# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Fang Plays Pauper is a Pauper Commander deck built as mono-black graveyard midrange with sacrifice, recursion, attrition removal, and drain-finisher texture. The registered commander is Fang, Fearless l'Cie; Card text check required before assuming any commander-trigger timing, protection need, or payoff math, so runtime decisions must treat Fang, Fearless l'Cie as a command-zone resource whose legal cast, tax, and visible text come from the rules engine.

- Validation: The active format contract is Pauper Commander, and the registered configuration passes the supplied format-aware validation as 100 main-deck cards plus a 10-card Veles policy sideboard.
- Count check: The main deck contains exactly 100 cards, using singleton construction outside the 28 Swamp basic-land package.
- Sideboard check: The sideboard contains exactly 10 cards: Duress; Chainer's Edict; Snuff Out; Nihil Spellbomb; Relic of Progenitus; Crypt Rats; Unexpected Fangs; Suffocating Fumes; Wrench Mind; Faerie Macabre.
- Commander status: Fang, Fearless l'Cie is the named commander and should be evaluated separately from normal hand resources because command-zone recasts, commander tax, and commander-specific visibility are runtime matters.
- Archetype tags: The current tags are midrange and graveyard; the duplicate supplied tag string `midrange,graveyard` should be normalized to those two tactical tags rather than treated as separate plans.
- Stock status: This is a rogue or highly customized Pauper Commander list, not a stock archetype shell; pilot policy should rely on the exact registered card pool instead of importing generic black staples or common commander assumptions.
- Hybrid status: The deck is a hybrid of attrition midrange, graveyard resource conversion, and sacrifice-for-cards gameplay, with individual threats and recursion spells replacing redundant constructed-style playsets.
- Primary color identity assumption: The visible decklist is black-focused, with Swamp as the dominant mana source and support from Bojuka Bog, Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, Hidden Grotto, Crystal Grotto, Conduit Pylons, Wayfarer's Bauble, Charcoal Diamond, and Pristine Talisman.
- Mana concern: The deck has many black mana requirements and several colorless or utility permanents, so opening hands need real black access before slow value cards are trusted; do not let Pristine Talisman, Conduit Pylons, or colorless utility substitute for required black mana unless the legal mana actions prove payment is possible.
- Role concern: The deck can look like control when it draws Defile, Murder, Tendrils of Corruption, Feed the Swarm, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, or Eaten Alive, but it wins by converting material into recursive pressure and drain/value rather than by answering everything forever.
- Graveyard concern: The deck uses its graveyard as a resource through cards such as Dread Return, Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Bone Harvest, Pull from the Grave, and Return from Extinction; avoid unnecessary self-exile or graveyard trades unless survival, tempo, or a decisive payoff justifies them.
- Sacrifice concern: Cards such as Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Merciless Resolve, Eviscerator's Insight, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, and Eaten Alive can turn creatures or permanents into cards or removal, so the pilot must track which expendable bodies are replaceable and which bodies are needed for board stability.
- Removal concern: The list has mostly one-for-one answers and edict-style effects, so spend removal on threats that change the race, block the deck's recursion plan, threaten commander access, or invalidate Gray Merchant of Asphodel reach.
- Opponent information status: No specific opponent decklist or metagame target was supplied for this guide batch, so matchup decisions must be based on visible battlefield, graveyard, exile, revealed cards, commander identity if known, and legal actions rather than assumed hidden staples.
- Legality boundary: The guide may recommend priorities, but Veles must obey the rules engine for legal actions, target eligibility, mana payment, commander casting, graveyard permissions, and sideboarding constraints at runtime.

## Thesis
Fang Plays Pauper assembles mono-black mana, disposable creatures, sacrifice-for-cards effects, graveyard recursion, and selective removal into an attrition engine that wins after both players have traded resources. The ideal game uses early bodies such as Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, Wailing Ghoul, Dogged Detective, or commander access to create material, then turns that material into cards with Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Merciless Resolve, or Eviscerator's Insight while removal keeps the opponent from converting tempo into lethal pressure.

The deck wins by making every creature matter more than once, not by assembling a deterministic combo. Pressure from recursive or sticky creatures, command-zone access to Fang, Fearless l'Cie, and late drain from Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Syphon Soul, Tendrils of Corruption, or Charity Extractor should close games after the opponent's first wave has been answered. Card text check required for Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Skeleton Crew, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, Scarblade Scout, Scrounger of Souls, Diresight, Risky Shortcut, Cost of Brilliance, Pull from the Grave, Masterful Flourish, Charity Extractor, Wreckage Wickerfolk, Scales of Shale, and several Universes Beyond cards before assuming exact triggers, stats, costs, or timing.

The deck is not trying to race from turn one, hold up permission forever, or spend removal on every legal target. Prioritize black mana, a board presence that can block or be sacrificed, one source of velocity or recursion, and interaction for threats that compress the clock, shut off graveyard value, exile key creatures, or force bad blocks. When ahead, convert excess material into cards and make removal trades that preserve pressure. When behind, protect life total first, then rebuild through recursion rather than chasing low-impact card advantage.

The pilot should treat the graveyard as a second hand only when the rules engine shows legal access. Dread Return, Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Bone Harvest, Pull from the Grave, Return from Extinction, Mortuary Mire, and Witch's Cottage make dead creatures valuable, so avoid casual self-exile with Crypt Creeper, Cremate, Bojuka Bog timing, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, or Faerie Macabre unless the opponent's graveyard plan or immediate survival is worth the cost.

## Role Package
- Threats: Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Skeleton Crew, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dogged Detective, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, Scrounger of Souls, Persistent Specimen, Cabal Initiate, Desperate Farmer // Depraved Harvester, Wreckage Wickerfolk, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Shadow Alley Denizen, Mindwrack Harpy, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel are the main bodies or pressure sources. Use them to demand blocks, feed sacrifice costs, hold the ground, or create devotion-style closing pressure when their visible text supports that role.

- Payoffs: Gray Merchant of Asphodel is the cleanest late-game drain payoff, while Tendrils of Corruption, Syphon Soul, Charity Extractor, and Pristine Talisman can shift races through life movement. Preserve black permanents and life-total buffers when they make a future Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Tendrils of Corruption turn decisive.

- Engines: Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Dogged Detective, Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Skeleton Crew, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Wailing Ghoul, Dread Return, Bone Harvest, and repeatable graveyard access form the attrition core. Card text check required before treating any one engine as mandatory; if visible text proves recursion or death synergy, protect it from low-value sacrifice.

- Velocity: Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Merciless Resolve, Eviscerator's Insight, Resentful Revelation, Dusk Legion Zealot, Wailing Ghoul, Diresight, Risky Shortcut, Cost of Brilliance, Cremate, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, and Hidden Grotto provide cards, filtering, cycling, or selection. Spend expendable bodies first, but keep blockers when facing visible lethal pressure.

- Interaction: Defile, Murder, Tendrils of Corruption, Feed the Swarm, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Accursed Marauder, Dash Hopes, Crypt Creeper, Cremate, and Bojuka Bog answer creatures, permanents, spells, or graveyards according to legal runtime text. Sideboard interaction expands with Duress, Chainer's Edict, Snuff Out, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, Crypt Rats, Suffocating Fumes, Wrench Mind, and Faerie Macabre.

- Protection: Unnatural Endurance, Professor's Warning, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Azra Smokeshaper, Unlikely Aid, Masterful Flourish, Scales of Shale, and Unexpected Fangs are tactical protection or combat-role cards only when visible text and legal targets confirm that use. Save them for commander preservation, profitable combat, saving a payoff, or forcing a race swing.

- Recursion: Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Dread Return, Bone Harvest, Pull from the Grave, Return from Extinction, Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage, and Cheerful Osteomancer // Raise Dead let the deck rebuy key creatures. Rank Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Fang, Fearless l'Cie if it can legally change zones, high-impact blockers, and sacrifice engines above generic attackers.

- Mana: Swamp is the core resource, with Bojuka Bog, Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, Hidden Grotto, Crystal Grotto, Conduit Pylons, Wayfarer's Bauble, Charcoal Diamond, Overeager Apprentice, and Pristine Talisman supporting mana or utility. Keep hands that cast early black spells; do not count colorless or tapped utility as black access unless legal mana actions prove it.

- Sideboard modules: Duress and Wrench Mind pressure hands, Chainer's Edict and Snuff Out increase removal density, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre fight graveyards, Crypt Rats and Suffocating Fumes cover small-creature boards, and Unexpected Fangs supports racing or stabilizing with a key body.

## Primary Win Conditions
- Attrition pressure: Build the main win path by making early creatures trade, die, return, and become cards before the opponent can stabilize. Setup uses Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, Wailing Ghoul, Dogged Detective, Skeleton Crew, Fang, Fearless l'Cie, and other cheap bodies as blockers or sacrifice stock; execution turns spare material into velocity with Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Merciless Resolve, Eviscerator's Insight, and Resentful Revelation while Defile, Murder, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Feed the Swarm, Accursed Marauder, and Tendrils of Corruption keep the board manageable. Prioritize this line when the hand has black mana, at least one body, and a draw or recursion spell. Disruption risk is exile, graveyard hate, or losing all bodies before sacrifice spells resolve, so do not sacrifice the last relevant blocker under pressure unless the drawn cards can immediately change the board.

- Graveyard recursion loop: Win long games by rebuying the best dead creature repeatedly instead of trying to answer every opposing card one-for-one. Setup is a graveyard containing Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Fang, Fearless l'Cie if legally reachable, Troll of Khazad-dûm, a key blocker, or a sacrifice engine; execution uses Unearth, Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Bone Harvest, Pull from the Grave, Return from Extinction, Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage, or Cheerful Osteomancer // Raise Dead when legal text confirms the target. Prioritize this path when the opponent is low on resources, removal has already traded, or the graveyard contains a higher-impact threat than anything in hand. Disruption risk is self-exiling the wrong graveyard with Crypt Creeper, Cremate, Bojuka Bog, or similar effects; use those cards on the opponent unless survival or a rules-engine legal target makes self-use correct.

- Drain finish: Close stalled games by preserving black permanents and converting life totals with Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Syphon Soul, Tendrils of Corruption, Charity Extractor, and repeated small attacks. Setup requires enough Swamp count, black devotion-style board presence, or legal life-drain text to make the spell materially change the race; execution is to hold the drain payoff until it either stabilizes life, kills the opponent, or forces them to spend their next turn answering the board rather than advancing. Prioritize this line when combat is stalled, the opponent is at a low life total, or the deck can recur Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Disruption risk is tapping out before the payoff is decisive; if the opponent has a visible lethal attack, use Tendrils of Corruption as removal and life gain before greedier sequencing.

- Large-body and reanimation pressure: Use Troll of Khazad-dûm, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Wreckage Wickerfolk, Purple Pentapus, Scrounger of Souls, Desperate Farmer // Depraved Harvester, and other substantial bodies as the closing board once the opponent's early threats are exhausted. Setup often involves cycling, self-mill, discard, or normal casting; execution is to recur or cast the largest legal threat and protect it with Unnatural Endurance, Professor's Warning, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Azra Smokeshaper, Unlikely Aid, Masterful Flourish, or Scales of Shale only when visible text confirms the protection mode. Card text check required for Purple Pentapus, Wreckage Wickerfolk, Scales of Shale, Masterful Flourish, and several newer cards before assuming exact combat math.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Backup combat: Win with ordinary attacks when the opponent has spent removal on engines and drain payoffs. Shadow Alley Denizen can matter if its visible text grants evasion or favorable attacks, Cabal Initiate and Desperate Farmer // Depraved Harvester can pressure after trades if legal text supports it, and recursive creatures can attack in waves because dying is acceptable when recursion is available. Prioritize combat when the opponent is shields-down, when holding back does not improve blocks, or when a protection spell turns a block into a one-sided exchange.

- Value conversion: Win by drawing two-for-one exchanges until the opponent cannot match card flow. Sacrifice Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot after its entry value, expendable tokens or recursive bodies first; preserve Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Dogged Detective, and key blockers unless the sacrifice spell is needed to hit land, removal, or lethal drain. Do not use Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Village Rites, or Deadly Dispute as automatic value buttons when the sacrificed creature is the only thing preventing lethal damage.

- Incremental life buffer: Use Pristine Talisman, Tendrils of Corruption, Syphon Soul, Charity Extractor, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel to turn races into long games. This is a secondary win condition because it buys enough turns for recursion to matter, not because gaining life alone wins. Card text check required for Charity Extractor before assuming how much life swing or board effect it provides.

- Utility-topdeck pressure: Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage, Bone Harvest, and Grim Discovery can make future draw steps into threats. Use this line when hand size is low and the graveyard contains a specific creature that will dominate the next turn cycle. Avoid burying an urgent removal draw under a slow creature when the visible board demands an answer now.

## Emergency Lines
- Behind on life: Stabilize before value by blocking, trading, and using Defile, Murder, Tendrils of Corruption, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Accursed Marauder, or Feed the Swarm on the threat that shortens the clock most. Spend protection as a defensive spell when it saves a blocker and prevents lethal or near-lethal damage.

- Behind on board: Stop attacking with needed blockers and convert low-impact bodies into cards only if the resulting draw can find removal, life gain, or multiple blockers. Accursed Marauder and sacrifice removal are emergency equalizers, but do not expose yourself to sacrificing the only relevant creature if the opponent can rebuild faster.

- Behind on cards: Use Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Merciless Resolve, Eviscerator's Insight, Resentful Revelation, Dusk Legion Zealot, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, Hidden Grotto, Diresight, Risky Shortcut, or Cost of Brilliance to reload, with card text check required for Diresight, Risky Shortcut, and Cost of Brilliance. Prefer draw that keeps mana open for removal when the opponent has a visible threat.

- Behind on mana: Prioritize Swamp drops, Wayfarer's Bauble, Charcoal Diamond, Pristine Talisman, Overeager Apprentice, and legal land-cycling or cycling actions from Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, or Troll of Khazad-dûm when they improve future turns. Do not keep sacrificing lands or spending utility lands for marginal selection if commander tax or recursion costs are already stranding spells.

- Graveyard shut off: Pivot to hard-cast creatures, removal, and drain rather than fighting over every recursion card. If the opponent presents graveyard hate, use the graveyard before it is exiled when legal, or accept the exile and preserve hand resources for a normal midrange game.

- Win conditions removed: Rebuild around the remaining axis instead of chasing the lost one. If Gray Merchant of Asphodel is gone, win through recursive combat and Tendrils of Corruption or Syphon Soul. If recursion is gone, protect live threats and trade removal for tempo. If Fang, Fearless l'Cie is too expensive or unavailable, treat the deck as a black attrition pile and conserve every card that creates material.

## Resource Model
- Life is a stabilizing resource, not a fuel source, unless the legal action immediately protects a higher-value exchange. Spend life or accept damage to keep removal, recursion, or Fang, Fearless l'Cie pressure available only when the visible clock leaves enough turns; use Tendrils of Corruption, Syphon Soul, Pristine Talisman, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and Charity Extractor to reset races once the opponent has committed threats. Card text check required for Charity Extractor before assuming the exact life swing.

- Hand cards are the deck's most flexible resource because many spells convert one card into material, removal, or graveyard access. Prioritize Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Merciless Resolve, Eviscerator's Insight, Dusk Legion Zealot, Resentful Revelation, Diresight, Risky Shortcut, and Cost of Brilliance when the hand lacks lands, removal, or a next-turn play; avoid drawing at the cost of the only blocker against a visible lethal or near-lethal attack. Card text check required for Diresight, Risky Shortcut, and Cost of Brilliance.

- Board material is spendable when it has already produced value, can return, or is worse than the card or removal it unlocks. Sacrifice Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, expendable tokens, or a creature that will die anyway before sacrificing Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Dogged Detective, or the only relevant blocker. Treat Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, and Merciless Resolve as conversion tools, not automatic buttons.

- Graveyard is a second hand when it contains creatures worth recurring, but it is vulnerable and must not be overfilled without payoff. Use Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Return from Extinction, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Bone Harvest, Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage, and Dread Return to convert traded creatures into future pressure. If opponent graveyard hate is visible, use the best legal recursion before exile effects resolve when that is tactically better than saving mana.

- Exile is mostly a denial and finality zone, so do not assume exiled cards can be reused. Cremate, Bojuka Bog, Crypt Creeper, Eaten Alive, and sideboard graveyard bullets can remove opposing resources; prefer using them against opponent cards that enable recursion, flashback-like lines, or combo turns. If your own key card is exiled, pivot to hard-cast creatures, drain, and ordinary attrition rather than chasing unavailable recursion.

- Tempo is earned by making the opponent answer low-cost threats while you hold removal for the card that matters. Sequence cheap bodies, sacrifice fodder, and mana rocks before five-mana plays when the board is not under pressure; under pressure, spend Defile, Murder, Tendrils of Corruption, Feed the Swarm, Accursed Marauder, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, or Eaten Alive before slow value.

- Information is a resource because singleton Pauper Commander games punish blind commitment. Use revealed hands, public graveyards, known commanders, stack contents, and legal-action text to choose discard, removal, recursion targets, and whether to commit Fang, Fearless l'Cie or Dread Return. Sideboard bullets convert information into narrow power: Duress and Wrench Mind attack hands, Chainer's Edict and Snuff Out add interaction, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre fight graveyards, Crypt Rats and Suffocating Fumes answer wide boards, and Unexpected Fangs changes races.

## Mana Guide
- Keep mana hands that cast early black spells and reach three mana on time. A functional opener usually has at least two mana sources, at least one Swamp or black-producing source, and either Wayfarer's Bauble, Charcoal Diamond, Pristine Talisman, cycling from Polluted Mire or Desert of the Glorified, or a cheap spell that affects the first turns. Mulligan one-land hands unless the legal hand contains a reliable way to find mana and several castable plays.

- Prioritize Swamp count because Defile and Tendrils of Corruption scale with Swamps and the deck is almost entirely black. Play Swamp over utility lands when holding Defile, Tendrils of Corruption, multiple black spells, or a curve that needs untapped black mana. Utility lands are valuable, but losing removal strength or missing a black pip is usually worse than gaining small selection.

- Sequence tapped and utility lands before pressure only when the turn does not require removal or a creature. Bojuka Bog should be timed for graveyard impact when possible, but play it early if missing land drops would strand the hand. Mortuary Mire and Witch's Cottage should be saved for a meaningful creature on top when feasible; play them untapped or as ordinary mana only when the rules engine says that is legal and tempo matters more than the recursion setup. Hidden Grotto, Crystal Grotto, and Conduit Pylons are selection or utility lands; card text check required before assuming exact filtering or mana behavior.

- Use mana rocks and land search to jump from setup into attrition turns. Wayfarer's Bauble is best before holding up expensive interaction unless the board demands immediate removal. Charcoal Diamond and Pristine Talisman improve long games and commander-tax recovery; play them before card draw when the hand already has action, and after draw when the current turn may reveal a land drop or urgent removal line.

- Play land before draw when you already know the land drop and need maximum mana this turn. Draw first with Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Eviscerator's Insight, Dusk Legion Zealot, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, Diresight, Risky Shortcut, or Cost of Brilliance when the drawn card can change which land to play, whether to use Bojuka Bog, or whether to preserve Mortuary Mire or Witch's Cottage.

- Spend exact mana with future turns in mind. Preserve black mana for Defile, protection, sacrifice interaction, and recursion when the opponent can act; use colorless or utility mana for artifacts and generic costs when legal. Do not tap Pristine Talisman, Charcoal Diamond, or utility lands in a way that prevents a visible defensive spell unless the chosen play stabilizes the board more decisively.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keeps have two or three mana sources, one early play, and one stabilizer or draw-conversion spell. Keep Swamp plus Swamp or utility land with Wayfarer's Bauble, Dusk Legion Zealot, Defile, Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, or Dogged Detective because the hand can spend mana early and convert creatures into cards later.

- Medium keeps need a clear correction plan by turn two. Keep two lands with Polluted Mire or Desert of the Glorified only when cycling, a cheap creature, or Dusk Legion Zealot can bridge toward the third land; keep Charcoal Diamond or Pristine Talisman hands when at least one black source already casts removal or a creature.

- Risky keeps are acceptable on the draw when they contain cheap interaction and a recovery engine. A one-Swamp hand with Wayfarer's Bauble, Defile, Persistent Specimen, and Dusk Legion Zealot can be considered on the draw, but ship it on the play if missing the second mana source would skip both development and defense.

- Automatic ships lack black mana, lack early actions, or contain only expensive recursion and finishers. Ship hands built around Dread Return, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Tendrils of Corruption, Resentful Revelation, Pull from the Grave, and no reliable first-three-turn play, because the deck cannot assume the graveyard or Swamp count will appear in time.

- Matchup-dependent keeps change around speed and graveyard pressure. Against fast creature decks, prioritize Defile, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Accursed Marauder, Murder, Tendrils of Corruption, Dusk Legion Zealot, and cheap blockers; against slow control or attrition, prioritize Wayfarer's Bauble, Charcoal Diamond, Pristine Talisman, Deadly Dispute, Eviscerator's Insight, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, and Fang, Fearless l'Cie.

- Play/draw decisions should value tempo on the play and correction on the draw. On the play, keep hands that deploy Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Wayfarer's Bauble, or Charcoal Diamond before holding removal; on the draw, accept slightly slower hands with extra lands, cycling, Dusk Legion Zealot, Cremate, or early draw if they still answer a visible commander or early attacker.

- Trap hands show synergy without a first legal step. Do not keep multiple sacrifice payoffs such as Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Merciless Resolve, Bone Shards, and Bone Splinters without expendable material; do not keep recursion-heavy hands with Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Return from Extinction, Macabre Waltz, Bone Harvest, and no creatures expected to die.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1 should establish mana or a reusable body before holding up small effects. Preferred plays are Swamp into Wayfarer's Bauble, Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, or a tapped/cycling land when legal; deviate for Defile, Cremate, or Bone Shards only when a visible opposing play makes immediate interaction worth slowing development.

- Turn 2 should either fix mana, place fodder, or answer a snowballing threat. Preferred plays are activating Wayfarer's Bauble, casting Charcoal Diamond, Dusk Legion Zealot, Dogged Detective, Crypt Creeper, Wailing Ghoul, or a second cheap creature; deviate to Feed the Swarm, Bone Splinters, Bone Shards, Eaten Alive, or Accursed Marauder when the opponent's board will punish waiting.

- Turn 3 should convert early material into cards or stabilize the board. Preferred plays include Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Eviscerator's Insight, Merciless Resolve, Pristine Talisman, Fang, Fearless l'Cie, or removal plus a cheap body. Sacrifice Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, or a creature already neutralized before sacrificing the only blocker or a future recursion target.

- Turns 4-5 should choose between attrition engine, life stabilization, and graveyard payoff. Use Murder, Tendrils of Corruption, Defile, Feed the Swarm, or edict-style effects to stop the best visible threat; use Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, Gravedig, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Mortuary Mire, or Witch's Cottage when the graveyard contains a creature that improves the next two turns.

- Turns 4-5 can also pivot into finishers when the board is stable. Cast Gray Merchant of Asphodel when devotion and life swing matter now; cast Dread Return only when the target is visible, legal, and worth the sacrifice or mana commitment; deploy Charity Extractor, Purple Pentapus, Skeleton Crew, Scrounger of Souls, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, or Wreckage Wickerfolk only after a card text check or when Veles legal-action context confirms the role.

- Late game should turn every zone into pressure without exposing all resources to one answer. Recast Fang, Fearless l'Cie when commander tax is payable and the board needs a persistent plan; use Bone Harvest to stack future draws when the graveyard is stocked; use Bojuka Bog, Crypt Creeper, and Cremate to deny opposing graveyard turns before they resolve; preserve one protection spell such as Unnatural Endurance, Professor's Warning, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Azra Smokeshaper, or Unlikely Aid for a decisive combat or removal exchange when legal.

## Card Roles
- Commander: Fang, Fearless l'Cie is the repeatable command-zone plan, but Card text check required before assuming whether it is removal, recursion, sacrifice payoff, or combat pressure. Cast Fang, Fearless l'Cie when the legal action and visible board show it either stabilizes the current turn or turns future sacrifice/recursion loops into advantage; delay recasting through commander tax when the same mana must answer a lethal board.

- Fodder and recursive bodies: Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dogged Detective, Dusk Legion Zealot, Desperate Farmer // Depraved Harvester, and Wailing Ghoul are the best early material because they either replace themselves, recur, stock the graveyard, or leave a body to cash in. Lead with these before Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Merciless Resolve, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, and Eaten Alive so the deck has legal sacrifice material without spending high-value creatures.

- Sacrifice draw: Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Eviscerator's Insight, and Merciless Resolve convert creatures or permanents into cards, and they should usually target expendable bodies, creatures already about to die, or permanents no longer needed. Hold instant-speed sacrifice draw when opposing removal is visible or likely from open mana; cast proactively only when missing land drops, digging for interaction, or turning a death trigger into the next stable play.

- Sacrifice removal: Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, and Eaten Alive are efficient answers that demand material discipline. Use them on commanders, must-answer engines, evasive clocks, or creatures that invalidate blocking; avoid sacrificing Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Troll of Khazad-dûm, or a sole blocker unless the visible threat is worse than the lost body.

- Clean removal: Defile scales with Swamp count and is strongest after developing black sources; Tendrils of Corruption stabilizes life totals while killing a creature when the Swamp count supports it; Murder is the unconditional creature answer; Feed the Swarm is the important black answer to enchantments and creatures. Spend Defile early against tempo threats, save Murder for threats Defile cannot kill, and treat Feed the Swarm as scarce enchantment interaction unless a creature will otherwise decide the game.

- Edict and attrition creatures: Accursed Marauder pressures opponents with low creature counts and works best when the deck has disposable bodies to pay symmetrical costs if required. Cast it before the opponent floods the board with expendable creatures; avoid it when your only creature is the commander or a critical payoff and the opponent can choose a low-value sacrifice.

- Graveyard recursion: Unearth, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Gravedig, Return from Extinction, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Pull from the Grave, Dread Return, Bone Harvest, Mortuary Mire, and Witch's Cottage turn deaths into late-game material. Choose targets by next-turn impact: removal bodies or blockers when behind, Gray Merchant of Asphodel when devotion and life swing matter, Dusk Legion Zealot or Dogged Detective when card flow is needed, and Troll of Khazad-dûm or another large threat when the board is stable.

- Graveyard setup and disruption: Wailing Ghoul and Mindwrack Harpy can stock graveyards, but Card text check required for exact milling triggers and risk. Cremate, Crypt Creeper, and Bojuka Bog are graveyard interaction; use them before a visible graveyard payoff resolves, not after the opponent has already gained value. Avoid exiling your own best recursion targets unless the legal action explicitly rewards it or survival requires it.

- Finishers and life swings: Gray Merchant of Asphodel is the clearest drain payoff and should be timed for devotion, survival, or lethal pressure rather than cast as a small body. Syphon Soul provides multiplayer-style life swing if legal and relevant, but Card text check required for exact table impact in the current rules engine. Charity Extractor, Scrounger of Souls, Skeleton Crew, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, Wreckage Wickerfolk, and Cabal Initiate need Card text check required; treat them as conditional threats or stabilizers only when visible legal text confirms their role.

- Large threat and land smoothing: Troll of Khazad-dûm is a late-game body and may have land-search utility; Card text check required for exact landcycling action and target limits. Use its early search mode when the hand lacks mana or Swamp count, and preserve it as a threat when mana is already functional and the matchup rewards a resilient top-end creature.

- Protection and combat tricks: Unnatural Endurance, Professor's Warning, Scales of Shale, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Azra Smokeshaper, Unlikely Aid, and Masterful Flourish are tactical cards, but several need Card text check required for exact effects. Use protection on Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, a key blocker, or a creature being sacrificed only when the legal action preserves material or wins combat; do not spend a trick merely to push small damage unless racing math demands it.

- Card selection and draw spells: Diresight, Risky Shortcut, Cost of Brilliance, Resentful Revelation, Polluted Mire, and Desert of the Glorified help correct draws, but Card text check required for exact modes, costs, and timing. Use them before land decisions when they can change the land drop, after holding up removal when the opponent can present a threat, and before recursion when the graveyard lacks a target worth buying back.

- Mana development: Wayfarer's Bauble, Charcoal Diamond, Pristine Talisman, Hidden Grotto, Crystal Grotto, Conduit Pylons, and Swamp support a slow attrition curve. Prioritize Swamp count because Defile and Tendrils of Corruption care about it; use Wayfarer's Bauble early, Charcoal Diamond when tempo permits a tapped rock, and Pristine Talisman when life padding matters or the turn does not require immediate black mana.

- Utility lands: Bojuka Bog is interaction, Mortuary Mire and Witch's Cottage are recursion, Polluted Mire and Desert of the Glorified are flood insurance, and Crystal Grotto or Hidden Grotto can smooth draws. Do not play Bojuka Bog into an empty opposing graveyard unless the hand needs the land now; delay Mortuary Mire or Witch's Cottage until a high-impact creature is already in the graveyard when the tempo loss is acceptable.

- Unclear or narrow role cards: Cheerful Osteomancer // Raise Dead, Overeager Apprentice, Scarblade Scout, Shadow Alley Denizen, Scales of Shale, Diresight, Risky Shortcut, Cost of Brilliance, Pull from the Grave, and Purple Pentapus require Card text check required before exact tactical commitments. When Veles shows legal action text, classify each by immediate function: mana, sacrifice material, recursion, removal, pressure, or protection, then choose the line that preserves life and material while advancing the graveyard midrange plan.

- Dash Hopes is a punisher-style interaction card if its printed text matches the familiar version, but Card text check required before assuming the opponent can pay life. Use it when either outcome is acceptable: countering the spell is strong, or the life payment meaningfully shortens the clock. Do not rely on it as hard permission when the opponent has enough life and the spell must be stopped.

- Mistake avoidance: Do not overload the graveyard with self-mill before checking for opposing graveyard hate, do not cash in all creatures before Dread Return or sacrifice removal matters, and do not spend recursion on the first available creature when a later Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Accursed Marauder, or answer creature would change the game. Treat every unknown card-text line as conditional on runtime legal actions rather than assumed synergy.

### Card Hover Notes

#### Fang, Fearless l'Cie
- Deck role: Main deck/commander, 1 copy, core command-zone engine piece.
- Role type: engine payoff; threat/clock; role glue.
- Deck-specific job: Fang turns cards leaving your graveyard into one extra card per turn at the cost of 1 life, so it rewards recurring Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, Skeleton Crew, Unearth targets, Dread Return, flashback Eviscerator's Insight, and flashback Resentful Revelation.
- Timing: Cast Fang when you can either trigger it this turn or untap with graveyard access; delay commander-tax recasts when the same mana must hold Defile, Murder, Tendrils of Corruption, or a sacrifice draw response.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana plus commander tax on recasts; outputs a 2/3 body and up to one draw/life-loss trigger each turn when a card leaves your graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Best trigger partners are Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, Skeleton Crew, Eviscerator's Insight, Resentful Revelation, Dread Return, Cremate, Crypt Creeper, Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre.
- Role peers: No direct peer; closest role overlap is Dogged Detective for repeatable graveyard-linked card flow and Skeleton Crew for graveyard-leave payoff.
- Failure modes: Do not exile your own graveyard just to trigger Fang if it breaks Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Dread Return, Bone Harvest, or Gray Merchant of Asphodel recursion; watch life total because Fang's trigger loses 1 life.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against slow attrition and removal-heavy decks where one trigger per turn buries trades; weaker against fast aggro when paying commander tax does not affect blocks or life immediately.

#### Skeleton Crew
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core graveyard-payoff threat.
- Role type: engine payoff; recursion; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Skeleton Crew rewards creature cards leaving your graveyard by making 2/2 black Skeleton Pirate tokens and also pumps other Skeleton or Pirate creatures you control, mainly Persistent Specimen and its own created Skeleton Pirate tokens.
- Timing: Deploy when you can follow with Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Dread Return, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Return from Extinction, Macabre Waltz, or a self-recursion activation; avoid casting into removal if no creature-card-leaves-graveyard trigger is likely soon.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs four mana; later costs {5}{B} from graveyard to return tapped. Outputs a 3/3 body, token production from battlefield triggers, and a +1/+1 boost to Persistent Specimen and Skeleton Pirate tokens.
- Partners / packages: Creature-card movement partners are Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Dread Return, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Pull from the Grave, Return from Extinction, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Bone Harvest, Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage, Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, and Purple Pentapus.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is Fang, Fearless l'Cie as a once-per-turn graveyard-leave payoff; Persistent Specimen and Retrofitted Transmogrant overlap as recursive material.
- Failure modes: Its token trigger works only from the battlefield, so recurring creatures before Skeleton Crew resolves misses that payoff; its own {5}{B} return is slow and enters tapped.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent in grindy games and against one-for-one removal; trim or delay against fast decks when a four-mana 3/3 without immediate stabilization is too slow.

#### Accursed Marauder
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player edict creature.
- Role type: interaction-removal; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Accursed Marauder forces each player to sacrifice a nontoken creature of their choice, letting this deck trade an expendable creature or the Marauder itself into an opposing single threat while leaving a Zombie body if the trigger timing is favorable.
- Timing: Cast before the opponent has spare nontoken bodies; avoid when your only nontoken creature is Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, or the only blocker preventing lethal.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; outputs a 2/1 Zombie Warrior and a symmetrical nontoken-creature sacrifice trigger chosen separately by each player.
- Partners / packages: Your expendable sacrifice buffers are Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, Wailing Ghoul, Dogged Detective, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, and tokens from Skeleton Crew.
- Role peers: Chainer's Edict and Bone Splinters overlap as creature answers; Bone Shards and Eaten Alive also answer planeswalkers.
- Failure modes: Bad into token boards or opposing expendable creatures because the opponent chooses what to sacrifice; does not hit token creatures.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against Voltron, single-commander pressure, and protected creatures that cannot be targeted by Murder, Defile, or Snuff Out; weak against go-wide decks.

#### Retrofitted Transmogrant
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core recursive sacrifice material.
- Role type: recursion; engine fuel/material; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Retrofitted Transmogrant is a one-mana artifact creature that can be sacrificed early and later return from graveyard tapped with two +1/+1 counters, triggering Fang, Fearless l'Cie and Skeleton Crew while becoming a real attacker or blocker.
- Timing: Cast early to enable Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, and Eaten Alive; activate {3}{B} return when you can afford a tapped body and do not need that mana for removal.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {B} upfront or {3}{B} from graveyard; outputs a 1/1 artifact Zombie, then a tapped 3/3 after returning.
- Partners / packages: Sacrifice partners are Deadly Dispute, Eviscerator's Insight, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Merciless Resolve, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, and Dread Return.
- Role peers: Persistent Specimen and Haunt of the Dead Marshes are closest self-recurring bodies; Purple Pentapus also recurs but needs an untapped creature to tap.
- Failure modes: Returning tapped does not help immediate blocks; artifact status can matter for Deadly Dispute and Eviscerator's Insight but also exposes it to artifact hate.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against removal-heavy midrange and control; against fast aggro, do not spend turn four returning it if Murder, Tendrils of Corruption, or a blocker is required now.

#### Dogged Detective
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player graveyard value creature.
- Role type: card selection; recursion; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Dogged Detective surveils 2 on entry to stock targets for Unearth, Soul Salvage, Dread Return, and Bone Harvest, then can return from graveyard to hand when an opponent draws their second card each turn.
- Timing: Cast on turn two when you need selection or a sacrifice body; surveil creatures into the graveyard only when you have recursion or Fang, Fearless l'Cie/Skeleton Crew payoff available.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; outputs a 2/1 body, surveil 2 selection, and conditional graveyard-to-hand recursion.
- Partners / packages: Surveil payoffs include Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Dread Return, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Pull from the Grave, Return from Extinction, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Bone Harvest, Mortuary Mire, and Witch's Cottage.
- Role peers: Wreckage Wickerfolk surveils 2 with flying; Wailing Ghoul and Scarblade Scout mill rather than surveil.
- Failure modes: The return trigger depends on an opponent drawing their second card, so it is not reliable against low-card-flow decks; surveilling away named lands is risky if you still need three or four mana.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Better against control, draw-heavy midrange, and attrition mirrors; against aggro, value the 2/1 body as a trade before speculative surveil setups.

#### Haunt of the Dead Marshes
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core recursive one-drop.
- Role type: recursion; card selection; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Haunt of the Dead Marshes gives early scry 1 and becomes repeatable sacrifice or blocking material once Fang, Fearless l'Cie is on the battlefield or otherwise you control a legendary creature.
- Timing: Play early when you need a body and top-card smoothing; activate {2}{B} from graveyard only when you control Fang, Fearless l'Cie or another legendary creature and a tapped 1/1 is worth the mana.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}; outputs a 1/1, scry 1, and a graveyard return for {2}{B} that enters tapped and can trigger Fang.
- Partners / packages: Best sacrifice partners are Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Deadly Dispute, Eviscerator's Insight, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Merciless Resolve, and Dread Return.
- Role peers: Persistent Specimen is the most similar self-recurring creature; Purple Pentapus recurs for {2}{B} plus tapping an untapped creature.
- Failure modes: The graveyard activation is locked unless you control a legendary creature, so do not sacrifice it assuming it can always come back.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Valuable against attrition and removal decks after Fang is established; less valuable against go-wide attackers if entering tapped fails to block.

#### Purple Pentapus
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, recursive graveyard setup role player.
- Role type: recursion; card selection; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Purple Pentapus surveils 1 early, then turns an untapped creature into a graveyard return, letting the deck convert spare bodies into Fang, Fearless l'Cie triggers and sacrifice material.
- Timing: Cast when the surveil can find mana, removal, or a recursion target; activate from graveyard after combat or on a stable turn when tapping an untapped creature will not remove a needed blocker.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}; graveyard activation costs {2}{B} and tapping an untapped creature you control; outputs a tapped 1/1 and a card leaving graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Safe tap partners are Dusk Legion Zealot after it has drawn, Retrofitted Transmogrant when not needed to block, Persistent Specimen when expendable, and Skeleton Crew tokens.
- Role peers: Haunt of the Dead Marshes and Persistent Specimen are simpler self-recursion peers; Dogged Detective and Wreckage Wickerfolk share the selection role.
- Failure modes: Tapping your only relevant blocker can lose a race; the returned Pentapus enters tapped, so it does not patch that defensive hole immediately.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in board stalls and sacrifice-heavy games; weak when the opponent pressures combat so hard that every untapped creature must block.

#### Crypt Creeper
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player graveyard hate creature.
- Role type: hate piece; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Crypt Creeper is a 2/1 body that can sacrifice itself to exile target card from a graveyard, giving main-deck graveyard interaction without abandoning creature recursion plans.
- Timing: Cast early as a blocker or sacrifice body when no graveyard threat exists; hold the sacrifice activation for the last legal window before an opponent uses a visible recursion, flashback, escape, delve, or threshold-relevant card.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; outputs a 2/1 Zombie and can consume itself to exile one target card from any graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Works with Fang, Fearless l'Cie when exiling your own low-value card, but should usually protect your Dread Return, Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Bone Harvest, and Grim Discovery targets from self-hate.
- Role peers: Cremate also exiles one target card and draws; Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre cover larger graveyard windows.
- Failure modes: Sacrificing Crypt Creeper removes a creature that could fuel Village Rites, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, or Dread Return; exiling after a flashback or delve spell is already cast usually does not undo paid costs.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against graveyard decks and recursion mirrors; ordinary 2/1 against aggro unless a graveyard payoff is visible.

#### Scarblade Scout
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player lifegain mill creature.
- Role type: lifegain/stabilization; mechanic enabler; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Scarblade Scout mills two on entry to load creatures or flashback spells, while lifelink makes it a small stabilizing body that can be recurred or sacrificed after it has stocked the graveyard.
- Timing: Cast early when you need a blocker and graveyard fuel; avoid self-milling into visible opposing Relic of Progenitus, Nihil Spellbomb, or Bojuka Bog unless the body is needed immediately.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; outputs a 2/2 lifelink creature and mills two cards into your graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Mill outputs feed Dread Return, Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Pull from the Grave, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Bone Harvest, Eviscerator's Insight flashback, and Resentful Revelation flashback.
- Role peers: Wailing Ghoul mills two without lifelink; Mindwrack Harpy mills each player at combat; Dusk Legion Zealot gives a card instead of mill.
- Failure modes: Milling key noncreature spells can strand them unless they have flashback; lifelink on a 2/2 is not enough to race large evasive attackers alone.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good against aggro when it trades and gains life; risky against graveyard-hate decks that punish early self-mill.

#### Overeager Apprentice
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player burst-mana sacrifice creature.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; discard outlet; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Overeager Apprentice turns one hand card and its own body into {B}{B}{B}, enabling early Dread Return, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Skeleton Crew, Tendrils of Corruption, or multi-spell turns while putting a chosen card into the graveyard.
- Timing: Cast when you can use the burst mana immediately or set up a graveyard target; do not sacrifice it just to ramp if discarding would lose your only removal, named land, or recursion payoff.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}; activation discards a card and sacrifices Overeager Apprentice to add {B}{B}{B}.
- Partners / packages: Good discard targets include Troll of Khazad-dûm when you plan to recur it, Gray Merchant of Asphodel for Dread Return, Retrofitted Transmogrant for self-recursion, and Eviscerator's Insight or Resentful Revelation when flashback mana is realistic.
- Role peers: Charcoal Diamond and Pristine Talisman provide slower reusable mana; Wayfarer's Bauble ramps named lands instead of burst.
- Failure modes: The activation costs both a card and the creature, so using it without a high-impact follow-up can leave you down material.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong for tempo swings against slow decks; against aggro, keep it as a blocker unless the mana immediately casts removal or lifegain.

#### Scrounger of Souls
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, singleton lifegain stabilizer.
- Role type: lifegain/stabilization; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Scrounger of Souls is a five-mana 3/4 lifelink body that stabilizes creature races after early removal and recursion have traded resources.
- Timing: Cast when you can survive to attack or block with it; prefer Tendrils of Corruption, Murder, or Defile first if an existing threat will kill you before Scrounger gains life.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {4}{B}; outputs a 3/4 lifelink creature that can be recurred by Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, and similar creature recursion.
- Partners / packages: Protection partners are Professor's Warning, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Unnatural Endurance, Unlikely Aid, Masterful Flourish, and Scales of Shale when saving the lifelink body changes the race.
- Role peers: Charity Extractor is a sturdier lifelink blocker; Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Tendrils of Corruption provide immediate life swing.
- Failure modes: No immediate enter trigger means removal before combat blanks the stabilization; five mana is slow in hands lacking early blockers.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good against ground-based aggro and midrange; sideboard out more often against control or combo where a vanilla lifelink body is too low-impact.

#### Persistent Specimen
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core recursive sacrifice material.
- Role type: recursion; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Persistent Specimen is the cleanest repeatable body for Village Rites, Deadly Dispute, Corrupted Conviction, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, and Dread Return because it can return from graveyard tapped for {2}{B}.
- Timing: Cast on turn one when you need sacrifice fuel; activate from graveyard when a tapped 1/1 will enable a future sacrifice, Fang trigger, Skeleton Crew trigger, or block on the following turn.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}; graveyard activation costs {2}{B}; outputs a reusable Skeleton body and a creature card leaving graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Sacrifice partners are Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Deadly Dispute, Eviscerator's Insight, Merciless Resolve, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, and Dread Return.
- Role peers: Retrofitted Transmogrant is a stronger but more expensive self-recurring body; Haunt of the Dead Marshes needs a legendary creature; Purple Pentapus needs an untapped creature to tap.
- Failure modes: Returning tapped cannot save you from current combat; repeatedly spending {2}{B} can block casting Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Tendrils of Corruption, or Fang through commander tax.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against removal-heavy decks and sacrifice mirrors; against fast evasive decks, do not sink mana into it if removal is needed.

#### Wailing Ghoul
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player graveyard setup blocker.
- Role type: mechanic enabler; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Wailing Ghoul mills two on entry and leaves a 1/3 Zombie body, making it useful early fuel for recursion while buying time against small attackers.
- Timing: Cast when you want to stock the graveyard before Soul Salvage, Unearth, Dread Return, Bone Harvest, or Ghoulcaller's Chant; avoid speculative mill if the opponent has visible graveyard hate and you need hand resources more.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; outputs a 1/3 Zombie and mills two cards into your graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Mill outputs feed Unearth, Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, Return from Extinction, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Bone Harvest, Eviscerator's Insight, and Resentful Revelation.
- Role peers: Scarblade Scout mills two with lifelink and 2/2 stats; Dogged Detective and Wreckage Wickerfolk surveil instead of blind mill.
- Failure modes: A 1/3 rarely pressures life totals; milling key noncreature, nonflashback spells may reduce access to removal.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good against aggro when one toughness matters for blocking; good in graveyard mirrors only if you can protect your own graveyard from exile.

#### Eviscerator's Insight
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core sacrifice-draw spell.
- Role type: engine piece; engine fuel/material; recursion.
- Deck-specific job: Eviscerator's Insight turns an artifact or creature into two cards now, then can be cast again from the graveyard for flashback to convert another artifact or creature into two more cards.
- Timing: Use at instant speed in response to removal, after blocks, or when digging for land/removal; avoid sacrificing the only blocker or only Fang, Fearless l'Cie pressure unless the two cards must find survival.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B} plus sacrificing an artifact or creature; flashback costs {4}{B} plus the same additional sacrifice, then exiles Eviscerator's Insight; outputs two cards per resolution.
- Mode map: Hand cast is efficient instant-speed conversion; flashback is a late-game graveyard cast that triggers Fang because the card leaves the graveyard and is then exiled after resolving.
- Partners / packages: Best sacrifices are Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, Wailing Ghoul, Dogged Detective, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, Skeleton Crew tokens, Wayfarer's Bauble after it is no longer needed only if legal as an artifact sacrifice, and Charcoal Diamond only when mana is no longer needed.
- Role peers: Deadly Dispute adds Treasure; Village Rites and Corrupted Conviction cost {B} but require creatures; Merciless Resolve can sacrifice a named land.
- Failure modes: Flashback still requires sacrificing an artifact or creature; do not treat it as free graveyard draw.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against removal and grindy decks; risky against aggro when sacrificing board presence opens lethal attacks.

#### Deadly Dispute
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core sacrifice-draw and Treasure spell.
- Role type: engine piece; mana/fixing/ramp; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Deadly Dispute converts an expendable artifact or creature into two cards plus a Treasure, smoothing commander-tax turns and double-spell turns.
- Timing: Best in response to removal, after profitable blocks, or when the Treasure unlocks a same-turn Defile, Fang recast, Unearth, or protection spell; avoid main-phase use if the sacrificed body must block.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B} plus sacrificing an artifact or creature; outputs two cards and one Treasure token that can tap and sacrifice for one mana of any color.
- Partners / packages: Preferred sacrifices are Dusk Legion Zealot, Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Wailing Ghoul, Dogged Detective, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, Wayfarer's Bauble after ramp is no longer needed, Skeleton Crew tokens, and Treasure itself only if another effect asks later.
- Role peers: Eviscerator's Insight flashes back but no Treasure; Village Rites and Corrupted Conviction are cheaper creature-only versions; Merciless Resolve can sacrifice a named land.
- Failure modes: Do not sacrifice Charcoal Diamond or Pristine Talisman early if black mana or life padding is still needed; losing artifact mana for two cards can strand expensive recursion.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against control and removal; against fast creature boards, wait until a creature would die anyway or the drawn cards can affect combat immediately.

#### Defile
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core scalable removal.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Defile is the deck's cheapest creature answer, scaling by the number of Swamps you control, including Swamp and Witch's Cottage because Witch's Cottage has land type Swamp.
- Timing: Use early when a small creature will snowball or preserve it until Swamp count kills a larger threat; count Swamps before choosing a target.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}; gives target creature -1/-1 until end of turn for each Swamp you control.
- Partners / packages: Swamp and Witch's Cottage increase Defile size; Wayfarer's Bauble can search a basic Swamp to improve future Defile; Troll of Khazad-dûm can Swampcycle for Swamp or Witch's Cottage if the rules engine lists those legal targets.
- Role peers: Murder destroys any target creature; Tendrils of Corruption damages target creature and gains life based on Swamps; Snuff Out answers nonblack creatures after sideboarding.
- Failure modes: Does not hit planeswalkers or enchantments; low Swamp count can make it fail against larger creatures.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against aggro, tempo, and utility commanders; less valuable against black creatures only if toughness exceeds current Swamp count, not because of color restriction.

#### Cremate
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player graveyard cantrip.
- Role type: hate piece; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Cremate exiles one target card from a graveyard and draws a card, letting the deck answer a specific graveyard card without spending a full card.
- Timing: Hold for the last legal window before an opponent recurs, flashes back, escapes, delves, or counts a specific graveyard card; cycle it on a low-value target only when you need to hit land or action and no graveyard payoff is visible.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}; consumes one target graveyard card; outputs one drawn card and can trigger Fang if targeting your own card.
- Partners / packages: Coordinates with Crypt Creeper, Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre for graveyard denial; protects your own Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Dread Return, Bone Harvest, and Grim Discovery by targeting opponent cards when possible.
- Role peers: Crypt Creeper exiles one card but sacrifices a creature; Nihil Spellbomb and Bojuka Bog exile a whole player's graveyard.
- Failure modes: Exiling a card after it has already been used to pay flashback, escape, or delve costs will not undo the spell; targeting your own best creature can weaken recursion.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against graveyard decks and as a cheap cantrip in slow games; avoid low-value use when an opponent is clearly setting up a bigger graveyard window.

#### Bone Harvest
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, singleton instant-speed topdeck recursion.
- Role type: recursion; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Bone Harvest stacks any number of target creature cards from your graveyard on top of your library and gives a delayed draw at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep, letting the deck script future draw steps after attrition.
- Timing: Cast end step when you know which creature you need next; in emergencies, stack Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Accursed Marauder, Scarblade Scout, or a blocker first according to the next draw.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}; consumes target creature cards from graveyard by moving them to the library top; outputs a delayed draw next upkeep.
- Partners / packages: Priority targets are Gray Merchant of Asphodel for drain, Accursed Marauder for edict pressure, Dusk Legion Zealot for another card, Scarblade Scout for lifelink plus mill, and Troll of Khazad-dûm as a large threat.
- Role peers: Mortuary Mire and Witch's Cottage put one creature on top; Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Return from Extinction, and Macabre Waltz return cards to hand.
- Failure modes: Stacking too many creatures can bury needed removal or land draws; shuffle effects after Bone Harvest can undo the order.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent in slow games where draw quality matters; too slow when immediate battlefield impact is required.

#### Tendrils of Corruption
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core lifegain removal.
- Role type: interaction-removal; lifegain/stabilization.
- Deck-specific job: Tendrils of Corruption kills or damages a target creature and gains life equal to your Swamp count, making Swamp development translate directly into race stabilization.
- Timing: Use when X kills a relevant creature or when the life gain prevents lethal; avoid firing at a tiny creature if a larger evasive or commander threat is expected and your life total is stable.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {3}{B}; deals X damage to target creature and gains X life, where X is the number of Swamps you control.
- Partners / packages: Swamp and Witch's Cottage increase X; Wayfarer's Bauble and Troll of Khazad-dûm Swampcycling improve later X by finding Swamp-type cards when legal.
- Role peers: Defile also scales with Swamps but gives -X/-X and costs {B}; Murder destroys without life gain; Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Syphon Soul are drain/life-swing finishers.
- Failure modes: Only targets creatures, not players, planeswalkers, or enchantments; damage can be insufficient against high toughness or prevention.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against aggro and midrange races; against control, save for a creature that matters because four mana is a real commitment.

#### Murder
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core unconditional creature removal.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Murder destroys target creature without caring about toughness, Swamp count, or black color, giving the deck a clean answer when Defile or Tendrils of Corruption is too small.
- Timing: Save for threats that Defile cannot kill, creatures that must die at instant speed, or commanders that will dominate if untapped; use earlier only if waiting risks lethal or engine snowball.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}{B}; outputs destruction of target creature.
- Partners / packages: Mana partners are Swamp, Charcoal Diamond, Treasure from Deadly Dispute, and black from Desert of the Glorified, Polluted Mire, Bojuka Bog, Mortuary Mire, and Witch's Cottage.
- Role peers: Defile is cheaper but Swamp-count dependent; Tendrils of Corruption gains life; Feed the Swarm can hit opposing enchantments at sorcery speed; Snuff Out is sideboard tempo removal for nonblack creatures.
- Failure modes: Cannot hit planeswalkers or enchantments; destruction does not stop indestructible creatures or effects that prevent destruction.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Reliable against midrange, Voltron, and utility commanders; less important against token swarms where Crypt Rats or Suffocating Fumes would change more combat math.

#### Corrupted Conviction
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core cheap sacrifice-draw spell.
- Role type: engine piece; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Corrupted Conviction is the one-mana way to turn a creature into two cards, ideal for creatures that already produced entry value or can return from the graveyard.
- Timing: Use in response to removal, after blocks, or when digging for a land/removal spell; do not sacrifice the only blocker before the opponent's attack unless the drawn cards can immediately stabilize.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B} plus sacrificing a creature; outputs two cards.
- Partners / packages: Preferred sacrifices are Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, Wailing Ghoul, Dogged Detective, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, and Skeleton Crew tokens.
- Role peers: Village Rites is an instant with the same cost and output; Deadly Dispute costs more but accepts artifacts and makes Treasure; Eviscerator's Insight has flashback.
- Failure modes: Creature-only sacrifice means Wayfarer's Bauble, Charcoal Diamond, Pristine Talisman, and Nihil Spellbomb cannot pay the additional cost.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against removal-heavy decks; against creature aggro, treat it as a response spell rather than proactive draw unless board safety is clear.

#### Bone Shards
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core one-mana sacrifice/discard removal.
- Role type: interaction-removal; discard outlet; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Bone Shards destroys target creature or planeswalker by turning either a creature or a hand card into the additional cost, giving this deck removal plus a way to put recursive cards into the graveyard.
- Timing: Use during your main phase before combat when a blocker or planeswalker must die; choose discard over sacrifice when the creature board is needed, and sacrifice over discard when a recursive body is expendable.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B} plus sacrificing a creature or discarding a card; outputs destruction of target creature or planeswalker.
- Mode map: Additional-cost choice is tactical: sacrifice Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, or a Skeleton Crew token when board material is expendable; discard Troll of Khazad-dûm, Eviscerator's Insight, Resentful Revelation, Retrofitted Transmogrant, or a recursion target when graveyard setup is better.
- Partners / packages: Recursion follow-ups include Unearth, Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, and Macabre Waltz.
- Role peers: Bone Splinters requires sacrificing a creature and hits only creatures; Eaten Alive can exile creatures or planeswalkers.
- Failure modes: Sorcery speed cannot answer attacks or end-step threats; destroy effects fail against indestructible.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against creature commanders and planeswalkers; bad when the hand has no expendable card and the board needs every creature.

#### Feed the Swarm
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core black enchantment/creature answer.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Feed the Swarm is the main-deck way to destroy an opposing enchantment while also answering creatures when the life loss is acceptable.
- Timing: Save for an enchantment that blocks your recursion, combat, or drain plan unless a creature will decide the game now; cast precombat because it is a sorcery.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; destroys target creature or enchantment an opponent controls; you lose life equal to that permanent's mana value.
- Partners / packages: Life buffers that offset the loss are Tendrils of Corruption, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Syphon Soul, Pristine Talisman, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, Scarblade Scout, and Unexpected Fangs after sideboarding.
- Role peers: Murder and Defile answer creatures at instant speed but cannot hit enchantments; Snuff Out answers nonblack creatures after sideboarding without mana if you control a Swamp.
- Failure modes: Cannot target your own permanents or artifacts unless they are also creatures/enchantments an opponent controls; life loss can put you into burn or combat lethal range.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: High value against enchantment engines, auras, and creature threats; trim less often because mono-black has few enchantment answers.

#### Merciless Resolve
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player sacrifice draw with land option.
- Role type: engine piece; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Merciless Resolve draws two by sacrificing a creature or named land, giving flexibility when creature material is scarce or a tapped utility land is no longer worth its board slot.
- Timing: Cast at instant speed when a creature is dying, when flooding, or when a land sacrifice will not strand Dread Return, Fang recasts, or Gray Merchant of Asphodel; avoid sacrificing Swamp before Defile or Tendrils of Corruption math matters.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B} plus sacrificing a creature or land; outputs two cards.
- Mode map: Sacrifice a creature when Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, or Skeleton Crew tokens are expendable; sacrifice a land only when extra Hidden Grotto, Crystal Grotto, Conduit Pylons, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, Bojuka Bog, Mortuary Mire, or Swamp is less important than two cards.
- Partners / packages: Grim Discovery can later return a sacrificed land and a creature if both targets exist.
- Role peers: Deadly Dispute and Eviscerator's Insight sacrifice artifacts or creatures; Village Rites and Corrupted Conviction are cheaper creature-only draw.
- Failure modes: Sacrificing Witch's Cottage or Swamp can weaken Defile, Tendrils of Corruption, and Witch's Cottage condition.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Better in slow attrition and flood states; clunky against fast decks when three mana draw does not affect the board.

#### Dread Return
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core reanimation payoff.
- Role type: recursion; engine payoff.
- Deck-specific job: Dread Return reanimates the best creature in your graveyard, then later can flash back by sacrificing three creatures for a second reanimation burst.
- Timing: Cast when the target changes the board now: Gray Merchant of Asphodel for drain, Troll of Khazad-dûm for pressure, Scrounger of Souls or Charity Extractor for lifegain, Accursed Marauder for sacrifice pressure if reanimating is legal and useful.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}{B} from hand; flashback costs sacrificing three creatures from graveyard cast permission, then Dread Return is exiled; outputs target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
- Mode map: Hand cast spends mana and preserves creatures; flashback spends three creatures, triggers Fang by leaving the graveyard, and is correct only when the reanimated creature is worth the board material.
- Partners / packages: Best fuel creatures are Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, Wailing Ghoul, Dogged Detective, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, and Skeleton Crew tokens.
- Role peers: Unearth reanimates mana value 3 or less; Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, Return from Extinction, Macabre Waltz, Ghoulcaller's Chant, and Gravedig return to hand.
- Failure modes: Flashback can expose you to lethal by sacrificing blockers; graveyard exile in response can remove the target before resolution.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: High-impact against midrange/control; against aggro, use only if the target stabilizes immediately.

#### Resentful Revelation
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player selection and graveyard fuel.
- Role type: card selection; mechanic enabler; recursion.
- Deck-specific job: Resentful Revelation looks at the top three, puts one into hand, and loads the other two into the graveyard, then later flashes back for a large late-game selection turn.
- Timing: Cast when you need a missing named land, removal, or recursion spell and can afford sorcery speed; flash back at {6}{B} only after stabilizing or when Fang, Fearless l'Cie trigger plus selection is worth the turn.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B} from hand or {6}{B} from graveyard; outputs one selected card to hand and two cards to graveyard; flashback exiles it after resolving.
- Mode map: Hand cast is early smoothing; flashback is expensive late-game card selection that also makes a card leave your graveyard for Fang.
- Partners / packages: Graveyard outputs feed Unearth, Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Bone Harvest, Eviscerator's Insight, and Retrofitted Transmogrant.
- Role peers: Diresight surveils 2 then draws two and loses life; Dogged Detective and Wreckage Wickerfolk surveil on bodies.
- Failure modes: Sorcery speed means it cannot respond to pressure; putting two cards into graveyard is risky into visible Relic of Progenitus, Bojuka Bog, or Nihil Spellbomb.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good against control and midrange; often too slow against aggro unless digging for specific removal.

#### Hidden Grotto
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, mana resource and selection utility named land.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Hidden Grotto surveils 1 on entry, helping choose between named land, removal, recursion, or graveyard fuel while providing colorless mana or filtered black mana with an extra generic payment.
- Timing: Play when you can afford a colorless source or when surveil 1 meaningfully improves the next draw; prefer Swamp when Defile/Tendrils count or untapped black mana matters.
- Inputs / outputs: Land drop; outputs surveil 1, {C} with tap, or one mana of any color for {1} and tap.
- Partners / packages: Surveil can put Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Persistent Specimen, Eviscerator's Insight, or Resentful Revelation into the graveyard when recursion or flashback is ready.
- Role peers: Conduit Pylons also surveils 1 and has Desert type; Crystal Grotto scries 1 instead of surveilling.
- Failure modes: Its free mana is colorless, so it does not pay {B} for Defile, Village Rites, or Fang unless you also pay {1} into its filter ability.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Valuable in slow games for selection; risky in openers with multiple black one-drops and no Swamp.

#### Crystal Grotto
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, mana resource and top-card smoothing named land.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Crystal Grotto scries 1 without putting cards into the graveyard, smoothing draws while preserving graveyard contents when self-mill would be risky.
- Timing: Play when you can afford a colorless source and need to fix the next draw; prefer Swamp if black mana this turn is required.
- Inputs / outputs: Land drop; outputs scry 1, {C} with tap, or one mana of any color for {1} and tap.
- Partners / packages: Scry decisions should prioritize Swamp, Defile, Feed the Swarm, Deadly Dispute, Unearth, or Gray Merchant of Asphodel depending on whether mana, removal, sacrifice draw, recursion, or closing pressure is missing.
- Role peers: Hidden Grotto and Conduit Pylons surveil 1 instead; Polluted Mire and Desert of the Glorified enter tapped but produce {B}.
- Failure modes: Colorless default mana can strand black one-mana spells; scry does not fuel Dread Return, Unearth, or Fang.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Better when graveyard hate is visible and you do not want to surveil away key cards; weaker when Swamp count is needed for Defile and Tendrils of Corruption.

#### Conduit Pylons
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, mana resource and Desert selection utility.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Conduit Pylons surveils 1 and can make colorless or filtered black mana, while its Desert type matters only as a land subtype in this registered deck.
- Timing: Play when surveil 1 improves the next turn and you can tolerate non-Swamp mana; prefer Swamp when Defile/Tendrils math or black one-drops are urgent.
- Inputs / outputs: Land drop; outputs surveil 1, {C}, or one mana of any color by paying {1} and tapping.
- Partners / packages: Surveil can set up Dread Return, Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Bone Harvest, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Persistent Specimen, Eviscerator's Insight, or Resentful Revelation.
- Role peers: Hidden Grotto is nearly identical without Desert subtype; Desert of the Glorified is a Desert that enters tapped, taps for {B}, and cycles.
- Failure modes: Does not count as a Swamp and does not naturally tap for {B}; paying {1} to filter can make double-spell turns awkward.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good in slower setup games; risky against tempo when tapped or filtered mana sequencing costs a defensive spell.

#### Polluted Mire
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, tapped black mana source and flood-insurance cycler.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Polluted Mire gives black mana after entering tapped and can be cycled for {2} when the hand needs action more than another named land.
- Timing: Play early tapped when you can spare tempo; cycle only when land count is already functional or drawing immediately is more important than future Swamp-like black mana.
- Inputs / outputs: Land drop enters tapped and later taps for {B}; cycling costs {2}, discards Polluted Mire, and draws a card.
- Mode map: Land mode supports casting black spells; cycling mode consumes two generic mana and Polluted Mire from hand to draw one card but does not count as a land drop.
- Partners / packages: Cycling can trigger no graveyard-leave payoff by itself, but it puts a land into the graveyard for Grim Discovery to return later.
- Role peers: Desert of the Glorified also enters tapped and cycles but costs {1}{B} to cycle; Swamp enters untapped and counts for Defile/Tendrils.
- Failure modes: Does not have the Swamp land type, so it does not increase Defile, Tendrils of Corruption, or Witch's Cottage's other-Swamp count.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Keep as land against mana-tight hands; cycle in slow games when flooding and searching for removal or recursion.

#### Soul Salvage
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player two-card creature recursion.
- Role type: recursion.
- Deck-specific job: Soul Salvage returns up to two target creature cards from graveyard to hand, rebuilding after trades and giving Fang decks more material without committing to battlefield immediately.
- Timing: Cast when two targets matter or one target is urgent; avoid spending three mana for a low-impact creature if the board demands removal or a blocker now.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}; moves up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to your hand.
- Partners / packages: Priority targets include Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Accursed Marauder, Dusk Legion Zealot, Scarblade Scout, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Skeleton Crew, and Fang if the rules engine places it in your graveyard and allows targeting.
- Role peers: Wander in Death adds cycling; Pull from the Grave adds 2 life; Return from Extinction can return two shared-type creatures; Macabre Waltz returns two then discards.
- Failure modes: Requires creature cards already in graveyard; returning creatures to hand is slower than Dread Return or Unearth when battlefield stabilization is needed.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against midrange/control; weaker against graveyard hate unless cast before exile resolves.

#### Unearth
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core cheap reanimation and cycling spell.
- Role type: recursion; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Unearth reanimates a creature card with mana value 3 or less, which covers most of the deck's early value creatures and Fang if legally in the graveyard, or cycles when no target matters.
- Timing: Reanimate when the target affects the current turn or enables sacrifice draw; cycle for {2} when graveyard targets are absent, illegal, or too low-impact.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B} to return target creature card with mana value 3 or less from graveyard to battlefield; cycling costs {2}, discards Unearth, and draws a card.
- Mode map: Reanimation mode puts Accursed Marauder, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dogged Detective, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, Crypt Creeper, Scarblade Scout, Persistent Specimen, Wailing Ghoul, Dusk Legion Zealot, Cabal Initiate, Shadow Alley Denizen, or Fang from graveyard to battlefield if legal; cycling mode draws a replacement card.
- Partners / packages: Reanimated Dusk Legion Zealot draws again; Accursed Marauder edicts again; Wailing Ghoul and Scarblade Scout mill again.
- Role peers: Dread Return handles any creature; Soul Salvage and Wander in Death return to hand.
- Failure modes: Cannot reanimate Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Scrounger of Souls, Skeleton Crew, or other mana value 4+ targets.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against removal and sacrifice attrition; cycle against graveyard hate or when tempo requires a new card.

#### Wander in Death
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player recursion with cycling.
- Role type: recursion; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Wander in Death returns up to two creature cards from graveyard to hand, with cycling as a fallback when the graveyard is empty or the matchup demands fresh draws.
- Timing: Cast for two meaningful creatures after trades; cycle for {2} if you need named land, removal, or a sacrifice outlet more than slow recursion.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B} to return up to two target creature cards; cycling costs {2}, discards Wander in Death, and draws a card.
- Mode map: Recursion mode rebuilds hand with targets such as Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Dusk Legion Zealot, Accursed Marauder, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Scarblade Scout, and Skeleton Crew; cycling mode trades the card for a random draw without using the graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Works after Wailing Ghoul, Scarblade Scout, Mindwrack Harpy, Dogged Detective, Diresight, and Resentful Revelation put creatures into graveyard.
- Role peers: Soul Salvage lacks cycling; Pull from the Grave adds life; Macabre Waltz requires a discard after returning.
- Failure modes: Sorcery speed means it does not save targets from instant-speed graveyard exile unless cast before the opponent acts.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in attrition mirrors; cycle more often against fast decks when three-mana recursion is too slow.

#### Masterful Flourish
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, singleton combat protection trick.
- Role type: protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Masterful Flourish gives target creature you control +1/+0 and indestructible until end of turn, protecting Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, or a crucial blocker while slightly improving combat math.
- Timing: Hold for removal that destroys, combat where indestructible wins the exchange, or a lethal/race-relevant attack; do not spend it just for +1 damage unless that damage changes the game.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}; outputs +1/+0 and indestructible to target creature you control until end of turn.
- Partners / packages: High-value targets are Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Cabal Initiate, and a blocker carrying Unexpected Fangs after sideboarding.
- Role peers: Armor of Shadows gives the same +1/+0 plus indestructible; Professor's Warning can give indestructible or a +1/+1 counter; Unnatural Endurance regenerates and gives +2/+0.
- Failure modes: Indestructible does not stop exile, sacrifice, bounce, -X/-X reducing toughness to 0 or less, or edict effects.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against destroy-based removal and combat decks; weak against control decks using exile or sacrifice.

#### Diresight
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player draw and graveyard setup.
- Role type: card selection; mechanic enabler.
- Deck-specific job: Diresight surveils 2, then draws two and loses 2 life, giving the deck both graveyard setup and raw cards.
- Timing: Cast when life total can absorb the loss and you need to find named land, removal, sacrifice material, or recursion; avoid tapping out when the opponent has a lethal board.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}; outputs surveil 2, two drawn cards, two life lost, and possible graveyard fuel.
- Partners / packages: Surveil can bin creatures for Unearth, Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, Return from Extinction, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Bone Harvest, or Retrofitted Transmogrant.
- Role peers: Resentful Revelation selects one of three and flashes back; Risky Shortcut draws two while each player loses 2.
- Failure modes: Life loss matters against burn and aggro; sorcery speed means it cannot dig after seeing attackers.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against slow decks; against aggro, cast only when the two cards can reasonably find immediate stabilization.

#### Risky Shortcut
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player draw and life-pressure spell.
- Role type: card selection; reach/finisher.
- Deck-specific job: Risky Shortcut draws two while each player loses 2 life, so it reloads while nudging the opponent toward Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Syphon Soul, Tendrils of Corruption, or combat lethal.
- Timing: Cast when your life total can afford the symmetrical loss or when the opponent is closer to dead; avoid when you are under burn pressure or at a low life total.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}; outputs two cards drawn and 2 life lost by each player.
- Partners / packages: Life recovery partners are Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Tendrils of Corruption, Syphon Soul, Pristine Talisman, Scarblade Scout, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, and Unexpected Fangs.
- Role peers: Diresight draws two with surveil 2 but loses only you 2 life; Cost of Brilliance targets a player and can place a +1/+1 counter.
- Failure modes: Symmetrical life loss can turn on opposing lethal before your new cards matter; sorcery speed cannot be held as interaction.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Better against control and stalled boards; often sideboard out against aggro and burn.

#### Cheerful Osteomancer // Raise Dead
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, singleton prepared recursion creature.
- Role type: recursion; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Cheerful Osteomancer enters prepared, letting you later cast a copy of Raise Dead to return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand, while leaving a  creature body for sacrifice or combat.
- Timing: Cast the creature when you can use a body and expect a future graveyard target; use the prepared Raise Dead copy when the returned creature affects the next turn, not just because it is available.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {3}{B} as Cheerful Osteomancer; prepared Raise Dead copy costs {B} and unprepares it; outputs a creature plus one target creature card returned from graveyard to hand.
- Mode map: Creature face is board material that enters prepared; Raise Dead aspect is a one-shot prepared spell copy that trades {B} and the prepared status for a creature card in hand.
- Partners / packages: Priority Raise Dead targets are Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Accursed Marauder, Dusk Legion Zealot, Scarblade Scout, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Skeleton Crew, and Fang if legally in graveyard.
- Role peers: Gravedig can make a Zombie or return a creature; Ghoulcaller's Chant is cheaper and has Zombie-specific upside.
- Failure modes: Four mana for the body is slow if you have no graveyard target; prepared status can be wasted if the creature dies before you use the copy.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in attrition games; too slow against fast starts unless a  body blocks profitably.

#### Wayfarer's Bauble
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core basic-land ramp artifact.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; tutor/search.
- Deck-specific job: Wayfarer's Bauble searches a basic land onto the battlefield tapped, usually Swamp, improving black mana count for Defile, Tendrils of Corruption, Fang recasts, and five-mana plays.
- Timing: Play on turn one when possible and activate before expensive setup unless you must hold removal; later, use it when the extra Swamp matters more than keeping mana open.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}; activation costs {2}, tap, and sacrifice; searches your library for a basic land card, puts it onto battlefield tapped, then shuffles.
- Partners / packages: The registered basic target is Swamp; finding Swamp improves Defile, Tendrils of Corruption, Witch's Cottage untapped condition, Murder mana, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel turns.
- Role peers: Charcoal Diamond ramps black but enters tapped; Pristine Talisman ramps colorless and gains life; Troll of Khazad-dûm Swampcycles to hand rather than battlefield.
- Failure modes: The found Swamp enters tapped, so it does not pay for same-turn interaction; sacrificing Bauble before Deadly Dispute removes an artifact sacrifice option.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: High keep value in slow or mana-hungry hands; against aggro, activating may be worse than casting Defile or a blocker.

#### Desert of the Glorified
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, tapped black mana source and cycling utility.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Desert of the Glorified provides black mana after entering tapped and can cycle for {1}{B} when extra land is less important than finding action.
- Timing: Play early when tapped tempo is acceptable; cycle later if you already have enough mana for Fang, Dread Return, or Gray Merchant of Asphodel and need a live spell.
- Inputs / outputs: Land drop enters tapped and taps for {B}; cycling costs {1}{B}, discards Desert of the Glorified, and draws a card.
- Mode map: Land mode supports black costs; cycling mode consumes black mana and the card from hand to draw one, placing a land in graveyard for Grim Discovery.
- Partners / packages: Grim Discovery can return it from graveyard along with a creature; Deadly Dispute Treasure or Crystal Grotto filtering can help pay cycling if black is awkward.
- Role peers: Polluted Mire cycles for {2}; Conduit Pylons has Desert subtype but does not tap for black without filtering.
- Failure modes: Does not have Swamp type, so it does not increase Defile, Tendrils of Corruption, or Witch's Cottage checks.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good flood insurance in slow games; tapped entry is costly against tempo and aggro.

#### Eaten Alive
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core exile removal.
- Role type: interaction-removal; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Eaten Alive exiles target creature or planeswalker, either by sacrificing a creature for efficiency or paying {3}{B} to preserve your board.
- Timing: Use sorcery speed before combat when a blocker, commander, recursive creature, or planeswalker must be exiled; pay {3}{B} instead of sacrificing when every creature is needed.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B} plus sacrificing a creature, or costs {B} plus paying {3}{B}; outputs exile of target creature or planeswalker.
- Mode map: Sacrifice-cost line turns Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, or Skeleton Crew tokens into cheap exile; mana-payment line preserves creatures at a total cost of {4}{B}.
- Partners / packages: Recurring sacrifice bodies include Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, and Skeleton Crew tokens.
- Role peers: Bone Shards can sacrifice or discard but destroys; Bone Splinters sacrifices and destroys only creatures; Feed the Swarm hits creatures/enchantments an opponent controls.
- Failure modes: Sorcery speed cannot answer attacks or stack tricks; sacrificing the only blocker can lose despite exiling the threat.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against recursive or indestructible creatures and planeswalkers; weaker against wide boards with many expendable targets.

#### Cost of Brilliance
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player draw and counter placement spell.
- Role type: card selection; lifegain/stabilization; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Cost of Brilliance can target you to draw two and lose 2 life while putting a +1/+1 counter on up to one target creature, or target an opponent only when forcing their draw/life loss is strategically worth the risk.
- Timing: Usually cast on yourself when two cards matter and the life loss is acceptable; use the counter on a creature that will attack, block, or survive removal because of the extra size.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}; target player draws two and loses 2 life; up to one target creature gets a +1/+1 counter.
- Mode map: Self-target mode is card draw with life cost; opponent-target mode is rare pressure that gives the opponent two cards, so use only for lethal setup or unusual deck-out/life math; counter target may be your Fang, Scarblade Scout, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, Cabal Initiate, or another combat-relevant creature.
- Partners / packages: Life recovery partners are Tendrils of Corruption, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Syphon Soul, Pristine Talisman, Scarblade Scout, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, and Unexpected Fangs.
- Role peers: Risky Shortcut draws two and makes each player lose 2; Diresight draws two after surveil 2.
- Failure modes: Targeting the opponent can hand them answers; life loss can be dangerous against aggro.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good in slow games; poor when board survival matters more than cards.

#### Pull from the Grave
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, role-player recursion with life buffer.
- Role type: recursion; lifegain/stabilization.
- Deck-specific job: Pull from the Grave returns up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to your hand and gains 2 life, slightly offsetting Fang, Diresight, Risky Shortcut, Feed the Swarm, or Snuff Out life costs.
- Timing: Cast when two creature targets matter or when 2 life changes a race; avoid spending three mana on recursion if removal is needed immediately.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}; outputs up to two creature cards to hand and 2 life gained.
- Partners / packages: Priority targets include Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Accursed Marauder, Dusk Legion Zealot, Scarblade Scout, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, and Skeleton Crew.
- Role peers: Soul Salvage returns up to two creatures without life; Wander in Death has cycling; Macabre Waltz returns two then discards.
- Failure modes: Does not put creatures directly onto battlefield; graveyard exile can blank targets before resolution.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Better than Soul Salvage when life total is under pressure; still slow against lethal boards.

#### Charcoal Diamond
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core black mana rock.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Charcoal Diamond ramps black mana for Fang, Murder, Dread Return, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and multi-spell turns while surviving creature sweepers.
- Timing: Cast on turn two when not under immediate pressure; remember it enters tapped and cannot pay for same-turn Defile, Village Rites, or protection.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}; enters tapped; later taps for {B}.
- Partners / packages: Helps cast double-black Murder, Dash Hopes, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Dread Return, and sideboard Wrench Mind; supports commander-tax recasts.
- Role peers: Wayfarer's Bauble ramps Swamp onto battlefield tapped; Pristine Talisman ramps colorless and gains life.
- Failure modes: Does not increase Swamp count for Defile, Tendrils of Corruption, or Witch's Cottage; entering tapped can lose tempo.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against control and midrange; against aggro, play after deploying a blocker or removal if life is threatened.

#### Bojuka Bog
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, black mana source and graveyard hate named land.
- Role type: hate piece; role glue.
- Deck-specific job: Bojuka Bog exiles target player's graveyard on entry while still producing {B}, giving main-deck graveyard hate without taking a spell slot.
- Timing: Delay when possible until the opponent has a meaningful graveyard; play early only if missing a land drop or black mana is worse than losing the exile value.
- Inputs / outputs: Land drop enters tapped; entry trigger exiles target player's graveyard; later taps for {B}.
- Partners / packages: Coordinates with Crypt Creeper, Cremate, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre; Grim Discovery can return Bojuka Bog after it reaches your graveyard.
- Role peers: Nihil Spellbomb exiles target player's graveyard from battlefield; Relic of Progenitus can exile all graveyards; Crypt Creeper and Cremate hit single cards.
- Failure modes: Targeting yourself usually damages Dread Return, Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Bone Harvest, and Grim Discovery plans; tapped entry can cost tempo.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: High impact against recursion, flashback, escape, delve, and threshold opponents; ordinary tapped black land against decks not using graveyards.

#### Mortuary Mire
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, black mana source and topdeck recursion named land.
- Role type: recursion; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Mortuary Mire puts target creature card from your graveyard on top of your library when it enters, turning a land drop into a future Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Accursed Marauder, or stabilizer draw.
- Timing: Hold until a meaningful creature is in your graveyard if tempo allows; play tapped as black mana when missing land drops would be worse.
- Inputs / outputs: Land drop enters tapped; may put target creature card from graveyard on top of library; later taps for {B}.
- Partners / packages: Best top targets are Gray Merchant of Asphodel for drain, Accursed Marauder for edict, Dusk Legion Zealot for card flow, Scarblade Scout for lifegain/mill, and Troll of Khazad-dûm for pressure.
- Role peers: Witch's Cottage can do a similar topdeck effect if it enters untapped; Bone Harvest can stack multiple creatures.
- Failure modes: Topdecking a creature can delay drawing needed removal; shuffle effects after the trigger can lose the setup.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in grindy games; against aggro, do not delay a necessary land drop waiting for perfect value.

#### Witch's Cottage
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, Swamp-typed recursion named land.
- Role type: recursion; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Witch's Cottage counts as a Swamp for black mana, Defile, Tendrils of Corruption, and Witch's Cottage's own condition, and can put a creature from graveyard on top if it enters untapped.
- Timing: Try to play it after you control three or more other Swamps and have a valuable creature in graveyard; play earlier tapped if black mana is required.
- Inputs / outputs: Land drop; taps for {B}; enters tapped unless you control three or more other Swamps; when it enters untapped, may put target creature card from graveyard on top of library.
- Partners / packages: Best top targets are Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Accursed Marauder, Dusk Legion Zealot, Scarblade Scout, Troll of Khazad-dûm, and Skeleton Crew.
- Role peers: Mortuary Mire always enters tapped and always offers the topdeck trigger; Bone Harvest stacks any number of creature cards.
- Failure modes: Hidden Grotto, Crystal Grotto, Conduit Pylons, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, Bojuka Bog, and Mortuary Mire do not count as other Swamps.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent in long games where a land drop can become a threat; weaker in openers where tapped black mana delays one-drops.

#### Ghoulcaller's Chant
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, cheap modal creature recursion.
- Role type: recursion; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Ghoulcaller's Chant is a one-mana recursion spell that either returns any one creature card or specifically two Zombie cards from your graveyard.
- Timing: Cast when the target will be used soon; wait if a second Zombie target is likely and you are not under pressure.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}; outputs one creature card to hand or two Zombie cards to hand.
- Mode map: One-creature mode can return any creature such as Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Fang, Accursed Marauder, or Scarblade Scout if legal; two-Zombie mode can return exact registered Zombies Accursed Marauder, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Crypt Creeper, Wailing Ghoul, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and a Zombie token is not a card so it is not a graveyard target.
- Partners / packages: Best Zombie returns are Gray Merchant of Asphodel plus Accursed Marauder for drain plus edict, or Retrofitted Transmogrant plus Wailing Ghoul for material plus graveyard setup.
- Role peers: Return from Extinction also rewards shared creature types; Soul Salvage and Wander in Death return up to two creatures without type restriction.
- Failure modes: Two-card mode requires Zombie cards, not Zombie tokens; returning to hand is slower than Unearth or Dread Return.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in attrition games; against graveyard hate, cast before targets are exiled.

#### Gravedig
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, modal recursion/token spell.
- Role type: recursion; engine fuel/material; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Gravedig can make a 2/2 black Zombie token, return a creature from graveyard to hand, or do both with entwine, giving either board material or recursion.
- Timing: Make a token when you need a body for blocking or sacrifice; return a creature when the graveyard target is higher impact; pay entwine {2} when five total mana can afford both.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}, plus optional entwine {2}; outputs a 2/2 Zombie token for target player and/or target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
- Mode map: Token mode creates material for Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, and Dread Return; recursion mode returns a creature such as Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Accursed Marauder; entwined mode produces both.
- Partners / packages: Token is especially good with Skull? no registered Skull; use it with Deadly Dispute, Corrupted Conviction, Village Rites, Eviscerator's Insight, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, and Dread Return.
- Role peers: Soul Salvage and Pull from the Grave return up to two creatures; Ghoulcaller's Chant is cheaper but graveyard-only.
- Failure modes: Token mode can target any player, so do not accidentally give the opponent a blocker unless forced or strategically required.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Flexible against midrange; against aggro, token mode may matter more than slow recursion.

#### Syphon Soul
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, singleton drain stabilizer.
- Role type: lifegain/stabilization; reach/finisher.
- Deck-specific job: Syphon Soul deals 2 damage to each other player and gains life equal to damage dealt, functioning as a life swing and reach card in Pauper Commander games.
- Timing: Cast when the life swing changes the race, finishes an opponent, or buys a turn for Gray Merchant of Asphodel or recursion; avoid spending turn three on it if a creature must be removed.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}; outputs 2 damage to each other player and life gain equal to total damage dealt this way.
- Partners / packages: Pairs with Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Tendrils of Corruption, Risky Shortcut, Cost of Brilliance, and combat from Troll of Khazad-dûm or Fang to close low life totals.
- Role peers: Gray Merchant of Asphodel scales with devotion; Tendrils of Corruption targets creatures and gains Swamp-count life; Risky Shortcut drains both players for 2 while drawing cards.
- Failure modes: Does not affect creatures or stabilize a lethal board by itself; in one-opponent games it is only a 2-point drain.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Better in races and multiplayer-like life totals; weaker against combo/control when discard or pressure is needed.

#### Unnatural Endurance
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, cheap regeneration combat trick.
- Role type: protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Unnatural Endurance gives target creature +2/+0 and regenerates it, saving a key creature from destruction or combat damage while increasing damage output.
- Timing: Cast before a destruction event or before combat damage when regeneration will matter; use on Fang, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, a lifelinker, or a blocker whose survival changes the race.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}; outputs +2/+0 until end of turn and a regeneration shield. Regeneration replaces destruction, taps the creature, removes damage, and removes it from combat.
- Partners / packages: Best targets are Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, Scarblade Scout, Cabal Initiate, and a crucial blocker.
- Role peers: Professor's Warning, Armor of Shadows, Masterful Flourish, Without Weakness, Unlikely Aid, and Scales of Shale grant indestructible instead of regeneration.
- Failure modes: Regeneration does not stop exile, sacrifice, bounce, -X/-X to 0 toughness, or effects that say the creature cannot be regenerated.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against damage and destroy removal; weaker against Edict effects and exile-heavy decks.

#### Professor's Warning
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, modal protection or sizing trick.
- Role type: protection/evasion; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Professor's Warning either permanently grows a creature with a +1/+1 counter or gives a target creature indestructible for the turn.
- Timing: Use indestructible mode to beat removal or combat; use the counter only when a lasting size increase on Fang, Scarblade Scout, Cabal Initiate, Wreckage Wickerfolk, or a lifelinker changes future combat.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}; outputs either one +1/+1 counter on target creature or indestructible on target creature until end of turn.
- Mode map: Counter mode is proactive and best on creatures expected to survive; indestructible mode is reactive and protects from damage or destroy effects.
- Partners / packages: High-value targets are Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, Scarblade Scout, Cabal Initiate, and Troll of Khazad-dûm.
- Role peers: Armor of Shadows and Masterful Flourish give +1/+0 plus indestructible; Unlikely Aid gives +2/+0 plus indestructible; Unnatural Endurance regenerates.
- Failure modes: Indestructible does not stop exile, sacrifice, bounce, or toughness reduction to 0; counter mode does not save from most immediate removal unless toughness math matters.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against combat and destroy removal; against control, hold for a meaningful threat rather than growing a random 1/1.

#### Scales of Shale
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, singleton lifelink/indestructible combat trick.
- Role type: protection/evasion; lifegain/stabilization.
- Deck-specific job: Scales of Shale gives target creature +2/+0, lifelink, and indestructible, creating a big race swing or saving a key creature.
- Timing: Use when the lifelink damage matters or indestructible wins a combat/removal exchange; do not expect affinity discount because this registered deck has no Lizard creatures in the decklist.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}, reduced by affinity for Lizards only for each Lizard you control; outputs +2/+0, lifelink, and indestructible until end of turn.
- Partners / packages: Best targets are Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, Cabal Initiate, Scarblade Scout, Wreckage Wickerfolk, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel when combat matters.
- Role peers: Unlikely Aid gives +2/+0 and indestructible without lifelink; Unexpected Fangs gives permanent +1/+1 and lifelink counter after sideboarding.
- Failure modes: With no registered Lizard creatures, plan to pay full {2}{B}; indestructible does not beat exile, sacrifice, or -X/-X.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Best against aggro and damage-based combat; clunky against control when three mana is hard to hold up.

#### Armor of Shadows
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, cheap indestructible combat trick.
- Role type: protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Armor of Shadows protects a creature from destroy effects or combat damage while adding +1 power for the turn.
- Timing: Hold for removal, lethal combat, or a block that preserves life; spend proactively only if +1 damage creates lethal or forces an important trade.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}; target creature gets +1/+0 and indestructible until end of turn.
- Partners / packages: Best targets are Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, Troll of Khazad-dûm, and a blocker carrying Unexpected Fangs.
- Role peers: Masterful Flourish has the same core effect for target creature you control; Professor's Warning can give indestructible or a +1/+1 counter; Unlikely Aid gives +2/+0.
- Failure modes: If the opponent uses sacrifice, exile, bounce, or toughness reduction, Armor of Shadows may not save the creature.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good against red damage and black destroy removal; weaker against edict-heavy or exile-heavy decks.

#### Without Weakness
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, protection spell with cycling fallback.
- Role type: protection/evasion; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Without Weakness gives target creature you control indestructible, and cycling lets it turn into a card when no creature needs saving.
- Timing: Hold when Fang, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, or a stabilizing blocker is exposed; cycle for {2} when the opponent is not presenting destroy/combat pressure or you need land/removal now.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B} for indestructible on target creature you control; cycling costs {2}, discards Without Weakness, and draws a card.
- Mode map: Protection mode preserves a creature from damage or destroy effects; cycling mode converts the card into a new draw without affecting the battlefield.
- Partners / packages: High-value targets are Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, and a key blocker.
- Role peers: Armor of Shadows and Masterful Flourish cost {B} and add +1/+0; Professor's Warning can also put a counter; Unnatural Endurance regenerates.
- Failure modes: Indestructible does not stop exile, sacrifice, bounce, or toughness 0 or less; cycling while a removal-heavy opponent holds mana can leave a payoff unprotected.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good against destroy-heavy midrange; cycle more often against combo or control when protection has no target.

#### Azra Smokeshaper
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, singleton evasive-entry protection creature.
- Role type: protection/evasion; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Azra Smokeshaper can enter normally or by ninjutsu from an unblocked attacker, then gives target creature you control indestructible until end of turn.
- Timing: Use ninjutsu when a small unblocked attacker can be returned without losing a critical trigger or blocker; hard-cast when you need a 3/3 body and protection on entry.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {3}{B} normally; ninjutsu costs {1}{B} and returns an unblocked attacker you control to hand; outputs a tapped attacking 3/3 via ninjutsu or a normal 3/3, plus an indestructible trigger.
- Mode map: Hard-cast mode is slow protection plus body; ninjutsu mode is cheaper and can save an attacking creature by returning it while adding surprise damage and an indestructible trigger.
- Partners / packages: Good unblocked attackers to return include Dusk Legion Zealot, Dogged Detective, Wailing Ghoul, Scarblade Scout, Shadow Alley Denizen, and Skeleton Crew tokens when their entry value or expendability makes the bounce acceptable.
- Role peers: Professor's Warning, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Unlikely Aid, Masterful Flourish, and Scales of Shale protect without adding a creature.
- Failure modes: Ninjutsu requires an unblocked attacker; indestructible does not stop exile, sacrifice, or bounce.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in combat-heavy games and against destroy removal; clunky when opponents have no profitable attack windows.

#### Unlikely Aid
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, combat protection and power trick.
- Role type: protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Unlikely Aid gives target creature +2/+0 and indestructible, turning trades into wins and protecting a relevant creature from destroy effects.
- Timing: Use during combat or in response to removal when both survival and extra power matter; avoid using just for chip damage unless it creates lethal.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; outputs +2/+0 and indestructible until end of turn.
- Partners / packages: Best targets are Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, Scarblade Scout, Cabal Initiate, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel when combat is decisive.
- Role peers: Scales of Shale adds lifelink but costs {2}{B}; Armor of Shadows and Masterful Flourish are cheaper but only +1/+0.
- Failure modes: Does not answer exile, sacrifice, bounce, or -X/-X; holding two mana can conflict with Deadly Dispute, Murder, or recursion.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good against creature combat and damage-based removal; weaker against spell combo or edict effects.

#### Charity Extractor
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, singleton defensive lifelink body.
- Role type: lifegain/stabilization; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Charity Extractor is a 1/5 lifelink creature that blocks well and slowly turns combat into life gain, buying time for recursion and Gray Merchant of Asphodel.
- Timing: Cast when a large-toughness blocker stabilizes the ground; protect it only if repeated lifelink blocks or attacks are central to survival.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {3}{B}; outputs a 1/5 lifelink body.
- Partners / packages: Protection partners are Professor's Warning, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Unnatural Endurance, Unlikely Aid, Masterful Flourish, and Scales of Shale when saving the 1/5 changes the race.
- Role peers: Scrounger of Souls has higher power and 3/4 stats; Scarblade Scout is cheaper with lifelink and mill; Unexpected Fangs can give lifelink to another creature.
- Failure modes: Low power means it may not pressure control decks; exile or bounce removes the life buffer without a death-recursion payoff.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against ground aggro and burn-adjacent creature races; poor against flyers, combo, and hard control unless life total is the bottleneck.

#### Dash Hopes
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, conditional stack interaction.
- Role type: interaction-stack; reach/finisher.
- Deck-specific job: Dash Hopes pressures a spell on the stack by either countering it or letting any player pay 5 life to counter Dash Hopes, so it is best when both outcomes help.
- Timing: Cast only when countering the spell is valuable and the opponent paying 5 life meaningfully changes lethal/race math; do not rely on it as hard permission at high opposing life totals.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}{B}; targets a spell on the stack; when cast, any player may pay 5 life, and if a player does, Dash Hopes is countered.
- Partners / packages: Life-pressure partners are Syphon Soul, Risky Shortcut, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Tendrils of Corruption, Fang attacks, Troll of Khazad-dûm, and Shadow Alley Denizen-enabled attacks.
- Role peers: Duress attacks noncreature, nonland cards before they are cast; Wrench Mind attacks hand size; no other main-deck card counters spells.
- Failure modes: Opponent agency makes it unreliable against must-counter spells; life payment by any player can counter it.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Better against control/combo when life total is already pressured; weak against aggro if holding {B}{B} prevents removal or blockers.

#### Return from Extinction
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, modal creature-type recursion.
- Role type: recursion; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Return from Extinction returns one creature card or two creature cards that share a creature type, rewarding exact shared types in this singleton deck.
- Timing: Cast when one target is urgent or when two shared-type targets are available; wait if a second matching creature is likely and you are not under pressure.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; outputs one target creature card to hand or two target creature cards sharing a creature type to hand.
- Mode map: Single-target mode can return any creature; shared-type mode can return exact pairs such as Accursed Marauder plus Gray Merchant of Asphodel as Zombies, Dogged Detective plus Shadow Alley Denizen as Rogues, or Dusk Legion Zealot plus Scarblade Scout as Soldiers? Dusk Legion Zealot is Vampire Soldier and Scarblade Scout is Elf Scout, so they do not share Soldier; use only actual shared types visible in graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Reliable shared-type examples are Zombie cards Accursed Marauder, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Crypt Creeper, Wailing Ghoul, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel; Human cards Fang, Dogged Detective, Overeager Apprentice, Charity Extractor, and Cabal Initiate.
- Role peers: Ghoulcaller's Chant has Zombie-specific two-card mode; Soul Salvage and Wander in Death ignore creature type.
- Failure modes: Do not choose two creatures unless they share an actual creature type; returns to hand, not battlefield.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong after trades fill the graveyard; weaker when graveyard contains disconnected singleton types.

#### Dusk Legion Zealot
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core cantrip creature and sacrifice material.
- Role type: engine fuel/material; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Dusk Legion Zealot replaces itself on entry, loses 1 life, and leaves a 1/1 body that is ideal for sacrifice draw, sacrifice removal, blocking, or recursion.
- Timing: Cast early to hit land drops and create material; recur when you need another card more than a larger body.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; outputs a 1/1 Vampire Soldier, one drawn card, and 1 life lost.
- Partners / packages: Sacrifice partners are Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Eviscerator's Insight, Merciless Resolve, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, and Dread Return.
- Role peers: Dogged Detective provides surveil and conditional return; Wailing Ghoul mills with a better blocking body; Gravedig can make a 2/2 Zombie token.
- Failure modes: Life loss can matter with Fang, Diresight, Risky Shortcut, Feed the Swarm, and Snuff Out; a 1/1 body is not a long-term blocker.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against control and midrange; against aggro, still good if the card draw finds removal or the body trades.

#### Mindwrack Harpy
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, singleton flying self-mill pressure.
- Role type: mechanic enabler; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Mindwrack Harpy attacks in the air while milling each player for three at the beginning of combat on your turn, feeding your graveyard recursion and potentially pressuring opposing libraries/graveyard plans.
- Timing: Cast when self-mill is beneficial and the opponent cannot exploit their own milled cards better; avoid into visible graveyard decks unless your hate is ready.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {3}{B}; outputs a 3/2 flying enchantment creature and repeated each-player mill three at your combat.
- Partners / packages: Your mill outputs feed Unearth, Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, Return from Extinction, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Bone Harvest, Eviscerator's Insight, and Resentful Revelation.
- Role peers: Wreckage Wickerfolk is a smaller flyer with controlled surveil 2; Scarblade Scout and Wailing Ghoul mill only you once.
- Failure modes: Milling each player can help opposing flashback, reanimation, threshold, delve, or escape plans; 3/2 body dies to many removal spells.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against slow decks without graveyard use; sideboard out against graveyard mirrors or fast aggro where four mana self-mill is too slow.

#### Pristine Talisman
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, mana rock and life buffer.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; lifegain/stabilization.
- Deck-specific job: Pristine Talisman ramps colorless mana while gaining 1 life each time it taps, helping offset Fang triggers, Dusk Legion Zealot, Diresight, Risky Shortcut, Feed the Swarm, and Snuff Out after sideboarding.
- Timing: Cast when the turn is not under immediate pressure; tap for mana even on low-impact plays if the 1 life matters and it does not block holding a required black spell.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {3}; taps for {C} and gains 1 life.
- Partners / packages: Helps pay generic costs on Dread Return, Skeleton Crew, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, Bone Harvest, and cycling Polluted Mire or Without Weakness.
- Role peers: Charcoal Diamond taps for {B} but does not gain life; Wayfarer's Bauble finds Swamp but is one-shot.
- Failure modes: Produces colorless, not black, so it cannot pay {B} pips in Defile, Murder, Village Rites, Fang, or Dash Hopes.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good against burn and long games; too slow against fast boards if cast instead of removal.

#### Bone Splinters
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core sacrifice creature removal.
- Role type: interaction-removal; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Bone Splinters turns one of your creatures into destruction of target creature, letting expendable or recursive bodies become efficient removal.
- Timing: Use sorcery speed before combat to clear an attacker/blocker that matters; sacrifice creatures that already produced value or can return.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B} plus sacrificing a creature; outputs destruction of target creature.
- Partners / packages: Best sacrifices are Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, Wailing Ghoul, Dogged Detective, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, and Skeleton Crew tokens.
- Role peers: Bone Shards can discard instead and hits planeswalkers; Eaten Alive exiles creatures or planeswalkers; Murder costs more but needs no sacrifice.
- Failure modes: Cannot hit planeswalkers; destroy effects fail against indestructible; sacrificing your only blocker can lose the race.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against single important creatures; weak against token swarms and sacrifice-resistant boards.

#### Wreckage Wickerfolk
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, flying surveil role player.
- Role type: card selection; threat/clock; mechanic enabler.
- Deck-specific job: Wreckage Wickerfolk provides a flying blocker/attacker and surveil 2, giving controlled graveyard setup without blind milling.
- Timing: Cast when you need an evasive body or selection; surveil creatures/spells into graveyard only when recursion or flashback can use them.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; outputs a 1/3 flying artifact creature and surveil 2.
- Partners / packages: Surveil fuels Unearth, Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, Return from Extinction, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Bone Harvest, Eviscerator's Insight, and Resentful Revelation.
- Role peers: Dogged Detective surveils 2 on a 2/1; Mindwrack Harpy is a larger flyer with repeated symmetrical mill.
- Failure modes: Low power means it clocks slowly; artifact creature status can expose it to artifact removal while still dying to creature removal.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good against small flyers and slow decks; against aggro, value it as a blocker before using it as sacrifice material.

#### Village Rites
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core instant sacrifice-draw spell.
- Role type: engine piece; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Village Rites converts a creature into two cards at instant speed, punishing removal and turning recursive bodies into velocity.
- Timing: Best in response to removal, after damage is assigned where legal, or when digging for a land/removal spell; avoid sacrificing the only relevant blocker before combat.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B} plus sacrificing a creature; outputs two cards.
- Partners / packages: Preferred sacrifices are Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, Wailing Ghoul, Dogged Detective, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, and Skeleton Crew tokens.
- Role peers: Corrupted Conviction has the same visible cost/output; Deadly Dispute costs {1}{B} but makes Treasure and accepts artifacts; Eviscerator's Insight has flashback.
- Failure modes: Cannot sacrifice artifacts unless they are creatures; drawing cards does not help if the lost creature was preventing lethal this turn.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against removal-heavy decks; against aggro, prioritize blocking and removal over value unless the sacrificed creature was dying anyway.

#### Cabal Initiate
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, discard-outlet threat and threshold body.
- Role type: discard outlet; mechanic payoff; lifegain/stabilization.
- Deck-specific job: Cabal Initiate can discard cards to gain lifelink for the turn and becomes a 3/3 while you have seven or more cards in your graveyard, giving self-mill and sacrifice games a scalable body.
- Timing: Cast early when you need a body; discard only when lifelink changes combat or when the discarded card is better in the graveyard than in hand.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; discard activation consumes one card for lifelink until end of turn; threshold gives +1/+2 at seven or more cards in your graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Good discard candidates are Retrofitted Transmogrant, Eviscerator's Insight, Resentful Revelation, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Dread Return targets, and creatures you plan to recur with Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, or Unearth.
- Role peers: Overeager Apprentice is another discard outlet that makes {B}{B}{B}; Scarblade Scout and Charity Extractor provide lifelink without discard.
- Failure modes: Discarding removal or named lands too early can strand your plan; threshold can be turned off by Relic of Progenitus, Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, or Faerie Macabre.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in attrition and races after graveyard fills; weaker against graveyard hate and decks with large blockers.

#### Desperate Farmer // Depraved Harvester
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, transforming lifelink role player.
- Role type: lifegain/stabilization; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Desperate Farmer starts as a lifelink creature and transforms into Depraved Harvester when another creature you control dies, fitting naturally with sacrifice draw and sacrifice removal.
- Timing: Cast before a planned Village Rites, Deadly Dispute, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, or combat trade so another creature's death can transform it; avoid relying on it if no other creature can die.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}; outputs a lifelink Human Peasant, then a lifelink Human Knight after transformation.
- Mode map: Front face Desperate Farmer is the castable setup creature with lifelink and a death-trigger transform condition; back face Depraved Harvester is the transformed lifelink body with no mana cost listed in the reference.
- Partners / packages: Transformation enablers are Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, Wailing Ghoul, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, Skeleton Crew tokens, Village Rites, Deadly Dispute, Corrupted Conviction, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, and Dread Return.
- Role peers: Scarblade Scout, Scrounger of Souls, and Charity Extractor are lifelink stabilizers without transform setup.
- Failure modes: Does not transform from its own death; sacrifice sequencing should kill another creature while Desperate Farmer remains on battlefield.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good against aggro/midrange where lifelink and trades matter; slow against combo/control.

#### Gray Merchant of Asphodel
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, core drain finisher and stabilizer.
- Role type: reach/finisher; lifegain/stabilization; recursion payoff.
- Deck-specific job: Gray Merchant of Asphodel converts black devotion into opponent life loss and your life gain, making it the best creature to recur when the battlefield has black pips.
- Timing: Cast or reanimate when devotion creates a meaningful life swing, lethal, or survival; avoid running it out as a 2/4 if waiting one turn adds Fang, Skeleton Crew, Cabal Initiate, or another black permanent.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {3}{B}{B}; output trigger makes each opponent lose X life where X is your devotion to black, and you gain life equal to life lost this way.
- Partners / packages: Devotion contributors include Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Skeleton Crew, Accursed Marauder, Dogged Detective, Cabal Initiate, Desperate Farmer // Depraved Harvester, Shadow Alley Denizen, Charity Extractor, Mindwrack Harpy, and other black permanents with {B} in mana costs.
- Role peers: Syphon Soul drains fixed damage; Tendrils of Corruption gains life through creature damage; Risky Shortcut pressures both life totals.
- Failure modes: Counts only {B} symbols in mana costs of permanents you control, not black named lands or cards in graveyard; removal before future recursion can reduce repeated drain plans.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against aggro, midrange, and stalled boards; against control, protect or recur it rather than casting into obvious exile without backup.

#### Troll of Khazad-dûm
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, top-end threat and Swamp search.
- Role type: threat/clock; tutor/search; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Troll of Khazad-dûm is either a six-mana 6/5 that requires three or more creatures to block or an early Swampcycling card that fixes black mana and Swamp count.
- Timing: Swampcycle early when missing land or when Defile/Tendrils/Witch's Cottage need more Swamps; preserve as a threat when mana is already stable and a hard-to-block finisher matters.
- Inputs / outputs: Creature costs {5}{B}; Swampcycling costs {1}, discards Troll, searches your library for a Swamp card, reveals it, puts it into your hand, then shuffles.
- Mode map: Creature mode is a large evasive-by-block-restriction threat; Swampcycling mode can find exact registered Swamp-type cards Swamp or Witch's Cottage, reveal the chosen card, put it into hand, then shuffle.
- Partners / packages: Recursion partners after cycling are Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Pull from the Grave, Macabre Waltz, Return from Extinction, Bone Harvest, Mortuary Mire, and Witch's Cottage.
- Role peers: Wayfarer's Bauble finds basic Swamp to battlefield tapped; Gray Merchant of Asphodel is another five-plus-mana payoff.
- Failure modes: Swampcycling does not draw a card and does not put the land onto battlefield; creature mode is still vulnerable to exile or edict effects.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Cycle against mana pressure and tempo; cast or reanimate against midrange/control when board stalls.

#### Shadow Alley Denizen
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, one-drop evasion enabler.
- Role type: protection/evasion; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Shadow Alley Denizen gives target creature intimidate until end of turn whenever another black creature enters under your control, turning recursive black bodies into combat access.
- Timing: Deploy early when you expect multiple black creature entries; sequence black creatures before attacks so the intimidate target can connect.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}; outputs a 1/1 and repeated triggers from another black creature entering, each granting target creature intimidate until end of turn.
- Partners / packages: Trigger partners include Fang, Skeleton Crew, Accursed Marauder, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dogged Detective, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, Crypt Creeper, Scarblade Scout, Wailing Ghoul, Dusk Legion Zealot, Cabal Initiate, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and Skeleton Crew tokens if black.
- Role peers: Azra Smokeshaper uses unblocked attackers for ninjutsu; Troll of Khazad-dûm has built-in block restriction.
- Failure modes: Intimidate can still be blocked by artifact creatures and creatures sharing a color with the attacker; Shadow Alley Denizen does not trigger from itself entering.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against nonblack creature boards; weaker in black mirrors or artifact-heavy boards.

#### Macabre Waltz
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, two-card recursion with discard cost.
- Role type: recursion; discard outlet.
- Deck-specific job: Macabre Waltz returns up to two target creature cards from graveyard to hand, then discards a card, letting you rebuy threats while placing a flashback spell, recursive body, or expensive creature back into the graveyard.
- Timing: Cast when two targets are worth the discard; plan the discard before casting so you do not lose needed removal or named land.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; outputs up to two creature cards to hand, then consumes one card from hand as discard.
- Partners / packages: Good returns are Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Accursed Marauder, Dusk Legion Zealot, Scarblade Scout, Troll of Khazad-dûm, and Skeleton Crew; good discards include Retrofitted Transmogrant, Eviscerator's Insight, Resentful Revelation, Troll of Khazad-dûm, and Dread Return targets.
- Role peers: Soul Salvage and Wander in Death return up to two without discard; Grim Discovery can return a creature plus named land.
- Failure modes: If hand size is low, the discard may force you to pitch one of the returned cards; graveyard exile can remove targets before resolution.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in grindy games; risky against fast pressure if the returned cards cannot affect the board immediately.

#### Grim Discovery
- Deck role: Main deck, 1 copy, modal creature/land recursion.
- Role type: recursion; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Grim Discovery can return a creature card, a land card, or both from your graveyard to your hand, rebuying a threat and a utility land after cycling, sacrifice, or destruction.
- Timing: Cast when it gets two real resources or when one target is urgent; hold if Mortuary Mire, Bojuka Bog, Witch's Cottage, Polluted Mire, or Desert of the Glorified may soon be worth returning.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; returns target creature card and/or target land card from your graveyard to your hand.
- Mode map: Creature mode returns targets such as Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Accursed Marauder, Dusk Legion Zealot, or Troll of Khazad-dûm; land mode returns Bojuka Bog, Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, Swamp, Hidden Grotto, Crystal Grotto, or Conduit Pylons; both mode gets one of each.
- Partners / packages: Land targets become graveyard cards through Polluted Mire cycling, Desert of the Glorified cycling, Merciless Resolve sacrificing a named land, or land destruction.
- Role peers: Soul Salvage gets two creatures; Bone Harvest topdecks creatures; no other main-deck card returns named lands to hand.
- Failure modes: Needs legal graveyard targets; returning land to hand may be too slow if immediate board action is required.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent in attrition and against land destruction; against aggro, prioritize creature removal over value unless the returned card stabilizes.

#### Swamp
- Deck role: Main deck, 28 copies, core basic mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Swamp is the deck's most important mana source because it casts nearly every spell and directly scales Defile, Tendrils of Corruption, and Witch's Cottage.
- Timing: Play Swamp over utility named lands when you need untapped {B}, double-black Murder/Dash Hopes/Wrench Mind, or higher Swamp count; keep utility land value only when black mana is already secure.
- Inputs / outputs: Land drop; taps for {B}; counts as a Swamp for Defile, Tendrils of Corruption, Witch's Cottage, and Troll of Khazad-dûm's Swampcycling target map.
- Partners / packages: Wayfarer's Bauble searches basic Swamp onto battlefield tapped; Troll of Khazad-dûm can Swampcycle for Swamp; Witch's Cottage needs three or more other Swamps to enter untapped.
- Role peers: Witch's Cottage is also a Swamp but conditional tapped recursion; Bojuka Bog, Mortuary Mire, Polluted Mire, and Desert of the Glorified make {B} but do not count as Swamps.
- Failure modes: Too few Swamps makes Defile and Tendrils weak; sacrificing Swamp to Merciless Resolve can lower removal math and Witch's Cottage readiness.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against aggro and tempo, untapped Swamp is often better than tapped utility because Defile, Village Rites, and one-drop creatures need immediate black mana.

#### Duress
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, hand disruption bullet.
- Role type: interaction-discard; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Duress strips a visible noncreature, nonland card before it can answer Fang, exile your graveyard, stop Dread Return, or assemble combo/control pressure.
- Timing: Cast early before committing Fang, Dread Return, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, or a protected combat line; later, cast when the opponent has enough cards that a relevant noncreature, nonland target is likely.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}; target opponent reveals their hand; you choose a noncreature, nonland card from it and that player discards it.
- Partners / packages: Protects Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Skeleton Crew, and graveyard targets from visible removal, counterspells, sweepers, or graveyard hate.
- Role peers: Wrench Mind attacks hand quantity but gives opponent artifact-card agency; Dash Hopes interacts only with a spell on the stack.
- Failure modes: Misses creatures and lands; poor against creature-heavy aggro when the hand contains mostly threats.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against control, combo, spell-heavy midrange, and graveyard decks with noncreature enablers or hate.

#### Chainer's Edict
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, edict removal bullet.
- Role type: interaction-removal; sideboard bullet; recursion.
- Deck-specific job: Chainer's Edict forces target player to sacrifice a creature of their choice, then can flash back later for {5}{B}{B}, giving repeatable pressure against single-threat boards.
- Timing: Cast when the opponent has one meaningful creature or few expendable bodies; avoid into token boards where they choose a low-value sacrifice.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; flashback costs {5}{B}{B} from graveyard and then exiles it; target player chooses and sacrifices a creature.
- Mode map: Hand cast is cheap sorcery-speed edict; flashback is expensive late-game edict from graveyard that can trigger Fang when Chainer's Edict leaves the graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Duress can clear protection before edict; removal such as Defile, Murder, Snuff Out, and Suffocating Fumes can reduce expendable creatures so Chainer's Edict hits the real threat.
- Role peers: Accursed Marauder is a creature-based symmetrical nontoken edict; Bone Splinters and Bone Shards target specific creatures instead.
- Failure modes: Opponent chooses the sacrificed creature; does not target the creature itself, but fails to answer wide boards efficiently.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against Voltron, single commanders, hexproof-style threats, and creature-light control finishers.

#### Snuff Out
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, tempo removal bullet.
- Role type: interaction-removal; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Snuff Out destroys target nonblack creature and can be cast for 4 life instead of {3}{B} if you control a Swamp, preserving mana for recursion or double-spell turns.
- Timing: Use the alternate cost when tempo matters and life total remains safe; pay mana when life is too low or burn/combat makes 4 life dangerous.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {3}{B} or 4 life if you control a Swamp; destroys target nonblack creature and it cannot be regenerated.
- Partners / packages: Swamp and Witch's Cottage satisfy the Swamp condition; life recovery partners are Tendrils of Corruption, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Syphon Soul, Pristine Talisman, Scarblade Scout, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, and Unexpected Fangs.
- Role peers: Murder hits black creatures but costs mana; Defile can answer any color creature if Swamp count is high enough; Eaten Alive exiles creatures or planeswalkers.
- Failure modes: Cannot target black creatures; paying 4 life can put you into lethal range.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against aggro, tempo, and single-threat decks where a nonblack creature must die while you use mana elsewhere.

#### Nihil Spellbomb
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, one-sided graveyard hate artifact.
- Role type: hate piece; sideboard bullet; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Nihil Spellbomb exiles target player's graveyard and can draw a card when it goes to the graveyard from battlefield if you pay {B}.
- Timing: Play before the graveyard payoff window if you can hold activation; sacrifice preemptively at the last legal moment before reanimation, flashback, threshold, delve, escape, or recursion costs are paid or abilities resolve.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}; tap and sacrifice exiles target player's graveyard; when put into a graveyard from battlefield, you may pay {B} to draw a card.
- Partners / packages: Coordinates with Crypt Creeper, Cremate, Bojuka Bog, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre; protect your own Dread Return, Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, and Bone Harvest by targeting the opponent when possible.
- Role peers: Bojuka Bog is a land with one-shot graveyard exile; Relic of Progenitus can exile all graveyards; Faerie Macabre is discard-based instant graveyard interaction.
- Failure modes: It answers graveyards and happens to be an artifact; forgetting to hold {B} loses the draw.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against graveyard decks where one player's graveyard is the dangerous resource.

#### Relic of Progenitus
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, repeatable/sweeping graveyard hate artifact.
- Role type: hate piece; sideboard bullet; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Relic of Progenitus pressures graveyards one card at a time, then can exile all graveyards and draw a card when the payoff window arrives.
- Timing: Use the tap ability early when the targeted player has low-value graveyard cards; save the full exile for a decisive opponent graveyard turn or when your own graveyard value is less important.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}; tap ability makes target player exile a card from their graveyard, chosen by that player; {1}, exile Relic exiles all graveyards and draws a card.
- Mode map: Tap mode is slow pressure where the targeted player chooses the card; exile mode is symmetrical graveyard reset plus card draw.
- Partners / packages: Use carefully around your Dread Return, Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Bone Harvest, and Fang triggers.
- Role peers: Nihil Spellbomb is one-sided target-player graveyard exile; Faerie Macabre hits up to two target cards without mana.
- Failure modes: Symmetrical full exile can destroy your own recursion plan; tap mode gives the targeted player agency.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring when the opponent repeatedly fills graveyard and one-shot hate is not enough.

#### Crypt Rats
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, sweeper and reach bullet.
- Role type: interaction-sweeper; reach/finisher; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Crypt Rats converts black mana into damage to each creature and each player, sweeping small boards or finishing low life totals while your life total sets the ceiling.
- Timing: Cast when you can untap or activate for a meaningful X; activate before combat to clear blockers/attackers or as a finisher when both players' life totals allow it.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}; activation costs {X}, spending only black mana on X; deals X damage to each creature and each player.
- Partners / packages: Life buffers that support larger X are Tendrils of Corruption, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Syphon Soul, Pristine Talisman, Scarblade Scout, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, and Unexpected Fangs.
- Role peers: Suffocating Fumes shrinks only opponents' creatures by -1/-1; Defile and Murder are one-for-one creature answers.
- Failure modes: Damages your own creatures and you; cannot spend colorless from Pristine Talisman or Hidden Grotto's {C} on X.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against go-wide and small-creature aggro; avoid against burn or high-toughness boards unless it is lethal.

#### Unexpected Fangs
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, permanent race-swing bullet.
- Role type: lifegain/stabilization; protection/evasion; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Unexpected Fangs permanently improves a creature with a +1/+1 counter and a lifelink counter, turning Fang, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Charity Extractor, or a recursive body into a better race piece.
- Timing: Cast when the target is likely to survive long enough to gain life; avoid into open exile/bounce unless life swing is immediately necessary.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}; puts a +1/+1 counter and a lifelink counter on target creature.
- Partners / packages: Best targets are Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, Cabal Initiate, Wreckage Wickerfolk, Retrofitted Transmogrant after returning with counters, and Skeleton Crew tokens.
- Role peers: Scales of Shale gives temporary lifelink and indestructible; Scarblade Scout, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, and Desperate Farmer already have lifelink.
- Failure modes: Does not protect from removal on its own; putting it on a creature about to be bounced/exiled loses tempo.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against aggro, burn, and tall creature races; weak against creature-light control.

#### Suffocating Fumes
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, instant shrink/cycling bullet.
- Role type: interaction-sweeper; card selection; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Suffocating Fumes gives creatures your opponents control -1/-1 until end of turn, cleaning up one-toughness boards or changing combat, with cycling when the debuff is irrelevant.
- Timing: Cast during combat for blowouts or before combat to clear blockers; cycle for {2} when opponents' creatures survive -1/-1 and you need another card.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {2}{B}; opponents' creatures get -1/-1 until end of turn; cycling costs {2}, discards Suffocating Fumes, and draws a card.
- Mode map: Shrink mode affects only creatures your opponents control; cycling mode trades the card for a draw without changing the battlefield.
- Partners / packages: Combines with blocks from Fang, Scarblade Scout, Wreckage Wickerfolk, Charity Extractor, Skeleton Crew tokens, and Persistent Specimen to turn near-trades into wins.
- Role peers: Crypt Rats damages each creature and each player; Defile removes one creature based on Swamp count.
- Failure modes: Does not damage players and does not permanently shrink; poor against high-toughness creatures.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against tokens, one-toughness creatures, and go-wide attacks; cycle or leave out against tall threats and control.

#### Wrench Mind
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, hand-pressure bullet.
- Role type: interaction-discard; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Wrench Mind pressures slow opponents by making target player discard two cards unless they discard an artifact card.
- Timing: Cast while the opponent still has relevant cards and before they deploy protected engines; avoid when their hand is empty, artifact-heavy, or benefits from discard.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {B}{B}; target player discards two cards unless they discard an artifact card.
- Partners / packages: Duress can reveal whether Wrench Mind is likely to hit important cards; recursive pressure from Fang, Dogged Detective, Skeleton Crew, Retrofitted Transmogrant, and Persistent Specimen makes discarded answers matter.
- Role peers: Duress gives choice over a noncreature, nonland card; Dash Hopes pressures a spell on stack.
- Failure modes: Artifact card discard can blunt the effect; graveyard decks may use discarded cards as resources.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against control, combo, and slow midrange; avoid against artifact-heavy decks or aggro that empties hand quickly.

#### Faerie Macabre
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, instant graveyard hate creature.
- Role type: hate piece; sideboard bullet; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Faerie Macabre can be discarded to exile up to two target cards from graveyards without spending mana, while also being a 2/2 flyer when graveyard hate is not needed.
- Timing: Hold in hand against reanimation, flashback, escape, delve, or recursion windows; cast as a flyer only when graveyard exile is low-value and pressure matters.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B}{B} as a 2/2 flying creature; discard ability consumes Faerie Macabre from hand to exile up to two target cards from graveyards.
- Mode map: Creature mode is evasive pressure and sacrifice material; discard-hate mode is mana-free targeted graveyard interaction from hand.
- Partners / packages: Coordinates with Crypt Creeper, Cremate, Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, and Relic of Progenitus; can protect your own recursion by hitting only opposing targets.
- Role peers: Cremate hits one card and draws; Crypt Creeper hits one card from battlefield; Nihil Spellbomb hits a whole target player's graveyard.
- Failure modes: Discarding it means it is not available as a creature or recursion target; exiling after costs are paid will not undo an already-cast flashback/delve spell.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against graveyard combo, reanimation, and recursion decks where tapping out must not remove your graveyard-hate window.

## Interaction Priorities

- Kill engine pieces before large bodies when the engine will snowball faster than Fang Plays Pauper can recur material. Use Defile for early creatures that must die now, Murder for threats outside Defile range, Tendrils of Corruption when the life swing matters and the Swamp count makes the damage sufficient, and Feed the Swarm only on a creature when no enchantment target or survival constraint is more important.

- Save unconditional or exile-style answers for recursive, protected, or must-answer threats. Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, and Accursed Marauder can convert expendable bodies into removal, but do not spend Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, or the only active blocker unless the opposing permanent is deciding the game. Eaten Alive needs Card text check required for exact costs and exile wording; follow the legal action text.

- Counter only when both outcomes of Dash Hopes are acceptable. Treat Dash Hopes as pressure interaction, not guaranteed permission; cast it when countering the spell is strong and the alternate result, if offered by card text, still advances lethal pressure or stabilizes the race. Do not hold Dash Hopes as the only answer to a spell the opponent can afford to force through.

- Exile graveyards before visible payoff actions resolve. Cremate, Crypt Creeper, Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre should target the card or graveyard that will immediately enable recursion, flashback, threshold-style pressure, or combo execution. Preserve your own graveyard when Unearth, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Gravedig, Return from Extinction, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Pull from the Grave, Dread Return, Bone Harvest, Mortuary Mire, or Witch's Cottage is a live plan.

- Discard high-impact noncreature interaction before deploying a fragile graveyard engine. Duress should take visible removal, graveyard hate, counterplay, or combo pieces according to the current matchup; Wrench Mind needs Card text check required for exact discard and artifact exception behavior. Use discard before committing Dread Return, Gray Merchant of Asphodel recursion, or a protection-dependent combat line.

- Ignore low-impact creatures when life is stable and recursion will outscale them. Preserve removal for evasive threats, sacrifice engines, graveyard payoffs, monarch-like card advantage, or creatures that invalidate blocking. Against go-wide boards, value Crypt Rats and Suffocating Fumes higher than one-for-one removal; both need Card text check required for exact damage, cycling, and timing.

- Bait interaction with replaceable material before exposing the decisive card. Dusk Legion Zealot, Wailing Ghoul, Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dogged Detective, and expendable tokens or bodies can draw removal or force awkward blocks; commit Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Dread Return, or a protected Fang, Fearless l'Cie line after the opponent spends visible answers or taps down.

- Use no bounce plan unless Veles shows a legal registered-card action that actually bounces. This deck has no obvious registered bounce card, so do not ask the agent to preserve mana for bounce or choose a bounce line from strategy memory.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Trade early when the trade fuels recursion or protects life total. A creature that dies into Unearth, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Gravedig, Return from Extinction, Macabre Waltz, Grim Discovery, Pull from the Grave, Bone Harvest, Mortuary Mire, or Witch's Cottage is often worth trading for an opposing attacker that would otherwise pressure life or planeswalker-like resources.

- Preserve Fang, Fearless l'Cie unless the legal text shows a decisive exchange. Commander tax and deck identity make Fang, Fearless l'Cie more valuable than a normal body; block with disposable creatures first, and use Unnatural Endurance, Professor's Warning, Scales of Shale, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Azra Smokeshaper, Unlikely Aid, or Masterful Flourish only when card text and legal actions confirm the trick preserves Fang or wins a critical combat.

- Defend life aggressively below ten life, and defend even earlier against burn, evasive pressure, or wide boards. Tendrils of Corruption, Pristine Talisman, Syphon Soul, Charity Extractor, Scrounger of Souls, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel may recover life, but Card text check required for several of those cards; do not assume life gain will arrive before the next attack step.

- Attack only when the crack-back is acceptable or the attack converts into a real resource. Shadow Alley Denizen, Cabal Initiate, Skeleton Crew, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Purple Pentapus, Wreckage Wickerfolk, Desperate Farmer // Depraved Harvester, and Scrounger of Souls require Card text check required for exact combat roles; treat them as attackers when Veles shows evasion, favorable stats, or a reason to pressure life, and hold them back when they are needed as sacrifice material or blockers.

- Block with replaceable bodies before spending removal on ordinary attackers. Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Wailing Ghoul, Dusk Legion Zealot, Dogged Detective, and creatures already targeted for recursion can absorb damage or trade while keeping Murder, Defile, Feed the Swarm, and sacrifice removal for threats that cannot be profitably blocked.

- Protect sacrifice fodder only when the protected creature is worth more than the trick. Do not use Unnatural Endurance, Professor's Warning, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Azra Smokeshaper, Unlikely Aid, Scales of Shale, or Masterful Flourish merely to save a creature that can be recurred cheaply, unless that creature is the only sacrifice outlet fuel, blocks lethal damage, or enables a next-turn Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Dread Return line.

- Shift combat posture by archetype. Against aggro, prioritize blocking, life gain, and sweepers over chip damage; against control, pressure with recurring bodies and force answers before resolving recursion; against graveyard decks, keep combat conservative while holding Cremate, Crypt Creeper, Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, or Faerie Macabre for the visible graveyard payoff; against combo, attack faster and spend removal on enablers rather than value creatures.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Sequence selection before the land drop when the legal action can change the land decision. Hidden Grotto, Crystal Grotto, Diresight, Risky Shortcut, Cremate, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, Resentful Revelation, and any draw spell shown by Veles can reveal whether to play a tapped utility land, hold Bojuka Bog, or keep Swamp available for Defile, Cremate, protection, or sacrifice-draw.

- Treat this list as pseudo-selection, not a tutor deck. Wayfarer's Bauble is the cleanest mana-search action and should normally find Swamp unless Veles shows another legal basic choice; it fixes future Defile, Tendrils of Corruption, Fang, Fearless l'Cie recasts, and multi-spell turns rather than finding a silver bullet.

- Use scry and surveil effects to balance mana against graveyard fuel. Keep early Swamp, Charcoal Diamond, Pristine Talisman, or Wayfarer's Bauble when mana is short; bottom excess lands after the fourth or fifth mana only when a recursive card, removal spell, or payoff is already available. Diresight, Hidden Grotto, Crystal Grotto, and Risky Shortcut need Card text check required for exact selection mode.

- Put graveyard cards on purpose only when recursion is live. Wailing Ghoul, Mindwrack Harpy, Bone Harvest, Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage, Grim Discovery, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Gravedig, Return from Extinction, Pull from the Grave, Macabre Waltz, and Dread Return reward stocked graveyards, but do not self-mill blindly into visible opposing graveyard hate.

- Choose recursion targets by immediate role, not raw mana value. Return Gray Merchant of Asphodel when devotion and life totals make the trigger matter; return Fang, Fearless l'Cie when commander access or combat pressure is the plan; return Dusk Legion Zealot or Wailing Ghoul when more cards or graveyard setup are needed; return Accursed Marauder, Bone Splinters fodder, or Eaten Alive fodder when board control is the next bottleneck.

- Order Bone Harvest and top-of-library recursion for the next draw step first. Put the card needed this turn cycle or next upkeep closest to draw, then stack secondary value behind it; if Veles exposes only one legal order, accept it, but otherwise prefer removal or stabilizing lifegain over slow value when under pressure.

- Use discard-to-draw and sacrifice-to-draw only after identifying the expendable object. Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Eviscerator's Insight, Merciless Resolve, Cost of Brilliance, and Resentful Revelation need Card text check required for exact costs, but the tactical rule is stable: sacrifice or discard creatures that already replaced themselves, are recursive, are blank in combat, or are about to die to removal.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Hold priority for graveyard interaction when a visible graveyard action is pending. Cremate, Crypt Creeper, Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre should be used before the opponent resolves recursion, flashback, reanimation, threshold-style payoff, or a known graveyard-dependent spell; avoid exiling your own graveyard while Soul Salvage, Unearth, Dread Return, or Bone Harvest is the active plan.

- Respond to removal with sacrifice-draw when the target is already lost. If Veles shows Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Corrupted Conviction, Eviscerator's Insight, Merciless Resolve, or Cost of Brilliance as legal while an opponent targets your creature, convert the threatened creature into cards or value unless protecting it is more important than the replacement resource.

- Protect only meaningful permanents on the stack or in combat. Unnatural Endurance, Professor's Warning, Scales of Shale, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Azra Smokeshaper, Unlikely Aid, and Masterful Flourish need Card text check required for exact timing and effect; use them for Fang, Fearless l'Cie, lethal combat, a key blocker, Gray Merchant of Asphodel setup, or a creature carrying the next sacrifice or recursion line.

- Let ordinary spells resolve when your response does not change the next decision. Do not spend Murder, Defile, Feed the Swarm, Tendrils of Corruption, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, or Accursed Marauder into a stack where the threat is not yet known to matter, unless Veles shows a lethal, combo, or must-answer permanent action.

- Cast Dash Hopes only when both branches are acceptable. If the opponent can pay or choose an alternate outcome according to legal text, the action is good only when countering the spell is strong and the alternate result still improves the race, protects life, or pressures the opponent.

- Activate mana and utility abilities with future prompts in mind. Pristine Talisman, Charcoal Diamond, Wayfarer's Bauble, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Persistent Specimen, Crypt Creeper, and other activated permanents need exact legal-action confirmation; leave mana open when removal, protection, Cremate, or sacrifice-draw can answer the current stack.

- Use Dread Return only after checking priority risk and sacrifice costs. If flashback or reanimation is legal, confirm the target is visible, the sacrificed creatures are expendable, and the opponent is not representing visible graveyard interaction; target choice should follow the recursion role rule, with Gray Merchant of Asphodel favored only when its visible trigger context is decisive.

## Sideboard Map

- Sideboarding principle: change roles only after Veles confirms the opponent archetype, visible threats, and game stage. Fang Plays Pauper is a black graveyard midrange Commander-family deck, so sideboard cards should strengthen a specific axis rather than dilute recursion, sacrifice material, or Gray Merchant of Asphodel devotion. Preserve enough creatures and cheap fodder for Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Dread Return, and commander combat. Every locked plan must return to exactly 100 main-deck cards and use only the registered 10 sideboard cards.

Aggro Creature Pressure
Side in: Chainer's Edict; Snuff Out; Crypt Rats; Unexpected Fangs; Suffocating Fumes
Cut: Dash Hopes; Resentful Revelation; Risky Shortcut; Mindwrack Harpy; Scrounger of Souls

- Plan rule: become a stabilizing control deck against fast creature boards. Chainer's Edict adds edict pressure against single large attackers or protected creatures; Snuff Out adds tempo-positive removal when life can be spent safely; Crypt Rats and Suffocating Fumes punish clustered small creatures; Unexpected Fangs turns one durable body into a race-stabilizer. This plan is bad when the opponent is slow, creature-light, or built around graveyard inevitability rather than combat volume.

Go-Wide Small Creatures
Side in: Crypt Rats; Suffocating Fumes; Snuff Out; Unexpected Fangs
Cut: Dash Hopes; Masterful Flourish; Resentful Revelation; Risky Shortcut

- Plan rule: prioritize effects that change combat math for multiple attackers. Crypt Rats is the reset button when life totals allow it; Suffocating Fumes is strongest against one-toughness creatures, tokens, and attacks where a shrink effect creates profitable blocks. Snuff Out should answer the lord, evasive threat, or engine creature that makes the swarm lethal. Unexpected Fangs belongs on Fang, Fearless l'Cie or a recursive blocker that can keep racing after the first exchange. Avoid this configuration against tall creatures, creature-light control, and burn decks that punish life payment.

Graveyard Mirror Or Reanimation
Side in: Nihil Spellbomb; Relic of Progenitus; Faerie Macabre; Duress
Cut: Syphon Soul; Masterful Flourish; Scrounger of Souls; Purple Pentapus

- Plan rule: add graveyard interaction without abandoning your own recursion. Nihil Spellbomb is the cleanest graveyard-answer role card when the opponent depends on one graveyard burst; Relic of Progenitus is stronger against repeated graveyard accumulation but can pressure your own Soul Salvage, Unearth, Bone Harvest, Dread Return, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Wander in Death, Grim Discovery, and Macabre Waltz. Faerie Macabre is best when instant, uncountered graveyard interruption matters and the legal action text exposes the relevant graveyard cards. Duress helps before the opponent resolves reanimation, draw, or protection. Do not bring all graveyard hate against fair decks unless the public graveyard is already central to their plan.

Control Or Spell-Heavy Midrange
Side in: Duress; Wrench Mind; Chainer's Edict; Snuff Out
Cut: Bone Splinters; Bone Shards; Eaten Alive; Tendrils of Corruption

- Plan rule: attack hand resources and preserve threats against control. Duress should take the visible noncreature card that most disrupts recursion, Fang, Fearless l'Cie pressure, or Gray Merchant of Asphodel setup. Wrench Mind is pressure only if the opponent cannot cheaply discard irrelevant material; card text check required for exact artifact clause and legal resolution. Chainer's Edict handles lone finishers, while Snuff Out answers a critical creature without spending mana. This plan is weaker when the opponent floods the board with small creatures, has low-value discard fodder, or can punish life payment.

Tall Creature Or Voltron Pressure
Side in: Chainer's Edict; Snuff Out; Unexpected Fangs; Duress
Cut: Mindwrack Harpy; Syphon Soul; Resentful Revelation; Risky Shortcut

- Plan rule: answer one decisive threat while keeping life total high. Chainer's Edict is strongest when the opponent controls exactly one relevant creature or when sacrifice is difficult for them; Snuff Out is a tempo answer for a must-kill creature when life remains above the danger line; Unexpected Fangs changes from race card to survival tool on Fang, Fearless l'Cie or another durable blocker. Duress checks protection, pump, or recursion before committing removal. This plan is bad when the opponent presents many expendable bodies or when life payment creates lethal exposure.

Combo Or Big Mana Setup
Side in: Duress; Wrench Mind; Nihil Spellbomb; Chainer's Edict
Cut: Bone Splinters; Masterful Flourish; Syphon Soul; Scrounger of Souls

- Plan rule: disrupt setup before the opponent reaches an overwhelming payoff. Duress is the best early card against visible tutors, engines, sweepers, or protection; Wrench Mind pressures slow hands that need multiple pieces; Nihil Spellbomb comes in only when graveyard use is part of the payoff or protection plan; Chainer's Edict covers a lone large creature after setup. Avoid Relic of Progenitus unless repeated graveyard accumulation is clearly important, because it can weaken your own late-game recursion.

- Duress role: bring Duress against control, combo, graveyard engines, removal-heavy decks, and opponents whose best cards are visible noncreature spells. It is poor against creature-heavy aggro when the hand is likely all threats or when immediate board survival matters more than information. On the play it can clear a path for Fang, Fearless l'Cie or a draw engine; on the draw it should answer the card that blocks your stabilizing turn.

- Chainer's Edict role: bring Chainer's Edict against hexproof-style plans, commanders relying on one creature, tall threats, and creature-light control finishers. It is poor against token boards, sacrifice fodder, or boards where Accursed Marauder, Bone Splinters, Bone Shards, Eaten Alive, Murder, Defile, and Tendrils of Corruption already cover the same role. Against aggro it is survival removal; against control it is an answer to a protected finisher.

- Snuff Out role: bring Snuff Out when tempo matters and the creature must die before you can spend mana. It is poor when life total is under pressure, when the legal creature does not matter, or when black restrictions in the card text make the visible creature illegal. Card text check required for exact alternate cost and restrictions. Against aggro it is emergency removal; against control it protects your mana for recursion or discard.

- Nihil Spellbomb role: bring Nihil Spellbomb against decks using graveyard recursion, flashback, reanimation, threshold-like payoffs, or death-trigger loops. It is poor when your own graveyard plan is more important and the opponent has no visible graveyard payoff. Against graveyard combo hold it until the payoff window; against fair recursion use it after extracting maximum information from public graveyards.

- Relic of Progenitus role: bring Relic of Progenitus when the opponent uses repeated graveyard accumulation and one-shot exile is too narrow. It is poor when your own graveyard is stocked with essential recursion cards or Dread Return lines. Early it can slow both graveyards; late it should be used only when the opponent graveyard payoff exceeds the value of your own graveyard.

- Crypt Rats role: bring Crypt Rats against creature swarms, small commanders, and boards where life can be converted into a reset. It is poor against burn pressure, high-toughness boards, or when your battlefield contains the only path to winning. Card text check required for exact activation and damage rules. Against aggro it is a sweeper; against stalled midrange it can be a finisher when life totals and prevention effects allow.

- Unexpected Fangs role: bring Unexpected Fangs when lifelink or permanent combat sizing changes the race. It is poor against exile removal, bounce-heavy decks, or creature-light control where the Aura risks losing tempo. Card text check required for exact effect. Against aggro it belongs on a durable blocker; against midrange it can turn Fang, Fearless l'Cie or a recursive body into a threat that must be answered.

- Suffocating Fumes role: bring Suffocating Fumes against one-toughness creatures, token boards, and go-wide attacks. It is poor against tall creatures, creature-light control, and boards where the debuff does not alter combat or survival. Card text check required for exact mode and cycling text. Against aggro it is a combat blowout or sweeper; against midrange it is only worthwhile when it changes blocks or kills multiple visible creatures.

- Wrench Mind role: bring Wrench Mind against slow control, low-resource midrange, and combo hands that need specific noncreature pieces. It is poor against empty-handed aggro, graveyard decks that benefit from discard, or artifact-heavy hands if the exact card text permits them to blunt it. Card text check required. Early it pressures setup; late it should be cast only if the opponent still has relevant cards.

- Faerie Macabre role: bring Faerie Macabre when instant graveyard exile must happen while tapped low or through stack interaction. It is poor when the opponent does not expose graveyard cards that matter or when a battlefield card would matter more. Against reanimation it protects the exact payoff window; against value recursion it should wait for the highest-impact visible pair rather than early low-value cards.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: stabilize before extracting value. Keep hands with early Swamp access, a cheap blocker or sacrifice body, and at least one interaction spell such as Defile, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Murder, Feed the Swarm, or Tendrils of Corruption. Trade Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dusk Legion Zealot, Wailing Ghoul, Accursed Marauder, and small graveyard bodies aggressively when the trade protects life or loads later recursion. Role cards after sideboarding are Chainer's Edict, Snuff Out, Crypt Rats, Unexpected Fangs, and Suffocating Fumes, but keep enough creatures and sacrifice material for Fang, Fearless l'Cie and the draw/removal engine.

- Burn: protect life total as the primary resource. Do not spend life for Snuff Out, Corrupted Conviction-style sacrifice draw, or risky race lines unless the visible board or stack shows that waiting is worse. Tendrils of Corruption, Syphon Soul, Pristine Talisman, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Charity Extractor, and Unexpected Fangs become survival tools first and win conditions second. Duress is useful only when burn is spell-dense and the revealed hand contains a noncreature spell that changes the race; Chainer's Edict is for creature-light pressure, not wide boards.

- Go-wide: prioritize sweepers, shrink effects, and blockers over one-for-one removal. Crypt Rats and Suffocating Fumes are the highest-impact sideboard cards when multiple small creatures are visible or expected; preserve life and mana so those effects can change combat rather than arriving after lethal pressure. Main-deck edict effects like Accursed Marauder are weaker against expendable bodies, so use them only when the opponent has one meaningful attacker or when clearing any body enables a favorable block. Snuff Out is for the creature that enables the swarm, while Unexpected Fangs should go on a durable blocker that can survive the next combat.

- Single-threat: force the opponent to commit before spending premium answers. Chainer's Edict, Accursed Marauder, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Murder, Defile, Tendrils of Corruption, and Snuff Out should answer the threat that actually matters, not the first legal creature. Use Duress before removal when visible mana or known hand contents suggest protection, pump, recursion, or a counter. Unexpected Fangs can race a tall creature only if the lifelink carrier survives combat and the opponent cannot remove it profitably.

- Tempo: spend mana so the opponent cannot turn bounce, soft counters, or evasive pressure into a time walk. Prioritize cheap plays, land drops, and action density over slow graveyard sculpting. Fang, Fearless l'Cie should be cast when the board can protect the commander or when forcing interaction improves later Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Unearth, Wander in Death, Return from Extinction, Pull from the Grave, Macabre Waltz, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Grim Discovery, or Bone Harvest lines. Duress, Snuff Out, Chainer's Edict, and Wrench Mind are role cards when they trade up on mana or cards; avoid bringing in narrow hate just because it is available.

- Control: pressure cards in hand before committing the best recursion or finisher. Duress and Wrench Mind are high-priority sideboard cards when the opponent relies on noncreature answers, sweepers, or card advantage. Dash Hopes is only useful when the life-payment fork is meaningful; do not treat it as guaranteed permission. Preserve Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Return from Extinction, Pull from the Grave, Gravedig, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Macabre Waltz, Bone Harvest, Dread Return, and Grim Discovery until they return threats that matter after removal. Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Wreckage Wickerfolk, Charity Extractor, and Haunt of the Dead Marshes are late-game pressure if the hand can support them.

- Combo: disrupt setup, then shorten the clock. Duress should take the visible piece that enables the combo or protects it; Wrench Mind is strongest before the opponent empties their hand. Use Crypt Creeper, Cremate, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, Faerie Macabre, Bojuka Bog, and graveyard timing only when public information shows graveyard dependence or a specific payoff window. Do not spend graveyard hate on low-impact cards if a visible future recursion or reanimation card is more dangerous.

- Midrange: win by making every trade recursive. Trade creatures early when Soul Salvage, Unearth, Wander in Death, Return from Extinction, Pull from the Grave, Macabre Waltz, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Grim Discovery, Bone Harvest, Mortuary Mire, or Witch's Cottage can convert the graveyard into a second hand. Removal should answer creatures that beat Fang, Fearless l'Cie in combat, blank lifegain races, or threaten card advantage. Gray Merchant of Asphodel is a stabilizer and closer when devotion and life totals make the drain meaningful. Unexpected Fangs, Chainer's Edict, Snuff Out, and Wrench Mind are role cards, but do not trim so much recursion that the deck becomes a thin removal pile.

- Big mana: pressure their setup while saving removal for payoff permanents. Wayfarer's Bauble, Charcoal Diamond, Pristine Talisman, Hidden Grotto, Crystal Grotto, Conduit Pylons, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, Bojuka Bog, Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage, and Swamp sequencing should support casting two relevant spells in a turn once possible. Duress and Wrench Mind matter more than small removal when the opponent's threats are expensive and few. Use Chainer's Edict or hard removal after they commit a single large threat; Snuff Out is for a legal creature where tempo changes the next turn.

- Graveyard: separate their graveyard value from your own recursion plan. Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, Faerie Macabre, Crypt Creeper, Cremate, Bojuka Bog, and Diresight should be timed around visible graveyard payoffs, not used automatically on the first legal exile action. If Relic of Progenitus would damage your own stocked graveyard more than theirs, prefer one-sided or targeted graveyard interaction when available. Keep Dread Return and recursion live unless stopping the opponent immediately matters more.

- Artifact/enchantment: identify whether the artifact or enchantment is the engine, the protection, or only support. Feed the Swarm is the main named enchantment answer if runtime text confirms the object is legal to answer; card text check required for exact restrictions and life loss. Against artifact-heavy hands, Wrench Mind may be weaker if card text lets artifacts blunt it, so choose it only when the visible or expected hand still makes discard valuable. If artifacts are mostly graveyard fuel, use Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, Faerie Macabre, Crypt Creeper, or Cremate at the payoff window.

- Removal-heavy: avoid putting all value on one creature unless protection or recursion is ready. Professor's Warning, Unnatural Endurance, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Unlikely Aid, Azra Smokeshaper, and Masterful Flourish should be used only when the legal mode or target actually beats the visible removal, combat exchange, or damage pattern. Sacrifice draw can punish removal when the creature was going to die anyway. Duress and Wrench Mind are strong role cards; Unexpected Fangs is only worth the risk when the carrier is resilient or the opponent is tapped low.

## Specific Matchup Notes
- General note: these notes are archetype-only because exact opponents are absent; revealed cards, legal actions, and public board state override every assumption. Use Duress and Wrench Mind to attack noncreature engines or protected combo hands, use Defile, Murder, Tendrils of Corruption, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Feed the Swarm, Chainer's Edict, Snuff Out, Crypt Rats, and Suffocating Fumes only against visible objects they legally answer, and hold recursion until it returns material that changes the clock or stabilizes the board.

- Aggro note: prioritize life total, blockers, and cheap interaction before graveyard value. Role cards are Snuff Out, Chainer's Edict, Crypt Rats, Suffocating Fumes, and Unexpected Fangs. Reduce emphasis on slow draw spells when they do not affect board state this turn. Priority threats are evasive attackers, creatures carrying combat pressure, and permanents that make blocking impossible; do not spend removal on a small attacker if Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, or Tendrils of Corruption can stabilize from visible life totals.

- Go-wide note: do not fight a swarm only with one-for-one removal. Crypt Rats and Suffocating Fumes should be preserved for turns where they kill multiple creatures, change blocks, or stop lethal pressure. Chainer's Edict is weaker until the board narrows. Unexpected Fangs should go on a durable blocker or Fang, Fearless l'Cie only when that creature can survive the exchange.

- Single-threat note: answer the creature that determines the game, not the first legal creature. Chainer's Edict is best when the opponent lacks expendable bodies; Snuff Out is for the tempo-critical threat; Duress should clear protection, pump, or recursion before removal when the legal window allows. Unexpected Fangs can race tall pressure, but only if the carrier is not exposed to an obvious blowout.

- Control note: commit threats in layers instead of concentrating value on one creature. Role cards are Duress, Wrench Mind, and Chainer's Edict, with Faerie Macabre only if public graveyards matter. Reduce emphasis on narrow removal and protection spells without a current target. Priority cards for Duress are visible sweepers, hard answers to Fang, Fearless l'Cie, graveyard exile, or cards that stop Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Return from Extinction, Pull from the Grave, Macabre Waltz, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Grim Discovery, or Bone Harvest from mattering.

- Graveyard note: choose graveyard hate timing around a visible payoff window, not the first legal exile action. Role cards are Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, Faerie Macabre, and Duress. Reduce emphasis on slow graveyard setup if the opponent can exile or race it. Priority graveyard cards are those the opponent is about to recur, flash back, reanimate, or count for lethal; protect your own recursion density unless immediate exile prevents a stronger opposing line.

- Combo note: disrupt first, then shorten the clock with resilient pressure. Role cards are Duress, Wrench Mind, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre. Reduce emphasis on slow lifegain and creature-only removal when no legal creature matters. Priority cards are visible enablers, payoff cards, protection, and graveyard pieces that make the next turn deterministic; do not assume hidden combo contents beyond revealed cards.

- Tempo note: choose low-curve actions and avoid letting the opponent convert bounce or soft permission into a full turn advantage. Duress is best before a key commander or recursion turn, Snuff Out is best when spending no mana preserves double-spell sequencing, and Wrench Mind is good only while the opponent still holds relevant cards. Avoid slow graveyard setup when board pressure is already forcing blocks.

- Midrange note: trade early if recursion will make the trade asymmetrical. Unexpected Fangs, Chainer's Edict, Snuff Out, and Wrench Mind can all matter, but the plan should not remove too many recursive bodies or sacrifice enablers. Priority threats are creatures that outclass Fang, Fearless l'Cie, engines that turn combat trades into card advantage, and lifegain blockers that invalidate Gray Merchant of Asphodel races.

- Big-mana note: pressure mana development while preserving answers for payoff permanents. Role cards are Duress, Wrench Mind, Chainer's Edict, and Snuff Out. Reduce emphasis on small sweepers and low-impact trades. Priority cards are expensive threats, draw engines, and mana pieces only when removing the mana piece changes the next turn's legal cast pattern.

- Artifact/enchantment note: identify whether the artifact or enchantment is the engine, protection, or only support. Feed the Swarm remains the key named enchantment answer when runtime text confirms legality. Wrench Mind may be weaker against artifact-heavy hands, so use it only when the opponent still has relevant nonartifact resources or cannot blunt the discard profitably. Graveyard hate matters if artifacts or enchantments are primarily fueling recursion.

- Removal-heavy note: avoid putting all value on one creature unless protection or recursion is ready. Professor's Warning, Unnatural Endurance, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Unlikely Aid, Azra Smokeshaper, and Masterful Flourish should be used only when the legal mode or target actually beats the visible removal, combat exchange, or damage pattern. Duress and Wrench Mind are the cleanest role cards; Unexpected Fangs is a calculated risk only when the carrier is resilient or the opponent is tapped low.

## Risk Summary
- Mana risk: this singleton black deck can keep hands that look spell-dense but fail to cast multiple relevant spells on time. Prioritize Swamp access, Wayfarer's Bauble, Charcoal Diamond, Pristine Talisman, and land sequencing before holding colorless utility lands such as Hidden Grotto, Crystal Grotto, Conduit Pylons, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, Bojuka Bog, Mortuary Mire, or Witch's Cottage for marginal value.

- Draw risk: sacrifice draw from Village Rites, Deadly Dispute, Corrupted Conviction, Eviscerator's Insight, Merciless Resolve, and Cost of Brilliance can convert doomed creatures into cards, but sacrificing the only blocker, only Fang, Fearless l'Cie pressure, or only recursion target can lose tempo. Use the draw engine when the sacrificed object is replaceable, already dying, or unlocks a stronger graveyard line.

- Over-sideboarding risk: adding all attractive sideboard cards can dilute the creature-recursion shell. Use Duress and Wrench Mind against hands, Snuff Out and Chainer's Edict against creatures, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre against graveyards, and keep enough threats, sacrifice fodder, and recursion to close.

- Graveyard risk: Bojuka Bog, Crypt Creeper, Cremate, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre can conflict with Dread Return, Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Return from Extinction, Pull from the Grave, Macabre Waltz, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Grim Discovery, Bone Harvest, Mortuary Mire, and Witch's Cottage. Exile only when the opposing graveyard payoff is more important than your next recursion line.

- Sweeper/removal risk: protection cards such as Professor's Warning, Unnatural Endurance, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Unlikely Aid, Azra Smokeshaper, and Masterful Flourish are conditional; Card text check required before assuming they beat a specific spell or combat outcome. Do not expose Fang, Fearless l'Cie or Gray Merchant of Asphodel without recursion, protection, or a reason to force action.

- Closer risk: Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Scrounger of Souls, Wreckage Wickerfolk, Charity Extractor, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Skeleton Crew, Purple Pentapus, and Fang, Fearless l'Cie may require time or board texture to finish. If the opponent is faster, trade early and recur later instead of saving every creature for theoretical value.

- Sequencing risk: Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage, Bone Harvest, and draw effects can conflict over library-top timing. Put a card on top only when the next draw, selection, or shuffle pattern preserves the intended card.

## Test Feedback Checklist
- Deciding factor: record whether the game was decided by early board pressure, commander access through Fang, Fearless l'Cie, graveyard recursion, life drain from Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Syphon Soul, or a failure to convert sacrifice draw into pressure.
- Mulligan quality: note whether the opener had black mana, a castable early creature, a draw or recursion engine, and a realistic path to use Fang, Fearless l'Cie without falling behind.
- Mana function: track whether Swamp count, Wayfarer's Bauble, Charcoal Diamond, Pristine Talisman, Crystal Grotto, Hidden Grotto, Conduit Pylons, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, Bojuka Bog, Mortuary Mire, or Witch's Cottage caused tapped-land delays, colorless bottlenecks, or useful sequencing advantages.
- Velocity check: ask whether Village Rites, Deadly Dispute, Corrupted Conviction, Eviscerator's Insight, Merciless Resolve, Cost of Brilliance, Dusk Legion Zealot, Resentful Revelation, Diresight, or Risky Shortcut found action at the right time or sacrificed too much board.
- Engine check: identify whether Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Dogged Detective, Skeleton Crew, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, Wailing Ghoul, Mindwrack Harpy, Dread Return, Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Return from Extinction, Pull from the Grave, Macabre Waltz, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Grim Discovery, Bone Harvest, Mortuary Mire, and Witch's Cottage produced meaningful recursion or merely delayed losing.
- Removal timing: review whether Defile, Murder, Tendrils of Corruption, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Feed the Swarm, Accursed Marauder, and sideboard Chainer's Edict, Snuff Out, Crypt Rats, or Suffocating Fumes answered the threat that mattered most from visible board state.
- Graveyard-hate discipline: check whether Crypt Creeper, Cremate, Bojuka Bog, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre exiled an opposing payoff window without damaging this deck's next legal recursion line.
- Combat discipline: record whether Scarblade Scout, Scrounger of Souls, Purple Pentapus, Wreckage Wickerfolk, Desperate Farmer // Depraved Harvester, Charity Extractor, Cabal Initiate, Troll of Khazad-dûm, and Fang, Fearless l'Cie traded, attacked, or stayed back according to the visible race.
- Protection usage: ask whether Professor's Warning, Unnatural Endurance, Scales of Shale, Armor of Shadows, Without Weakness, Azra Smokeshaper, Unlikely Aid, and Masterful Flourish changed combat or removal math; Card text check required before crediting any exact rules interaction.
- Closing plan: note whether Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Syphon Soul, Tendrils of Corruption, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Wreckage Wickerfolk, Skeleton Crew, Purple Pentapus, or Fang, Fearless l'Cie actually closed before the opponent recovered.
- Sideboard impact: record whether Duress, Wrench Mind, Unexpected Fangs, Chainer's Edict, Snuff Out, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, Crypt Rats, Suffocating Fumes, and Faerie Macabre matched the opponent's visible plan after boarding.
- Mistake review: flag any pass with available interaction, sacrifice of the only stabilizing blocker, recursion target chosen before checking graveyard value, or land-top effect from Mortuary Mire, Witch's Cottage, or Bone Harvest made before draw sequencing was clear.
- Stranded-card review: list cards stuck in hand because of mana, missing creatures to sacrifice, missing graveyard targets, poor timing, or opponent board texture.
- Overperformer and underperformer review: name exact cards that created the win or failed repeatedly, and separate pilot error from structural deck weakness.

## First Tuning Questions
- Mana tuning question: should 28 Swamp plus Wayfarer's Bauble, Charcoal Diamond, Pristine Talisman, Crystal Grotto, Hidden Grotto, Conduit Pylons, Polluted Mire, Desert of the Glorified, Bojuka Bog, Mortuary Mire, and Witch's Cottage change if games show repeated slow starts or too many tapped utility turns?
- Aggro-plan question: does the deck need more early stabilizing emphasis if Accursed Marauder, Defile, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Tendrils of Corruption, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel arrive too late against pressure?
- Control-plan question: does the deck have enough discard and layered threats if Duress, Wrench Mind, Dash Hopes, Fang, Fearless l'Cie, Dogged Detective, Skeleton Crew, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, and recursion spells fail to beat removal-heavy games?
- Velocity question: are Village Rites, Deadly Dispute, Corrupted Conviction, Eviscerator's Insight, Merciless Resolve, Cost of Brilliance, Resentful Revelation, Diresight, and Risky Shortcut too many draw effects when the deck lacks expendable bodies, or not enough when games stall?
- Sacrifice-density question: do Persistent Specimen, Retrofitted Transmogrant, Wailing Ghoul, Dusk Legion Zealot, Overeager Apprentice, Desperate Farmer // Depraved Harvester, and expendable tokens or bodies support Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Village Rites, Deadly Dispute, and Dread Return often enough?
- Closer question: if wins take too long, should the plan emphasize Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Wreckage Wickerfolk, Scrounger of Souls, Charity Extractor, Skeleton Crew, Purple Pentapus, and Fang, Fearless l'Cie more aggressively instead of looping small value creatures?
- Graveyard-role question: if opposing graveyard hate blanks Dread Return, Unearth, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Return from Extinction, Pull from the Grave, Macabre Waltz, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Gravedig, Grim Discovery, Bone Harvest, Mortuary Mire, and Witch's Cottage, should sideboard plans lean harder on discard and standalone threats?
- Sideboard-slot question: which of Duress, Chainer's Edict, Snuff Out, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, Crypt Rats, Unexpected Fangs, Suffocating Fumes, Wrench Mind, and Faerie Macabre actually changed losing matchups rather than duplicating already sufficient main-deck roles?
- Role-conflict question: does the deck lose more often by spending too much time on graveyard value, by overprotecting Fang, Fearless l'Cie, or by using removal before the opponent commits a threat that matters?

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Opening Hand Function Gate
- Priority: High
- Decision families: mulligan
- Cards: Fang, Fearless l'Cie; Swamp; Wayfarer's Bauble; Charcoal Diamond; Pristine Talisman; Dusk Legion Zealot; Persistent Specimen; Retrofitted Transmogrant
- Phase windows: pregame mulligan decisions.
- Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; opening hand; commander available.
- Use when: choosing keep or mulligan from visible opening hand only.
- Avoid when: runtime exposes a forced keep or no mulligan action.
- Instructions: Keep hands with black mana, a castable early play, and either interaction, draw, or recursion; mulligan hands with no black source, no early spell, or only expensive recursion/payoffs. Treat Fang, Fearless l'Cie as command-zone access, not as a keep excuse without mana and board development.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Early Graveyard Engine Setup
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: priority; selection
- Cards: Persistent Specimen; Retrofitted Transmogrant; Wailing Ghoul; Dogged Detective; Skeleton Crew; Haunt of the Dead Marshes; Mindwrack Harpy
- Phase windows: early main phases before combat, postcombat main phase.
- Runtime cues: action:cast; action:activate; graveyard count visible; expendable creature visible.
- Use when: developing the first creature, recursion piece, or self-mill/value permanent.
- Avoid when: visible board pressure requires immediate removal or blocker deployment.
- Instructions: Establish one reusable body or graveyard enabler before spending sacrifice draw whenever the hand contains Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Eaten Alive, Village Rites, Deadly Dispute, Corrupted Conviction, or Dread Return. Card text check required for exact Skeleton Crew, Haunt of the Dead Marshes, and Mindwrack Harpy triggers.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Mana Development And Tapped Land Timing
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: mana; priority
- Cards: Swamp; Polluted Mire; Desert of the Glorified; Bojuka Bog; Mortuary Mire; Witch's Cottage; Crystal Grotto; Hidden Grotto; Conduit Pylons; Wayfarer's Bauble; Charcoal Diamond; Pristine Talisman
- Phase windows: precombat main phase, land-play decisions, mana ability prompts.
- Runtime cues: action:play; action:activate mana; legal land actions.
- Use when: choosing land sequencing or whether to spend mana on a setup permanent.
- Avoid when: lethal defense or mandatory removal is visible this turn.
- Instructions: Prioritize untapped black mana for Defile, Bone Shards, Bone Splinters, Feed the Swarm, or early creatures; use tapped utility lands when the current turn has no required instant-speed black mana. Preserve Bojuka Bog timing when opponent graveyard use is visible.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Basic Mana Payment
- Priority: Low
- Decision families: mana
- Cards: Swamp; Charcoal Diamond; Pristine Talisman
- Phase windows: any payment prompt.
- Runtime cues: action:pay with Swamp; action:tap Swamp; action:activate Charcoal Diamond; action:activate Pristine Talisman
- Use when: a single legal payment action spends only black mana from visible Swamp or visible black-producing artifact and no alternate payment choice is offered.
- Avoid when: multiple sources produce different future colors or life/mana side effects matter.
- Instructions: Execute the displayed payment that completes the already selected spell or ability. Do not choose between utility lands, sacrifice costs, or optional payments through this policy.
- Pilot skill floor: no-api.
- No-API allowed: yes
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sacrifice Resource Gate
- Priority: High
- Decision families: priority; interaction; selection
- Cards: Village Rites; Deadly Dispute; Corrupted Conviction; Eviscerator's Insight; Merciless Resolve; Bone Shards; Bone Splinters; Eaten Alive; Dread Return; Persistent Specimen; Retrofitted Transmogrant; Dusk Legion Zealot; Overeager Apprentice
- Phase windows: main phases, combat trick windows, response windows.
- Runtime cues: action:cast; prompt:sacrifice; creature candidates visible.
- Use when: a legal action asks whether to spend or sacrifice a permanent.
- Avoid when: the only sacrifice candidate is the only stabilizing blocker, the only commander pressure, or required for a stronger visible line.
- Instructions: Prefer expendable or recursive bodies over unique pressure. Spend sacrifice draw to hit land, interaction, or recursion; spend sacrifice removal only when the visible opposing permanent changes the race or blocks the deck's engine.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Recursion Target Selection
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: selection
- Cards: Unearth; Soul Salvage; Wander in Death; Return from Extinction; Pull from the Grave; Macabre Waltz; Ghoulcaller's Chant; Gravedig; Grim Discovery; Bone Harvest; Mortuary Mire; Witch's Cottage; Dread Return
- Phase windows: main phases, resolution prompts, graveyard target prompts.
- Runtime cues: action:target; prompt:choose card in graveyard.
- Use when: selecting one or more visible graveyard cards for return, topdeck placement, or reanimation.
- Avoid when: the legal action text names an exact deterministic target covered by another policy.
- Instructions: Route through light-model because target identity depends on board, mana, hand, and clock. Prioritize immediate stabilizers, Gray Merchant of Asphodel reach, removal creatures if any are legal, or recursive sacrifice fuel; Card text check required for exact modal restrictions.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Dread Return Payoff Commitment
- Priority: High
- Decision families: priority; selection
- Cards: Dread Return; Gray Merchant of Asphodel; Troll of Khazad-dûm; Wreckage Wickerfolk; Scrounger of Souls; Charity Extractor; Fang, Fearless l'Cie
- Phase windows: main phases, graveyard-cast permission windows.
- Runtime cues: action:cast Dread Return; prompt:target creature card.
- Use when: Dread Return is legal from hand or graveyard and target candidates are visible.
- Avoid when: sacrificing required blockers would expose lethal, or a visible exile effect can answer the target before payoff matters.
- Instructions: Treat Dread Return as a commitment gate, not routine value. Reanimate Gray Merchant of Asphodel for visible life swing when devotion is meaningful; otherwise choose the threat or stabilizer that changes the current board. Card text check required for Charity Extractor and Wreckage Wickerfolk exact payoff.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Removal Priority Gate
- Priority: High
- Decision families: interaction; priority
- Cards: Defile; Murder; Tendrils of Corruption; Feed the Swarm; Bone Shards; Bone Splinters; Eaten Alive; Accursed Marauder; Chainer's Edict; Snuff Out; Crypt Rats; Suffocating Fumes
- Phase windows: opponent combat, end step, own main phases, stack response windows.
- Runtime cues: action:cast; action:activate; visible opposing threat.
- Use when: choosing whether to answer a visible permanent or board.
- Avoid when: the target is low-impact relative to a visible lethal threat, engine piece, or commander damage clock.
- Instructions: Spend removal on threats that shorten the clock, stop recursion, invalidate blocking, or prevent Fang, Fearless l'Cie from safely operating. Use sorcery-speed edicts and sacrifice removal before combat when delaying loses a blocker or life; save instant-speed interaction for attacks or stack windows when legal.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Target Opponent Drain
- Priority: Low
- Decision families: selection
- Cards: Syphon Soul; Gray Merchant of Asphodel
- Phase windows: spell or trigger target prompts.
- Runtime cues: action:target opponent Syphon Soul; action:target opponent Gray Merchant of Asphodel
- Use when: the legal action text offers exactly one opponent target for Syphon Soul or Gray Merchant of Asphodel and no permanent, player, or mode alternative is listed.
- Avoid when: multiple opponent/player choices or prevention/redirection prompts are visible.
- Instructions: Choose target opponent for the already committed drain line. Do not infer lethal unless the engine exposes the legal target and resulting action text clearly.
- Pilot skill floor: no-api.
- No-API allowed: yes
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Graveyard Hate Timing
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: interaction; priority
- Cards: Crypt Creeper; Cremate; Bojuka Bog; Nihil Spellbomb; Relic of Progenitus; Faerie Macabre
- Phase windows: opponent graveyard action windows, end step, land-play window for Bojuka Bog, response windows.
- Runtime cues: action:exile; action:play Bojuka Bog; opponent graveyard visible.
- Use when: opponent graveyard contains a visible card or threshold that a legal hate action can affect.
- Avoid when: using symmetrical graveyard hate removes this deck's required Unearth, Dread Return, Soul Salvage, Wander in Death, Bone Harvest, or Grim Discovery line without stopping an opposing payoff.
- Instructions: Fire hate at the last legal window before opponent recursion or threshold payoff resolves. Prefer one-sided hate before symmetrical exile when this deck's graveyard is stocked.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Fang Commitment Gate
- Priority: High
- Decision families: priority; combat
- Cards: Fang, Fearless l'Cie; Professor's Warning; Unnatural Endurance; Scales of Shale; Armor of Shadows; Without Weakness; Azra Smokeshaper; Unlikely Aid; Masterful Flourish
- Phase windows: main phases, combat, removal response windows.
- Runtime cues: action:cast Fang, Fearless l'Cie; action:attack; action:block; action:cast protection.
- Use when: deciding whether to deploy, attack with, block with, or protect Fang, Fearless l'Cie.
- Avoid when: commander tax, visible removal, or unfavorable combat makes deployment fail to affect the board this turn.
- Instructions: Cast Fang when it stabilizes, pressures, or enables graveyard value with protection or recursion available. Protect Fang only when the protected permanent changes combat, engine access, or commander pressure; Card text check required for exact protection effects.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Stabilization And Trades
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: combat
- Cards: Scarblade Scout; Scrounger of Souls; Purple Pentapus; Wreckage Wickerfolk; Desperate Farmer // Depraved Harvester; Charity Extractor; Cabal Initiate; Troll of Khazad-dûm; Fang, Fearless l'Cie
- Phase windows: declare attackers, declare blockers, combat damage, postcombat.
- Runtime cues: prompt:attackers; prompt:blockers; visible power and toughness.
- Use when: choosing attacks or blocks with visible creatures.
- Avoid when: exactly one legal no-attack or no-block action is forced by the engine.
- Instructions: Stabilize life before chip damage against faster boards. Trade recursive or replaceable creatures for real pressure; keep high-impact closers back when they are the only blocker preventing lethal. Card text check required for exact combat keywords and transform status.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Protection And Combat Trick Gate
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: combat; interaction; priority
- Cards: Professor's Warning; Unnatural Endurance; Scales of Shale; Armor of Shadows; Without Weakness; Azra Smokeshaper; Unlikely Aid; Masterful Flourish; Unexpected Fangs
- Phase windows: combat trick windows, removal response windows, damage-prevention prompts.
- Runtime cues: action:cast; prompt:target creature; stack contains removal or combat damage pending.
- Use when: a legal trick can target a visible creature in combat or response.
- Avoid when: the creature would survive without help or the trick does not change damage, survival, lifelink race, or engine access.
- Instructions: Use tricks to save Fang, Fearless l'Cie, preserve the only stabilizing blocker, win combat involving a relevant attacker, or swing a race with Unexpected Fangs. Card text check required before assuming indestructible, regeneration, lifelink, or counter details.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Card Selection And Topdeck Ordering
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: selection
- Cards: Diresight; Risky Shortcut; Crystal Grotto; Hidden Grotto; Bone Harvest; Mortuary Mire; Witch's Cottage; Resentful Revelation; Cremate
- Phase windows: resolution prompts, draw-step setup, main phases.
- Runtime cues: prompt:scry; prompt:surveil; prompt:choose order; action:draw; action:cycle.
- Use when: choosing visible card selection, top/bottom placement, or draw sequencing.
- Avoid when: current prompt is a graveyard recursion target requiring another policy.
- Instructions: Select lands when missing land drops, interaction when behind, sacrifice fodder when hand has sacrifice payoffs, and closers when stable. Put recursion targets on top only when the next draw timing is clear and the target changes the next turn.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Permission And Dash Hopes Gate
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: interaction; priority
- Cards: Dash Hopes
- Phase windows: stack response windows.
- Runtime cues: action:cast Dash Hopes; opponent spell on stack.
- Use when: Dash Hopes is legal against a visible opposing spell.
- Avoid when: opponent can pay or ignore the life pressure from visible totals and board, or when holding mana for removal is stronger.
- Instructions: Treat Dash Hopes as conditional disruption and tempo pressure, not guaranteed permission. Cast it when the spell materially changes the board or when visible life totals make the opponent payment punishing. Card text check required for exact payment and counter condition.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model.
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic No-Block Pass
- Priority: Low
- Decision families: combat
- Cards: none
- Phase windows: declare blockers.
- Runtime cues: action:no blocks; action:decline blockers
- Use when: the only legal blocker action text is no blocks or decline blockers and no alternate block assignment is listed.
- Avoid when: any creature can legally block or any prevention/protection action is legal in the same prompt.
- Instructions: Select the displayed no-block action to advance the engine after combat choices are exhausted.
- Pilot skill floor: no-api.
- No-API allowed: yes
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Role Selection
- Priority: High
- Decision families: sideboard
- Cards: Duress; Chainer's Edict; Snuff Out; Nihil Spellbomb; Relic of Progenitus; Crypt Rats; Unexpected Fangs; Suffocating Fumes; Wrench Mind; Faerie Macabre
- Phase windows: between games, sideboard lock prompts.
- Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; match stage; opponent archetype label; public game log; visible commander plan; prior-game kill pattern.
- Use when: selecting a legal sideboard configuration after Game 1 or Game 2.
- Avoid when: runtime already supplies a fixed validated configuration or public information is too thin to justify role changes.
- Instructions: Choose the smallest role-focused change that answers the opponent's proven axis. Favor Duress and Wrench Mind against spell-heavy setup, Chainer's Edict and Snuff Out against single important creatures, Crypt Rats and Suffocating Fumes against go-wide pressure, Nihil Spellbomb, Relic of Progenitus, and Faerie Macabre against graveyard reliance, and Unexpected Fangs when life-race stabilization matters. Keep the main deck at exactly 100 cards and preserve sacrifice fodder, recursion density, and Fang, Fearless l'Cie pressure.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Lock Legality Check
- Priority: Critical
- Decision families: sideboard
- Cards: Duress; Chainer's Edict; Snuff Out; Nihil Spellbomb; Relic of Progenitus; Crypt Rats; Unexpected Fangs; Suffocating Fumes; Wrench Mind; Faerie Macabre
- Phase windows: sideboard validation, sideboard lock prompts.
- Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard_lock; registered deck; registered sideboard; proposed swaps; validation result.
- Use when: submitting or auditing a between-game sideboard configuration.
- Avoid when: no sideboard mutation is being submitted.
- Instructions: Submit only a validated 100-card main deck plus 10-card sideboard state. Every incoming card must be one of the registered sideboard cards, every outgoing card must be an exact main-deck card, and the resulting registration must preserve the same 110 total cards. Reject invented card names, duplicate sideboard entries beyond registration, and plans that remove core lands or recursion without matchup proof.
- Pilot skill floor: deterministic
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Narrow Hate Deployment After Boarding
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: sideboard, priority, graveyard, discard, removal
- Cards: Duress; Nihil Spellbomb; Relic of Progenitus; Faerie Macabre; Wrench Mind; Snuff Out; Crypt Rats; Suffocating Fumes; Unexpected Fangs
- Phase windows: post-sideboard games, priority windows, opponent graveyard payoff windows, combat setup, pre-combat and end-step windows.
- Runtime cues: public graveyards; visible hand from Duress effects; opponent hand count; battlefield pressure; life totals; stack contents; legal activation or casting actions.
- Use when: a sideboard card is already in the active game and Veles must decide whether to spend it now.
- Avoid when: the effect is low-impact, the opponent has not exposed the relevant axis, or using it would damage Fang Plays Pauper's own recursion or life total more than the opponent's plan.
- Instructions: Hold graveyard hate for a visible payoff window unless waiting risks losing the game. Cast Duress before committing a key threat or answer when it can remove protection, a sweeper, or a combo piece. Use Wrench Mind while the opponent still has meaningful cards and before they empty their hand. Spend Snuff Out only on a creature whose death changes tempo enough to justify life payment. Use Crypt Rats and Suffocating Fumes when they alter combat or remove multiple creatures, and use Unexpected Fangs only on a carrier likely to survive long enough to matter.
- Pilot skill floor: light-model
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes
