# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Dredge is a Vintage Bazaar-based graveyard combo deck registered as 60 main-deck cards and 15 sideboard cards. The active validation contract says the list passes Vintage deck-count requirements, with at least 60 main and no more than 15 sideboard cards. Current tags are combo and graveyard; treat the duplicated tag input as a single strategic identity rather than two separate plans.

The registered main deck is built around Bazaar of Baghdad as the primary engine, Serum Powder as mulligan texture, dredgers in Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, and Golgari Grave-Troll, graveyard payoffs in Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Silversmote Ghoul, and Creeping Chill, and free or alternate interaction in Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Chalice of the Void, Noxious Revival, and Hollow One. The sideboard is exclusively Force of Vigor, Sickening Shoal, Strip Mine, Force of Negation, and Wasteland, so all post-board plans must fight through hate, speed, or mana denial using those exact cards only.

Stock status is Bazaar Dredge with a disruptive free-spell package, not a conventional mana deck and not a fair creature deck. The list has a stock Vintage Dredge core because Bazaar of Baghdad, Serum Powder, dredgers, Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, and Creeping Chill define the central engine. It is a hybrid disruptive build because Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Chalice of the Void, Noxious Revival, Hollow One, Force of Vigor, Sickening Shoal, Strip Mine, and Wasteland give the pilot meaningful non-engine decisions before and after the graveyard engine is online.

Mana concerns are structural: the main deck contains Bazaar of Baghdad as the only land, and Bazaar of Baghdad should not be treated as a colored mana source unless the rules engine exposes an exact legal mana action. Many registered spells require alternate costs, zero-cost casting, pitch resources, or other rule-defined legality that must come from Veles legal actions at runtime. The pilot must never assume Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Hollow One, Noxious Revival, Chalice of the Void, Force of Vigor, or Sickening Shoal can be cast or paid for unless that action is present in the legal action list.

Role concerns are asymmetric: this deck is normally the proactive graveyard engine, but it can briefly become a protection or disruption deck when facing visible hate, fast combo pressure, or a critical opposing stack action. The default plan is to find and activate Bazaar of Baghdad, move dredgers into the graveyard, convert dredges into free battlefield pressure and Creeping Chill damage, and use free interaction only when it protects the engine, stops a faster win, or answers a hate permanent that materially blocks the graveyard plan.

Opponent information status is unknown beyond runtime public information. No opponent archetype, decklist, sideboard map, or exact hate package was supplied, so the agent must reason from visible battlefield, stack, graveyards, exile, revealed cards, known hand information, game actions, and Veles matchup labels if present. Do not name or assume specific opponent cards in policy `Cards:` unless Veles has provided them as opponent-visible information; in prose, treat hate, counters, removal, and race pressure as categories until exact names are revealed.

Legality certainty belongs to the rules engine. The guide may prefer Bazaar of Baghdad hands, dredger access, graveyard payoffs, and protection against hate, but every game action must still be selected from Veles-provided legal actions, with visible board state and public information taking priority over strategic expectations.

## Thesis
Dredge assembles Bazaar of Baghdad plus at least one dredger, then converts draw steps and Bazaar activations into graveyard volume, free creatures, drain triggers, and recursive combat pressure. The central engine is Bazaar of Baghdad feeding Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, and Golgari Grave-Troll, with Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Silversmote Ghoul, and Creeping Chill turning milled cards into battlefield presence or life-total swings.

Dredge wins by making the graveyard function as the primary resource zone while spending little or no mana. The normal kill is cumulative pressure from Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Narcomoeba, Silversmote Ghoul, Hollow One, and Creeping Chill, backed by free disruption from Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Chalice of the Void, and Noxious Revival when those legal actions appear.

Dredge is not trying to curve out, preserve individual cards in hand, or trade one-for-one as a fair deck. Prioritize Bazaar of Baghdad access, dredger density, graveyard payoff velocity, survival against visible hate, and only then optional disruption; a hand with many powerful spells but no functional Bazaar plan is usually structurally worse than a hand that starts dredging quickly.

Dredge should spend interaction only when it changes the engine race or protects a decisive position. Do not fire Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Noxious Revival, or Chalice of the Void because they are available; use them to stop visible hate, opposing lethal or combo pressure, key stack interaction against the engine, or a line that would strand the deck before graveyard pressure becomes lethal.

## Role Package
- Engine: Bazaar of Baghdad is the deck's highest-priority enabler because it turns draw/discard into dredge volume and graveyard setup. Treat it as the required setup permanent unless Veles shows a rare legal path that wins without it.

- Dredgers: Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, and Golgari Grave-Troll are the cards that make Bazaar of Baghdad and draw steps scale. Prefer lines that place at least one dredger into the graveyard early, then keep replacing draws with dredges while the graveyard payoff count is still growing.

- Payoffs: Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Silversmote Ghoul, and Creeping Chill are the main conversion layer from graveyard volume into damage, blockers, life swings, and recursive threats. Preserve engine speed when these cards are already appearing naturally; do not slow the dredge plan merely to cast or protect one payoff unless the legal action clearly wins or prevents losing.

- Threats: Hollow One is the main non-graveyard battlefield threat when Veles exposes a legal cast action, and it can punish hands that use Bazaar of Baghdad heavily. Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Narcomoeba, and Silversmote Ghoul are still the default threat base because they do not require normal mana development.

- Velocity: Serum Powder supports pregame hand selection rather than in-game card advantage. Noxious Revival can become tactical velocity when a visible card needs to be placed on top or protected, but use it only from legal action text and current public information.

- Interaction: Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Chalice of the Void, Noxious Revival, and post-board Sickening Shoal answer opposing pressure, stack actions, or hate only when the engine race requires it. Grief is especially a commitment decision because its alternate-cost legality and card cost must come from Veles.

- Protection: Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Force of Vigor, Sickening Shoal, Noxious Revival, Wasteland, and Strip Mine protect the engine in different windows. Prefer protection that answers the visible problem at the lowest strategic cost, with Force of Vigor prioritized post-board against visible artifacts or enchantments that stop graveyard execution when legal.

- Recursion: Ichorid, Prized Amalgam, Silversmote Ghoul, Narcomoeba, and dredger loops create repeated board presence from the graveyard. Value recursive pressure over single temporary bodies unless combat math, lethal damage, or survival forces a narrower line.

- Mana: Bazaar of Baghdad is the only main-deck land and is an engine land, not colored mana by assumption. Strip Mine and Wasteland are sideboard lands for mana-denial or anti-hate plans, not general acceleration.

- Sideboard modules: Force of Vigor fights visible artifact or enchantment hate, Sickening Shoal fights creature pressure or hate creatures when legal, Force of Negation increases stack protection, and Strip Mine plus Wasteland attack opposing lands or disruptive lands. Use sideboard cards to preserve the Bazaar-graveyard plan, not to transform into a fair control deck.

## Primary Win Conditions
- Bazaar engine pressure is the default win path: establish Bazaar of Baghdad, put Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, or Golgari Grave-Troll into the graveyard, then replace draws with dredge to produce Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Silversmote Ghoul, and Creeping Chill pressure. Prioritize this path whenever Bazaar of Baghdad is available and no visible hate or lethal opposing line demands immediate interaction.

- Recursive battlefield pressure closes most games through repeated attacks rather than one large spell. Let Narcomoeba and Silversmote Ghoul create or support Prized Amalgam returns, use Ichorid as a recurring attacker when Veles presents legal upkeep or graveyard choices, and keep dredging while the opponent is still forced to answer multiple bodies across turns.

- Creeping Chill reach turns graveyard volume into life-total swings without requiring combat. Prioritize maximum dredge volume when the opponent's life total is already low, when combat is stalled, or when gaining life would move Dredge out of opposing lethal range; do not slow the engine to preserve Creeping Chill in hand unless Veles shows a legal line that clearly matters.

- Hollow One pressure is the main non-graveyard combat plan when Bazaar of Baghdad has enabled a legal cast. Use Hollow One to punish opponents focused on graveyard containment, to create a fast clock after a Bazaar activation, or to stabilize the battlefield when recursive creatures are delayed; still favor dredge continuation over fair casting unless the visible legal Hollow One line materially changes the race.

- Free disruption protects the kill only when it changes the outcome. Use Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Chalice of the Void, or Noxious Revival to stop visible hate, a faster opposing win, or stack interaction that would break the Bazaar engine; do not spend these cards merely to trade resources while the graveyard engine is already winning.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Ichorid attrition wins through recurring haste-style pressure and sacrifice-resistant damage over several turns. Prioritize Ichorid recursion when the graveyard contains expendable black creatures such as Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, Stinkweed Imp, Grief, or Golgari Grave-Troll and the opponent is relying on one-for-one removal or blockers.

- Prized Amalgam chains win delayed races by turning each Narcomoeba or Silversmote Ghoul return into additional bodies. When visible triggers or legal choices involve returning creatures, prefer lines that increase the number of recurring attackers unless survival requires a blocker immediately.

- Silversmote Ghoul supports both offense and recovery when life-gain events from Creeping Chill or other legal engine events make it return. Treat it as a bridge between racing and stabilizing: attack when the opponent is pressured, block when life total or battlefield position is at risk, and keep dredging to find additional recursive copies.

- Stinkweed Imp can become a defensive win enabler when attacks are unsafe. Use it as a blocker or recurring dredger when behind on board, because buying turns for Bazaar of Baghdad and Creeping Chill can be more important than maximizing immediate attack damage.

- Chalice of the Void is a narrow lock or tempo plan only when Veles shows a legal cast and the chosen value is legal and strategically meaningful. Use it to constrain visible opposing cheap interaction or engine pieces when it does not slow the Bazaar plan; avoid treating it as a standalone win condition.

- Post-board land pressure from Strip Mine and Wasteland can become a secondary plan against visible land-dependent disruption or mana bottlenecks. Use it to protect Bazaar of Baghdad tempo or cut off a critical visible land, not to abandon dredging for a fair mana-denial game.

## Emergency Lines
- When behind on life, maximize survival before speed. Prefer Creeping Chill dredge volume, Stinkweed Imp blocks, Silversmote Ghoul blockers, Sickening Shoal after sideboard when legal, and Force of Will or Force of Negation only against actions that would create lethal or prevent recovery.

- When behind on board, convert the graveyard into blockers before attacking recklessly. Keep Narcomoeba, Stinkweed Imp, Silversmote Ghoul, and Prized Amalgam available for defense when the opponent's visible attack threatens lethal, and attack with Ichorid or expendable bodies only when the race remains favorable.

- When behind on cards, treat Bazaar of Baghdad as selection plus engine fuel rather than card disadvantage. Discard cards that are stronger in the graveyard, protect the first dredger, and avoid pitching the last functional blue card to Force of Will or Force of Negation unless the answered spell is decisive.

- When behind on mana or without Bazaar of Baghdad, rely on Serum Powder pregame decisions, visible legal Hollow One lines, and free interaction only as a bridge. A non-Bazaar hand should not pretend to be a normal spell deck; seek legal routes to find or exploit Bazaar of Baghdad, or preserve disruption until it buys a real engine turn.

- When graveyard recursion is blocked, pivot to visible non-graveyard pressure and hate answers. Cast Hollow One when legal, use Force of Vigor post-board against visible artifact or enchantment hate when legal, use Wasteland or Strip Mine against visible land-based disruption when legal, and resume dredging only after the blocking permanent or effect is answered.

- When key win conditions are exiled or removed, win by remaining redundancy. Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Narcomoeba, Silversmote Ghoul, Hollow One, and Creeping Chill each pressure different axes, so choose the legal line that uses the surviving axis rather than spending resources trying to restore an unavailable one.

- When facing a faster combo or immediate stack threat, interaction outranks engine speed for one decision window. Use Grief, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, or Chalice of the Void only if Veles shows legal action text and public information indicates the opposing line will win or shut off Dredge before the next engine cycle.

## Resource Model
- Life is a spendable buffer that becomes a race metric once Creeping Chill starts resolving from the graveyard. Preserve life when visible attacks threaten lethal before the next dredge cycle, but spend early life-total slack to keep Bazaar of Baghdad activations, dredge replacement choices, and recursive pressure moving.

- Hand size is fuel, not a conventional resource, once Bazaar of Baghdad is active. Discard dredgers such as Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Grave-Troll, Golgari Thug, and Shambling Shell first when the engine needs volume, discard recursive threats such as Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Narcomoeba, and Silversmote Ghoul when they are stronger from the graveyard, and preserve Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Noxious Revival, or Force of Vigor only when visible public information makes interaction decisive.

- Mana is secondary in Game 1 because the main deck has Bazaar of Baghdad as its only land. Treat Bazaar of Baghdad as the engine land rather than a mana source, and do not plan to cast normal colored spells unless Veles shows a legal alternate-cost, reduced-cost, or colorless line such as Hollow One or a legal Chalice of the Void line.

- Board presence is generated from graveyard conversion rather than from spending mana. Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Silversmote Ghoul, Stinkweed Imp, and Hollow One should be evaluated by current race needs: attack when the clock matters, hold back when survival matters, and favor repeatable bodies over one-time trades unless a block prevents lethal.

- Graveyard volume is the deck's main resource and should usually increase every draw step after a dredger is available. Use high-volume dredgers first when racing or looking for Creeping Chill and creature chains, and use lower-volume dredgers only when they are the legal option, when preserving library size matters, or when a specific visible graveyard setup matters.

- Exile is both a cost zone and a danger zone. Exiling cards to Serum Powder can be correct before the game to find Bazaar of Baghdad, but during the game each Force of Will, Force of Negation, Grief, Force of Vigor, or Sickening Shoal alternate cost must be checked against the remaining engine density and whether the answered threat is worth losing that card permanently.

- Lands are role-specific bullets rather than a mana base. Bazaar of Baghdad starts the engine, Wasteland and Strip Mine post-board attack visible land-dependent disruption or mana bottlenecks, and sideboard utility-land choices should not distract from the graveyard plan unless public board state shows the land is the highest-impact legal action.

- Sacrifice fodder is mostly incidental, not a core plan. Treat Ichorid, Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Silversmote Ghoul, Stinkweed Imp, and Hollow One as disposable only when Veles presents a legal sacrifice or combat exchange that preserves survival, pushes lethal, or converts a creature that would otherwise be lost.

- Tempo comes from forcing the opponent to answer several axes before normal mana development matters. Prioritize Bazaar of Baghdad activation, dredge replacement, recursive creatures, Hollow One pressure, and free interaction over slow card preservation unless a visible hate piece or lethal action requires a temporary defensive line.

- Information is strongest when it changes whether to commit interaction. Use revealed hands, public stack actions, known graveyard hate, visible mana, and prior decision history to decide whether Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Chalice of the Void, Noxious Revival, Force of Vigor, Sickening Shoal, Wasteland, or Strip Mine should be spent now or held.

- Sideboard bullets convert narrow visible problems into engine time. Force of Vigor answers visible artifact or enchantment blockers to the graveyard plan when legal, Sickening Shoal buys life and combat time against creature pressure when legal, and Force of Negation, Wasteland, and Strip Mine fight stack or land-based disruption without requiring Dredge to become a fair deck.

## Mana Guide
- Keep rules should treat Bazaar of Baghdad as the primary “mana” requirement. A hand with Bazaar of Baghdad and at least one functional dredge or graveyard engine path is usually structurally sound, while a hand without Bazaar of Baghdad needs Serum Powder, strong free disruption plus a clear recovery path, or an unusually compelling legal Hollow One plan to justify keeping.

- Color requirements are mostly paid through alternate costs rather than lands. Force of Will and Force of Negation need blue cards to exile, Grief and Sickening Shoal need black cards to exile when those alternate costs are legal, and Force of Vigor needs a green card to exile when its alternate-cost condition is legal; do not pitch the last card of a required color unless the stack or board threat is decisive.

- Bazaar of Baghdad should normally be played before the first draw or selection point only when playing it unlocks an immediate legal activation or protects against discard-to-hand-size issues. If a draw-step dredge decision is already available, follow Veles legality first, then use Bazaar after the draw/dredge window to convert the hand into graveyard volume.

- Land sequencing is simple in Game 1: play Bazaar of Baghdad as soon as it can produce an engine action unless a visible reason to conceal or sequence differently exists. Because Bazaar of Baghdad does not cast most spells, do not hold it for conventional land-drop value when the hand needs dredge setup.

- Post-board land sequencing should ask whether the land drop is engine, answer, or pressure. Play Bazaar of Baghdad first when the engine is not online, play Wasteland or Strip Mine first only when a visible opposing land must be answered before it matters, and avoid using the land drop on utility mana denial when Bazaar activation is still missing.

- Hollow One sequencing depends on legal discount text from discarded cards. After Bazaar of Baghdad or another visible discard event, check whether Veles offers a legal Hollow One cast before passing priority; cast it when the body changes the race or pressures through graveyard hate, but keep dredging if Hollow One is merely a slower alternative to recursive pressure.

- Chalice of the Void requires exact legal mana and value choices from the rules engine. Cast it only when Veles offers a legal action and the public board or matchup context makes the selected value matter; never assume the deck can pay for it from Bazaar of Baghdad alone.

- Play-land-before-draw decisions should favor Bazaar of Baghdad when the current hand lacks a dredger in the graveyard and the land activation can create one before the next draw-replacement window. Delay non-Bazaar utility lands until after available draw or dredge information only when that information could change whether Wasteland, Strip Mine, or Bazaar of Baghdad is the correct land drop.

- Mana-denial activations should protect time, not express a separate plan. Use Wasteland or Strip Mine against visible lands that enable hate, lethal pressure, or stack interaction, and preserve Bazaar of Baghdad access over trading utility lands when the graveyard engine still needs more activations.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keep: keep any hand with Bazaar of Baghdad plus a dredger such as Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Grave-Troll, Shambling Shell, or Golgari Thug, especially when it also has Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Creeping Chill, Hollow One, Grief, Force of Will, or Force of Negation. Bazaar of Baghdad plus dredge access is the deck's clearest engine start, and the first goal is to convert hand cards into graveyard volume before the opponent's hate or clock matters.

- Strong keep: keep Bazaar of Baghdad plus Serum Powder only if the rest of the hand can either start dredging after the first Bazaar activation or protect the first turn with free interaction. Serum Powder is best before a keep decision, not as a slow in-game card, so a kept hand must have Bazaar-driven texture rather than simply containing Powder.

- Medium keep: keep Bazaar of Baghdad with Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Silversmote Ghoul, Creeping Chill, or Hollow One but no dredger only when the hand can immediately dig with Bazaar and has enough payoff density that finding Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Grave-Troll, Shambling Shell, or Golgari Thug is likely before the opponent stabilizes. This keep is worse on the draw against fast hate because the first activation may not be enough.

- Risky keep: keep a no-Bazaar hand only when Serum Powder is unavailable or already used and the hand has an unusually strong backup plan, such as multiple free interaction spells plus Hollow One pressure or a post-board disruptive land plan with Wasteland or Strip Mine. A no-Bazaar hand should be treated as temporary damage control, not a real engine hand.

- Automatic ship: mulligan or Serum Powder hands with no Bazaar of Baghdad, no Serum Powder, and no credible free-interaction or Hollow One route. Also ship hands that are mostly recursive creatures without discard or dredge access, because Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Narcomoeba, and Silversmote Ghoul need the graveyard engine to function.

- Matchup-dependent keep: keep slower Bazaar hands with Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Force of Vigor, Sickening Shoal, Wasteland, or Strip Mine when public matchup context suggests early hate, fast combo, or creature pressure. Against unknown opponents, prefer the hand that starts Bazaar over the hand that only answers one possible problem.

- Play/draw adjustment: on the play, value Bazaar of Baghdad plus a dredger above almost everything because it starts the engine before opposing sorcery-speed pressure. On the draw, increase the value of Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, and post-board Force of Vigor because the opponent may act before the first Bazaar activation.

- Trap hand: do not keep multiple Creeping Chill, Prized Amalgam, Narcomoeba, Ichorid, or Silversmote Ghoul without Bazaar of Baghdad or a dredger plan just because the cards are powerful from the graveyard. The hand must create graveyard volume; it cannot assume the library will mill itself.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1: play Bazaar of Baghdad and activate it as soon as Veles offers the legal line unless a visible stack threat requires Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, or Force of Vigor first. The preferred discard pattern puts at least one dredger into the graveyard while also seeding recursive payoffs such as Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Silversmote Ghoul, Narcomoeba, or Creeping Chill when legal and visible.

- Turn 1 deviation: use Serum Powder only during the legal pregame mulligan window, and choose it aggressively for hands missing Bazaar of Baghdad unless the current hand already has a better keep structure. After the game begins, treat Serum Powder as low tactical value unless Veles presents a specific legal use.

- Turn 1 pressure: cast Hollow One when discarded cards make it legal and the body meaningfully improves the clock or blocks early pressure. Do not let a legal Hollow One distract from putting Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Grave-Troll, Shambling Shell, or Golgari Thug into the graveyard when the engine is not yet online.

- Turn 2: replace draw steps with the highest-impact available dredge when legal, normally favoring Stinkweed Imp or Golgari Grave-Troll for volume and using Shambling Shell or Golgari Thug when they are the available or strategically safer dredgers. After dredging, use Bazaar of Baghdad again to compound graveyard volume and discard payoffs stranded in hand.

- Turn 2 deviation: hold or spend free interaction based on visible consequences, not card pride. Spend Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Force of Vigor, Sickening Shoal, Wasteland, or Strip Mine when the legal target threatens the engine, lethal tempo, or a lock; otherwise preserve blue, black, or green pitch resources for the next decisive stack or board moment.

- Turn 3: convert graveyard setup into pressure by accepting Narcomoeba triggers, returning Prized Amalgam and Silversmote Ghoul when legal, and using Ichorid only when the black-creature exile cost is worth the attack or sacrifice body. Keep dredging unless the library, battlefield, or visible hate makes drawing a specific card better than more graveyard volume.

- Turns 4-5: race with recursive creatures when life totals favor pressure, but hold back bodies when blocking prevents lethal or buys a full dredge turn. Creeping Chill triggers, Silversmote Ghoul returns, Ichorid attacks, Prized Amalgam pressure, and Hollow One damage should be counted together before choosing attacks.

- Turns 4-5 deviation: post-board utility lands should be used only when the visible target matters now. Wasteland and Strip Mine are correct against lands enabling hate, lethal pressure, or key interaction, but Bazaar of Baghdad activations remain the default engine action when no urgent land target is visible.

- Late game: manage library size and recursive costs carefully once repeated dredging has built a large graveyard. Choose lower dredge volume, normal draws, or defensive combat when Veles shows that another large dredge risks decking, misses a needed interaction window, or loses to the current battlefield.

- Late game emergency: prioritize survival over engine purity when facing lethal attacks or locked graveyard access. Sickening Shoal, Force of Vigor, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Wasteland, Strip Mine, Stinkweed Imp blocks, Hollow One blocks, and disposable recursive creatures should be evaluated as time-buying tools that let the next legal graveyard action decide the game.

## Card Roles
- Bazaar of Baghdad is the engine card, not a mana source, and nearly every keep, discard, dredge, and sideboard plan should be judged by whether Bazaar is found, protected, and activated. Use Bazaar of Baghdad to put Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Grave-Troll, Golgari Thug, or Shambling Shell into the graveyard first, then discard payoff creatures or stranded Creeping Chill after the engine is moving. Avoid treating Bazaar activation as optional value; a hand with Bazaar usually wins by compounding graveyard volume before the opponent’s hate or combo turn matters.

- Serum Powder is a pregame access tool for Bazaar of Baghdad, and its main role is improving opening-hand quality rather than contributing to battlefield play. Use Serum Powder aggressively on no-Bazaar hands unless the hand has a rare backup structure with free interaction plus immediate Hollow One pressure or post-board land disruption. Do not keep weak hands just because Serum Powder is present after the mulligan window; once the game starts, its strategic role drops sharply unless rules text and legal actions give a specific use.

- Stinkweed Imp is the preferred repeat dredger because its dredge volume is high and it can matter defensively if cast or returned to hand through game actions. Prioritize putting Stinkweed Imp into the graveyard early, then choose its dredge replacement when the engine wants maximum graveyard velocity. Use Stinkweed Imp as a blocker when Veles shows visible creature pressure and graveyard access is already established; do not spend mana or timing on casting it when Bazaar dredging is still the bottleneck.

- Golgari Grave-Troll is the highest-volume dredge card and should usually be the first dredge choice when available, library size is safe, and no special tactical reason favors another dredger. Treat Golgari Grave-Troll as engine fuel more than a cast threat, because this registered deck has almost no normal mana plan beyond Bazaar of Baghdad and sideboard lands. Slow down only when another large dredge risks decking, exposes a known graveyard-hate timing issue, or misses a required interaction window.

- Golgari Thug is the flexible middle dredger that keeps the engine moving when Stinkweed Imp or Golgari Grave-Troll is unavailable. Put Golgari Thug into the graveyard early when Bazaar needs a dredge starter, and use it as the safe dredge option when library size is becoming a real constraint. If Veles exposes death-trigger or top-of-library choices, use visible board context carefully; do not automatically stack a creature on top if the next draw should remain a dredge replacement.

- Shambling Shell is the lower-volume dredger and backup black creature that makes marginal Bazaar hands functional. Discard Shambling Shell when no larger dredger is available, and dredge it when the alternative is a normal draw that does not advance the graveyard plan. Its creature-pump text should be used only when Veles shows a legal, relevant combat or survival line; do not spend it for minor damage if keeping dredge density matters more.

- Narcomoeba is free battlefield material from dredging and one of the cleanest ways to start Prized Amalgam returns. Let Narcomoeba enter when legal and preserve it as a body for attacking, blocking, or enabling recursive pressure depending on the board. Do not evaluate Narcomoeba as a normal castable card; its value is highest when milled by Bazaar-dredge chains and lowest when stranded in hand without a discard outlet.

- Prized Amalgam is the main recursive clock and should be seeded into the graveyard before or alongside Narcomoeba, Ichorid, and Silversmote Ghoul lines. Discard Prized Amalgam freely to Bazaar of Baghdad once a creature-entering-from-graveyard or Narcomoeba trigger is likely to happen this turn cycle. Avoid overvaluing a hand full of Prized Amalgam without dredgers; the card needs the engine to turn it from dead cardboard into pressure.

- Ichorid is the recurring haste pressure card and a black-creature resource sink, so its upkeep return should be chosen by comparing damage, blockers, sacrifice needs, and future graveyard fuel. Exile Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, Stinkweed Imp, Grief, or another eligible black creature only when the Ichorid body meaningfully advances the race or buys time. Do not consume the last important dredger casually; losing dredge continuity can be worse than missing one attack.

- Silversmote Ghoul is a recursive follow-up to Creeping Chill and other life-gain events when Veles shows the required legal trigger or return action. Put Silversmote Ghoul into the graveyard early when Creeping Chill volume is likely, and count its returned body with Prized Amalgam and Ichorid when deciding attacks. Do not assume it returns without the visible life-gain condition and rules-engine prompt; if no legal return is shown, keep playing from actual board state.

- Creeping Chill is reach, life swing, and Silversmote Ghoul support, but it is best when milled rather than drawn. Discard drawn Creeping Chill to Bazaar of Baghdad unless a legal action says otherwise, because the deck wants it in the library-to-graveyard path. Count Creeping Chill triggers as race math, not just incidental life gain: a visible trigger can turn a losing damage race into an attack turn or unlock Silversmote Ghoul pressure.

- Hollow One is the backup battlefield plan that converts Bazaar discard volume into a real body. Cast Hollow One when Veles shows a cheap or free legal line and the body improves the clock, blocks profitably, or pressures a hate-light opponent. Do not let Hollow One sequencing interfere with establishing dredge; a fast body without Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Grave-Troll, Golgari Thug, or Shambling Shell can still stall out.

- Grief is the proactive disruption piece and black card for graveyard-resource decisions. Use Grief early when the legal action can remove a visible or revealed card that stops Bazaar, graveyard recursion, or the immediate race; otherwise preserve it as pitch/resource texture if another interaction line matters more. Do not name or assume hidden targets; choose only from cards the rules engine reveals.

- Force of Will is the broad emergency counterspell and should be spent on stack actions that beat the engine, win immediately, or create a lock the battlefield cannot race. Preserve blue pitch cards when the opponent is likely to have graveyard hate, fast combo, or decisive stack interaction, but do not hold Force of Will through a visible must-counter spell. Its main-deck blue count is real but finite, so avoid countering low-impact spells just to use mana-free interaction.

- Force of Negation is narrower stack protection and more important against noncreature hate, combo, or control pressure than against normal creatures. Use the main-deck Force of Negation when a visible legal target threatens Bazaar turns, graveyard access, or immediate loss. After sideboarding, additional Force of Negation copies shift the deck toward protecting the engine while still dredging; do not board or play as a fair permission deck.

- Mental Misstep is the one-copy precision answer and should be used only when the target is visible, legal, and materially affects Bazaar, graveyard access, or the first turns. Do not spend Mental Misstep on a minor spell if the matchup is likely to present a more decisive one-mana hate or setup card. Because there is only one copy, its presence should influence mulligan confidence only slightly unless the matchup context is known.

- Chalice of the Void is a one-copy disruptive lock piece, not the primary plan. Cast Chalice of the Void only when Veles shows a legal setting that hurts the opponent more than it hurts the current hand and does not delay Bazaar setup. Do not assume the correct number without public matchup and visible hand context; against unknown opponents, Bazaar of Baghdad and dredge volume remain higher priority.

- Noxious Revival is flexible graveyard stack manipulation, protection, and disruption, but it requires exact target discipline. Use Noxious Revival to recover Bazaar of Baghdad or a key dredger, protect a card from graveyard interaction when legal, set up a next draw or dredge decision, or interfere with an opponent’s graveyard card only when the target is visible and the tempo cost is justified. Do not fire it as generic value; putting the wrong card on top can reduce dredge velocity or give up a needed replacement draw.

- Sideboard role cards change specific fights rather than the deck identity. Force of Vigor answers visible artifacts or enchantments that interfere with the graveyard or race; Sickening Shoal buys time against creature pressure; Wasteland and Strip Mine attack lands that enable hate, combo, or mana bottlenecks; extra Force of Negation increases stack coverage against noncreature plans. Use these cards to open a path for Bazaar and dredge, not to become a slow control deck.

## Interaction Priorities

- Protect Bazaar of Baghdad first because the deck’s best interaction is continuing to dredge. Counter, discard, or otherwise contest visible actions that stop Bazaar activation, remove Bazaar of Baghdad from the battlefield, prevent graveyard use, or convert the first two turns into a lock before spending interaction on ordinary tempo plays.

- Counter graveyard hate before fair pressure unless the board already presents lethal or near-lethal damage. Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, and post-board Force of Vigor should point at visible artifacts, enchantments, stack pieces, or one-mana interaction that shuts off dredge, exile-recursion, or Creeping Chill triggers; do not spend them on low-impact cantrips or creatures when the engine is still exposed.

- Use Grief to take the card that beats the next Bazaar turn, not the card that looks generically powerful. When Veles reveals a hand, prioritize hate, fast combo pieces, stack protection for hate, or removal that breaks a narrow Hollow One or Prized Amalgam clock. Against control, Grief should clear the first decisive counter or hate piece; against combo, it should hit the card that enables the earliest kill; against creature decks, it can take the only card that races or invalidates recursive blockers.

- Use Force of Vigor only on visible artifacts or enchantments that materially block the engine or the race. Do not fire it at a marginal permanent if Bazaar of Baghdad can still convert dredgers into Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Silversmote Ghoul, and Creeping Chill pressure. When multiple hate permanents are visible, remove the one that stops graveyard movement or recursive entry before the one that merely taxes combat.

- Use Sickening Shoal after sideboarding as survival interaction, not as general removal. Remove the creature that creates the shortest lethal clock, blocks the only profitable attack, or carries the opponent’s combat plan; ignore small creatures that recursive bodies can race or block. If pitching a black card would cut off Ichorid fuel or dredge continuity, require a clear survival gain before paying that cost.

- Use Wasteland and Strip Mine to break mana that enables hate or combo rather than to trade lands by habit. Prioritize lands that cast visible hate, activate threatening utility, or bottleneck an opponent who is already under recursive pressure. Do not sacrifice land interaction into a board where Bazaar of Baghdad still needs time and the opponent’s mana does not matter.

- Bait interaction with redundant pressure when the engine is already functioning. Hollow One, extra recursive creature triggers, or a nonessential Noxious Revival can draw counters or removal before the decisive graveyard-hate answer matters. Do not bait with Bazaar of Baghdad access, the only dredger, or the only answer to a visible hate card.

- Ignore fair one-for-one removal more often than normal decks can. Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Narcomoeba, and Silversmote Ghoul are valuable because they return or arrive without normal casting; protect them only when the protected body is the current lethal clock, the only blocker preserving life, or the only way to trigger more Prized Amalgam returns.

- The registered list has no bounce spell, so do not plan to reset permanents with bounce. If Veles presents a bounce-related opponent action or rules prompt, respond from visible legality: counter it when it removes Bazaar of Baghdad, a lethal attacker, or a hate answer; otherwise let recursive pressure absorb it.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Attack when recursive damage plus Creeping Chill math shortens the clock more than blocking improves survival. Ichorid’s haste damage is often meant to be spent aggressively, while Prized Amalgam and Silversmote Ghoul can either pressure or hold the ground depending on the opponent’s visible clock. Count known triggers and visible life totals before choosing attacks.

- Preserve blockers when the opponent’s next attack threatens lethal or forces a worse future trade. Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Silversmote Ghoul, and Hollow One should stay back when they absorb more damage than they would deal, protect against a short clock, or buy a Bazaar turn that will dredge into a larger board. Do not attack with a needed blocker just because the creature is recursive.

- Trade expendable recursive bodies for time against creature decks. Narcomoeba and returned Ichorid are easier to trade than Hollow One or a Prized Amalgam needed for a lethal swing, but any body can trade if the alternative is falling below a safe life threshold before Creeping Chill or more dredging stabilizes. Against wide boards, prioritize preventing lethal over preserving exact recursion loops.

- Treat Hollow One as the best fair-combat body. Use it to block large creatures, pressure planeswalker-like permanent types only if Veles exposes such legal attacks, or force the opponent to answer a non-graveyard threat. Do not trade Hollow One for a small creature when recursive creatures can cover that exchange.

- Use Ichorid combat with its end-step nature in mind. If Ichorid will not remain available, attack or trade when it changes the race, but avoid exiling the last important black dredger for a return that only deals minor damage. When the opponent has profitable blockers, an Ichorid trade is acceptable if it clears the way for Prized Amalgam and Silversmote Ghoul.

- Protect engine density over individual combat value unless combat is decisive. Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, and Golgari Grave-Troll matter as dredge resources even when they can legally interact as creatures; do not expose or exile them for small battlefield gains when continued dredging is the higher-value line.

- Archetype shifts change combat posture. Against combo, race hard and use interaction on the stack; blockers matter only if they disrupt a visible creature kill. Against control, present recurring threats in waves and avoid overcommitting scarce protection to one body. Against aggressive creature decks, block earlier, value Creeping Chill life swings highly, and use Sickening Shoal or Hollow One to buy Bazaar turns. Against graveyard-hate decks, combat becomes secondary until Force of Vigor, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Wasteland, or Strip Mine has reopened the engine.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Treat Bazaar of Baghdad as the deck’s real selection engine, not as a normal draw effect. When Veles offers a draw or replacement choice from Bazaar of Baghdad, replace as many eligible draws with dredge as the current plan supports, prioritizing Stinkweed Imp first for raw volume, Golgari Grave-Troll when available, then Golgari Thug or Shambling Shell when smaller dredge keeps the engine moving.

- Use normal drawing only when the visible hand or graveyard lacks a necessary non-dredge action. Keep an actual draw over dredge when the deck must find Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Force of Vigor, Sickening Shoal, Noxious Revival, Bazaar of Baghdad, Wasteland, or Strip Mine to answer a visible problem that dredging does not solve.

- Discard to Bazaar of Baghdad with graveyard function first. Prefer putting Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, Golgari Grave-Troll, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Silversmote Ghoul, Narcomoeba, and Creeping Chill into the graveyard over protecting them in hand, unless the card is needed as pitch material for Force of Will, Force of Negation, Grief, Force of Vigor, or Sickening Shoal.

- Preserve enough black creature fuel for Ichorid before discarding or exiling casually. Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, Golgari Grave-Troll, Grief, Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, and Silversmote Ghoul can all matter as graveyard resources, but dredgers are usually more important than redundant recursive bodies when choosing what Ichorid may exile.

- Use Serum Powder selection before the game begins only to find a functional engine hand. Powder hands without Bazaar of Baghdad or a strong alternative involving discard, dredgers, free interaction, and a clear path to the graveyard should usually be exiled, but do not Powder away a hand that already has Bazaar of Baghdad plus dredge access unless the matchup demands specific protection.

- Use Noxious Revival as pseudo-tutoring when topdecking a specific visible card matters more than another dredge. Put Bazaar of Baghdad back when the engine has been disrupted and a draw is available, put Force of Vigor, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Sickening Shoal, Wasteland, or Strip Mine back when a visible permanent or stack threat must be answered, and put a dredger back when the graveyard engine has run out of dredge replacement options.

- Use Noxious Revival on an opponent’s graveyard only when the visible card is about to matter immediately. It can disrupt a graveyard-dependent line or deny a draw step when Veles shows legal targeting, but do not spend it that way if your own Bazaar or dredge continuity is at risk.

- Make land drops according to activation value, not land count. Bazaar of Baghdad is the priority land when the engine is not established; post-board Wasteland or Strip Mine can be the priority land only when a visible opposing land enables hate, fast combo, or a mana bottleneck that matters before Bazaar activation.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Activate Bazaar of Baghdad at the earliest useful window when the hand contains dredge access or needs to move engine cards into the graveyard. Main-phase activation is acceptable when it unlocks Hollow One, fills Ichorid fuel, or creates Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Creeping Chill, and Silversmote Ghoul pressure; waiting is better only when holding up visible stack interaction or responding to a specific effect changes the outcome.

- Replace draw events with dredge only after checking the current tactical need. Dredging is the default once a dredger is in the graveyard, but a real draw is correct when the only winning line is to find free interaction, land interaction, Noxious Revival, or a sideboard answer that is not already accessible.

- Put Narcomoeba onto the battlefield when it advances Prized Amalgam timing, creates a blocker, or adds pressure. Decline only if a visible effect punishes creature entry or battlefield presence and the body is not needed; otherwise the free creature is part of the engine.

- Exile Creeping Chill for its trigger when the life swing improves the race, enables Silversmote Ghoul, or pressures a combo/control opponent. Decline only if Veles exposes a rare visible reason that exiling Creeping Chill is worse than keeping it in the graveyard; do not assume such a reason exists without rules-engine evidence.

- Return Ichorid only when the exile cost is worth the attack, block, sacrifice, or Prized Amalgam trigger pressure it creates. Exile redundant black creatures before important dredgers, and skip Ichorid when it consumes the last dredge source for damage that does not change the clock.

- Let Prized Amalgam and Silversmote Ghoul end-step returns resolve unless a visible replacement or prevention effect changes the expected board. Their timing is central to rebuilding without mana, so do not interrupt your own end step with low-impact actions before confirming recursive triggers.

- Spend Force of Will, Force of Negation, and Mental Misstep on stack actions that stop Bazaar of Baghdad from functioning, exile or lock the graveyard, win the game immediately, or protect a hate permanent. Let low-impact draw spells, removal aimed at recursive creatures, and fair threats resolve when the engine is active and life total is not under immediate lethal pressure.

- Use Force of Vigor at instant speed on visible artifacts or enchantments that shut off dredge, recursion, Bazaar progress, or the current lethal race. When possible, answer hate before committing another Bazaar activation into it, but do not delay if waiting gives the opponent a protected untap or lethal line.

- Use Sickening Shoal only when killing a visible creature changes survival, combat, or a deterministic race. Check the black card pitch cost against Ichorid fuel and dredge density before paying it.

- Cast Grief or use its free mode when the revealed-hand decision will protect a Bazaar turn or stop a faster kill. If the opponent’s hand is unknown and no immediate threat is visible, prioritize preserving blue/black pitch resources for Force of Will, Force of Negation, Sickening Shoal, or the graveyard engine.

- Treat Chalice of the Void as a commitment spell that can interfere with both players. Cast it only when Veles shows a legal value and the visible or matchup context says the lock hurts the opponent more than your own Mental Misstep, Noxious Revival, or other one-mana interaction plan.

## Sideboard Map

- Priority: sideboard only to preserve Bazaar of Baghdad plus dredge velocity while answering the specific hate or race the opponent can present. Do not dilute Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, Golgari Grave-Troll, Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Creeping Chill, and Silversmote Ghoul below the point where Bazaar activations reliably convert into pressure.

- Force of Vigor: bring in against artifact or enchantment hate that visibly stops graveyard use, creature entry, Bazaar progress, or a lethal race. It is strongest against opponent: Leyline of the Void, opponent: Grafdigger's Cage, opponent: Tormod's Crypt, opponent: Soul-Guide Lantern, opponent: Pithing Needle, opponent: Sphere of Resistance, opponent: Thorn of Amethyst, and similar public permanents. It is bad when the opponent is primarily stack-combo, creature-combo, or fair removal with few artifacts/enchantments that matter; in those games, Force of Vigor can become an expensive green pitch burden because this registered list has no green main-deck cards.

- Sickening Shoal: bring in against creature decks where killing a visible creature changes survival, blocks a deterministic attack, removes a hate creature, or breaks a fast creature-combo turn. It is strongest when the opponent relies on low-toughness battlefield pressure or creature-based disruption. It is bad against spell combo, prison decks with few creatures, and control decks where the graveyard engine wins through recursive bodies rather than creature removal.

- Force of Negation: bring in when noncreature stack interaction matters more than maximum dredge density. It is strongest against fast combo, graveyard hate on the stack, prison pieces before they resolve, and opposing protection for permanent hate. It is bad against creature-heavy pressure where the relevant threats are already on board or where the blue pitch count is too strained to support both Force of Will and Force of Negation.

- Wasteland: bring in against Bazaar mirrors, Workshop-style mana denial, lands that enable graveyard hate, and mana-light decks where one land destruction action buys a full Bazaar turn. It is bad when the opponent's plan does not depend on a specific land and when playing Wasteland would delay Bazaar of Baghdad as the active engine land.

- Strip Mine: bring in for the same land-interaction matchups as Wasteland, with higher priority when a single visible land is uniquely enabling the opponent's game plan. It is bad when the opponent has redundant mana, when the current hand needs Bazaar of Baghdad immediately, or when land destruction does not answer the battlefield problem.

Anti-Hate Permanent Plan
Side in: 4 Force of Vigor; 3 Force of Negation
Cut: 4 Hollow One; 1 Chalice of the Void; 1 Mental Misstep; 1 Noxious Revival

- Role: this plan maximizes answers to artifact, enchantment, and stack-based hate while keeping the graveyard engine mostly intact. Force of Vigor answers resolved hate, Force of Negation fights hate before resolution, and Force of Will remains the broad protection layer. Hollow One loses emphasis because post-board games are less about early zero-mana pressure and more about keeping Bazaar of Baghdad plus dredge online through hate.

Creature Pressure Plan
Side in: 4 Sickening Shoal
Cut: 1 Chalice of the Void; 1 Mental Misstep; 1 Force of Negation; 1 Noxious Revival

- Role: this plan adds free creature removal without reducing the recursive creature engine. Sickening Shoal should protect life total, remove hate creatures, or clear a blocker for a race; do not spend it on a creature that recursive Narcomoeba, Ichorid, Prized Amalgam, or Silversmote Ghoul pressure can ignore.

Fast Combo Stack Plan
Side in: 3 Force of Negation
Cut: 4 Hollow One

- Role: this plan is a four-card adjustment only if Veles supports one fewer sideboard card entering than cards leaving by keeping the remaining registered configuration legal; if exact deck size enforcement requires equal numbers, use only three Hollow One on the Cut line. Force of Negation increases free stack interaction, while Hollow One is the least essential pressure card when the opponent can win before combat damage matters.

Fast Combo Stack Plan - Strict Equal Count
Side in: 3 Force of Negation
Cut: 3 Hollow One

- Role: use this as the executable stack-combo plan when the sideboard interface requires equal in and main-deck removal counts. Preserve Force of Will, Mental Misstep, Grief, Bazaar of Baghdad, Serum Powder, and dredgers because opening-hand interaction plus engine access is the actual game plan.

Land-Denial Mirror Or Bazaar Plan
Side in: 3 Wasteland; 1 Strip Mine; 3 Force of Negation
Cut: 4 Hollow One; 1 Chalice of the Void; 1 Mental Misstep; 1 Noxious Revival

- Role: this plan attacks opposing Bazaar of Baghdad or mana bottlenecks while adding stack protection for opposing hate. Wasteland and Strip Mine are not generic mana sources here; they are tactical actions to deny the land that lets the opponent function. Keep your own Bazaar of Baghdad priority unless Veles shows that land destruction prevents an immediate opposing engine turn or protected hate turn.

Prison Or Artifact-Mana Plan
Side in: 4 Force of Vigor; 3 Wasteland; 1 Strip Mine
Cut: 4 Hollow One; 1 Chalice of the Void; 1 Mental Misstep; 2 Noxious Revival

- Role: this plan fights artifacts, enchantments, and mana sources that slow or stop the graveyard engine. Force of Vigor answers public lock pieces, Wasteland and Strip Mine pressure lands that enable lock sequences, and the main deck keeps enough dredgers and recursive threats to win after the first opening.

- Add role cards: against artifact/enchantment hate, prioritize Force of Vigor before extra Force of Negation unless the opponent protects hate on the stack more often than they presents it as a resolved permanent. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Hollow One and Chalice of the Void are the most flexible pressure or lock slots when the matchup is about answering hate rather than racing.

- Add role cards: against stack-combo, prioritize Force of Negation and keep Force of Will, Grief, Mental Misstep, and Serum Powder high in mulligan evaluation. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Hollow One is less important than interaction because damage after turn one may be too slow.

- Add role cards: against creature pressure or creature hate, prioritize Sickening Shoal only when visible creatures matter to survival or engine access. Reduce main-deck emphasis: nonessential one-card interaction such as Chalice of the Void, Mental Misstep, and a small amount of Noxious Revival can carry less weight, but do not reduce dredger density for routine creature combat.

- Add role cards: against Bazaar mirrors and land-centric engines, prioritize Wasteland and Strip Mine when they can stop an opposing Bazaar of Baghdad activation or a uniquely important land. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Hollow One and narrow one-mana interaction carry less importance than land interaction plus free counters.

- Role change: Noxious Revival becomes more defensive after sideboarding. Use it to recover Bazaar of Baghdad, rebuy Force of Vigor, Force of Negation, Force of Will, Sickening Shoal, Wasteland, or Strip Mine, or disrupt an opponent's graveyard card only when the visible target matters before the next decision point.

- Role change: Grief becomes more protective in post-board games. Use it to clear the way for Bazaar of Baghdad or check for hate before committing dredge resources, but avoid spending black cards needed for Ichorid or Sickening Shoal unless the discard action protects a decisive turn.

- Role change: Serum Powder remains a pregame engine-finder, not a generic sideboard-card finder. Use it to find Bazaar of Baghdad plus a coherent post-board plan; do not keep a slow hand just because it contains Force of Vigor, Sickening Shoal, Wasteland, Strip Mine, or Force of Negation without engine access or immediate disruption.

- Safety rule: never bring in Wasteland or Strip Mine just to increase land count. This deck does not become a mana deck after sideboarding; those cards are interaction spells that occupy land slots and should be used only when the opposing land matters.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: prioritize Bazaar of Baghdad plus dredger over fair blocking hands because the deck wins aggro races by converting draws into Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, or Golgari Grave-Troll dredges, then recurring Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, and Silversmote Ghoul. Add role cards: Sickening Shoal when visible creatures threaten lethal, carry hate, or make blocking impossible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Chalice of the Void, Mental Misstep, Force of Negation, and a small amount of Noxious Revival when the opponent is mainly attacking with creatures rather than fighting on the stack.

- Aggro combat: block only when the legal block preserves the graveyard engine or prevents a lethal/near-lethal attack; do not protect recursive creatures as if they were normal resources. Narcomoeba can absorb damage when it has already enabled Prized Amalgam or bought time for Creeping Chill and Silversmote Ghoul triggers. Ichorid attacks aggressively when black creature cards remain available for future upkeep costs, but avoid consuming the last useful black card if the next turn needs recurring pressure.

- Control: keep engine access above all normal card economy, and treat Bazaar of Baghdad as the card that forces control to have immediate hate. Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, and Grief should protect the first Bazaar of Baghdad turn, stop graveyard hate, or stop a decisive control payoff; do not spend them on low-impact card selection unless the legal action text and visible stack show that the spell directly finds or protects hate. Add role cards: Force of Vigor and Force of Negation against artifact, enchantment, or stack-based answers. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Hollow One first when post-board games revolve around hate rather than fast combat damage.

- Control pacing: force action before playing fair. Use Bazaar of Baghdad as soon as the rules engine offers a productive activation, and choose dredge over draw when the graveyard engine is already online or a dredger is available. Noxious Revival is valuable when it recovers Bazaar of Baghdad, returns Force of Will, Force of Negation, or Force of Vigor for a known fight, or places a key graveyard card where the next draw/dredge decision can use it.

- Combo: evaluate opening hands by immediate disruption plus Bazaar of Baghdad, not by eventual creature damage. Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, and Serum Powder are the main tools for finding or defending the first relevant turn. Add role cards: Force of Negation when the opponent’s decisive action is a noncreature stack action; Wasteland or Strip Mine only when a visible land is uniquely enabling the combo. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Hollow One because a free creature is too slow if the opponent can win before recursive damage matters.

- Combo commitment: pass priority only when Veles shows no meaningful legal interaction or when spending Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, or Grief would not affect the decisive spell or setup permanent. If a hand has Bazaar of Baghdad but no disruption against a known faster combo deck, Serum Powder decisions should favor finding Bazaar plus at least one free interaction piece over keeping a merely functional dredge hand.

- Tempo: protect the engine land and make the opponent’s one-for-one interaction bad. Bazaar of Baghdad is more important than Hollow One unless the opening legal sequence clearly deploys Hollow One without delaying Bazaar. Force of Will and Force of Negation should stop effects that remove Bazaar access, exile the graveyard, or create a clock that races Creeping Chill; do not fight ordinary removal on Narcomoeba, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, or Silversmote Ghoul unless that creature is part of immediate lethal math.

- Midrange: lean on recursive inevitability and do not overreact to individual removal spells. Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, and Golgari Grave-Troll should keep the graveyard stocked until Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Silversmote Ghoul, Narcomoeba, and Creeping Chill overwhelm attrition. Add role cards: Sickening Shoal for hate creatures or must-answer threats, not for every attacker. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow stack interaction when the opponent’s plan is battlefield attrition without decisive noncreature hate.

- Big mana: attack the enabling land or artifact/enchantment permanent only when the visible object is actually bottlenecking the opponent. Add role cards: Wasteland and Strip Mine against land-centric starts, Force of Vigor against artifact or enchantment acceleration/hate, and Force of Negation against decisive noncreature payoff turns. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Hollow One and narrow one-mana interaction when the matchup is about stopping a large setup turn while maintaining Bazaar of Baghdad.

- Graveyard mirrors: value Bazaar of Baghdad, land denial, and free interaction more than normal creature combat. Wasteland and Strip Mine should target opposing Bazaar of Baghdad when that action denies an engine activation and does not strand your own engine. Force of Will and Force of Negation should protect your Bazaar of Baghdad or stop opposing graveyard hate, not fight recursive creatures that combat can race. Noxious Revival can disrupt a visible opposing graveyard card only when timing matters before the next decision point.

- Artifact/enchantment decks: assume the post-board game is about answering hate while keeping dredge density intact. Add role cards: Force of Vigor first for resolved artifact or enchantment problems, Force of Negation for stack fights over the same class of cards, and Noxious Revival when rebuying Force of Vigor is materially better than dredging. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Hollow One, Chalice of the Void, Mental Misstep, and limited Noxious Revival slots before reducing dredgers or recursive threats.

- Go-wide decks: race with Creeping Chill and recursive bodies, then block only to preserve life totals that matter. Narcomoeba can buy time, Stinkweed Imp can matter if legally present as a blocker, and Prized Amalgam plus Silversmote Ghoul can turn a defensive board into a counterattack. Add role cards: Sickening Shoal for the creature that makes the entire attack lethal or prevents profitable racing. Reduce main-deck emphasis: stack counters that do not interact with the visible battlefield or the opponent’s key setup action.

- Single-threat decks: answer the one threat only if racing math, life total, or a disruptive ability makes it necessary. Sickening Shoal is strongest when the visible creature blocks the recursive attack, threatens lethal before Creeping Chill stabilizes, or carries hate text. Force of Will and Force of Negation should stop the threat only when it is cast through a noncreature or stack window they can legally affect; otherwise preserve interaction for hate and keep dredging.

- Burn: treat life total as a real resource but do not abandon the engine. Creeping Chill and Silversmote Ghoul are the main stabilizing cards, while Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, and Grief should stop the highest-impact visible burn or hate action rather than small pressure that the graveyard engine can race. Add role cards: Sickening Shoal only if the opponent’s creature damage is a meaningful part of lethal pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Hollow One when free pressure does not compensate for losing anti-hate or survival tools.

- Removal-heavy decks: make their removal inefficient by choosing lines that recur threats instead of protecting a single body. Do not counter ordinary creature removal unless it prevents immediate lethal, stops Ichorid or Prized Amalgam from closing that turn, or is attached to graveyard hate. Bazaar of Baghdad activations, dredger density, Creeping Chill triggers, and repeated Ichorid/Silversmote Ghoul pressure are the plan; Hollow One matters mainly when it creates early damage without weakening engine access.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- General/archetype-only: revealed cards override assumptions, and Veles must follow legal actions and visible board state over this guide. Use these notes as matchup priors when the exact opponent is unknown, then update priority targets once public cards, revealed hand cards, graveyard cards, lands, or stack actions identify the opponent's plan.

- Graveyard hate matchup: protect Bazaar of Baghdad first, then answer the visible hate piece that actually blocks dredging, recursion, or graveyard triggers. Add role cards: Force of Vigor for artifact or enchantment hate, Force of Negation for decisive noncreature hate on the stack, and Noxious Revival only when rebuying an answer or recovering Bazaar of Baghdad matters before the next draw/dredge decision. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Hollow One, Chalice of the Void, Mental Misstep, and excess Noxious Revival before reducing dredger density.

- Fast combo matchup: keep hands that combine Bazaar of Baghdad or Serum Powder access with real free interaction. Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, and Grief should target the opponent's decisive setup or payoff action, not incidental cantrips or pressure unless Veles shows that action is the bottleneck. Add role cards: Force of Negation; add Wasteland or Strip Mine only when the visible land is central to the opponent's action chain.

- Bazaar mirror or graveyard-engine matchup: treat opposing Bazaar of Baghdad as the highest land target when Wasteland or Strip Mine can deny an activation without sacrificing your own engine. Force of Will and Force of Negation should fight graveyard hate or a decisive engine-breaking action, not recursive creatures. Noxious Revival can interrupt a visible graveyard card only when the timing is immediate and the action is legal before the opponent uses it.

- Creature pressure matchup: race with Creeping Chill, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Narcomoeba, and Silversmote Ghoul, then use blockers only when life total changes the next lethal window. Add role cards: Sickening Shoal for a hate creature, lethal attacker, or blocker that prevents your recursive attack from closing. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow stack interaction when the opponent's battlefield is the real threat.

- Artifact/enchantment engine matchup: answer the engine piece only when it is visible and constraining the game. Force of Vigor is the cleanest post-board answer to artifact or enchantment hate and engines; Force of Negation is for the stack fight before that permanent resolves. Keep enough Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, and Golgari Grave-Troll access so the deck still dredges after answering hate.

- Removal-heavy matchup: make removal inefficient by recurring threats instead of defending one creature. Do not spend Force of Will or Force of Negation on ordinary removal unless it prevents immediate lethal, removes the only closing attacker in a lethal line, or is attached to graveyard hate. Ichorid and Silversmote Ghoul are excellent pressure because they punish one-for-one removal.

## Risk Summary

- Mana risk: the deck has Bazaar of Baghdad as the critical functional land, so hands without Bazaar of Baghdad or Serum Powder access are often nonfunctional even if they contain powerful cards. Wasteland, Strip Mine, and sideboard interaction can dilute the opening engine; do not keep a disruption-heavy hand that cannot start dredging unless the matchup requires immediate denial and Veles shows the denial line is legal.

- Matchup risk: fast combo and hard graveyard hate punish slow keeps more than creature decks do. Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, and Grief are precious in those pairings, while creature matchups need Creeping Chill, recursive bodies, and Sickening Shoal timing.

- Draw risk: normal draw steps are weaker than dredge decisions once Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, or Golgari Grave-Troll is available. Avoid drawing for marginal cards when dredging can create Narcomoeba, Creeping Chill, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, and Silversmote Ghoul pressure.

- Over-sideboarding risk: adding too many Force of Vigor, Sickening Shoal, Force of Negation, Wasteland, and Strip Mine can turn the deck into interaction without an engine. Preserve dredger density, Bazaar of Baghdad access, and enough recursive closers whenever sideboard cards are added.

- Graveyard risk: resolved hate can make recursive creatures and Creeping Chill fail to matter. Prioritize legal answers to visible artifact/enchantment hate and avoid spending Force of Vigor or Force of Negation on low-impact permanents when a graveyard lock piece is likely or already visible.

- Sweeper/removal risk: sweepers and removal are less dangerous than exile effects or graveyard hate, but they can buy the opponent a decisive turn. Rebuild through Ichorid, Prized Amalgam, Narcomoeba, and Silversmote Ghoul rather than protecting one Hollow One unless Hollow One represents immediate lethal pressure.

- Closer risk: the deck can stall if recursive damage is spread too thin or Ichorid food is exhausted. Track black creature availability for Ichorid, count Creeping Chill life swings, and avoid unnecessary graveyard manipulation that removes the next pressure source.

- Interaction risk: free counters cost cards and can weaken Force of Will or Force of Negation follow-up turns. Use them for decisive stack actions, graveyard hate, or engine protection, not for routine threats that Creeping Chill and recursive combat can race.

- Sequencing risk: Bazaar of Baghdad activation, dredge replacement, Noxious Revival timing, and free-spell pitch choices can lock in future turns. Prefer lines that keep the engine active, preserve at least one meaningful answer when hate is likely, and let Veles re-evaluate after each public state change.

## Test Feedback Checklist

- Deciding factor: identify whether the game was decided by Bazaar of Baghdad access, graveyard hate, a fast opponent clock, free interaction timing, or recursive damage reaching lethal. Record the first turn where the winning line became visible from public information.

- Mulligan quality: ask whether each keep had Bazaar of Baghdad, Serum Powder access, or a matchup-specific free-interaction reason strong enough to keep without immediate engine access. Flag any keep where Stinkweed Imp, Golgari Thug, Shambling Shell, or Golgari Grave-Troll never became usable before the opponent pulled ahead.

- Serum Powder use: check whether Serum Powder was used to find a real engine hand rather than preserved for low-value card count. If a Powder hand kept weak interaction plus no Bazaar of Baghdad, record what visible matchup cue justified it.

- Mana and land plan: record whether Bazaar of Baghdad activated on schedule and whether sideboard Wasteland, Strip Mine, or extra Force of Negation diluted the engine. Note any game where Wasteland or Strip Mine would have disrupted a visible key land but the pilot needed Bazaar of Baghdad more.

- Dredge velocity: count whether early dredges produced Narcomoeba, Creeping Chill, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, or Silversmote Ghoul fast enough to pressure the opponent. Flag games where normal draws happened despite a visible dredger in graveyard unless Veles showed a concrete reason.

- Engine continuity: ask whether Ichorid had enough black creature material and whether Prized Amalgam returned after Narcomoeba or Silversmote Ghoul entered. Record any graveyard manipulation from Noxious Revival that reduced the next recursive pressure turn.

- Interaction timing: review every Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Grief, Force of Vigor, and Sickening Shoal decision for target quality. The key question is whether the spell answered a decisive engine blocker, lethal action, or combo bottleneck instead of a merely annoying card.

- Sideboard impact: compare post-board games to the exact plan used and ask whether added Force of Vigor, Sickening Shoal, Force of Negation, Wasteland, or Strip Mine produced a game action that mattered. Record any post-board hand that had answers but no dredge velocity.

- Closing discipline: check whether the pilot counted lethal from Creeping Chill triggers, Hollow One attacks, and recursive creature combat before choosing defensive lines. Flag attacks that sacrificed needed blockers under a short clock and blocks that delayed lethal without improving survival.

- Role accuracy: ask whether the pilot played as engine-combo, disruptive combo, or recursive aggro based on visible opponent pressure and hate. Record role mistakes such as racing when a visible hate permanent required Force of Vigor, or over-protecting when recursive threats could ignore removal.

- Stranded cards: list cards stranded in hand or unusable in graveyard: Hollow One, Grief, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Noxious Revival, Chalice of the Void, Mental Misstep, Force of Vigor, Sickening Shoal, Wasteland, and Strip Mine. Tie each stranded card to missing mana, missing pitch card, wrong matchup, or timing loss.

- Overperformers and underperformers: identify which cards directly changed the game result, then separate engine cards from matchup cards. Do not credit a card for being present unless a legal action, trigger, pitch, attack, block, or activated ability affected the public game state.

## First Tuning Questions

- Bazaar access question: are four Bazaar of Baghdad plus four Serum Powder producing enough functional openers, or are too many keeps still failing before the first meaningful dredge? If failures cluster around no-engine hands, reconsider any non-engine slots that do not protect or accelerate Bazaar of Baghdad plans.

- Dredger density question: does one Golgari Grave-Troll plus four Stinkweed Imp, four Golgari Thug, and four Shambling Shell produce enough dredge replacement decisions after mulligans and disruption? If games stall after one graveyard exile or missed dredge, test whether a higher dredger count is worth reducing lower-impact interaction.

- Free-interaction balance question: are Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, and Grief winning fast-combo or hate games, or are they consuming cards needed for Hollow One, Ichorid food, and sustained dredging? If interaction is stranded or pitched poorly, reduce emphasis on narrow stack fights in the baseline plan.

- Noxious Revival quantity question: is four Noxious Revival recovering Bazaar of Baghdad, answers, or decisive graveyard cards often enough, or is it too frequently a low-pressure draw? If Noxious Revival repeatedly delays dredging or removes recursive material from useful zones, test fewer copies.

- Hollow One role question: is Hollow One providing enough early damage to justify its main-deck space when the deck is not spending mana normally? If Hollow One is often stranded, late, or worse than dredge velocity, test whether its slot should favor resilience, interaction, or additional engine density.

- Chalice and Misstep question: are the single Chalice of the Void and single Mental Misstep creating meaningful game-one disruption, or are they too matchup-dependent for the maindeck? If they rarely map to decisive legal actions, consider whether those singleton roles belong in sideboard-style flexibility instead.

- Creature-pressure plan question: do Sickening Shoal and recursive blockers solve creature matchups, or does the deck need a different balance between racing and killing key creatures? If losses come from one hate creature or one lethal attacker, Sickening Shoal allocation may be correct; if losses come from broad boards, the plan may need more speed instead.

- Graveyard-hate plan question: are four Force of Vigor enough against visible artifact or enchantment hate, and are three sideboard Force of Negation needed in addition to the main-deck copy? If hate resolves too often, increase anti-hate priority; if anti-hate hands lack engine, reduce sideboard pressure on dredger density.

- Land-denial question: do Wasteland and Strip Mine win games by stopping visible key lands, or do they interfere with Bazaar of Baghdad starts? If land denial matters only in narrow matchups, keep it matchup-specific and avoid plans that make the deck a weak control deck.

- Closer mix question: are Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, Silversmote Ghoul, Narcomoeba, Creeping Chill, and Hollow One closing before opponents stabilize? If games reach repeated nonlethal attacks, tune toward either faster graveyard velocity or more reliable disruption of the opponent's stabilizing action.

- Role-conflict question: are post-board plans asking the deck to be graveyard combo, prison-disruption, and creature removal at the same time? If sideboarded games show slow starts plus incomplete answers, preserve the Bazaar of Baghdad engine first and make each matchup plan answer only the failure that actually appeared.

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Bazaar Opening Commitment
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan; pregame; selection
Cards: Bazaar of Baghdad; Serum Powder
Phase windows: opening hand; pregame mulligan; first main phase
Runtime cues: opening hand contains Bazaar of Baghdad or Serum Powder decisions
Use when: the hand must decide whether it can start the graveyard engine before the opponent’s first meaningful turn.
Avoid when: Veles shows a legal mulligan or Serum Powder path with better Bazaar access and no locked sideboard plan requiring a specific answer.
Instructions: Prioritize hands with Bazaar of Baghdad. Use Serum Powder aggressively to find Bazaar of Baghdad unless the current hand already has Bazaar plus dredger or decisive free interaction. Treat no-Bazaar keeps as emergency hands that need multiple free spells and a credible Hollow One or discard line.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Serum Powder Execution
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mulligan; pregame
Cards: Serum Powder; Bazaar of Baghdad
Phase windows: opening hand only
Runtime cues: action:exile hand with Serum Powder
Use when: a legal Serum Powder action is visible and the current hand contains no Bazaar of Baghdad.
Avoid when: the current hand contains Bazaar of Baghdad.
Instructions: Execute Serum Powder as a deck-function action, then reassess the new hand for Bazaar of Baghdad, dredgers, and free interaction. Do not preserve a slow non-Bazaar hand because it contains powerful graveyard payoffs.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: First Bazaar Activation
Priority: High
Decision families: mana; selection; priority
Cards: Bazaar of Baghdad; Stinkweed Imp; Golgari Thug; Shambling Shell; Golgari Grave-Troll
Phase windows: first turn priority windows; opponent end step when legal
Runtime cues: action:activate Bazaar of Baghdad
Use when: Bazaar of Baghdad is untapped and the hand contains a dredger or graveyard payoff that benefits from discard.
Avoid when: Veles shows an immediate survival interaction prompt that must answer a visible lethal or engine-stopping action.
Instructions: Activate Bazaar early to put dredgers and recursive cards into the graveyard. Discard dredgers before payoffs when possible, but preserve free interaction pitch cards if visible opponent action demands protection.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Dredge Replacement Priority
Priority: High
Decision families: selection
Cards: Stinkweed Imp; Golgari Grave-Troll; Golgari Thug; Shambling Shell
Phase windows: draw step; Bazaar of Baghdad draw replacement; any draw replacement prompt
Runtime cues: action:dredge
Use when: a dredge action is visible, library count is above immediate decking danger, and the deck is not required to draw a specific visible card this turn.
Avoid when: library count is low enough that the selected dredge number risks losing before current combat or known lethal triggers resolve.
Instructions: Prefer the largest available dredge that safely advances Narcomoeba, Creeping Chill, Prized Amalgam, Ichorid, and Silversmote Ghoul. Normal drawing is a fallback for empty graveyards, decking danger, or a visible need for a specific hand card.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Recursive Threat Trigger Discipline
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; selection
Cards: Narcomoeba; Prized Amalgam; Silversmote Ghoul; Ichorid; Creeping Chill
Phase windows: draw replacement resolution; beginning of upkeep; end step; triggered ability prompts
Runtime cues: action:return; action:put onto battlefield; action:trigger
Use when: Veles exposes legal recursive creature or Creeping Chill trigger decisions.
Avoid when: the only legal choice would consume a scarce card needed for a higher-priority survival or combo-protection prompt.
Instructions: Accept legal recursive pressure unless the engine asks for a real cost. Prioritize battlefield entries that wake Prized Amalgam, add lethal pressure, or create blockers against visible attackers.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Ichorid Upkeep Food
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection
Cards: Ichorid; Stinkweed Imp; Golgari Thug; Shambling Shell; Golgari Grave-Troll; Grief
Phase windows: upkeep
Runtime cues: action:exile; action:return Ichorid
Use when: Ichorid can return by exiling a black creature card from the graveyard.
Avoid when: exiling the only dredger would leave no visible dredge replacement for the next draw or Bazaar activation.
Instructions: Feed Ichorid with redundant black creatures first. Preserve the last high-dredge card when the engine still needs velocity; return Ichorid when damage, sacrifice pressure, or blocking materially matters.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Hollow One Conversion
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; mana
Cards: Hollow One; Bazaar of Baghdad
Phase windows: main phase after Bazaar of Baghdad; post-discard priority
Runtime cues: action:cast Hollow One
Use when: a legal Hollow One cast is visible after cards were discarded this turn.
Avoid when: casting Hollow One would consume mana or priority needed for a visible higher-priority interaction action.
Instructions: Use Hollow One to convert Bazaar discards into fast pressure. Do not let Hollow One planning reduce dredge velocity unless combat math shows that a large attacker changes the clock immediately.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Free Permission Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Force of Will; Force of Negation; Mental Misstep; Grief
Phase windows: opponent spell on stack; own combo-protection windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Force of Will; action:cast Force of Negation; action:cast Mental Misstep; action:cast Grief
Use when: the stack contains a visible spell that stops Bazaar, exiles the graveyard, wins immediately, or prevents the current engine from functioning.
Avoid when: the target is low impact and pitching the card would remove the only blue card or key engine material without protecting a decisive turn.
Instructions: Spend permission on graveyard hate, fast combo bottlenecks, and engine-stopping interaction. Let ordinary removal resolve when recursive creatures can rebuild.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Grief Hand Disruption
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction; selection
Cards: Grief
Phase windows: precombat main phase; opening turn free-spell windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Grief; action:choose card
Use when: Grief is legal and Veles exposes opponent hand information through the rules engine.
Avoid when: opponent hand is hidden or the Grief cost would consume the only card needed for Force of Will, Force of Negation, Sickening Shoal, or engine continuity.
Instructions: Take the visible card that most directly stops Bazaar, graveyard recursion, or immediate survival. Do not invent hidden cards; choose only among candidates Veles shows.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Noxious Revival Recovery Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction; selection; priority
Cards: Noxious Revival; Bazaar of Baghdad; Force of Vigor; Force of Will; Force of Negation
Phase windows: opponent end step; upkeep; response to graveyard interaction; pre-draw windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Noxious Revival; action:target
Use when: a graveyard card can be placed on top to restore Bazaar access, recover a decisive free answer, or deny an opponent graveyard card shown by Veles.
Avoid when: moving a card from graveyard to library would reduce immediate dredge pressure without answering a visible problem.
Instructions: Treat Noxious Revival as recovery and disruption, not routine value. Target selection needs board, stack, graveyard, and next-draw context.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Chalice Opening Lock Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: pregame; mana; interaction
Cards: Chalice of the Void
Phase windows: first turn main phase; fast mana or free-spell openings when legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Chalice of the Void
Use when: Chalice of the Void is legal and the chosen counter number is visible in the action or prompt.
Avoid when: the counter choice would shut off needed Noxious Revival, Mental Misstep, or sideboard interaction more than it disrupts the visible opponent plan.
Instructions: Use Chalice of the Void only when the rules engine exposes a legal configuration and the matchup context supports it. Card text check required for exact counter-setting actions in the current engine prompt.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Anti-Hate Force Of Vigor
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; selection; priority
Cards: Force of Vigor
Phase windows: opponent artifact or enchantment hate on battlefield or stack-response windows where legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Force of Vigor; action:target
Use when: Veles shows artifact or enchantment permanents or spells that stop graveyard recursion, Bazaar activation, or lethal combat.
Avoid when: targets are cosmetic or the pitch cost removes the only card supporting a higher-priority permission action.
Instructions: Use Force of Vigor to clear hate before committing more dredge resources. Choose targets from visible legal objects only; do not assume a hidden hate card is coming.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sickening Shoal Survival Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; combat; priority
Cards: Sickening Shoal
Phase windows: declare attackers; declare blockers; combat damage prevention windows; opponent creature combo windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Sickening Shoal; action:target
Use when: a visible creature creates lethal damage, blocks the engine’s lethal attack, or represents a must-kill hate creature.
Avoid when: the target is replaceable pressure and recursive blockers or racing already handle the combat step.
Instructions: Spend Sickening Shoal on survival, hate creatures, and combat swings that change the clock. Pitch decisions must preserve enough black material for Ichorid when possible.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Land Denial Sideboard Role
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana; interaction; sideboard
Cards: Wasteland; Strip Mine; Bazaar of Baghdad
Phase windows: sideboarding; land play; main phase land-activation windows
Runtime cues: action:activate Wasteland; action:activate Strip Mine
Use when: a visible opponent land is central to their engine and the Dredge pilot already has Bazaar of Baghdad access or no further Bazaar land play available.
Avoid when: using the land-denial slot delays Bazaar of Baghdad or reduces the deck to a low-velocity control plan.
Instructions: Use Wasteland and Strip Mine as targeted disruption, not as the primary plan. Protect the Bazaar engine before attacking mana.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Lethal And Blocking
Priority: High
Decision families: combat
Cards: Prized Amalgam; Narcomoeba; Silversmote Ghoul; Ichorid; Hollow One; Stinkweed Imp
Phase windows: declare attackers; declare blockers; combat damage
Runtime cues: action:attack; action:block
Use when: Veles presents combat choices with visible creatures, life totals, and lethal or survival implications.
Avoid when: combat has exactly no legal attackers or blockers.
Instructions: Count visible lethal from attackers plus Creeping Chill life swings already shown by the engine. Attack when recursive pressure shortens the clock without exposing survival; block when preserving life buys another Bazaar or dredge turn.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Plan Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Force of Vigor; Sickening Shoal; Force of Negation; Wasteland; Strip Mine; Bazaar of Baghdad; Serum Powder; Hollow One; Noxious Revival; Mental Misstep; Chalice of the Void
Phase windows: after game one; after game two; match sideboarding prompts
Runtime cues: sideboard legal plan prompt
Use when: Veles asks for a post-board configuration against a known opponent archetype or revealed hate plan.
Avoid when: the proposed plan cuts below functional Bazaar, dredger, or recursive threat density.
Instructions: Add Force of Vigor for artifact or enchantment hate, Sickening Shoal for creature pressure or hate creatures, Force of Negation for stack-combo and hate, and Wasteland or Strip Mine for land-centric opponents. Keep the graveyard engine intact.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Pass Priority After Engine Setup
Priority: Low
Decision families: priority
Cards: Bazaar of Baghdad; Force of Will; Force of Negation; Mental Misstep; Noxious Revival
Phase windows: any priority window with empty stack
Runtime cues: action:pass priority
Use when: the stack is empty, no visible legal engine action remains, and no visible opponent threat requires free interaction.
Avoid when: Bazaar of Baghdad can be activated, a dredge/recursive trigger decision is pending, or an opposing hate or lethal action is visible.
Instructions: Pass routine priority after using available engine actions. Hold free interaction for meaningful stack events rather than spending it into empty boards.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes
