple`.
- Mode map: Primary resolution untaps `Lotus Field` and a second useful permanent; defensive use may tap opposing permanents only when survival or a same-turn window matters; cipher may exile the spell encoded on a creature you control, then that creature’s combat damage to a player lets its controller cast a copy without paying its mana cost.
- Partners / packages: Best with `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Underworld Breach`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Deserted Temple`.
- Failure modes: Do not encode onto `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` if attacking will cost an engine body or expose it to a bad trade; do not use both targets on low-impact permanents during a combo turn.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against control, it is a must-answer engine spell; against aggro, tapping a threat is only correct when it buys the needed turn or allows a win.

#### Pore Over the Pages
- Deck role: Main deck, 4 copies, core draw-and-untap engine payoff.
- Role type: engine piece; card selection; discard outlet; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Converts Lotus mana into three new cards while untapping up to two lands, usually `Lotus Field` plus `Deserted Temple` or another blue/red source, then discards the lowest-priority card for the current chain.
- Timing: Best after `Lotus Field` can pay for it and untap refund mana. Before Lotus, cast only when the game is slow enough or the hand otherwise cannot progress.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{3}{U}{U}`, draws three cards, untaps up to two lands, then discards a card; it increases graveyard size for `Underworld Breach` and can be escaped later if Breach is active and enough graveyard cards remain.
- Partners / packages: Untaps `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Steam Vents`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Island`, or `Otawara, Soaring City`; digs to `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, `Hidden Strings`, and `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Lórien Revealed` for draw three, but Pore uniquely untaps lands and discards.
- Failure modes: Do not keep a hand relying on hard-casting this without enough mana; do not discard the only payoff or untap effect unless the three drawn cards replaced that role.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against pressure, cast only if the untaps let you stabilize or win; against control, it is one of the best ways to force resource exchanges.

#### Lórien Revealed
- Deck role: Main deck, 2 copies, blue card-advantage spell and early Island-type fixer.
- Role type: card selection; tutor/search; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Early, Islandcycling finds exact registered Island-card targets; late, hard-casting draws three to refill a stalled Lotus chain.
- Timing: Islandcycle when missing land drops or blue/red access; hard-cast only when five mana is available and drawing three is better than preserving it as cheap graveyard fuel or a land finder.
- Inputs / outputs: Hard-cast costs `{3}{U}{U}` and draws three cards; Islandcycling costs `{1}`, discards Lórien Revealed, searches your library for an Island card, reveals it, puts it into hand, then shuffles. Islandcycling does not draw a card.
- Mode map: Draw-three mode is a sorcery-speed refill. Islandcycling costs {1}: discard Lórien Revealed, search for registered `Island` or `Steam Vents`, reveal that card, put it into hand, then shuffle; it cannot find `Spirebluff Canal`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Deserted Temple`, or `Lotus Field`.
- Partners / packages: Finds `Island` for untapped blue or `Steam Vents` for blue/red and Island/Mountain typing; hard-cast digs toward `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Wish`, and `Underworld Breach`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Pore Over the Pages` for draw three and `Expedition Map` for land search, though Map can find any land.
- Failure modes: Do not call cycling a draw trigger for drawn-card counts; do not rely on it for red unless finding `Steam Vents` is legal and available.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against aggro, cycling for a land is often better than waiting for draw three; against control, hard-cast draw three becomes valuable if protected.

#### Ponder
- Deck role: Main deck, 2 copies, cheap sorcery-speed sculpting piece.
- Role type: card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Looks three deep for the exact missing axis: `Lotus Field` or `Expedition Map` first, then `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Underworld Breach`, or `Wish`.
- Timing: Cast early before committing to risky land sequencing when the hand needs a specific card. During combo turns, cast before spending flexible mana if the top-three ordering can determine whether to continue or shuffle.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{U}`, looks at the top three cards, puts them back in any order, may shuffle, then draws a card; does not place cards in the graveyard unless a shuffle changes library order through game rules.
- Partners / packages: Finds `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, `Deserted Temple`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, `Consign to Memory`, and `Into the Flood Maw`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Consider`, but Ponder sees more cards and is sorcery speed.
- Failure modes: Do not shuffle away a top-three set that contains the missing engine piece just because the rest are medium; do not cast after making a land drop if seeing the top three could have changed that land decision.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against fast decks, prioritize Lotus access or survival interaction; against control, keep stacks that produce redundant must-answer spells rather than one fragile payoff.

#### Stock Up
- Deck role: Main deck, 2 copies, slower selection and resource role player.
- Role type: card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Finds two cards from the top five when the deck needs a specific pair, such as `Lotus Field` plus untap, `Underworld Breach` plus fuel, or `Wish` plus protection.
- Timing: Cast after early mana is stable or when the hand is missing too many pieces for one-card selection to solve. Avoid spending turn-three on it if playing or enabling `Lotus Field` is already available and safe.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{2}{U}`, looks at the top five cards, puts two into hand, and puts the rest on the bottom of your library in any order; it does not fill the graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Selects among `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, `Deserted Temple`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, `Consign to Memory`, and `Into the Flood Maw`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Ponder` and `Consider` for selection; `Stock Up` is slower but keeps two cards.
- Failure modes: Do not take redundant payoff cards over the missing land or untap effect; do not bottom protection when the opponent has visible interaction that can stop the next commitment.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Stronger in slower control or midrange games; against aggro, often trimmed because three mana without immediate board impact can lose the race.

#### Wish
- Deck role: Main deck, 2 copies, core sideboard access payoff.
- Role type: combo tutor; tutor/search; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Converts engine mana into the right outside-the-game card this turn: a storm kill, alternate win, extra Breach, self-mill fuel, or a specific answer.
- Timing: Cast only when the chosen postboard card can be played this turn or the current turn can safely spend `{2}{R}` to set up; avoid Wish with no mana left for the selected card unless the game state makes that delay safe.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{2}{R}` and gives permission to play a card you own from outside the game this turn; it does not put the chosen card into hand by itself.
- Mode map: Finish targets are `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, and `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`; extension targets are sideboard `Underworld Breach` and `Tome Scour`; answer targets are `Brotherhood's End`, `Abrade`, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, and `Surgical Extraction` when those answer a visible problem.
- Partners / packages: Needs red from `Lotus Field`, `Spirebluff Canal`, or `Steam Vents`; pairs with `Underworld Breach`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Artist's Talent`.
- Role peers: No direct peer; closest role overlap is `Expedition Map` as a tutor, but Wish accesses postboard spells instead of lands.
- Failure modes: Do not select a storm payoff without enough spell count, mana, and legal targets; do not select `Tendrils of Agony` without black mana available from `Lotus Field`.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against aggro, Wish often finds `Brotherhood's End`, `Abrade`, or `Into the Flood Maw`; against control or combo, it should find a payoff only when the chain is ready.

#### Artist's Talent
- Deck role: Main deck, 4 copies, proactive engine-support permanent and cost-reduction setup.
- Role type: engine piece; discard outlet; mechanic enabler; engine payoff.
- Deck-specific job: Turns noncreature spells into optional discard-then-draw filtering, later reduces noncreature spell costs by `{1}`, and at level 3 increases noncombat damage from your sources to opponents or their permanents by 2.
- Timing: Cast early when red is available and it does not delay `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, or a necessary interaction turn. Level 2 as a sorcery when cost reduction will pay back across `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, and selection spells.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{1}{R}`; each noncreature spell can discard one card then draw one; level 2 costs `{2}{R}` and makes noncreature spells cost `{1}` less; level 3 costs `{2}{R}` and boosts your noncombat damage to an opponent or permanent an opponent controls by 2.
- Mode map: Level 1 filters combo pieces and graveyard fuel; level 2 is the main engine upgrade; level 3 makes `Grapeshot` copies or other noncombat damage more lethal but costs a full sorcery-speed payment.
- Partners / packages: Triggers from `Expedition Map`, `Consign to Memory`, `Consider`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Stifle`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, `Stock Up`, `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, and postboard spells cast post-board or through Wish.
- Role peers: No direct peer; closest role overlap is `Consider` and `Pore Over the Pages` for filtering/discarding into Breach.
- Failure modes: Do not over-level when the mana is needed for `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, or protection; do not discard the only land, untap, or payoff unless the draw is necessary and the graveyard plan is active.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent in slower games; against aggro, a turn spent casting or leveling it must still leave a path to survival.

#### Underworld Breach
- Deck role: Main deck, 3 copies, plus Sideboard, 1 copy; core graveyard recursion engine and Wish target.
- Role type: engine piece; recursion; combo enabler.
- Deck-specific job: Turns the graveyard into repeatable casts for a single turn, replaying selection, untap spells, `Wish`, or payoff access while exiling other graveyard cards as fuel.
- Timing: Commit when enough mana and graveyard cards already support multiple escapes or an immediate win. Avoid using it for one weak replay unless pressure forces a low-resource attempt.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{1}{R}`; each nonland card in your graveyard gains escape equal to its mana cost plus exile three other cards from your graveyard; at the beginning of the end step, sacrifice Underworld Breach.
- Partners / packages: Replays `Consider`, `Ponder`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Wish`, `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, and `Tome Scour`; `Artist's Talent` and `Pore Over the Pages` add discard/graveyard volume.
- Role peers: Sideboard `Underworld Breach` is the direct redundant copy; no other current-list card gives graveyard recasting.
- Failure modes: Do not exile the last needed `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Wish`, or payoff support unless the current sequence wins; do not cast it into visible graveyard hate without an answer.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against attrition and counterspell trades; weaker against graveyard exile, so shift toward direct `Wish`, `Pore Over the Pages`, or bounce/removal for hate when needed.

#### Deserted Temple
- Deck role: Main deck, 4 copies, core utility land and Lotus multiplier.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; engine piece.
- Deck-specific job: Makes colorless early if necessary, but its real job is paying `{1}` and tapping to untap `Lotus Field`, turning one land into another triple-mana activation.
- Timing: Preserve it when `Lotus Field` is present or imminent. Do not sacrifice it to `Lotus Field` unless the hand has no realistic Temple line or the other lands are more important for colored spells.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for `{C}`; its activated ability costs `{1}` and tapping Deserted Temple to untap target land. With `Lotus Field`, the output can become mana-positive and color-flexible.
- Partners / packages: Best with `Lotus Field`; also interacts with `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, and `Expedition Map`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, and `Pore Over the Pages` as Lotus untap tools.
- Failure modes: Do not keep hands that rely on it as a colored source; do not tap it for `{C}` if the same turn needs its untap ability after Lotus produces mana.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against land disruption or tempo pressure, protect the Temple/Lotus pairing because it is often the difference between a stalled turn and a deterministic chain.

#### Lotus Field
- Deck role: Main deck, 4 copies, central core mana engine.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; engine piece.
- Deck-specific job: Produces three mana of any one color and turns every untap from `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, or `Deserted Temple` into a major mana burst.
- Timing: Play when you can sacrifice two lands without stranding the hand, or when the next turn’s untap chain makes the sacrifice irrelevant. Delay if losing two lands prevents blue setup, red Breach/Wish access, or survival interaction.
- Inputs / outputs: Enters tapped, has hexproof, sacrifices two lands when it enters, and taps for three mana of any one color; it does not provide mana the turn it enters unless untapped by another effect.
- Partners / packages: Core partner for `Deserted Temple`, `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Wish`, and `Underworld Breach`.
- Role peers: No direct peer; every other mana source is setup or support for Lotus.
- Failure modes: Do not play it with fewer than two other lands to sacrifice if the legal game state would make that fail; do not sacrifice the only needed blue or red source unless Lotus mana can immediately replace that color.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against pressure, timing Lotus is the main survival gate; against control, resolve it before committing fragile spells when possible because hexproof makes it harder to interact with once established.

#### Spirebluff Canal
- Deck role: Main deck, 4 copies, early blue/red mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Casts early `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Artist's Talent`, `Underworld Breach`, and `Wish` before the Lotus engine is online.
- Timing: Best as an early land because it enters untapped only if you control two or fewer other lands. Lead with it when it casts a turn-one or turn-two setup spell.
- Inputs / outputs: Enters tapped unless you control two or fewer other lands; taps for `{U}` or `{R}`. Later it is often acceptable `Lotus Field` sacrifice material after it has produced early color.
- Partners / packages: Supports blue setup from `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, and `Stifle`; supports red setup from `Artist's Talent`, `Underworld Breach`, and `Wish`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Steam Vents`; Spirebluff avoids life payment early but becomes tapped later.
- Failure modes: Do not save it for later if doing so makes it enter tapped and costs a critical early spell; do not treat it as fetchable by `Lórien Revealed`.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against aggro or burn, its painless early colors are valuable; against slow decks, sequence it to maximize untapped turns before Lotus sacrifices lands.

#### Island
- Deck role: Main deck, 3 copies, basic blue mana resource and Islandcycling target.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provides reliable untapped blue for `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Stifle`, `Hidden Strings`, `Stock Up`, and `Pore Over the Pages` without life payment.
- Timing: Lead on Island when blue setup or protection matters and red is not needed immediately. Keep it as a safe land to sacrifice to `Lotus Field` only after other sources cover current blue needs.
- Inputs / outputs: Basic Land — Island with `{T}: Add {U}`; searchable by `Lórien Revealed` Islandcycling and by `Expedition Map`.
- Partners / packages: Casts `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Stifle`, `Hidden Strings`, `Stock Up`, and `Pore Over the Pages`; pairs with red sources `Spirebluff Canal` and `Steam Vents`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Otawara, Soaring City` for blue mana and `Steam Vents` as an Island-type blue source.
- Failure modes: Do not keep Island-only hands that cannot access red for `Artist's Talent`, `Underworld Breach`, or `Wish` if those are the hand’s payoff cards.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against aggressive or burn decks, Island avoids `Steam Vents` life loss; against control, it helps keep one blue open for stack interaction.

#### Otawara, Soaring City
- Deck role: Main deck, 3 copies, legendary blue land and channel interaction slot.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; interaction-removal; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Usually casts blue setup spells as a land; when another blue source exists, it can be held to channel and return a target artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker to its owner’s hand.
- Timing: Play as a land when missing blue mana; hold when a visible hate permanent or lethal attacker may need temporary removal. Channel during the opponent’s end step or combo turn when the bounce creates an immediate window.
- Inputs / outputs: As a land, taps for `{U}`; channel costs `{3}{U}` and discarding Otawara, reduced by `{1}` for each legendary creature you control. This deck has no registered legendary creature, so expect the full `{3}{U}` cost unless the game state creates one.
- Mode map: Land mode is stable blue mana; channel mode is uncountered-by-normal-spell-counters ability pressure that bounces target artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker, but not land.
- Partners / packages: Supports `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Stifle`, `Hidden Strings`, and `Pore Over the Pages`; channel protects `Lotus Field`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, and sideboard payoffs from permanent hate.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Into the Flood Maw`; Otawara costs more but uses a land slot.
- Failure modes: Do not discard it for channel if the deck still needs land drops; do not expect it to bounce opposing lands or spells on the stack.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against permanent locks and single threats; weaker when the opponent attacks hand or stack without battlefield targets.

#### Steam Vents
- Deck role: Main deck, 3 copies, Island Mountain dual mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Supplies both key colors and is searchable by `Lórien Revealed` because it has Island type; it also gives red for `Artist's Talent`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, `Grapeshot`, `Abrade`, and `Brotherhood's End`.
- Timing: Pay 2 life for untapped Steam Vents only when immediate blue or red changes the turn: casting setup, holding interaction, or enabling a combo commitment. Let it enter tapped when life matters and the mana is not needed now.
- Inputs / outputs: As it enters, you may pay 2 life; if you do not, it enters tapped. It taps for `{U}` or `{R}`.
- Partners / packages: Casts blue spells `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Consign to Memory`, `Hidden Strings`, and `Pore Over the Pages`; casts red spells `Artist's Talent`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, `Grapeshot`, `Abrade`, and `Brotherhood's End`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Spirebluff Canal`; Steam Vents is fetchable by Islandcycling but may cost life.
- Failure modes: Do not pay 2 life by habit against fast damage decks; do not let it enter tapped if the current turn needs `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, or `Consign to Memory`.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against burn and aggro, life payment must buy a real action; against control, untapped access can be worth the life to protect an engine turn.

#### Brotherhood's End
- Deck role: Sideboard, 3 copies, sweeper and artifact-cleanup bullet.
- Role type: interaction-sweeper; sideboard bullet; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Stabilizes against creature/planeswalker pressure or clears low-mana artifacts that interfere with `Lotus Field`, `Underworld Breach`, or `Wish`.
- Timing: Cast when 3 damage to each creature and planeswalker buys a turn or when destroying artifacts with mana value 3 or less clears multiple relevant artifacts or a lock piece. Avoid spending a combo turn on it if winning is already available.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{1}{R}{R}`; requires real red access from `Lotus Field`, `Spirebluff Canal`, or `Steam Vents`.
- Mode map: Damage mode deals 3 damage to each creature and each planeswalker, including your `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`; artifact mode destroys artifact permanents with mana value 3 or less, including your own `Expedition Map` if still on the battlefield.
- Partners / packages: Bought through `Wish` or boarded in with `Into the Flood Maw` and `Abrade` against battlefield pressure; protects setup into `Lotus Field`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Underworld Breach`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Abrade` for artifacts and smeach creature; Brotherhood's End is broader but sorcery-speed and symmetrical.
- Failure modes: Do not choose damage mode if losing `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` removes the only engine path unless survival requires it; do not use artifact mode when it destroys your Map before activation without solving the real problem.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: High value against go-wide creatures, artifact creatures, and cheap artifact engines; low value against spell combo, large single threats, and hand-disruption decks.

#### Leyline of Sanctity
- Deck role: Sideboard, 3 copies, opening-hand protection bullet.
- Role type: protection/evasion; hate piece; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Gives you hexproof so opponents cannot target you with spells or abilities they control, protecting against targeted discard, burn, and player-targeting combo lines.
- Timing: If it is in your opening hand and Veles offers the legal pregame action, begin the game with it on the battlefield. Casting for `{2}{W}{W}` is rarely realistic unless `Lotus Field` can make white and the protection still matters.
- Inputs / outputs: Opening-hand deployment costs no mana when the legal pregame action is available; hard-casting requires `{2}{W}{W}`. It does not protect your permanents, stop attacks, or counter spells that do not target you.
- Partners / packages: Protects the time needed to assemble `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Underworld Breach`, and `Wish`.
- Role peers: No direct peer; closest role overlap is `Consign to Memory` and `Stifle` for stopping some targeted or ability-based disruption on the stack.
- Failure modes: Do not keep an otherwise nonfunctional hand solely for Leyline; do not expect it to stop counterspells, creatures attacking, artifact/enchantment hate, or effects targeting `Lotus Field`.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring in against targeted discard, burn, and player-targeting combo; leave out against creature combat, permanent locks, and ordinary counterspell plans unless they also target you.

#### Surgical Extraction
- Deck role: Sideboard, 2 copies, graveyard and single-card-combo hate bullet.
- Role type: hate piece; interaction-removal; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles a visible nonbasic card from a graveyard and then removes any number of cards with the same name from that player’s graveyard, hand, and library.
- Timing: Use after the key card is in a graveyard and before the opponent can reuse it; against flashback, escape, delve, or similar costs, exile before the card is cast or costs are paid, not after the spell is already on the stack.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{B/P}`, paid with black mana or 2 life; targets a card in a graveyard other than a basic land card; searches that card’s owner’s graveyard, hand, and library, exiles any number with the same name, then that player shuffles.
- Partners / packages: Wish or board it when protecting `Underworld Breach`, racing opposing graveyard engines, or breaking single-card combo access; pairs with `Consign to Memory` or `Stifle` when graveyard action also uses stack/ability windows.
- Role peers: No direct peer; closest role overlap is `Consign to Memory` or `Stifle` against some graveyard abilities, but Surgical attacks card copies.
- Failure modes: Do not target a basic land card; do not spend 2 life casually against aggro; do not assume hidden copies exist beyond what the search finds.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against graveyard combo, recursive threats, and mirror-like Breach plans; weak when no high-impact graveyard target is visible.

#### Abrade
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, flexible creature/artifact answer and Wish bullet.
- Role type: interaction-removal; sideboard bullet; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Removes a target creature with 3 damage or destroys a target artifact that blocks the combo, such as an artifact hate piece or artifact threat.
- Timing: Use before the combo turn when the artifact or creature will stop winning or kill you; through `Wish`, choose Abrade only when there is enough mana and the target must be answered permanently rather than bounced.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{1}{R}` and one card; requires red from `Lotus Field`, `Spirebluff Canal`, or `Steam Vents`.
- Mode map: Damage mode deals 3 damage to target creature; artifact mode destroys target artifact. It cannot target enchantments unless they are also artifacts, and it cannot damage planeswalkers or players.
- Partners / packages: Supports `Lotus Field`, `Underworld Breach`, and `Wish` by removing creature pressure or artifact hate; overlaps with `Into the Flood Maw` when a temporary bounce is enough.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Brotherhood's End` for smeach creature/artifacts and `Into the Flood Maw` for temporary answers.
- Failure modes: Do not fetch it for a nonartifact enchantment, planeswalker, or large creature it cannot kill with 3 damage; do not spend red needed for a same-turn `Wish` payoff unless survival requires it.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring in against artifact hate, small artifact creatures, and must-kill smeach creature; weak against spell combo and large nonartifact threats.

#### Grapeshot
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, Wish-accessible storm damage finisher.
- Role type: combo finisher; reach/finisher; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Converts a high spell count into lethal damage to any target, especially after `Lotus Field`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Underworld Breach`, and cheap selection have raised storm.
- Timing: Choose with `Wish` only when red mana remains and current storm count plus any `Artist's Talent` level 3 damage boost makes the line lethal or strategically necessary. Use as creature removal only when that keeps the combo alive and no better answer exists.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{1}{R}`; deals 1 damage to any target; storm copies it for each spell cast before it this turn, and copies may choose new targets.
- Partners / packages: Best with `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, `Artist's Talent`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Tome Scour` fuel lines.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Tendrils of Agony` as a storm finisher; Grapeshot needs red and can split damage among targets.
- Failure modes: Do not assume lethal without counting spell casts and legal targets; do not forget opponent hexproof from effects like opposing protection can make targeting the opponent illegal.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong when repeated cheap spells are available; less reliable against life gain, prevention, or when storm count is too low and `Tendrils of Agony` would produce a larger life swing.

#### Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, alternate-win planeswalker and Wish payoff.
- Role type: combo finisher; threat/clock; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Wins if you would draw a card while your library has no cards, giving the deck a non-damage route when storm damage is unavailable or the library can be emptied through engine play.
- Timing: Choose through `Wish` when you can cast `{1}{U}{U}{U}` and either win immediately with a draw-empty-library setup or protect Jace long enough. Avoid when the opponent can attack or remove it before the alternate win matters.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{1}{U}{U}{U}`; static ability replaces drawing from an empty library with winning; +1 targets a player, mills two cards, then draws a card; −8 draws seven cards, then wins if your library has no cards.
- Mode map: Static ability is the actual win condition; +1 can self-mill/draw or pressure opponent library; −8 is a large draw and empty-library check but requires enough loyalty.
- Partners / packages: Works with `Wish`, `Tome Scour`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Consider`, `Ponder`, `Stock Up`, and `Underworld Breach` to reduce or draw through the library.
- Role peers: No direct peer; closest role overlap is `Tendrils of Agony` and `Grapeshot` as sideboard finishers.
- Failure modes: Do not cast Jace into lethal attackers without protection; do not self-mill unless the draw sequence and library size actually support the alternate win.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Useful against damage prevention, high life totals, or extracted storm payoffs; risky against fast creatures and clean planeswalker removal.

#### Tendrils of Agony
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, Wish-accessible storm drain finisher.
- Role type: combo finisher; lifegain/stabilization; reach/finisher; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Turns high spell count into life loss for target player and life gain for you, often stabilizing and killing in one line when `Lotus Field` can make black mana.
- Timing: Choose with `Wish` only when black mana is available or reachable from `Lotus Field`, and storm count makes the drain meaningful. It is better than Grapeshot when life swing matters or damage prevention affects red damage.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{2}{B}{B}`; target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life; storm copies it for each spell cast before it this turn and copies may choose new targets.
- Partners / packages: Enabled by `Wish`, `Lotus Field` choosing black, `Underworld Breach`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, and `Artist's Talent` cost reduction at level 2.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Grapeshot`; Tendrils needs black mana but creates a life swing and targets players.
- Failure modes: Do not select it when Lotus cannot produce black or when storm count is too low; do not target an opponent if an effect gives that player hexproof from you.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against aggro and burn when the life gain matters; weaker if black mana is unavailable or player-targeting is blocked.

#### Tome Scour
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, Wish-accessible self-mill or target-mill enabler.
- Role type: mechanic enabler; engine fuel/material; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Usually targets yourself to put five cards into the graveyard for `Underworld Breach`; can target the opponent only when milling them is the selected plan or required by game state.
- Timing: Use after `Wish` when graveyard count is the bottleneck and you can still exploit the milled cards this turn. Avoid self-mill if library size is dangerously low without `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` ready.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs `{U}`; target player mills five cards. The targeted player’s library cards go to that player’s graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Fuels `Underworld Breach`; supports `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` by reducing your own library when that line is planned; can add escape fuel for `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, or `Wish`.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is `Consider` and `Pore Over the Pages` as graveyard-building cards, but Tome Scour mills five directly.
- Failure modes: Do not target the opponent when your Breach line needs self-fuel; do not self-target if graveyard hate is visible and unanswered or if milling removes the last safe draw step without Jace.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in combo turns where `Underworld Breach` is short on fuel; lower value when graveyard access is locked or the game requires an immediate damage payoff.

## Interaction Priorities

- Protect `Lotus Field` turns first: use `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` on visible stack or permanent actions that stop `Lotus Field`, deny its mana, remove `Underworld Breach`, or prevent untap chains. Do not answer a medium-pressure creature if the same interaction is needed to force the decisive turn through a visible counter, trigger, activated ability, or hate permanent.

- Counter or stop combo-breaking abilities before fair spells: prioritize visible activated or triggered abilities that tax, exile graveyards, lock spellcasting, copy a lethal opposing line, remove `Lotus Field`, or discard the last engine piece. `Consign to Memory` and `Stifle` should be treated as precision tools; spend them only when the rules engine shows a legal target whose resolution materially changes the combo turn, survival turn, or opponent's immediate kill.

- Bounce permanent hate before racing ordinary pressure: use `Into the Flood Maw` or `Otawara, Soaring City` on a permanent that stops casting, graveyard recursion, searching, untapping, targeting, or storm-style finishing before using those cards on normal attackers. Against creature decks, bounce the threat only when it changes the lethal clock, opens a required turn, or prevents a combat step that would force a bad `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` block.

- Bait interaction with expendable setup before committing `Underworld Breach`: cast `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Artist's Talent`, `Stock Up`, or nonlethal `Hidden Strings` lines first when the opponent clearly represents stack interaction and the hand can still rebuild. Commit `Underworld Breach` only when enough mana, graveyard, and follow-up spells are visible to punish a pass, or when waiting gives the opponent a faster lethal or lock.

- Ignore low-impact objects when close to winning: do not spend `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` on smeach creature, card draw, or setup permanents that do not change the next-turn clock or interact with `Lotus Field`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, graveyard access, or spell resolution. The deck has few answers, so every interaction decision should ask whether the answer buys a combo turn or protects the combo turn.

- Shift priorities by archetype: against aggressive decks, interaction buys one turn and life total is a resource with a floor; against control, interaction protects `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, and payoff access; against graveyard decks or graveyard hate, preserve `Surgical Extraction` lines after sideboarding and avoid exposing `Underworld Breach` into visible exile effects; against artifact-heavy or permanent-hate decks, value `Abrade`, `Brotherhood's End`, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` as lock-breakers rather than generic removal.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Treat combat as a clock-management problem, not a damage plan: this deck rarely wins by attacking, and `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` is more valuable as a mana-engine card than as a creature. Attack only when no relevant blocking duty exists, no engine use is expected, and the legal attack does not expose `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` to a trade that weakens the combo.

- Preserve `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` unless survival requires a block: do not trade it for an ordinary attacker while the hand still needs untap density, `Lotus Field` acceleration, or `Underworld Breach` fuel. Block with `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` when the visible attack creates lethal damage, puts life below a practical combo-turn threshold, or buys the exact turn needed to use `Pore Over the Pages`, `Hidden Strings`, `Wish`, or `Underworld Breach`.

- Use life total aggressively above the danger band: above roughly 8 life against non-burn creature boards, take damage if blocking costs an engine card and the next turn can develop `Lotus Field` or assemble a win. From 7 life downward, reassess every attack as potentially forcing interaction or a block, especially if the opponent has untapped mana, visible pump, haste pressure, or multiple attackers.

- Prioritize survival over elegance when the next turn wins: bounce, block, or counter the one attacker or combat-adjacent action that changes lethal math if the hand has a credible next-turn `Lotus Field` chain. Do not preserve a perfect combo hand and die with interaction unused; spending `Into the Flood Maw` or `Otawara, Soaring City` defensively is correct when it converts a loss into an untap step.

- Avoid combat trades that reduce spell density for `Underworld Breach`: losing `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` can reduce untap access and graveyard sequencing options, so a trade is acceptable only when it prevents lethal, protects a planeswalker finish such as `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` after sideboarding, or buys a decisive draw step. Ordinary damage races should favor taking damage and preserving engine material.

- Adjust by opponent role: against fast creature decks, value temporary bounce and emergency blocks higher; against control and combo, combat is mostly irrelevant unless `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` can safely chip damage without risking engine function; against midrange discard decks, preserving every live spell matters because `Underworld Breach` can turn graveyard density into a rebuild. Against artifact creature swarms after sideboarding, consider `Brotherhood's End` timing before blocking, because a sweeper may solve combat without sacrificing `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Find `Lotus Field` before polishing the hand: use `Expedition Map`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, and `Stock Up` primarily to assemble a hand that can make `Lotus Field` plus an untap chain, not to collect payoff cards too early. A hand with selection but no `Lotus Field` should prioritize land access over speculative `Underworld Breach` or `Wish` lines.

- Use `Expedition Map` as the cleanest setup tutor: search for `Lotus Field` when none is visible in hand or battlefield, then search for `Deserted Temple` when `Lotus Field` is already secured and the next turns need extra untap density. Search for `Otawara, Soaring City` only when the visible board or stack pressure makes a bounce land more important than combo speed.

- Sequence cantrips around land drops: cast `Ponder` before making a land drop when it can find `Lotus Field`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, `Island`, or `Deserted Temple` for the turn. Use `Consider` later when instant-speed information matters or when graveyard density for `Underworld Breach` is already valuable.

- Preserve high-impact draw until mana converts it into progress: `Pore Over the Pages` is strongest when it can untap `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, or both, so avoid casting it as a desperate draw spell unless the hand otherwise stalls or survival demands immediate cards. `Lórien Revealed` can be a land-finding action early and a large draw action later; choose the mode the legal action text presents according to whether the bottleneck is mana or cards.

- Treat `Stock Up` as controlled selection rather than automatic velocity: use it to find missing categories such as `Lotus Field`, untap effects, `Underworld Breach`, protection, or `Wish`. Card text check required for exact pile/choice handling; follow the rules-engine options and do not assume hidden card order beyond what Veles shows.

- Use `Wish` only with a concrete target role: get `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach` when the visible mana, graveyard, storm-like spell count, or library state supports a finish or engine continuation. Get `Brotherhood's End`, `Abrade`, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, or `Surgical Extraction` only when that postboard card answers a visible problem or a matchup-specific protected setup is already planned.

- Bottom or decline redundant pieces when the bottleneck is elsewhere: extra `Artist's Talent`, extra `Expedition Map`, extra `Underworld Breach`, or extra lands are weaker than the missing combo class once `Lotus Field` and enough mana are present. Keep redundant engine pieces when the opponent has visible discard, counterplay, graveyard hate, or removal pressure that makes a single copy fragile.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Pass priority by default when no legal action advances mana, cards, survival, or protection: this deck wins by concentrating resources into a decisive turn, so avoid firing `Consider`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` into low-impact windows. Use Veles legal actions first; never invent an instant-speed line not shown by the engine.

- Protect the `Lotus Field` engine on the stack and battlefield: respond with `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` when the visible spell, ability, or permanent would stop `Lotus Field`, punish its sacrifice trigger, deny untaps, exile the graveyard before `Underworld Breach`, or prevent the current combo turn from resolving. Let ordinary creatures, small draw spells, and nonlethal setup resolve when interaction must be saved for the decisive exchange.

- Commit `Underworld Breach` only when priority can convert it into action: cast it with enough visible mana, graveyard fuel, and legal follow-up spells to continue immediately, or when waiting exposes the hand to lethal pressure or known disruption. Do not tap out for `Underworld Breach` merely because it is legal if the current graveyard cannot support meaningful escape sequences.

- Use untap effects as mana-positive stack decisions: prioritize `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Deserted Temple` lines that untap `Lotus Field` or produce enough mana to continue casting selection and payoff. If the rules engine offers target choices, choose `Lotus Field` and the most mana-relevant second permanent when that is the visible combo plan.

- Hold `Consign to Memory` and `Stifle` for stack objects that matter: counter or stop a visible spell or ability that attacks mana, graveyard access, payoff resolution, or immediate survival. Do not spend these cards on replaceable value unless the opponent's current action creates a loss, locks the combo, or prevents the next legal winning turn.

- Time bounce as a lock-breaker or lethal-clock reducer: use `Into the Flood Maw` or `Otawara, Soaring City` before the combo turn when a permanent would stop casting, searching, graveyard recursion, targeting, or untapping. During opponent combat, use bounce only when it changes lethal math or preserves the exact untap step needed to win.

- Manage optional payments and triggered choices conservatively: pay optional costs only when Veles shows the legal payment and it does not consume mana required for `Lotus Field` untaps, `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, or protection. Card text check required for exact `Artist's Talent` level or trigger handling; take only engine-positive options shown by the rules engine.

- Let resolved information update the plan: after any reveal, counter, bounce, graveyard change, or draw/filter result, reassess whether the deck is still setting up, protecting a turn, or executing. Do not reuse a previous combo commitment if public information changed the available mana, graveyard fuel, legal targets, or opponent interaction window.

## Sideboard Map

- Sideboard principle: preserve the `Lotus Field` engine unless a matchup directly attacks the hand, graveyard, battlefield, or stack in a way the main deck cannot answer. The main deck needs `Lotus Field`, untap effects, card selection, and a payoff route, so sideboarding should change the protection shell more often than the engine core.

- Wish-board principle: keep at least one clear `Wish` payoff available unless the post-board plan intentionally wins through a main-decked alternate condition. `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, sideboard `Underworld Breach`, `Abrade`, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`, `Brotherhood's End`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, and `Surgical Extraction` all change value depending on whether they are in the sideboard for `Wish` access or registered into the main deck for earlier access.

- `Brotherhood's End`: bring in against creature-swarm, artifact-creature, low-to-the-ground aggro, and artifact-engine decks where a sweeper or artifact answer buys the turn needed for `Lotus Field`. It is bad against spell combo, counterspell-heavy control, large single threats, and graveyard decks without small permanents. Its role changes from `Wish` answer to proactive stabilizer when the opponent can kill before `Wish` mana is realistic.

- `Leyline of Sanctity`: bring in against discard-heavy, direct-damage, targeted-combo, and targeted graveyard-interaction decks when starting protected is more valuable than a later `Wish` line. It is bad against creature combat, counterspell control, battlefield lock pieces, and opponents whose disruption does not target the player. Its role changes from optional `Wish` shield to opening-hand protection, so mulligan decisions may value it only when the matchup makes targeted effects central.

- `Surgical Extraction`: bring in against graveyard combo, recursive threats, single-card combo engines, and mirrors where removing a visible graveyard card can collapse the opponent's plan. It is bad when there is no public graveyard target, when spending a card does not affect the opponent's clock, or when the deck needs every card to assemble `Lotus Field`. Its role changes from narrow `Wish` bullet to cheap interaction when the opponent reliably exposes a high-impact card.

- `Abrade`: bring in against artifacts that stop `Underworld Breach`, taxing permanents, small artifact creatures, and battlefield hate that `Into the Flood Maw` only delays. It is bad against creatureless combo, pure discard, and large threats outside its visible legal modes. Card text check required at runtime for the exact mode offered; choose only modes shown by Veles.

- Sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`: bring in when the opponent presents permanent-based hate, fast attackers, graveyard locks, taxing pieces, or a single battlefield object that must leave temporarily for the combo turn. It is bad against hands where bounce does not answer the opponent's axis, especially discard-only or counterspell-only matchups. Its role changes from Wishable emergency answer to main-deck tempo and lock-breaker.

- `Underworld Breach`: bring in when graveyard recursion must be found naturally because the opponent taxes `Wish`, counters expensive setup, or forces a fast deterministic turn. It is bad against heavy graveyard hate unless the plan also includes bounce or artifact/permanent answers. Its role changes from Wishable extra engine to redundant engine copy; avoid overloading on graveyard dependence when the opponent has visible hate.

- `Grapeshot`: keep as a `Wish` payoff in most games where repeated spells can create lethal damage or clear small blockers. Bring it in only when the matchup makes `Wish` unreliable and the deck can still generate high spell count from visible resources. It is bad against high life totals without enough spell count, prevention effects, or games where `Tendrils of Agony` is the cleaner payoff. Card text check required for exact storm handling; follow engine totals.

- `Tendrils of Agony`: keep as a `Wish` payoff when life swing and storm count are likely to matter. Bring it in only when direct access is more important than keeping it as a sideboard target. It is bad when black mana is unavailable, storm count is low, or the rules engine does not present a legal cast. Card text check required for exact storm and target handling.

- `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`: keep as a `Wish` alternate win condition when the library can become very small or when life-total damage is unreliable. Bring it in against decks that blunt damage-based payoffs but give time to assemble mana and cards. It is bad under heavy pressure, against clean planeswalker removal, or when the library is not close to empty. Card text check required for exact loyalty and win-condition timing.

- `Tome Scour`: keep as a compact `Wish` target for graveyard fuel or library-size lines when it supports `Underworld Breach` or `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`. Bring it in only for matchups where self-mill or targeted mill is a planned engine step and the card is not merely speculative. Card text check required for target choice; if self-target is legal and already selected as the engine plan, use it only when graveyard fuel or library reduction is the visible bottleneck.

Anti-Aggro / Small Creatures
Side in: 3 Brotherhood's End; 1 Into the Flood Maw; 1 Abrade
Cut: 1 Stifle; 2 Consign to Memory; 1 Stock Up; 1 Lórien Revealed

- Plan logic: add cheap battlefield interaction and reduce slower or narrower stack pieces when survival is the bottleneck. Keep `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Expedition Map`, `Artist's Talent`, and `Lotus Field` density because the deck still wins by producing a fast engine turn after stabilizing.

Targeted Discard / Burn / Player-Targeting Combo
Side in: 3 Leyline of Sanctity; 1 Underworld Breach
Cut: 1 Stifle; 1 Stock Up; 1 Lórien Revealed; 1 Artist's Talent

- Plan logic: add opening-hand protection and extra engine redundancy against targeted pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis on bounce and narrow stack interaction when the opponent attacks the hand or life total more than the battlefield. Keep `Consign to Memory` when the opponent also has stack or artifact disruption; if not, it can become the next flexible reduction.

Graveyard Combo / Recursive Engine
Side in: 2 Surgical Extraction; 1 Into the Flood Maw; 1 Abrade
Cut: 1 Stifle; 1 Stock Up; 1 Lórien Revealed; 1 Artist's Talent

- Plan logic: add graveyard interaction and permanent answers while preserving the ability to race. Use `Surgical Extraction` only on visible graveyard cards that Veles presents as legal targets; do not assume hidden copies. Keep `Underworld Breach` unless the opponent's graveyard hate is both visible and unanswered, because your own recursion can still be the fastest win.

Counterspell / Control
Side in: 3 Leyline of Sanctity; 1 Underworld Breach
Cut: 1 Stifle; 1 Stock Up; 1 Lórien Revealed; 1 Consign to Memory

- Plan note: this exact plan stays legal against the registered Game 1 deck by removing only main-deck cards. If the opponent's visible plan includes stack fights, triggered abilities, or graveyard hate, reduce an additional slower draw spell before trimming too many `Consign to Memory` copies.

- Control role guidance: Add role cards: `Leyline of Sanctity`; `Underworld Breach`; sometimes `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` when damage payoffs are unreliable. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature-only bounce, sweepers, and narrow removal effects. Keep `Consign to Memory` and `Stifle` when the opponent's visible plan includes stack fights, triggered abilities, or graveyard hate that must be stopped.

Artifact Hate / Permanent Lock Pieces
Side in: 1 Abrade; 1 Into the Flood Maw; 1 Brotherhood's End
Cut: 1 Stifle; 1 Stock Up; 1 Lórien Revealed

- Plan logic: add answers that clear or delay battlefield locks before the combo turn. `Abrade` is preferred for artifacts that must leave permanently, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` is preferred for nonartifact permanents or tempo windows, and `Brotherhood's End` is preferred when multiple smartifact permanents or creatures are visible.

- Mirror and faster combo guidance: Add role cards: `Surgical Extraction`; `Underworld Breach`; `Leyline of Sanctity` when the opposing combo targets the player. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature interaction and slow card draw that does not find `Lotus Field` or protection. Prioritize speed, graveyard timing, and stack protection over attrition.

- Sideboard risk rule: do not move every payoff into the main deck unless the post-board plan no longer relies on `Wish`. A hand with `Wish` needs a live sideboard target; a hand without `Wish` needs enough main-deck engine and payoff density to win without searching outside the game.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: prioritize survival without diluting the engine below functional density. Keep hands that present `Lotus Field` access through `Expedition Map`, natural `Lotus Field`, or enough selection with early mana, then use `Into the Flood Maw`, sideboard `Brotherhood's End`, and sideboard `Abrade` only when Veles shows legal actions that materially reduce lethal pressure or buy the combo turn. Add role cards: `Brotherhood's End`; `Abrade`; `Into the Flood Maw`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Stifle`, slower copies of `Stock Up`, and the slowest expensive selection when the hand already has sufficient `Lotus Field` access. Do not spend a premium tempo answer on a minor attacker if the visible clock still allows setup and the answer is needed for a hate permanent.

- Go-wide: value sweepers and mana-efficient reset turns over one-for-one tempo. Sideboard `Brotherhood's End` is the preferred role card when multiple smeach creature or artifacts are visible; sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` is a stopgap for one key permanent, not the plan for an entire board. Use `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` to accelerate through the stabilizing turn once the board is contained. If the opponent can rebuild quickly, take the first legal combo commitment that has engine, payoff access, and enough mana rather than trying to fully stabilize.

- Burn: protect life total and hand quality while racing to the earliest deterministic finish. Add role cards: `Leyline of Sanctity`; `Underworld Breach`; sometimes `Tendrils of Agony` when the life swing is reachable through `Wish` or naturally drawn sideboard configuration. Reduce main-deck emphasis: bounce that does not answer damage output, slow selection that costs a full turn, and narrow stack pieces unless Veles shows relevant legal targets. Keep a `Leyline of Sanctity` opener more aggressively than normal only when the rest of the hand has lands or selection; do not keep an otherwise nonfunctional hand solely for Leyline protection.

- Tempo: treat every tap-out and every graveyard commitment as a gate decision. Preserve land drops, avoid exposing `Underworld Breach` before it converts visible graveyard and mana into progress, and sequence `Consign to Memory` or `Stifle` only against legal opposing stack or trigger actions that stop the engine or create a decisive clock. Add role cards: `Leyline of Sanctity` against targeted disruption, extra `Underworld Breach` for redundancy, and `Into the Flood Maw` for a single blocker or disruptive permanent. Reduce main-deck emphasis: expensive draw when it walks into open interaction without advancing `Lotus Field` access.

- Control: force the opponent to answer redundant engines, not isolated setup pieces. Keep `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, and card selection as high-value cards because long games reward multiple protected attempts. Add role cards: `Leyline of Sanctity`; `Underworld Breach`; `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` when damage-based payoffs look unreliable or life totals become irrelevant. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature-only interaction and sweepers. Prefer developing `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, and hand texture before committing `Wish` or `Underworld Breach` into open mana unless waiting gives the opponent a stronger visible clock or a lock piece.

- Removal-heavy midrange: ignore creature removal unless it also stops `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` from functioning as a visible engine action. The deck is not trying to win through creature combat, so trade life total for setup time when safe, and use `Leyline of Sanctity` against discard or player-targeting pressure rather than against removal alone. Add role cards: `Underworld Breach`; `Leyline of Sanctity`; sometimes `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` for attrition games. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Into the Flood Maw` if there are few must-answer permanents. Treat `Artist's Talent` as conditional engine support; Card text check required, and choose its legal actions only when they advance mana, selection, or combo conversion.

- Single-threat decks: answer the one permanent only if it changes the race or blocks the combo turn. `Into the Flood Maw` is strong when bouncing the visible threat creates an immediate setup or win window; `Abrade` is reserved for artifact threats or artifact hate Veles exposes as legal targets. Do not fire `Brotherhood's End` into a single threat unless the rules engine presents it as the cleanest survival action or it also clears supporting artifacts. If the single threat has protection, ward, or taxing text visible in state, preserve mana before optional `Underworld Breach`, `Artist's Talent`, or `Wish` lines that could consume the tax payment.

- Combo: race first, interact only with the decisive visible object or stack action. `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Surgical Extraction`, and `Leyline of Sanctity` are matchup-dependent tools, but they should not replace the need to assemble `Lotus Field` plus untap effects. Add role cards: `Surgical Extraction`; `Underworld Breach`; `Leyline of Sanctity` when the opposing combo targets the player; `Tome Scour` only when a chosen `Wish` or boarded plan needs graveyard fuel or library reduction. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature interaction and slow draw that does not find mana, engine, or protection. Use `Surgical Extraction` only on a card that is visible in a graveyard and legally targetable; never assume hidden copies.

- Graveyard decks: disrupt the graveyard without turning off your own fastest kill. `Surgical Extraction` is for public, high-leverage graveyard cards that Veles exposes as legal targets, especially cards that represent recursion, payoff, or deterministic combo access. `Abrade` and `Into the Flood Maw` answer visible graveyard hate or enablers only when legal; do not name or target hidden cards. Keep `Underworld Breach` when your own graveyard is stocked and the opponent has not shown a lock; reduce reliance on it when visible hate makes a Breach turn fail unless an answer is already available.

- Artifact/enchantment decks: prioritize permanent answers only when the permanent blocks mana, graveyard use, targeting, or payoff resolution. Add role cards: `Abrade`; `Into the Flood Maw`; `Brotherhood's End`; sometimes `Consign to Memory` if the legal action text shows relevant colorless spells, activated abilities, or triggered abilities. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow selection when the matchup is defined by an early lock. `Abrade` is the cleanest artifact answer, `Into the Flood Maw` buys a temporary window against a broader permanent class, and `Brotherhood's End` is best when several smartifact permanents or creatures can be cleared at once. Card text check required for any enchantment-specific interaction not shown by Veles legal actions.

- Big mana: become the faster engine deck and counter only the payoff that changes the game immediately. Keep hands with `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, `Deserted Temple`, `Hidden Strings`, or `Pore Over the Pages` because speed matters more than attrition. Add role cards: `Consign to Memory` if already main-deck relevant, `Stifle` for visible triggered abilities, `Underworld Breach` for faster reloads, and `Wish` payoffs such as `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, or `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` according to legal access and resource state. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature bounce unless it clears a hate creature or buys a lethal turn.

- Dedicated counterspell decks: sculpt a turn that presents multiple must-answer actions. Lead with lower-value selection when it improves land drops, then commit `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, or `Pore Over the Pages` when visible mana, graveyard, and backup actions make a counter exchange acceptable. `Leyline of Sanctity` matters only against targeted discard, burn, or player-targeting effects; it does not stop ordinary counterspells. When `Wish` resolves, choose the payoff that the visible resources can actually cast and finish with: `Grapeshot` for sufficient spell count, `Tendrils of Agony` when black mana and storm count are available, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` when a library-size line is real, or `Tome Scour` only as a planned engine step. Card text check required for exact storm, Jace, and Tome Scour timing; follow rules-engine legality.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- Aggro and burn: prioritize life-total survival only when it preserves a combo turn. Add role cards: `Brotherhood's End`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, and the sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` when visible pressure or player-targeting effects demand time; keep `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Hidden Strings`, and `Pore Over the Pages` as the actual route to winning. Priority targets are wide creature boards, a single threat that shortens the clock below the next combo window, and stack actions that deal lethal damage. Revealed cards override archetype assumptions.

- Graveyard pressure and graveyard hate: protect your own `Underworld Breach` line while attacking only public, legal graveyard targets. Add role cards: `Surgical Extraction`, `Abrade`, and sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` when the opponent reveals graveyard reliance or permanent hate. Priority targets are visible graveyard payoff cards, artifacts that stop graveyard use, and lock pieces Veles exposes as legal targets. Do not spend `Surgical Extraction` on a low-impact card just because it is targetable.

- Counterspell and instant-speed interaction decks: build a turn with redundancy before committing the closer. Add role cards: `Leyline of Sanctity` only for targeted discard or player-targeting effects, extra `Underworld Breach` for reload density, and `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` when damage payoffs are unreliable. Priority targets are stack actions that stop `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, `Hidden Strings`, or `Pore Over the Pages`. Lead with lower-value `Consider`, `Ponder`, or `Stock Up` when legal if it improves land drops or exposes less important interaction.

- Permanent-hate and artifact-heavy decks: answer the object that prevents mana, graveyard recursion, or payoff resolution. Add role cards: `Abrade`, `Brotherhood's End`, and sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`; reduce main-deck emphasis on slow draw if the game is about an early lock. Priority targets are visible artifacts, disruptive creatures, and temporary bounce targets that create an immediate combo turn. Card text check required for `Into the Flood Maw` and `Brotherhood's End` modes if Veles exposes multiple legal choices.

- Other combo and big-mana decks: race unless the opponent presents one decisive visible stack or permanent action. Keep fast `Lotus Field` access through `Expedition Map`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, and `Consider`; use `Consign to Memory` and `Stifle` only on a legal target that changes the race. `Wish` should find the payoff matching visible resources: `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach`. Card text check required for exact payoff math and alternate-library lines.

## Risk Summary

- Mana risk: `Lotus Field` is powerful but exposes sequencing failure if played before enough lands, untap effects, or follow-up mana are available. Do not sacrifice the wrong lands to `Lotus Field` when the visible hand still needs colored mana from `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, `Island`, or `Otawara, Soaring City`.

- Matchup risk: the deck can lose to fast pressure while holding expensive engine cards. Treat `Pore Over the Pages`, `Stock Up`, and `Lórien Revealed` as strong only when the current life total, mana, and visible clock leave time to convert them.

- Draw risk: selection spells are not progress if they miss `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Hidden Strings`, `Underworld Breach`, or `Wish`. Avoid spending `Consider` or `Ponder` on cosmetic filtering when a legal action can secure mana or start the combo.

- Over-sideboarding risk: postboard cards must not dilute the engine below functional density. `Brotherhood's End`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, `Surgical Extraction`, `Abrade`, and extra `Into the Flood Maw` are role cards, not a replacement for assembling `Lotus Field` plus untap and draw.

- Graveyard risk: `Underworld Breach` depends on graveyard access and enough usable cards. Visible graveyard hate should push the agent toward `Abrade`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Wish`, or non-graveyard payoff lines instead of forcing a fragile Breach turn.

- Sweeper/removal risk: `Brotherhood's End` can buy time but may consume a turn that should be spent winning. Use it when the visible board threatens survival or clears multiple relevant permanents, not as default interaction.

- Closer risk: `Wish` does not win by itself. Choose `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach` only when legal mana, storm count, graveyard, library size, and follow-up actions support that line.

- Interaction risk: `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, and `Into the Flood Maw` are strongest against decisive visible actions. Passing with interaction is correct only when holding mana changes the opponent's likely line or protects the combo turn; otherwise, progress the engine.

- Sequencing risk: untap effects are high leverage after the mana land exists. Do not spend `Hidden Strings` or `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` cycles in ways that leave `Lotus Field` or `Deserted Temple` unavailable for the decisive turn unless Veles shows no better legal setup.

## Test Feedback Checklist

- Deciding factor: identify whether the game was won or lost by assembling `Lotus Field` mana, surviving pressure, resolving `Underworld Breach`, resolving `Wish`, or failing to convert a started combo turn.
- Mulligans: record whether opening hands had access to `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, enough lands, and a realistic first engine action.
- Mana: note every game where `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, `Island`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` sequencing stranded a spell or delayed a combo turn.
- Velocity: check whether `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, and `Pore Over the Pages` found engine pieces or merely spent mana without improving the next two turns.
- Engine execution: mark whether `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Underworld Breach` produced a decisive mana-and-card loop or stalled after partial setup.
- Interaction timing: review each `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Abrade`, `Brotherhood's End`, and `Surgical Extraction` decision for whether it answered a decisive visible threat or delayed the main plan.
- Sideboard effect: compare pre-board and post-board games for whether `Leyline of Sanctity`, `Brotherhood's End`, `Surgical Extraction`, `Abrade`, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`, and extra `Underworld Breach` changed the deciding axis.
- Closing: record whether `Wish` found the correct visible payoff among `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach`.
- Role: flag games where the pilot played defense too long with interaction instead of racing, or raced into visible disruption when a setup turn was available.
- Mistakes: capture illegal assumptions, missed land drops, premature `Lotus Field`, wrong land sacrifice, low-value selection, unprotected `Underworld Breach`, or payoff selection without enough mana or storm.
- Stranded cards: list cards stuck in hand at game end, especially duplicate `Artist's Talent`, expensive draw, interaction without targets, or `Wish` without a castable sideboard line.
- Overperformers and underperformers: count meaningful actions from every repeated main-deck nonland, especially `Artist's Talent`, `Expedition Map`, `Consign to Memory`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Underworld Breach`, and `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`.

## First Tuning Questions

- Quantity question: does `Artist's Talent` consistently enable the engine, or does four copies create stranded setup when the hand needs more selection, lands, or protection?
- Quantity question: are two `Ponder`, two `Consider`, two `Stock Up`, and two `Lórien Revealed` the right mix, or does the deck need a different balance between cheap filtering and larger card flow?
- Mana question: do four `Lotus Field` plus four `Deserted Temple` appear on time often enough, and do three `Island`, three `Otawa, Soaring City` is invalid spelling, so tune only from logs using exact `Otawara, Soaring City`, three `Steam Vents`, and four `Spirebluff Canal` performance.
- Mana question: does `Expedition Map` solve land access quickly enough against pressure, or are too many early turns spent searching instead of casting selection or interaction?
- Aggro-plan question: do `Brotherhood's End`, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`, and main-deck `Into the Flood Maw` buy enough time without reducing combo density below functional levels?
- Control-plan question: are four `Consign to Memory`, one `Stifle`, three `Underworld Breach`, and two `Wish` enough to fight stack interaction, or does the deck need a clearer protected-commitment plan?
- Closer question: which `Wish` payoff actually ends games most often: `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach`?
- Sideboard-slot question: does `Leyline of Sanctity` win enough targeted-disruption and burn games to justify three slots, or are those slots needed for permanent answers or graveyard interaction?
- Sideboard-slot question: does `Surgical Extraction` matter in actual public graveyard positions, or does it sit unused while the deck needs more cards that protect `Underworld Breach` or answer hate?
- Role-conflict question: does the deck lose more often by interacting too little, interacting too much, or choosing a payoff line before visible resources support it?
- Engine-conflict question: are `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, and `Pore Over the Pages` enough untap-card conversion, or do logs show repeated turns with mana but no draw, or draw but no untap?
- Reliability question: should future versions prioritize faster `Lotus Field` access, more graveyard resilience, more anti-aggro time, or more deterministic `Wish` closing based on the largest repeated failure cluster?

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Opening Hand Engine Access
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan
Cards: Lotus Field; Expedition Map; Ponder; Consider; Lórien Revealed; Hidden Strings; Vizier of Tumbling Sands; Pore Over the Pages
Phase windows: opening hand, mulligan decisions
Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan, visible opening hand, available keep/take-mulligan actions
Use when: choosing whether a hand can assemble mana plus velocity before pressure or disruption overtakes the game.
Avoid when: the hand has no credible access to `Lotus Field` or `Expedition Map`, cannot cast its selection, or keeps only expensive spells with no early land plan.
Instructions: Keep hands with land access, a route to `Lotus Field`, and at least one cantrip, untap, or draw engine; be skeptical of hands that contain payoff cards but no way to reach the land engine. Treat `Lórien Revealed` as early land access only when Veles exposes the legal landcycling action.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Early Lotus Setup
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana; selection
Cards: Lotus Field; Expedition Map; Deserted Temple; Artist's Talent; Ponder; Consider
Phase windows: turns 1-3 main phases
Runtime cues: action:cast Expedition Map, action:play Lotus Field, action:cast Artist's Talent, action:cast Ponder, action:cast Consider
Use when: developing the first required engine piece before a combo turn.
Avoid when: visible interaction or pressure requires holding `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, or `Into the Flood Maw`, or when playing `Lotus Field` would sacrifice lands needed to cast current hand spells.
Instructions: Prioritize finding or playing `Lotus Field`; use `Expedition Map` before speculative filtering when the land is missing. Deploy `Artist's Talent` when it improves future spell chains without delaying land access or a needed defensive action.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Lotus Field Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: mana; priority
Cards: Lotus Field; Deserted Temple; Hidden Strings; Vizier of Tumbling Sands; Pore Over the Pages; Underworld Breach
Phase windows: main phases before committing mana engine resources
Runtime cues: action:play Lotus Field, action:cast Hidden Strings, action:cycle Vizier of Tumbling Sands, action:cast Pore Over the Pages, action:cast Underworld Breach
Use when: deciding whether this turn should begin the combo engine.
Avoid when: the visible hand lacks follow-up draw or untap effects, the graveyard does not support `Underworld Breach`, or opponent mana and known public cards make waiting safer than starting.
Instructions: Start the engine when available mana, untaps, draw, and graveyard resources can produce a meaningful chain or win. Delay when the turn only exposes `Lotus Field` or `Underworld Breach` without enough continuation.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Lotus Untap Execution
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana
Cards: Hidden Strings; Vizier of Tumbling Sands; Pore Over the Pages; Lotus Field; Deserted Temple
Phase windows: combo main phase, spell resolution target prompts
Runtime cues: action:target Lotus Field Hidden Strings, action:target Lotus Field Vizier of Tumbling Sands, action:untap Lotus Field, action:untap Deserted Temple
Use when: the current legal action text names `Lotus Field` as an untap target and the pilot has already committed to the combo turn.
Avoid when: Veles shows multiple strategically different target choices that include non-mana permanents or when `Lotus Field` is not visible as the named target.
Instructions: Choose `Lotus Field` for untap effects during an active combo chain. Choose `Deserted Temple` only when Veles shows the line requires Temple to untap `Lotus Field` again.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Mana Color And Payment Discipline
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana
Cards: Lotus Field; Deserted Temple; Spirebluff Canal; Steam Vents; Island; Otawara, Soaring City; Hidden Strings; Pore Over the Pages; Wish; Underworld Breach
Phase windows: all payment prompts, combo turns, protection turns
Runtime cues: action:choose mana, action:pay, action:activate Deserted Temple, action:tap Lotus Field
Use when: paying for spells or abilities with visible mana choices.
Avoid when: spending the only blue source prevents `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, or `Into the Flood Maw` during the same turn.
Instructions: Preserve blue mana through the engine, preserve red mana for `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, `Grapeshot`, and `Brotherhood's End`, and avoid exhausting `Deserted Temple` before it can multiply `Lotus Field` mana.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Selection For Missing Axis
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection
Cards: Ponder; Consider; Stock Up; Lórien Revealed; Pore Over the Pages; Artist's Talent
Phase windows: main phases, end steps when instant-speed selection is legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Ponder, action:cast Consider, action:cast Stock Up, action:cast Lórien Revealed, action:cast Pore Over the Pages
Use when: choosing between card-flow actions or resolving selection choices.
Avoid when: casting selection taps mana needed for a visible opposing threat or starts a combo turn without the necessary mana base.
Instructions: Select for the missing axis: land access first, untap/draw density second, `Underworld Breach` or `Wish` third, protection only when visible interaction matters. Do not keep redundant setup over the card that lets the current turn continue.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Underworld Breach Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; selection
Cards: Underworld Breach; Hidden Strings; Pore Over the Pages; Consider; Ponder; Wish; Tome Scour
Phase windows: main phases with graveyard and mana visible
Runtime cues: action:cast Underworld Breach, action:cast Tome Scour, action:cast Wish
Use when: deciding whether to commit graveyard resources to a Breach turn.
Avoid when: graveyard count, mana, or visible follow-up spells cannot sustain escapes, or graveyard hate is visible and not answered.
Instructions: Cast `Underworld Breach` when the graveyard plus mana can replay selection, untap, or payoff actions. If the hand already has `Wish`, evaluate whether sideboard `Tome Scour`, `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach` is actually castable after `Wish` resolves.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Wish Payoff Selection Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: selection; priority
Cards: Wish; Grapeshot; Tendrils of Agony; Jace, Wielder of Mysteries; Tome Scour; Underworld Breach; Into the Flood Maw; Abrade
Phase windows: main phases with `Wish` legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Wish, prompt:choose card outside the game, visible sideboard choices
Use when: `Wish` can select a postboard card and the current turn has a defined purpose.
Avoid when: no selected postboard card can be cast or used before the opponent's next decisive turn.
Instructions: Choose a kill card only with sufficient storm, mana, and target legality. Choose sideboard `Underworld Breach` or `Tome Scour` when the plan is to extend the engine. Choose `Abrade` or sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` only when a visible permanent blocks winning or survival.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Payoff Target Opponent
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection; priority
Cards: Grapeshot; Tendrils of Agony
Phase windows: payoff target prompts after commitment
Runtime cues: action:target opponent Grapeshot, action:target opponent Tendrils of Agony
Use when: the legal action text offers targeting the opponent with `Grapeshot` or `Tendrils of Agony` after the payoff line has been selected.
Avoid when: Veles shows a prevention, redirection, hexproof, or target restriction that makes the opponent target illegal or not present in the action text.
Instructions: Target the opponent with lethal payoff copies when Veles exposes that exact legal target. Do not redirect copies to creatures unless a separate light-model decision selected removal instead of a kill.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Tome Scour Self-Fuel Target
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection
Cards: Tome Scour; Underworld Breach; Wish
Phase windows: combo main phase target prompts
Runtime cues: action:target self Tome Scour
Use when: the legal action text offers targeting self with `Tome Scour` during a selected `Underworld Breach` fuel line.
Avoid when: library size, graveyard hate, or a selected opponent-mill line is explicitly shown by Veles as the active plan.
Instructions: Target self with `Tome Scour` when the current combo plan needs graveyard fuel. Route through light-model if both self-mill and opponent-target outcomes are plausible from visible resources.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Permission Spending Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Consign to Memory; Stifle
Phase windows: opponent casts, activated or triggered abilities, combo protection windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Consign to Memory, action:cast Stifle, stack:opponent spell, stack:opponent ability
Use when: deciding whether to spend stack interaction on a visible opposing object.
Avoid when: the object does not stop the combo, threaten lethal pressure, remove `Lotus Field`, exile the graveyard, or prevent a payoff.
Instructions: Spend `Consign to Memory` or `Stifle` on visible disruption, hate, lethal threats, or abilities that break the engine. Preserve interaction when the opponent's stack object is low impact and the combo turn is close.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Bounce And Removal Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction
Cards: Into the Flood Maw; Otawara, Soaring City; Abrade; Brotherhood's End
Phase windows: main phases, combat, opponent end step, stack-sensitive permanent windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Into the Flood Maw, action:channel Otawara, Soaring City, action:cast Abrade, action:cast Brotherhood's End
Use when: a visible permanent, attack, or hate piece prevents survival or combo execution.
Avoid when: answering the permanent does not change the current clock or combo access, or when the mana spent prevents a winning line this turn.
Instructions: Use bounce or removal to clear hate, stop lethal pressure, or open a combo turn. Prefer temporary answers when winning immediately follows; prefer `Brotherhood's End` only when multiple visible permanents or creatures justify spending the turn.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Survival Defaults
Priority: Medium
Decision families: combat; interaction
Cards: Vizier of Tumbling Sands; Into the Flood Maw; Brotherhood's End
Phase windows: declare attackers, declare blockers, before combat damage
Runtime cues: action:block, action:cast Into the Flood Maw, action:cast Brotherhood's End, visible attackers
Use when: combat damage affects survival before the next combo opportunity.
Avoid when: blocking or interacting sacrifices an engine piece and Veles shows survival without that action.
Instructions: Treat combat as a clock-management problem, not a damage race. Preserve `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` when it is needed as an untap resource unless blocking prevents lethal or buys the exact next turn needed.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Plan Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Leyline of Sanctity; Brotherhood's End; Surgical Extraction; Abrade; Into the Flood Maw; Underworld Breach; Consign to Memory; Stifle; Artist's Talent; Stock Up; Pore Over the Pages
Phase windows: between games, sideboard prompts
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard, visible matchup label, legal sideboard candidates
Use when: choosing a registered sideboard plan after game one or game two.
Avoid when: proposed changes violate registered counts or remove too much engine density for narrow answers.
Instructions: Add `Leyline of Sanctity` against targeted discard or burn pressure, `Brotherhood's End` against creature or artifact boards, `Surgical Extraction` against graveyard-dependent public zones, `Abrade` or sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` against hate permanents, and extra `Underworld Breach` against attrition. Reduce slower draw or redundant setup before reducing `Lotus Field` access, untap density, or core payoff access.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Leyline Pregame Execution
Priority: Medium
Decision families: pregame
Cards: Leyline of Sanctity
Phase windows: opening hand pregame actions after sideboarding
Runtime cues: action:begin the game with Leyline of Sanctity, action:put Leyline of Sanctity onto the battlefield
Use when: the legal action text offers beginning the game with `Leyline of Sanctity` from the opening hand.
Avoid when: Veles does not show the exact pregame legal action.
Instructions: Put `Leyline of Sanctity` onto the battlefield when the rules engine offers that legal pregame action. Do not infer the action from card presence alone.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Emergency Non-Combo Stabilization
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; interaction; selection
Cards: Brotherhood's End; Into the Flood Maw; Abrade; Consign to Memory; Stifle; Otawara, Soaring City
Phase windows: any turn before lethal damage or decisive disruption resolves
Runtime cues: low life, visible lethal attack, visible hate permanent, stack:opponent spell, action:cast Brotherhood's End, action:cast Into the Flood Maw
Use when: the game cannot wait for a clean combo setup turn.
Avoid when: the same mana produces a legal win or a stronger protected combo start this turn.
Instructions: Spend interaction to survive, remove hate, or force one more draw step when the visible board demands it. Do not turn every threat into an emergency; preserve combo resources when the clock allows a setup turn.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
