# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd is a Duel Commander 100-card singleton white midrange deck with tribal and blink-tax elements, using Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd as the named command-zone plan. The active validation contract reports 100 main-deck cards and 10 sideboard cards, which passes this format-aware Veles policy model; do not apply 60-card constructed sizing checks to this deck.

- Format: Duel Commander.
- Commander: Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd.
- Main count: 100 cards, with singleton nonbasic/nonland and nonland entries plus 33 Plains as the only repeated card.
- Sideboard count: 10 cards, matching the Veles policy sideboard rule for this command-zone configuration.
- Tags: midrange; tribal.
- Stock status: hybrid-rogue unless later matchup data proves a known stock shell. The card mix points to a white creature-based disruption deck with blink, taxing, exile-removal, protection, and board-pressure packages rather than a fully stock published archetype.
- Opponent information status: no specific opponent deck, commander, archetype, colors, or matchup label is supplied for this batch. Runtime decisions must treat opponent identity as unknown until public game actions, revealed cards, companion/commander information, or sideboard context gives legal evidence.

Legality validation is currently clean under the supplied contract, but runtime must still respect the rules engine for command-zone casting, commander tax, sideboard availability, and action legality. Veles must never assume Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd can be cast, activated, blinked, protected, or used in combat unless the legal action list exposes that option.

Mana validation is broadly coherent for a mono-white shell: the deck contains 33 Plains plus Idyllic Grange, Mishra's Factory, Scavenger Grounds, Shefet Dunes, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Castle Ardenvale, and Kabira Takedown. The mana base supports many white spells, but colorless or utility lands can still create sequencing risk for early white interaction such as Mana Tithe, March of Otherworldly Light, Swords to Plowshares, On Thin Ice, Portable Hole, Static Prison, Brave the Elements, and Cloudshift.

Role validation identifies a proactive-disruptive midrange plan rather than pure aggro or pure control. Early creatures and permanents such as Benevolent Bodyguard, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Guide of Souls, Curse of Silence, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, and Static Prison help build tempo while narrowing the opponent's early lines. Midgame cards such as Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Charming Prince, Flickerwisp, Extraction Specialist, Blade Splicer, Elite Spellbinder, Anointed Peacekeeper, Skyclave Apparition, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Wedding Announcement, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar convert small-board advantages into repeated pressure or material.

The deck should be piloted as a threat-plus-disruption strategy that wins by making the opponent's best turns awkward while attacking through protected or evasive pressure. It should not default to holding every answer indefinitely; it should also not spend premium interaction on low-impact permanents when the visible board suggests a more dangerous commander, engine, or lethal setup is likely.

Card-text confidence is mixed for newer or unusual names. Card text check required for Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Curious Farm Animals, Guide of Souls, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Starfield Shepherd, Tax Collector, Seam Rip, Pre-War Formalwear, Sunpearl Kirin, Leonardo, Big Brother, Hopeful Vigil, Toby, Beastie Befriender, Static Prison, and Parting Gust before any deterministic no-API policy relies on exact wording. Until checked by the rules engine, treat these cards through legal action text, visible choices, and conservative tactical categories only.

Sideboard identity is broad hate and flexible removal: Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, Deafening Silence, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Hushbringer, Council's Judgment, Celestial Purge, Gideon's Intervention, Loran of the Third Path, and Solitude. Exact sideboard plans must appear only in Sideboard Map; this section records that all sideboard cards are legal policy-sideboard names and must be mapped later by matchup role, not used as generic staples outside registered-card context.

## Thesis
Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd assembles a mono-white pressure-and-disruption board where cheap creatures, taxing effects, exile removal, protection, and blink-adjacent value make the opponent spend mana inefficiently while your attackers keep closing life totals. The deck wins by sticking an early body, constraining the opponent's best card or best turn, then compounding small battlefield advantages through Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Charming Prince, Flickerwisp, Extraction Specialist, Blade Splicer, Skyclave Apparition, Palace Jailer, Wedding Announcement, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Steel Seraph, or creature-land pressure.

The primary priority is tempo with board relevance: develop mana, cast a meaningful early permanent, answer the visible card that invalidates combat or snowballs faster than your board, and protect the threat or hate piece that is currently doing the most work. Do not hoard interaction for theoretical future cards when Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, Giant Killer, Parting Gust, or Council's Judgment after sideboard can preserve an attack step, commander pressure, or a decisive tax window.

The deck is not trying to be pure draw-go control, a hard prison deck, a fast combo deck, or a generic white good-stuff pile with interchangeable plays. It should avoid lines that spend early turns doing nothing, overcommit protection before a threat exists, or chase low-impact blink value while the opponent has a visible engine, commander, or lethal clock that must be answered.

Phelia-centric lines should be treated as conditional until the rules engine exposes exact legal actions. Card text check required for Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd; when legal blink, exile, or attack-trigger choices appear, prioritize targets that preserve tempo, reset your own enters-battlefield cards, remove an opposing blocker for the current combat, or protect a key permanent only if the visible action text supports that outcome.

## Role Package
- Threats: Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd; Kytheon, Hero of Akros; Adeline, Resplendent Cathar; Guardian of New Benalia; Blade Splicer; Flickerwisp; Skyclave Apparition; Steel Seraph; Overlord of the Mistmoors; Palace Jailer; Gideon, Ally of Zendikar; Mishra's Factory; Cave of the Frost Dragon; Castle Ardenvale; Shefet Dunes. Use these cards to turn disruption into a clock rather than letting the game reset into the opponent's larger plan.

- Payoffs: Blade Splicer, Staff of the Storyteller, Wedding Announcement, Maul of the Skyclaves, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Steel Seraph, Palace Jailer, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Toby, Beastie Befriender, Starfield Shepherd, and Shefet Dunes are the cards that convert bodies, tokens, or board presence into damage, cards, or inevitability. Card text check required for Staff of the Storyteller, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Toby, Beastie Befriender, and Starfield Shepherd before relying on exact triggers.

- Engines: Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Charming Prince, Flickerwisp, Extraction Specialist, Ranger of Eos, Moon-Blessed Cleric, Wedding Announcement, Staff of the Storyteller, and Palace Jailer form the recursive/value core. Prefer engine lines when the battlefield is stable or when the engine also removes a blocker, finds a critical piece, or reuses a disruptive permanent.

- Velocity: Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Ranger of Eos, Moon-Blessed Cleric, Wedding Announcement, Staff of the Storyteller, Curious Farm Animals, and Palace Jailer help find material or keep cards flowing. Card text check required for Curious Farm Animals; use it only according to exposed legal actions and visible card movement.

- Interaction: Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, Touch the Spirit Realm, Giant Killer, Kabira Takedown, Parting Gust, Seam Rip, Cathar Commando, Phyrexian Revoker, Disruptor Flute, Curse of Silence, Runed Halo, Anointed Peacekeeper, Elite Spellbinder, Aven Mindcensor, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tithe Taker, Tax Collector, Sanctifier en-Vec, Remorseful Cleric, Containment Priest, and Spirit of the Labyrinth are the disruption suite. Card text check required for Static Prison, Parting Gust, Seam Rip, and Tax Collector before exact-mode assumptions.

- Protection: Benevolent Bodyguard, Brave the Elements, Cloudshift, Selfless Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, Mana Tithe, Touch the Spirit Realm, and combat-aware use of Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd protect the board or punish removal. Spend protection on the permanent that is winning the current exchange, not automatically on the first target.

- Recursion: Extraction Specialist and Pre-War Formalwear are the main recovery cards, with Charming Prince, Flickerwisp, and Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd potentially reusing battlefield value if legal actions expose those lines. Card text check required for Pre-War Formalwear before selecting exact graveyard targets.

- Mana: 33 Plains are the reliable white source base; Idyllic Grange, Mishra's Factory, Scavenger Grounds, Shefet Dunes, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Castle Ardenvale, and Kabira Takedown add utility but can affect early white sequencing. Prioritize untapped white mana when holding Mana Tithe, Swords to Plowshares, Brave the Elements, Cloudshift, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, or Static Prison.

- Sideboard modules: Rest in Peace and Remorseful Cleric-style graveyard pressure attack graveyard decks; Stony Silence, Loran of the Third Path, Cathar Commando, and Seam Rip-style effects attack artifacts or enchantments; Deafening Silence and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben-style effects constrain spell chains; Burrenton Forge-Tender, Celestial Purge, Gideon's Intervention, Hushbringer, Council's Judgment, and Solitude adjust protection, removal, and hate roles by matchup. Exact sideboarding belongs in Sideboard Map.

## Primary Win Conditions
- Phelia tempo-value pressure: Set up Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd with an early creature or hate permanent, then turn legal attack-trigger or blink-style actions into damage plus tempo. Card text check required for exact Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd timing; when the rules engine exposes a legal target, prefer lines that remove a visible blocker for the attack, reuse Blade Splicer, Charming Prince, Flickerwisp, Skyclave Apparition, Elite Spellbinder, Palace Jailer, Extraction Specialist, Ranger of Eos, Moon-Blessed Cleric, or Thraben Inspector/Novice Inspector value, or protect a key permanent from visible removal. Prioritize this path when the opponent is trying to win through one large blocker, one commander, one engine permanent, or spot removal rather than a fast wide board.

- Disruptive creature clock: Lead with Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Guardian of New Benalia, Benevolent Bodyguard, Guide of Souls, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tithe Taker, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Aven Mindcensor, Anointed Peacekeeper, Elite Spellbinder, Phyrexian Revoker, Tax Collector, or Containment Priest to make the opponent's next turn inefficient while attacks start immediately. Execute by adding one threat per turn, using Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, Giant Killer, Parting Gust, or Touch the Spirit Realm only on cards that stop the clock or outscale the board. Protect the best disruptive permanent with Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, Brave the Elements, Cloudshift, Mana Tithe, or Guardian of New Benalia when that permanent is buying the damage window.

- Board-wide token and anthem pressure: Build a board with Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Blade Splicer, Wedding Announcement, Staff of the Storyteller, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Toby, Beastie Befriender, Castle Ardenvale, and Overlord of the Mistmoors, then convert the extra bodies into lethal pressure with Maul of the Skyclaves, Steel Seraph, Shefet Dunes, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, or clean attacks. Card text check required for Staff of the Storyteller, Toby, Beastie Befriender, Steel Seraph, and Overlord of the Mistmoors before relying on exact trigger or mode behavior. Prioritize this path against one-for-one removal, slow control, or decks that cannot punish multiple small bodies.

- Monarch or planeswalker snowball: Resolve Palace Jailer or Gideon, Ally of Zendikar when the board can defend it, then trade removal and blockers to preserve the ongoing advantage. Execute Palace Jailer only when you can either keep attacking pressure high or prevent the opponent from safely taking back the resource; execute Gideon, Ally of Zendikar when a token, emblem, or attack line will matter before the opponent can remove it. Prioritize this path when life totals are stable and cards are the limiting resource.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Equipment and evasive conversion: Use Maul of the Skyclaves, Steel Seraph, Brave the Elements, and Cave of the Frost Dragon to turn any surviving body into a short clock after the opponent answers the first wave. Prefer this line when the opponent has stabilized on the ground but lacks visible instant-speed interaction or flying blockers.

- Creature-land cleanup: Use Mishra's Factory, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Castle Ardenvale, and Shefet Dunes as post-sweeper or flood insurance. Activate creature lands only after checking visible removal, available mana, and whether keeping mana open for Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Cloudshift, Brave the Elements, Castle Ardenvale, Scavenger Grounds, or sideboard interaction is more important.

- Recursion and rebuild pressure: Use Extraction Specialist and Pre-War Formalwear to recover a fallen cheap threat, hate creature, or value body, then resume the disruptive-clock plan. Card text check required for Pre-War Formalwear; choose graveyard targets only from legal actions and prefer cards that immediately block, attack, tax, or create another battlefield object.

- Hate-permanent lock pressure: Use Curse of Silence, Runed Halo, Disruptor Flute, Phyrexian Revoker, Sanctifier en-Vec, Remorseful Cleric, Scavenger Grounds, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Containment Priest, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, and Aven Mindcensor to narrow the opponent's legal profitable lines while small attackers finish the game. This is a win condition only when paired with pressure; do not spend turns layering low-impact hate while behind to visible creatures.

## Emergency Lines
- Behind on life: Stabilize before value by prioritizing Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, Giant Killer, Parting Gust, Brave the Elements, Selfless Spirit, Benevolent Bodyguard, Blade Splicer, Steel Seraph, or Palace Jailer lines that remove attackers, create blockers, or prevent lethal. Do not attack with a needed blocker unless the attack creates lethal, forces a decisive race swing, or the legal action clearly preserves defense.

- Behind on board: Trade down in card economy to regain combat agency; Portable Hole on a cheap attacker, Swords to Plowshares on a large threat, or Skyclave Apparition on an engine is correct when it unlocks safe blocks or attacks. Prefer Blade Splicer, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Wedding Announcement, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Castle Ardenvale, and Overlord of the Mistmoors as rebuild cards after the first emergency removal spell.

- Behind on cards: Prioritize Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Staff of the Storyteller, Wedding Announcement, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Moon-Blessed Cleric, Charming Prince, Flickerwisp, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, and Extraction Specialist lines that produce more than one relevant object or reuse an enters-battlefield effect. Do not cash in Brave the Elements, Cloudshift, or Selfless Spirit for marginal tempo when they are the only protection against a visible sweeper or lethal exchange.

- Behind on mana: Make land drops and cheap interaction the whole plan until functional; cast one-mana plays before holding up speculative Mana Tithe if missing development would strand multiple spells. Use Knight of the White Orchid only according to visible land counts and legal action text, and avoid activating Mishra's Factory, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Castle Ardenvale, Scavenger Grounds, or Shefet Dunes if that prevents casting needed spells.

- Engines removed or commander taxed: Shift into singleton white midrange by combining any cheap body with removal, hate permanents, and creature lands. Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd is strong but not required to win; do not recast into obvious visible punishment if Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Palace Jailer, Wedding Announcement, Steel Seraph, or a protected creature-land line is safer.

## Resource Model
- Life is a tempo resource, not a cushion: accept early damage when it lets Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Anointed Peacekeeper, Elite Spellbinder, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, or Palace Jailer establish a clock, but switch immediately to preservation when visible attacks threaten a two-turn kill. Spend Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Parting Gust, Giant Killer, On Thin Ice, Ossification, Portable Hole, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, or Touch the Spirit Realm on the card that changes combat math fastest, not automatically on the highest mana value permanent.

- Hand size converts into layered pressure: keep at least one threat, one interaction piece, and one development line when possible, because this singleton list wins by forcing the opponent to answer different permanent types. Cash Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Wedding Announcement, Staff of the Storyteller, Ranger of Eos, Moon-Blessed Cleric, Palace Jailer, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, Charming Prince, Extraction Specialist, and Pre-War Formalwear into cards or reused bodies when the board is stable; Card text check required for Staff of the Storyteller and Pre-War Formalwear before assuming exact trigger timing.

- Mana converts into initiative: use one- and two-mana plays to make the opponent spend turns awkwardly, then use three- and four-mana cards to widen the battlefield or lock a key permanent. Do not hold up Mana Tithe, Cloudshift, Brave the Elements, Cathar Commando, Remorseful Cleric, or Castle Ardenvale if doing so strands the only board-advancing legal action while behind.

- Board material converts into leverage: small creatures are attackers, blockers, protection carriers, Staff of the Storyteller or Wedding Announcement enablers, Shefet Dunes beneficiaries, and sacrifice or exile-payment material only when legal action text offers that cost. Preserve Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, Brave the Elements, and Cloudshift for turns where they protect a disruptive permanent, save lethal pressure, or blank a visible removal line.

- Graveyard access is selective: Extraction Specialist and Pre-War Formalwear can rebuild with a cheap creature or value body, while Remorseful Cleric, Scavenger Grounds, Sanctifier en-Vec, Sungold Sentinel, and Rest in Peace pressure graveyard decks. Do not spend Scavenger Grounds or Remorseful Cleric merely because they are legal; use them when visible graveyards, known revealed information, or matchup context indicate an imminent graveyard payoff.

- Exile is both answer space and risk space: Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, Touch the Spirit Realm, Parting Gust, March of Otherworldly Light, and Swords to Plowshares convert threats into temporary or permanent removal according to their actual rules text. Card text check required for Static Prison, Parting Gust, and Touch the Spirit Realm before assuming whether the opponent can recover the exiled card or whether a blink line is favorable.

- Lands are late-game material: Mishra's Factory and Cave of the Frost Dragon become threats, Castle Ardenvale becomes board presence, Scavenger Grounds becomes hate, Shefet Dunes becomes a damage burst, Kabira Takedown becomes interaction when drawn as a spell, and Idyllic Grange is conditional board value. Treat each activation as spending a spell slot for the turn if it consumes mana needed for interaction or commander recast.

- Information converts into named disruption: Curse of Silence, Runed Halo, Anointed Peacekeeper, Elite Spellbinder, Phyrexian Revoker, Disruptor Flute, Aven Mindcensor, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Containment Priest, Tax Collector, and sideboard bullets reward choosing from visible cards, revealed hands, commander identity, public graveyards, and legal-action context. If the runtime has not revealed a target name or activated ability, prefer high-confidence public information over guessing.

- Sideboard bullets convert matchup pressure into narrow wins: Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, Deafening Silence, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Hushbringer, Council's Judgment, Celestial Purge, Gideon's Intervention, Loran of the Third Path, and Solitude should raise the density of answers to the opponent's proven axis without diluting the deck below a functional creature-and-pressure shell.

## Mana Guide
- Keep mana because the deck is mono-white but curve-sensitive: a keepable opening hand usually needs two lands or one land plus multiple one-mana legal plays and a clear draw-step plan. Prioritize hands with Plains or untapped white sources plus early action; mulligan hands that rely on Mishra's Factory, Scavenger Grounds, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Castle Ardenvale, Shefet Dunes, or Kabira Takedown alone to cast white spells unless runtime legality shows sufficient white mana.

- Sequence white sources before utility when development matters: play Plains early to cast Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Benevolent Bodyguard, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Guide of Souls, Mana Tithe, Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Hopeful Vigil, or other cheap white actions. Hold Mishra's Factory, Scavenger Grounds, Castle Ardenvale, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Shefet Dunes, and Idyllic Grange for later when their utility beats immediate color access.

- Respect land-entry conditions from legal actions: Idyllic Grange and Cave of the Frost Dragon have battlefield timing or activation constraints that must be checked in engine output before planning around them. Card text check required for any uncertain land mode; never assume a tapped or untapped status not shown in visible state.

- Play land before spending mana when the turn requires a known cast: make the land drop first if it unlocks Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tithe Taker, Cathar Commando, Charming Prince, Blade Splicer, Skyclave Apparition, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Wedding Announcement, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Palace Jailer, or removal plus protection. Delay the land only when Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Staff of the Storyteller, Ranger of Eos, Moon-Blessed Cleric, or another legal selection/draw action can materially change which land should be played.

- Spend utility-land mana carefully: activating Mishra's Factory, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Castle Ardenvale, Scavenger Grounds, or Shefet Dunes is correct when the effect changes lethal, blocks, graveyard timing, or post-sweeper pressure. Do not activate them if holding up Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Cloudshift, Brave the Elements, Cathar Commando, Remorseful Cleric, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Solitude, Celestial Purge, Council's Judgment, or Loran of the Third Path is visibly more important.

- Plan around commander tax: recasting Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd is strong only if the remaining mana still supports protection, removal, or a follow-up body. If tax makes Phelia consume the whole turn into visible interaction, use Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Wedding Announcement, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Castle Ardenvale, Mishra's Factory, Cave of the Frost Dragon, or a hate permanent to keep pressure without overpaying.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keeps start with two or three white-producing lands plus a one- or two-mana play: Plains with Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Benevolent Bodyguard, Guide of Souls, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Mana Tithe, or Swords to Plowshares is functional. A strong hand also has a turn-two pressure or tax card such as Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tithe Taker, Containment Priest, Charming Prince, or Cathar Commando.

- Medium keeps need a clear first two turns: two lands with only three-mana cards can be kept on the draw if the hand contains Skyclave Apparition, Blade Splicer, Elite Spellbinder, Anointed Peacekeeper, Wedding Announcement, or Staff of the Storyteller and the matchup rewards a stable midgame. One cheap interaction spell plus one cheap creature upgrades otherwise slow hands.

- Risky keeps are one-land hands with several one-mana cards: keep only on the draw or with multiple legal early actions such as Thraben Inspector plus Novice Inspector plus Portable Hole, and prefer Plains over utility lands. Ship one-land hands where the only land is Mishra's Factory, Scavenger Grounds, Castle Ardenvale, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Shefet Dunes, Idyllic Grange, or Kabira Takedown unless engine output proves the hand casts its spells.

- Automatic ships lack early mana or early action: no-land hands, one-land hands with only three-plus-mana spells, hands with several utility lands and no Plains, or hands that cannot affect the battlefield before turn three should mulligan. Also ship hands that require exact card text assumptions for Static Prison, Seam Rip, Starfield Shepherd, Sunpearl Kirin, Leonardo, Big Brother, Curious Farm Animals, Toby, Beastie Befriender, or Overlord of the Mistmoors before the engine confirms legal actions.

- Matchup-dependent keeps lean on the hate piece only when the opposing axis is known: keep Sanctifier en-Vec, Remorseful Cleric, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Aven Mindcensor, Phyrexian Revoker, Disruptor Flute, Curse of Silence, Runed Halo, or Containment Priest when commander identity, revealed cards, or public game history makes the text relevant. Do not keep a narrow hate hand with no clock unless the matchup is visibly vulnerable to that card.

- Play/draw changes risk tolerance: on the play, prefer Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Guide of Souls, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, or Tithe Taker to seize tempo. On the draw, value Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Giant Killer, Mana Tithe, and early blockers more highly because the opponent can present the first threat.

- Trap hands look powerful but miss the curve: Palace Jailer, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Steel Seraph, Ranger of Eos, Maul of the Skyclaves, and Touch the Spirit Realm are not keeps by themselves. Keep these hands only when the first two turns already develop mana, interaction, or board presence.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1 should establish mana or cheap board presence: play Plains when possible, then cast Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Benevolent Bodyguard, Guide of Souls, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Hopeful Vigil, or hold Swords to Plowshares/Mana Tithe when the opponent's visible line makes passing valuable. Avoid leading utility lands if they delay white spells.

- Turn 2 should deploy the commander or a disruptive body: prioritize Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd when she can attack next turn and the opponent has no obvious punishment, otherwise choose Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tithe Taker, Containment Priest, Cathar Commando, Charming Prince, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Guardian of New Benalia, or removal. Use Curse of Silence, Runed Halo, Phyrexian Revoker, or Disruptor Flute only with a named threat or activated ability supported by public information.

- Turn 3 should convert tempo into advantage: prefer Skyclave Apparition, Blade Splicer, Elite Spellbinder, Anointed Peacekeeper, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Wedding Announcement, Staff of the Storyteller, Maul of the Skyclaves, or Phelia attack targets when legal action text offers them. Use Flickerwisp, Cloudshift, Parting Gust, or Touch the Spirit Realm only when the visible target and timing justify the blink, removal, or reset line; Card text check required for uncertain blink/removal outcomes.

- Turns 4-5 should lock the game around pressure plus protection: use Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Steel Seraph, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Extraction Specialist, Pre-War Formalwear, or Moon-Blessed Cleric to rebuild or widen. Hold Brave the Elements, Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, Cloudshift, or Swords to Plowshares when protecting a decisive board is better than adding another creature.

- Late game should turn lands and engines into inevitability: activate Castle Ardenvale, Mishra's Factory, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Scavenger Grounds, or Shefet Dunes when the activation advances lethal, blocks profitably, or stops a graveyard line. Recast Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd through commander tax only if the remaining turn still supports protection, interaction, or a meaningful attack next turn.

## Card Roles
- Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd is the central pressure-and-reset engine: deploy her early when she can attack through visible blockers or protected interaction, and use her legal blink targets to reuse enters-the-battlefield creatures, reset opposing permanents, or save your own material only when the engine exposes that action. Avoid blinking your own hate permanent if it releases an opponent line during the return window.

- Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Hopeful Vigil, Staff of the Storyteller, and Wedding Announcement are the deck's low-risk card-flow package: cast them before expensive threats when the hand needs velocity, and pair the Clue/token bodies with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Guide of Souls, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Steel Seraph, Maul of the Skyclaves, or Gideon, Ally of Zendikar to turn small material into pressure. Do not spend mana cracking Clues or activating Staff of the Storyteller while a high-value Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Brave the Elements, Cloudshift, Cathar Commando, or Remorseful Cleric window is visibly available.

- Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, Brave the Elements, Cloudshift, Parting Gust, and Touch the Spirit Realm are protection or rescue tools first, value tools second: hold them when Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Palace Jailer, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, or a key hate creature is likely to decide the game. Use Cloudshift or Touch the Spirit Realm for value only when the legal target is explicitly beneficial, such as resetting Blade Splicer, Skyclave Apparition, Elite Spellbinder, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Charming Prince, or Extraction Specialist; Card text check required for Parting Gust and uncertain blink/removal outcomes before assuming a permanent returns favorably.

- Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, Giant Killer, Kabira Takedown, and Council-style exile effects in the main deck are tempo removal: spend the cheapest clean answer on the threat that blocks lethal, races your board, enables a combo, or invalidates Phelia attacks. Prefer creature-based removal with Skyclave Apparition when Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, Cloudshift, or Charming Prince can reuse it, but do not delay Swords to Plowshares when a commander, engine creature, or lethal attacker must be removed now. Card text check required for Static Prison if energy/payment restrictions or duration matter.

- Mana Tithe, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tithe Taker, Tax Collector, Curse of Silence, Elite Spellbinder, Anointed Peacekeeper, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Aven Mindcensor, Containment Priest, Phyrexian Revoker, Disruptor Flute, Runed Halo, Sanctifier en-Vec, Remorseful Cleric, and Sungold Sentinel are the disruptive spine: play them when public information identifies the opponent's bottleneck, not merely because mana is available. Name or choose with Curse of Silence, Anointed Peacekeeper, Phyrexian Revoker, Disruptor Flute, and Runed Halo only from visible commander identity, revealed hand, stack history, graveyard, or repeated public actions; do not invent hidden cards. Hold Remorseful Cleric or Scavenger Grounds mana when graveyard timing matters more than adding one body.

- Guide of Souls, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Guardian of New Benalia, Charming Prince, Cathar Commando, Knight of the White Orchid, and Benevolent Bodyguard are early board stabilizers with late utility: cast them on curve to enable attacks, convoke-like pressure, or protection shields, then reassess whether their activated or sacrifice abilities should be held. Knight of the White Orchid is strongest when the opponent has more lands or the engine shows a legal land-search trigger; do not cast it into a board where losing the search timing is the only relevant value.

- Blade Splicer, Flickerwisp, Extraction Specialist, Ranger of Eos, Palace Jailer, and Moon-Blessed Cleric are Phelia-friendly value creatures: prioritize them when the game rewards repeated enters-the-battlefield triggers, tutoring, monarchy pressure, or rebuilding after removal. Ranger of Eos should find cheap creatures that match the board need, such as Benevolent Bodyguard for protection, Thraben Inspector or Novice Inspector for cards, Giant Killer for removal utility, Guide of Souls for pressure, or Kytheon, Hero of Akros for aggression. Palace Jailer should be delayed if becoming or keeping the monarch is unrealistic against visible evasive attackers.

- Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Toby, Beastie Befriender, Curious Farm Animals, Starfield Shepherd, Sunpearl Kirin, Leonardo, Big Brother, Overlord of the Mistmoors, and Steel Seraph are pressure or scaling threats whose exact tactical use depends on engine text: cast them when legal actions show they add durable board presence, evasion, tokens, or stabilizing stats. Card text check required for Curious Farm Animals, Starfield Shepherd, Sunpearl Kirin, Leonardo, Big Brother, Toby, Beastie Befriender, and Overlord of the Mistmoors before relying on specific triggers, creature types, or token production.

- Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Maul of the Skyclaves, Pre-War Formalwear, and Steel Seraph convert a modest board into a closing clock: deploy them when the opponent is under pressure or has already spent clean removal, and prefer them over more small creatures when sweepers or stalled boards are the main risk. Do not put Maul of the Skyclaves or Pre-War Formalwear onto a creature that must stay back to block unless racing math clearly favors that line.

- Cathar Commando, Seam Rip, March of Otherworldly Light, Portable Hole, Skyclave Apparition, Touch the Spirit Realm, and Moon-Blessed Cleric help answer or locate answers to artifacts, enchantments, and problem permanents. Card text check required for Seam Rip before assuming exact timing, target class, or bonus text; use Cathar Commando at instant speed only when destroying the visible permanent is worth sacrificing a body and potentially weakening attacks.

- Sanctifier en-Vec, Containment Priest, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Aven Mindcensor, Remorseful Cleric, Sungold Sentinel, Phyrexian Revoker, Runed Halo, Curse of Silence, Disruptor Flute, and Anointed Peacekeeper are matchup cards maindecked for singleton pressure: keep or deploy them when the opponent's commander, revealed cards, graveyard, search effects, activated abilities, or card-draw engine make the text live. Avoid spending Phelia blink triggers on them unless blinking preserves the lock or reselects a now-more-important name legally.

- Plains, Idyllic Grange, Mishra's Factory, Castle Ardenvale, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Shefet Dunes, Scavenger Grounds, and Kabira Takedown are strategic resources, not just mana: prioritize untapped white sources early, then use utility lands only after the deck can cast double-white spells and hold interaction. Activate Mishra's Factory, Castle Ardenvale, Cave of the Frost Dragon, or Shefet Dunes when they create lethal, pressure a planeswalker, or produce a blocker; use Scavenger Grounds only when the graveyard exchange is worth losing future graveyard leverage from Extraction Specialist, Pre-War Formalwear, or other visible recursion.

### Card Hover Notes

#### Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, commander and core pressure-reset piece.
- Role type: engine piece; threat/clock; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Attacks to temporarily exile up to one other target nonland permanent, either rebuying your own enter triggers or removing an opposing blocker/engine until the next end step.
- Timing: Flash her in when it preserves mana ambiguity or dodges sorcery-speed removal; attack only when the blink target is worth exposing the commander.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes attack access and a legal nonland target; outputs tempo, repeated enters triggers, and +1/+1 counters when your returned permanent entered under your control.
- Partners / packages: Rebuy Blade Splicer, Elite Spellbinder, Skyclave Apparition, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Charming Prince, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Moon-Blessed Cleric, and Extraction Specialist.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is Flickerwisp, Charming Prince, Cloudshift, and Touch the Spirit Realm, but Phelia ties the blink to combat.
- Failure modes: Blinking your own containment permanent can release the opponent’s exiled card; attacking into profitable blocks or open removal can strand commander tax.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Best against one-key-permanent boards, blockers that stop attacks, and value mirrors where repeated enters triggers matter.

#### Mishra's Factory
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, utility mana resource and late creature threat.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Provides {C}, becomes a 2/2 Assembly-Worker artifact creature, and can tap to give target Assembly-Worker creature +1/+1.
- Timing: Use as early mana only when colorless does not block white spells; animate late for pressure, blocking, planeswalker attacks, or post-sweeper reach.
- Inputs / outputs: Produces {C}; animation costs {1}; pump requires tapping Mishra's Factory and a target Assembly-Worker creature.
- Partners / packages: Pressure alongside Cave of the Frost Dragon, Castle Ardenvale, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Shefet Dunes, Maul of the Skyclaves, and Brave the Elements.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is Cave of the Frost Dragon as an animated land and Castle Ardenvale as a mana sink.
- Failure modes: Animating into removal can lose a land; {C} does not cast white-heavy cards like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Adeline, Resplendent Cathar.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against sweepers and control; risky against instant-speed creature removal when mana development matters.

#### Scavenger Grounds
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, utility mana resource and graveyard hate land.
- Role type: hate piece; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Adds {C} and can exile all graveyards by paying {2}, tapping, and sacrificing a Desert.
- Timing: Hold activation until the opponent commits to a graveyard payoff, recursion target, delve/escape-style cost window, or lethal graveyard setup.
- Inputs / outputs: Produces {C}; graveyard activation consumes mana, tap access, and Scavenger Grounds or Shefet Dunes as the sacrificed Desert.
- Partners / packages: Graveyard pressure overlaps with Remorseful Cleric, Sanctifier en-Vec, Sungold Sentinel, and Rest in Peace.
- Role peers: Remorseful Cleric exiles one target player's graveyard; Rest in Peace exiles all graveyards and replaces future graveyard movement.
- Failure modes: Exiling too early can waste the hate and shut off your Extraction Specialist and Pre-War Formalwear targets.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Prioritize against reanimation, flashback, escape, delve, graveyard-count threats, and recursion engines.

#### Shefet Dunes
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, utility mana resource and sorcery-speed team pump.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; reach/finisher.
- Deck-specific job: Adds {C}, can pay 1 life for {W}, and can sacrifice a Desert at sorcery speed to give creatures you control +1/+1 until end of turn.
- Timing: Use as white mana when needed; save pump for confirmed lethal, planeswalker pressure, or combat where +1/+1 changes multiple attacks.
- Inputs / outputs: Produces {C} or {W} with 1 life; pump costs {2}{W}{W}, tapping, and sacrificing Shefet Dunes or Scavenger Grounds.
- Partners / packages: Pump scales with Adeline, Resplendent Cathar tokens, Wedding Announcement, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar tokens, Castle Ardenvale tokens, Overlord of the Mistmoors Insects, and Brave the Elements.
- Role peers: Gideon, Ally of Zendikar emblem and Wedding Festivity provide persistent boosts; Shefet Dunes is a one-shot land-based burst.
- Failure modes: Sacrificing the wrong Desert can remove Scavenger Grounds graveyard hate or a needed white source.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Best against stalled boards and control; weaker when life total is pressured or sweepers are likely.

#### Benevolent Bodyguard
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, one-mana protection body.
- Role type: protection/evasion; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Sits on board threatening to sacrifice for target creature you control to gain protection from a chosen color until end of turn.
- Timing: Deploy early before Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd or a key hate creature; sacrifice only for removal, lethal combat, or an attack that materially changes the game.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes Benevolent Bodyguard; outputs color protection for one target creature you control.
- Partners / packages: Protects Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Palace Jailer, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Spirit of the Labyrinth, and Maul of the Skyclaves carriers.
- Role peers: Brave the Elements protects all white creatures from one color; Selfless Spirit protects the team from destruction; Cloudshift dodges by changing zones.
- Failure modes: Protection can remove Auras or Equipment of the chosen color if relevant; it does not stop colorless effects, sacrifice, edicts, or sweepers that do not destroy or target.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong into spot removal and combat decks; preserve it when the protected permanent is the current lock or clock.

#### Blade Splicer
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, blink-friendly board builder.
- Role type: engine piece; threat/clock; engine payoff.
- Deck-specific job: Creates a 3/3 colorless Phyrexian Golem artifact creature token and gives Golems you control first strike.
- Timing: Cast on curve to stabilize ground combat or after Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd is ready to reuse the enter trigger.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana including one white; outputs two bodies and first strike for Golems.
- Partners / packages: Strong with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, Charming Prince, Cloudshift, Shefet Dunes, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, and Brave the Elements.
- Role peers: Hopeful Vigil creates one vigilant 2/2; Toby, Beastie Befriender creates one 4/4 with attack/block restriction; Overlord of the Mistmoors creates two flying Insects.
- Failure modes: The 1/1 body is fragile, and losing Blade Splicer removes first strike from the Golem.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against ground creature pressure; less decisive against exile removal, flyers, or sweepers.

#### Containment Priest
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, flash hate creature and disruptive body.
- Role type: hate piece; interaction-removal; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles nontoken creatures that would enter without being cast, punishing reanimation, blink, cheat effects, and some commander-adjacent shortcuts.
- Timing: Flash in response to a visible creature-entering line when possible; otherwise deploy when the opponent's commander or revealed cards rely on noncast entry.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana including one white; outputs a 2/2 flash body and static replacement pressure.
- Partners / packages: Pairs with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Aven Mindcensor, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Sanctifier en-Vec, Remorseful Cleric, and Rest in Peace against engine decks.
- Role peers: Hushbringer stops enter and dying triggers, while Containment Priest exiles illegal-entry nontoken creatures.
- Failure modes: It can punish your own Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, Charming Prince, Cloudshift, and Touch the Spirit Realm creature-return lines if still on battlefield.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: High priority against reanimation, creature-cheat, and opposing blink; board it or sequence carefully when your own blink plan is central.

#### Curious Farm Animals
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, flexible small body and artifact/enchantment answer.
- Role type: engine fuel/material; lifegain/stabilization; interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Trades as a 1/1 that gains 3 life when it dies, or sacrifices for {2} to destroy up to one target artifact or enchantment.
- Timing: Cast early when life or material matters; preserve the sacrifice ability when a visible artifact or enchantment is more important than a 1/1 body.
- Inputs / outputs: Outputs a death-trigger life gain; activated ability consumes {2} and Curious Farm Animals for artifact/enchantment removal.
- Partners / packages: Overlaps with Cathar Commando, Loran of the Third Path, March of Otherworldly Light, Skyclave Apparition, Touch the Spirit Realm, and Seam Rip.
- Role peers: Cathar Commando has flash and sacrifices for {1}; Loran of the Third Path destroys on entry; Curious Farm Animals adds death life gain.
- Failure modes: Sacrificing it too early may trade a body and future life for a low-impact target.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Better against burn, artifact engines, enchantment engines, and races where 3 life changes the clock.

#### Elite Spellbinder
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, flying disruption creature.
- Role type: interaction-discard; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Looks at target opponent’s hand, may exile a nonland card, and taxes that exiled card by {2} while it remains exiled.
- Timing: Cast before the opponent’s key turn, especially when they are setting up a sweeper, commander, planeswalker, or removal spell.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana; outputs hand information, one taxed nonland card, and a 3/1 flying clock.
- Partners / packages: Blink with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, Charming Prince, or Cloudshift to update hand information and tax another card.
- Role peers: Anointed Peacekeeper sees hand and names any card; Curse of Silence and Disruptor Flute tax by name without removing a card from hand.
- Failure modes: The opponent may still cast the exiled card if they can pay; a 3/1 flyer dies to small damage.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Best against control, combo, and midrange hands with one pivotal nonland card.

#### Extraction Specialist
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, graveyard rebuild creature.
- Role type: recursion; lifegain/stabilization.
- Deck-specific job: Returns a creature card with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield, but that creature cannot attack or block while you control Extraction Specialist.
- Timing: Cast after a useful cheap creature dies, not into an empty graveyard; prioritize when lifelink or the returned text stabilizes the game.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana; outputs a 3/2 lifelink body and one small creature returned.
- Partners / packages: Returns Benevolent Bodyguard, Containment Priest, Guide of Souls, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Charming Prince, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tithe Taker, Giant Killer, Cathar Commando, Thraben Inspector, Knight of the White Orchid, Remorseful Cleric, Guardian of New Benalia, Selfless Spirit, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Novice Inspector, Sunpearl Kirin, and Sungold Sentinel.
- Role peers: Pre-War Formalwear returns mana value 3 or less and equips; Extraction Specialist is a creature with lifelink.
- Failure modes: Rest in Peace, Scavenger Grounds, and Sanctifier en-Vec can remove your targets.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong after removal and attrition; weaker when graveyard hate is active or attacking with the returned creature matters immediately.

#### Flickerwisp
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, evasive blink-value role player.
- Role type: engine piece; interaction-removal; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles another target permanent and returns it under its owner’s control at the next end step, enabling reuse, temporary removal, or reset lines.
- Timing: Use main phase to rebuy your enters triggers or precombat to remove a blocker; be careful with opposing permanents that benefit from resetting.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana including two white; outputs a 3/1 flyer and one temporary exile.
- Partners / packages: Reuses Blade Splicer, Elite Spellbinder, Skyclave Apparition, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Moon-Blessed Cleric, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Charming Prince, and Extraction Specialist.
- Role peers: Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd repeats this through attacks; Cloudshift affects only your creature; Touch the Spirit Realm can be removal or channel blink.
- Failure modes: Blinking an opposing permanent may untap it, reset counters, or retrigger its enters ability.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent in value mirrors and against temporary blockers; risky against decks with stronger enter triggers.

#### Guide of Souls
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, one-mana life-energy engine.
- Role type: mechanic enabler; protection/evasion; lifegain/stabilization.
- Deck-specific job: Rewards each other creature entering under your control with 1 life and {E}, then can spend {E}{E}{E} on attack to give an attacking creature two +1/+1 counters and flying.
- Timing: Cast early before token makers and blink lines; use the attack trigger when flying or counters change damage math or make a protected threat.
- Inputs / outputs: Produces life and energy from other creature entries; consumes three energy to upgrade target attacking creature into an Angel with flying.
- Partners / packages: Works with Blade Splicer, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Wedding Announcement, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Castle Ardenvale, Hopeful Vigil, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, and Static Prison energy.
- Role peers: Steel Seraph also grants flying at combat; Maul of the Skyclaves grants flying and first strike.
- Failure modes: The pump needs stored energy and an attacking target; Static Prison may compete for energy upkeep.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in races, go-wide games, and stalled boards where flying creates a fast clock.

#### Overlord of the Mistmoors
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, top-end token engine and finisher.
- Role type: engine payoff; threat/clock; reach/finisher.
- Deck-specific job: Cast normally as a 6/6 flying-token engine or for impending {2}{W}{W} to start as a noncreature enchantment with time counters; entering or attacking creates two 2/1 white Insects with flying.
- Timing: Use impending when four mana is available and the game can wait; hard-cast when seven mana and immediate creature stats matter.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {5}{W}{W} or impending {2}{W}{W}; outputs flying tokens and later a 6/6 body.
- Mode map: Impending 4 delays creature combat but gives earlier permanent deployment and enter tokens; normal cast costs more but immediately gives a 6/6 creature plus enter tokens.
- Partners / packages: Tokens feed Guide of Souls, Staff of the Storyteller, Toby, Beastie Befriender, Wedding Announcement, Shefet Dunes, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, and Brave the Elements.
- Role peers: Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Wedding Announcement make slower boards; Overlord produces evasive pressure.
- Failure modes: Too slow against fast aggro; Hushbringer stops creature-enter triggers if it is active.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against control and removal-heavy decks if resolved before sweepers dominate.

#### Palace Jailer
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, monarch engine and temporary creature answer.
- Role type: engine piece; interaction-removal; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Makes you the monarch and exiles target creature an opponent controls until an opponent becomes the monarch.
- Timing: Cast when you can defend monarch with blockers, removal, or pressure; avoid when the opponent has easy evasive attacks.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes four mana; outputs monarch card flow and creature exile tied to monarch status.
- Partners / packages: Defend with Blade Splicer, Selfless Spirit, Brave the Elements, Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Castle Ardenvale, and Cave of the Frost Dragon.
- Role peers: Skyclave Apparition and Swords to Plowshares are cleaner removal; Palace Jailer adds monarch but risks losing both value and exile.
- Failure modes: Losing monarch returns the exiled creature and gives the opponent card advantage.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against midrange with poor evasion; weak against flyers, haste, and wide boards that can steal monarch.

#### Ranger of Eos
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, mana-value-1-or-less creature tutor and refill role player.
- Role type: tutor/search; card selection; engine piece.
- Deck-specific job: Searches for up to two creature cards with mana value 1 or less, such as Benevolent Bodyguard, Guide of Souls, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Giant Killer, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, or Burrenton Forge-Tender, reveals them, puts them into hand, then shuffles.
- Timing: Cast when the chosen one-drops solve a current need or when attrition makes two bodies valuable.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes four mana; outputs up to two revealed creatures with mana value 1 or less in hand.
- Partners / packages: Target map: Benevolent Bodyguard for protection; Guide of Souls for life/energy; Kytheon, Hero of Akros for pressure; Giant Killer for tap utility or Chop Down access; Thraben Inspector and Novice Inspector for Clue material; Burrenton Forge-Tender post-board for red damage.
- Role peers: Starfield Shepherd can find a basic Plains or one creature with mana value 1 or less; Ranger finds up to two creatures with mana value 1 or less.
- Failure modes: Searching for Thraben Inspector and Novice Inspector while behind to a specific threat wastes the tutor if Benevolent Bodyguard, Giant Killer, Guide of Souls, or Burrenton Forge-Tender would answer the race.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent in attrition, against removal-heavy decks, or when Benevolent Bodyguard, Guide of Souls, Giant Killer, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, or Burrenton Forge-Tender changes a race.

#### Skyclave Apparition
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, blink-friendly removal creature.
- Role type: interaction-removal; engine piece.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles up to one target nonland, nontoken permanent you do not control with mana value 4 or less; when it leaves, the owner gets an X/X blue Illusion equal to that card’s mana value.
- Timing: Use early on engines, blockers, commanders, or planeswalkers that cost 4 or less; blinking it can change targets but releases the first card into an Illusion.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana including two white; outputs a 2/2 and temporary exile with an Illusion drawback.
- Partners / packages: Reusable with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, Charming Prince, and Cloudshift when retargeting is worth the Illusion.
- Role peers: Portable Hole and Seam Rip hit mana value 2 or less; Static Prison hits any nonland permanent but requires energy upkeep.
- Failure modes: Leaving battlefield can give the opponent a large Illusion; cannot hit lands or tokens.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: High value against cheap engines, planeswalkers, hate pieces, and commanders within mana value 4.

#### Starfield Shepherd
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, flying Plains-or-one-drop search creature and warp value slot.
- Role type: tutor/search; modal utility; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Enters to search for a basic Plains card or a creature card with mana value 1 or less, reveal it, put it into hand, then shuffle.
- Timing: Warp for {1}{W} when the immediate search matters and you can recast later; hard-cast when a 3/2 flying body matters now.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {3}{W}{W} or warp {1}{W}; outputs a revealed Plains or one small creature to hand.
- Mode map: Hard-cast gives the 3/2 flying body and search now; Warp casts it cheaply, exiles it at the next end step, and lets you cast it from exile later for another creature body timing line.
- Partners / packages: Finds Plains, Benevolent Bodyguard, Guide of Souls, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Giant Killer, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, and Burrenton Forge-Tender post-board.
- Role peers: Ranger of Eos finds up to two creatures with mana value 1 or less; Knight of the White Orchid puts Plains onto battlefield if behind on land count.
- Failure modes: Warp is poor if exile timing prevents blocking or pressure.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong when missing Plains, Benevolent Bodyguard protection, Guide of Souls life/energy, Kytheon, Hero of Akros pressure, Giant Killer tap utility, Thraben Inspector material, Novice Inspector material, or Burrenton Forge-Tender post-board red protection.

#### Steel Seraph
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, prototype threat and combat keyword engine.
- Role type: modal utility; threat/clock; lifegain/stabilization.
- Deck-specific job: Can be cast for {6} as a 5/4 or prototyped for {1}{W}{W} as a 3/3, keeping flying and combat keyword-granting text.
- Timing: Prototype on curve when pressure or stabilization matters; full cast late when size matters more than speed.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes either six generic mana or three mana including two white; outputs a flying artifact creature and a beginning-of-combat keyword choice for target creature you control.
- Mode map: Prototype is cheaper and smaller; full cast is larger and colorless-costed. Combat trigger grants flying, vigilance, or lifelink until end of turn.
- Partners / packages: Grant lifelink or flying to Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Guardian of New Benalia, Blade Splicer’s Golem token, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar tokens, and Maul of the Skyclaves carriers.
- Role peers: Maul of the Skyclaves gives flying and first strike; Guide of Souls gives flying with counters using energy.
- Failure modes: Artifact creature status exposes it to artifact removal and Stony Silence does not stop its triggered ability.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in races and stalled ground boards.

#### Tax Collector
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, disruptive two-drop with mode choice.
- Role type: modal utility; interaction-stack; interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: On entry chooses Tax to make opponents’ spells cost {1} more until your next turn, or Arrest to detain target creature an opponent controls.
- Timing: Choose Tax before a likely spell-heavy turn; choose Arrest when a creature must be prevented from attacking, blocking, or activating abilities until your next turn.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs a 2/2 body and either temporary spell tax or temporary creature lockdown.
- Mode map: Tax affects spells opponents cast; Arrest targets an opposing creature and detains it, stopping attacks, blocks, and non-mana activated abilities.
- Partners / packages: Tax plan stacks with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tithe Taker, Elite Spellbinder, Anointed Peacekeeper, Curse of Silence, and Disruptor Flute.
- Role peers: Tithe Taker taxes opponent spells and abilities during your turn; Giant Killer can repeatedly tap a creature.
- Failure modes: Arrest cannot target noncreature permanents and Tax may be low impact if opponent can pay.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Best against tempo windows, creature races, and turns where one extra mana breaks opponent sequencing.

#### Toby, Beastie Befriender
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, token-board pressure role player.
- Role type: engine payoff; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Enters with a 4/4 white Beast token that cannot attack or block alone, and gives creature tokens you control flying while you control four or more creature tokens.
- Timing: Cast when you already have or can soon make multiple tokens; a lone Beast is worse if it cannot attack or block alone profitably.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana; outputs a 1/1 body and a restricted 4/4 token.
- Partners / packages: Token count comes from Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Wedding Announcement, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Castle Ardenvale, Staff of the Storyteller, Hopeful Vigil, Blade Splicer, Overlord of the Mistmoors, and Thraben Inspector/Novice Inspector Clue-adjacent material.
- Role peers: Blade Splicer and Hopeful Vigil create immediate board stats; Toby’s payoff is larger but more conditional.
- Failure modes: If you cannot attack or block with another creature, the Beast’s restriction can strand it.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in go-wide boards; weak into sweepers and when behind with no supporting creature.

#### Mana Tithe
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, tempo counterspell.
- Role type: interaction-stack.
- Deck-specific job: Counters target spell on the stack unless its controller pays {1}.
- Timing: Use when the opponent taps low for a commander, sweeper, removal spell, planeswalker, combo piece, or engine spell; do not aim at resolved permanents.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana and a card; outputs a conditional counter if the controller cannot or will not pay {1}.
- Partners / packages: Protects Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Palace Jailer, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Staff of the Storyteller, and key hate permanents.
- Role peers: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tax Collector, Curse of Silence, Elite Spellbinder, and Anointed Peacekeeper tax proactively; Mana Tithe punishes the spell on the stack.
- Failure modes: Bad when the opponent has visible spare mana or the target spell is replaceable.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strongest early, on the play, and against decks that curve expensive key spells.

#### March of Otherworldly Light
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, flexible instant exile removal.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles target artifact, creature, or enchantment with mana value X or less; white cards exiled from hand reduce the spell cost by {2} each.
- Timing: Use when an artifact, creature, or enchantment decides combat or engine tempo; pitch white cards only when mana efficiency matters more than card count.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {X}{W}, optionally white cards from hand; outputs exile of a legal target.
- Partners / packages: Removal suite with Swords to Plowshares, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, Touch the Spirit Realm, and Solitude.
- Role peers: Swords to Plowshares is cheaper but creature-only; Skyclave Apparition is reusable but limited to nonland nontoken mana value 4 or less.
- Failure modes: Cannot hit planeswalkers or battles unless they are also a listed type; pitching a key white card can lose long-game resources.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against cheap artifacts/enchantments, creature combo pieces, and lethal attackers.

#### Parting Gust
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, instant creature exile and blink-like tempo card.
- Role type: modal utility; interaction-removal; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles target nontoken creature. If no gift was promised, it returns under its owner’s control with a +1/+1 counter at the next end step; if Gift a tapped Fish was promised, the opponent creates a tapped 1/1 blue Fish before the other effects.
- Timing: Use without gift as temporary removal, rescue, or enter-trigger reuse; gift only when permanent exile timing or tactical context outweighs giving a tapped Fish.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}{W}; may give opponent a tapped Fish; outputs exile of a nontoken creature.
- Mode map: No gift returns the exiled creature with a +1/+1 counter; promised gift gives the opponent a tapped Fish before resolving the exile line.
- Partners / packages: Saves or reuses Blade Splicer, Skyclave Apparition, Elite Spellbinder, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, and Extraction Specialist.
- Role peers: Cloudshift only targets your creature; Touch the Spirit Realm channel exiles artifact or creature until next end step.
- Failure modes: Temporarily removing an opposing creature may return it larger; cannot target tokens.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Best for combat blowouts, commander tempo, and protecting key creatures from removal.

#### Swords to Plowshares
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, premium creature exile.
- Role type: interaction-removal; lifegain/stabilization.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles target creature, and that creature’s controller gains life equal to its power.
- Timing: Spend early if a creature threatens commander snowball, lethal damage, or an engine; save when current blockers already contain the board.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana and gives the controller life; outputs permanent creature exile.
- Partners / packages: Complements March of Otherworldly Light, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, Giant Killer, Parting Gust, Kabira Takedown, and Solitude.
- Role peers: Solitude is instant creature exile with body/evoke tension; Palace Jailer exiles while monarch is retained.
- Failure modes: The life gain can extend the game if used on a large creature when you are racing.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: High priority against creature commanders, combo creatures, lifelink blockers, and attackers that force bad blocks.

#### Disruptor Flute
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, flash naming artifact.
- Role type: hate piece; interaction-stack; interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Enters at flash speed choosing a card name, taxing spells with that name by {3} and stopping non-mana activated abilities of sources with that name unless paid restrictions allow none.
- Timing: Hold for public information: commander identity, revealed hand, stack card, activated source, or repeated known card.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two generic mana; outputs name-based spell tax and activated-ability lock.
- Partners / packages: Works with Anointed Peacekeeper, Curse of Silence, Phyrexian Revoker, Runed Halo, and Gideon's Intervention to attack known names.
- Role peers: Phyrexian Revoker stops activated abilities of a nonland card name but does not tax spells; Curse of Silence taxes one enchanted player.
- Failure modes: Naming a hidden guess can waste the card; it does not stop mana abilities.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against commanders with activated abilities, combo pieces, planeswalker activations, and single-card dependency.

#### On Thin Ice
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, one-mana creature containment Aura.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Enchants a snow land you control and exiles target creature an opponent controls until On Thin Ice leaves the battlefield.
- Timing: Use only when a legal snow land you control exists; spend on creatures that break combat or generate immediate value.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana and requires a target snow land you control; outputs temporary exile of an opposing creature.
- Partners / packages: Removal suite with Swords to Plowshares, Portable Hole, Ossification, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, and March of Otherworldly Light.
- Role peers: Ossification enchants a basic land and can hit creature or planeswalker; On Thin Ice is cheaper but requires a snow land.
- Failure modes: Card Reference shows no registered snow land in this deck, so tactical claims are conditional on the rules engine exposing a legal enchant target.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: If legal, strongest against early creature commanders and oversized attackers.

#### Ossification
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, land-attached creature or planeswalker containment.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Enchants a basic land you control and exiles target creature or planeswalker an opponent controls until Ossification leaves the battlefield.
- Timing: Use once a basic Plains is available and the target is worth exposing to enchantment removal.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}; requires a basic land you control; outputs temporary exile of an opposing creature or planeswalker.
- Partners / packages: Pairs with 33 Plains as reliable enchant anchors; complements Swords to Plowshares, Skyclave Apparition, Static Prison, and Council's Judgment.
- Role peers: On Thin Ice is cheaper but snow-land constrained; Static Prison hits nonland permanents but needs energy upkeep.
- Failure modes: If Ossification leaves, the exiled card returns; enchanting a land can expose your answer to enchantment removal.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against creature commanders and planeswalkers that outscale combat.

#### Portable Hole
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, cheap permanent containment artifact.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles target nonland permanent an opponent controls with mana value 2 or less until Portable Hole leaves the battlefield.
- Timing: Use early to stop mana creatures, cheap commanders, aggressive threats, artifact engines, or low-cost hate pieces.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana; outputs temporary exile of a legal cheap nonland permanent.
- Partners / packages: Removal curve with Seam Rip, Skyclave Apparition, March of Otherworldly Light, Static Prison, and Council's Judgment.
- Role peers: Seam Rip has the same mana-value ceiling but is an enchantment; Portable Hole is an artifact and is weakened by Stony Silence only if its own activated abilities mattered, which it does not have.
- Failure modes: Cannot hit lands or mana value 3+ permanents; removal of Portable Hole returns the card.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent versus fast creature decks, cheap artifacts, and low-cost commanders.

#### Pre-War Formalwear
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, recursion Equipment and clock enhancer.
- Role type: recursion; threat/clock; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Enters to return target creature card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield and attach itself; equipped creature gets +2/+2 and vigilance.
- Timing: Cast after a valuable small or midrange creature dies; equip later only when the body can attack without sacrificing defense.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana; outputs recursion, attachment, +2/+2, vigilance, and future equip {3}.
- Partners / packages: Returns Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Blade Splicer, Elite Spellbinder, Skyclave Apparition, Charming Prince, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Aven Mindcensor, Guardian of New Benalia, and many one-drops.
- Role peers: Extraction Specialist returns mana value 2 or less but adds lifelink body; Pre-War Formalwear returns mana value 3 or less and increases clock.
- Failure modes: Rest in Peace and Scavenger Grounds can exile targets; Stony Silence does not stop equip because equip is an activated ability of an artifact and Stony Silence would stop it.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in attrition and removal-heavy matchups.

#### Seam Rip
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, mana-value-2-or-less permanent containment enchantment.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles target nonland permanent an opponent controls with mana value 2 or less until Seam Rip leaves the battlefield.
- Timing: Use early on the mana value 2 or less nonland permanent that changes combat, mana, or engine tempo; save if Portable Hole already handles the current threat.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana; outputs temporary exile of a low-cost nonland permanent.
- Partners / packages: Complements Portable Hole, March of Otherworldly Light, Skyclave Apparition, Static Prison, and Council's Judgment.
- Role peers: Portable Hole is an artifact with the same target ceiling; Seam Rip is an enchantment and can be found by Moon-Blessed Cleric.
- Failure modes: Cannot answer lands or mana value 3+ permanents; removal of Seam Rip returns the exiled card.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against low-curve aggro, commanders with mana value 2 or less, mana artifacts with mana value 2 or less, and early hate pieces with mana value 2 or less.

#### Staff of the Storyteller
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, token-linked card engine.
- Role type: engine piece; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Enters with a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying, gains story counters when you create one or more creature tokens, and draws by paying {W}, tapping, and removing a story counter.
- Timing: Deploy when you can create tokens soon or need a flyer; activate draw only when holding mana for interaction is less important.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs a flying token, story counters, and card draw for {W}+tap+counter.
- Partners / packages: Fueled by Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Wedding Announcement, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Castle Ardenvale, Hopeful Vigil, Blade Splicer, Toby, Beastie Befriender, and Overlord of the Mistmoors.
- Role peers: Thraben Inspector and Novice Inspector create Clues; Wedding Announcement draws or makes tokens without activation.
- Failure modes: Stony Silence stops Staff’s activated draw ability; Spirit of the Labyrinth can cap card draw per turn.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against removal-heavy decks and control when token production is reliable.

#### Static Prison
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, broad energy-based containment.
- Role type: interaction-removal; mechanic enabler.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles target nonland permanent an opponent controls until Static Prison leaves, gives {E}{E}, then requires paying {E} at the beginning of your first main phase or sacrificing it.
- Timing: Use on a permanent that must be contained for at least one turn; plan energy payments before relying on long-term exile.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana; produces two energy; consumes one energy each of your first main phases to remain.
- Partners / packages: Energy can also come from Guide of Souls; removal plan overlaps with Skyclave Apparition, Portable Hole, Seam Rip, Ossification, and March of Otherworldly Light.
- Role peers: Skyclave Apparition is creature-based and mana-value-limited; Static Prison is broader but energy-taxed.
- Failure modes: Running out of energy sacrifices Static Prison and returns the exiled permanent.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong tempo play against any nonland permanent when the next turn cycle is decisive.

#### Touch the Spirit Realm
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, enchantment removal and channel blink tool.
- Role type: modal utility; interaction-removal; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Cast side exiles up to one target artifact or creature until Touch leaves; channel side discards it for {1}{W} to exile target artifact or creature until the next end step.
- Timing: Cast as containment when the target must stay gone; channel to save/reuse your creature or temporarily remove an artifact/creature at instant speed.
- Inputs / outputs: Cast consumes {2}{W}; channel consumes {1}{W}, the card from hand, and targets artifact or creature.
- Mode map: Enchantment mode is ongoing artifact/creature containment; Channel mode is one-shot temporary exile returning under owner’s control next end step.
- Partners / packages: Reuses Blade Splicer, Skyclave Apparition, Elite Spellbinder, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, and Extraction Specialist.
- Role peers: Cloudshift only saves your creature; Flickerwisp is a body with a similar temporary exile trigger.
- Failure modes: Cast mode cannot hit planeswalkers or enchantments; channel discards the card and returns the target.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Flexible against creature combat, artifact engines, and removal aimed at your key creature.

#### Sanctifier en-Vec
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, anti-black/red graveyard and protection hate creature.
- Role type: hate piece; lifegain/stabilization; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Has protection from black and red, exiles all black or red cards from all graveyards on entry, and exiles future black or red permanents, spells, or off-battlefield cards that would go to graveyard.
- Timing: Deploy early when black/red graveyard use, removal, or attackers matter; preserve if it blanks the opponent’s main colors.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}{W}; outputs a 2/2 protected body and continuous black/red graveyard replacement.
- Partners / packages: Graveyard pressure overlaps with Remorseful Cleric, Sungold Sentinel, Scavenger Grounds, and Rest in Peace.
- Role peers: Rest in Peace hits all graveyards and all cards; Sanctifier en-Vec is color-restricted but attacks and blocks with protection.
- Failure modes: Does little against nonblack, nonred cards; double-white can be strained by utility lands.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against Rakdos-style removal, red burn, black recursion, and graveyard plans using black or red cards.

#### Kytheon, Hero of Akros
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, aggressive one-drop and transform threat.
- Role type: threat/clock; protection/evasion; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Attacks as a 2/1, can gain indestructible for {2}{W}, and transforms after combat if Kytheon and at least two other creatures attacked.
- Timing: Deploy early when you can pressure; transform only when attacking with three creatures is safe or worth the planeswalker payoff.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana; indestructible activation consumes {2}{W}; transformed Gideon offers loyalty abilities.
- Mode map: Creature side is early pressure with indestructible activation; Gideon, Battle-Forged can force an opposing creature to attack Gideon, give a creature indestructible and untap it, or become a 4/4 indestructible planeswalker creature for the turn.
- Partners / packages: Works with Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Wedding Announcement, Castle Ardenvale, Brave the Elements, and Benevolent Bodyguard.
- Role peers: Guardian of New Benalia is a resilient two-drop; Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is a larger planeswalker finisher.
- Failure modes: Attacking three creatures into bad blocks just to transform can lose the board.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against slow decks; protect against red damage and cheap blockers.

#### Anointed Peacekeeper
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, hand-information tax creature.
- Role type: interaction-discard; hate piece; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Enters by looking at an opponent’s hand and choosing any card name; opponents’ spells and non-mana activated abilities with that name cost {2} more.
- Timing: Cast before the opponent’s key turn or after public information reveals the most important name.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana; outputs hand information, a 3/3 vigilance body, and name-based tax.
- Partners / packages: Naming plan overlaps with Elite Spellbinder, Curse of Silence, Disruptor Flute, Phyrexian Revoker, Runed Halo, and Gideon's Intervention.
- Role peers: Elite Spellbinder exiles and taxes one nonland card from hand; Anointed Peacekeeper can name any card and taxes activated abilities too.
- Failure modes: Naming a card the opponent no longer needs wastes the tax; it does not stop mana abilities.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Best against commander-centric decks, combo pieces, planeswalkers, and known removal or sweeper names.

#### Curse of Silence
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, cheap player-enchanting name tax.
- Role type: hate piece; interaction-stack; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Enchants a player, names a card, taxes spells with that name enchanted player casts by {2}, and may be sacrificed to draw when that player casts the named spell.
- Timing: Cast early when commander identity or revealed information gives a high-confidence name.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana; outputs name-based tax and optional future card draw.
- Partners / packages: Works with Anointed Peacekeeper, Elite Spellbinder, Disruptor Flute, Phyrexian Revoker, Runed Halo, and Gideon's Intervention.
- Role peers: Disruptor Flute has flash and taxes all spells with the chosen name by {3}; Curse of Silence affects only enchanted player and can cash into a card.
- Failure modes: Poor if the named card is never cast or the opponent can win through different names.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against commander-reliant decks, known combo payoffs, and hands exposed by Elite Spellbinder or Anointed Peacekeeper.

#### Runed Halo
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, personal protection naming enchantment.
- Role type: hate piece; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: As it enters, choose a card name; you have protection from the chosen card name, preventing targeting, damage, and being enchanted by sources with that name.
- Timing: Use when one known card is the primary damage, targeting, or aura threat to you.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}{W}; outputs protection for you, not for your creatures or planeswalkers unless the text specifically protects you.
- Partners / packages: Naming suite with Curse of Silence, Anointed Peacekeeper, Disruptor Flute, Phyrexian Revoker, and Gideon's Intervention.
- Role peers: Gideon's Intervention prevents damage to you and permanents you control and stops casting; Runed Halo is cheaper but narrower.
- Failure modes: Does not remove the permanent, stop attacks at planeswalkers, or protect creatures from removal.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against single-name burn, commander damage plans if the named source damages you, and target-player combo kills.

#### Charming Prince
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, flexible blink and selection creature.
- Role type: modal utility; card selection; lifegain/stabilization; engine piece.
- Deck-specific job: Enters choosing scry 2, gain 3 life, or exile another target creature you own and return it at the next end step.
- Timing: Use scry when missing land/action, life when racing, and blink when a creature’s enter trigger or removal dodge matters.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs a 2/2 body plus one of selection, life, or blink.
- Mode map: Scry 2 filters upcoming draws; gain 3 stabilizes races; blink resets another creature you own and returns it under your control at next end step.
- Partners / packages: Blink Blade Splicer, Elite Spellbinder, Skyclave Apparition, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Knight of the White Orchid, and Extraction Specialist.
- Role peers: Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and Flickerwisp blink with different timing; Charming Prince offers non-blink modes.
- Failure modes: Blink mode cannot target opposing creatures and removes your blocker until end step.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in attrition, races, and setup turns.

#### Moon-Blessed Cleric
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, enchantment tutor body.
- Role type: tutor/search; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Searches your library for an enchantment card, reveals it, shuffles, then puts it on top.
- Timing: Cast when the next draw can solve a known problem or set up a durable engine.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana; outputs a 3/2 body and a revealed enchantment placed on top rather than into hand.
- Partners / packages: Target map includes On Thin Ice, Ossification, Seam Rip, Static Prison, Touch the Spirit Realm, Sanctifier en-Vec, Curse of Silence, Runed Halo, Wedding Announcement, Hopeful Vigil, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, Deafening Silence, Hushbringer, and Gideon's Intervention.
- Role peers: Ranger of Eos finds up to two creatures with mana value 1 or less; Starfield Shepherd finds Plains or one creature with mana value 1 or less; Moon-Blessed Cleric finds enchantments only.
- Failure modes: Top-deck tutor is slow if you need the card immediately and have no draw before the opponent’s next turn.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent when On Thin Ice, Ossification, Seam Rip, Static Prison, Touch the Spirit Realm, Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, Deafening Silence, Runed Halo, Gideon's Intervention, or Wedding Announcement stabilizes the game.

#### Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, core hatebear and combat tax piece.
- Role type: hate piece; interaction-stack; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: First strike creature that makes noncreature spells cost {1} more for all players.
- Timing: Cast early against spell-heavy decks; delay if your own immediate plan needs multiple noncreature spells like Portable Hole plus Mana Tithe.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs first-strike pressure and symmetrical noncreature tax.
- Partners / packages: Stacks with Tithe Taker, Tax Collector, Elite Spellbinder, Anointed Peacekeeper, Curse of Silence, Mana Tithe, and Deafening Silence.
- Role peers: Deafening Silence limits noncreature spell count; Thalia taxes each noncreature spell and attacks.
- Failure modes: Taxes your own Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Wedding Announcement, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against control, combo, and big mana spell turns; weaker against creature-heavy aggro.

#### Aven Mindcensor
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, flash flyer and search hate.
- Role type: hate piece; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Opponents searching a library search only the top four cards instead.
- Timing: Flash in response to a search effect when possible; otherwise deploy if the opponent’s commander or revealed cards depend on tutoring or fetching.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana; outputs a 2/1 flying body and search restriction.
- Partners / packages: Pairs with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Elite Spellbinder, Anointed Peacekeeper, Disruptor Flute, and Mana Tithe to punish setup turns.
- Role peers: Opposition to search is unique in this list; Leonin-style effect is not otherwise present.
- Failure modes: Fragile body; low value if opponent is not searching.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: High impact against tutors, land search, library-search combo, and big-mana setup.

#### Tithe Taker
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, disruptive two-drop with death material.
- Role type: hate piece; threat/clock; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: During your turn, opponent spells and non-mana activated abilities cost {1} more; afterlife creates a 1/1 white and black Spirit with flying when it dies.
- Timing: Cast before attacking or committing key spells into open mana; it makes opponent interaction during your turn more awkward.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs a 2/1 body, your-turn tax, and a flying token on death.
- Partners / packages: Supports Phelia attacks, Maul of the Skyclaves turns, Palace Jailer defense, Staff of the Storyteller counters, and Guide of Souls triggers.
- Role peers: Thalia taxes noncreature spells at all times; Tax Collector can tax all opponent spells until next turn.
- Failure modes: Does little against tap-out creature decks or mana abilities.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against instant-speed removal, counterspells, and activated interaction during your turn.

#### Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, core scaling attacker and token engine.
- Role type: threat/clock; engine payoff.
- Deck-specific job: Vigilance threat with power equal to creatures you control, creating a tapped and attacking 1/1 Human for each opponent when you attack.
- Timing: Cast when you can attack soon or need a large vigilant body; protect if she is your best clock.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana including two white; outputs scaling power and attack tokens.
- Partners / packages: Tokens fuel Guide of Souls, Staff of the Storyteller, Wedding Announcement, Toby, Beastie Befriender, Shefet Dunes, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, and Brave the Elements.
- Role peers: Wedding Announcement and Castle Ardenvale build tokens slower; Adeline creates immediate attacking pressure.
- Failure modes: Power shrinks after sweepers or trades; tokens enter attacking and may be exposed in bad combat.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against control and midrange; risky into instant-speed removal before attacks.

#### Wedding Announcement
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, card/token engine and anthem transform.
- Role type: modal utility; engine piece; engine payoff.
- Deck-specific job: At end step, gains invitation counters, draws if you attacked with two or more creatures, otherwise creates a 1/1 Human, then transforms at three or more counters into Wedding Festivity giving creatures +1/+1.
- Timing: Cast when the board can either attack with two creatures or benefit from token production; it is slow when you need immediate removal.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana; outputs cards, tokens, and eventually a team anthem.
- Mode map: Wedding Announcement side alternates draw/token based on attacks; Wedding Festivity side is a static creature pump enchantment.
- Partners / packages: Works with Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Staff of the Storyteller, Guide of Souls, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Castle Ardenvale, Shefet Dunes, and Brave the Elements.
- Role peers: Staff of the Storyteller draws through token creation; Gideon, Ally of Zendikar can make tokens or an emblem.
- Failure modes: Too slow under immediate lethal pressure.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against removal-heavy decks and board stalls.

#### Maul of the Skyclaves
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, Equipment finisher and evasion converter.
- Role type: threat/clock; protection/evasion; reach/finisher.
- Deck-specific job: Enters attached to target creature you control; equipped creature gets +2/+2, flying, and first strike, with equip {2}{W}{W}.
- Timing: Deploy when a creature can safely attack or force a decisive race; avoid suiting up the only blocker unless lifegain or lethal math justifies it.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana; outputs immediate attachment and future equip option.
- Partners / packages: Best on Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Guardian of New Benalia, Blade Splicer’s Golem token, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar tokens.
- Role peers: Steel Seraph grants temporary flying/lifelink/vigilance; Guide of Souls grants flying with counters through energy.
- Failure modes: Removal in response to the enter attachment can waste tempo; equip cost is expensive under Thalia.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against ground stalls and control; weaker into bounce or instant removal.

#### Kabira Takedown
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, MDFC removal spell and tapped white mana source.
- Role type: modal utility; interaction-removal; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Spell side deals damage equal to the number of creatures you control to target creature or planeswalker; land side enters tapped and adds {W}.
- Timing: Play as Kabira Plateau when mana development matters; hold as Kabira Takedown when creature count will make it real removal.
- Inputs / outputs: Spell consumes {1}{W} and needs enough creatures; land side consumes land drop and enters tapped.
- Mode map: Kabira Takedown is creature-count-based damage to creature or planeswalker; Kabira Plateau is a tapped white source.
- Partners / packages: Damage grows with Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Wedding Announcement, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Castle Ardenvale, Blade Splicer, Overlord of the Mistmoors, and Hopeful Vigil.
- Role peers: Swords to Plowshares exiles any creature cheaply; Kabira Takedown can hit planeswalkers but depends on board size.
- Failure modes: Bad as removal after a sweeper or when creature count is low.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in go-wide games; play as land when missing early white mana.

#### Cloudshift
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, one-mana instant self-blink.
- Role type: protection/evasion; engine piece.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles target creature you control, then returns that card to the battlefield under your control.
- Timing: Hold for removal, combat blowouts, or a high-value enters trigger; use proactively only when the rebuy is worth a card.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana and a creature target you control; outputs zone reset, enters trigger, and dodged targeted effects.
- Partners / packages: Reuses Blade Splicer, Elite Spellbinder, Skyclave Apparition, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Charming Prince, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Knight of the White Orchid, and Extraction Specialist.
- Role peers: Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and Flickerwisp blink with bodies; Cloudshift is cheaper and instant but card-negative without value.
- Failure modes: Cannot target noncreatures or opposing creatures; blinking a creature can remove it from combat.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Best against spot removal, combat tricks, and attrition games with strong enter triggers.

#### Brave the Elements
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, team protection and lethal enabler.
- Role type: protection/evasion; reach/finisher.
- Deck-specific job: Chooses a color; white creatures you control gain protection from that color until end of turn.
- Timing: Use to counter colored removal, win combat, force lethal through blockers of one color, or prevent lethal damage to white creatures.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana; outputs color protection for white creatures only.
- Partners / packages: Protects Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Skyclave Apparition, Palace Jailer, Gideon tokens, Wedding Announcement tokens, and Castle Ardenvale tokens.
- Role peers: Benevolent Bodyguard protects one creature; Selfless Spirit grants indestructible to creatures; Brave the Elements also creates evasion against the chosen color.
- Failure modes: Does not protect nonwhite creatures such as Blade Splicer’s colorless Golem token, Mishra's Factory when animated, or Steel Seraph if full-cast colorless.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against mono-color creature boards, damage removal, and lethal alpha turns.

#### Giant Killer
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, one-drop utility creature with removal Adventure.
- Role type: modal utility; interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Creature side taps target creature for {1}{W}, {T}; Adventure side Chop Down destroys target creature with power 4 or greater.
- Timing: Cast Chop Down when a large creature must die; cast Giant Killer when repeat tapping will manage combat.
- Inputs / outputs: Creature consumes white mana and future activation mana/tap; Adventure consumes {2}{W}, then exiles the card so Giant Killer can be cast later.
- Mode map: Chop Down is instant removal for power 4+ creatures; Giant Killer is a 1/2 body with repeat tap ability.
- Partners / packages: Ranger of Eos and Starfield Shepherd can find Giant Killer; removal plan overlaps with Swords to Plowshares, Solitude, Parting Gust, and Skyclave Apparition.
- Role peers: Swords to Plowshares is cheaper exile; Giant Killer offers repeat tap after Adventure.
- Failure modes: Chop Down cannot hit low-power utility creatures; tap ability requires Giant Killer to survive and tap.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against large commanders, big creatures, and single-threat boards.

#### Cathar Commando
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, flash body and artifact/enchantment removal.
- Role type: interaction-removal; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Flash 3/1 that can pay {1} and sacrifice itself to destroy target artifact or enchantment.
- Timing: Flash as ambush pressure or hold when a visible artifact/enchantment engine is likely; sacrifice only for meaningful targets.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; activated ability consumes {1} and Cathar Commando.
- Partners / packages: Removal overlap with Curious Farm Animals, Loran of the Third Path, March of Otherworldly Light, Skyclave Apparition, Touch the Spirit Realm, and Seam Rip.
- Role peers: Loran destroys on entry and has draw text; Cathar Commando is cheaper and flash-speed.
- Failure modes: Sacrificing removes a 3-power attacker; cannot destroy creatures or planeswalkers.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against equipment, artifact engines, enchantment locks, and control end-step pressure.

#### Thraben Inspector
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, one-mana material creature.
- Role type: card selection; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Enters and investigates, creating a Clue token with {2}, sacrifice: draw a card.
- Timing: Cast early to develop board and bank a future card; crack Clue when mana is not needed for removal, protection, or commander pressure.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana; outputs a 1/2 body and a Clue requiring {2} and sacrifice to draw.
- Partners / packages: Rebuy with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Charming Prince, Flickerwisp, and Cloudshift; fuels Staff of the Storyteller only indirectly through creature bodies, not token creation from investigate? It creates a Clue artifact token, which can add story counters when Staff is already watching token creation.
- Role peers: Novice Inspector is nearly identical in this deck; Hopeful Vigil makes a larger creature token instead of a Clue.
- Failure modes: Spending two mana on Clue too early can miss tempo or interaction windows.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in grindy games and opening hands needing early material.

#### Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, planeswalker finisher and board engine.
- Role type: engine payoff; threat/clock; reach/finisher.
- Deck-specific job: Makes 2/2 Knight Ally tokens, becomes a 5/5 indestructible attacker for the turn, or creates an emblem giving creatures you control +1/+1.
- Timing: Cast when you can defend Gideon or immediately convert him into a board swing; emblem when a wide board makes permanent pump better than continued loyalty.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes four mana; outputs tokens, a temporary 5/5 attacker, or permanent emblem.
- Mode map: +1 attacks as Gideon with damage prevention; 0 makes a token; -4 makes a team anthem emblem.
- Partners / packages: Works with Wedding Announcement, Staff of the Storyteller, Guide of Souls, Shefet Dunes, Brave the Elements, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, and Castle Ardenvale.
- Role peers: Wedding Announcement is slower anthem/card engine; Shefet Dunes is one-shot pump.
- Failure modes: Tapping out into a board that kills Gideon immediately can waste the closer.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against control, attrition, and stalled boards.

#### Knight of the White Orchid
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, double-white first striker and conditional ramp.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: When it enters, if an opponent controls more lands than you, you may search for a Plains card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
- Timing: Maximize when behind on land count; do not delay a stronger play just to force the trigger unless mana is the bottleneck.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}{W}; outputs a 2/2 first striker and possibly Plains or Idyllic Grange, because both are Plains cards in this deck.
- Partners / packages: Blink with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Charming Prince, Flickerwisp, or Cloudshift if the land-count condition remains true.
- Role peers: Starfield Shepherd finds Plains to hand; Knight puts Plains onto battlefield conditionally.
- Failure modes: Double-white can be awkward with Mishra's Factory, Scavenger Grounds, and Shefet Dunes.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong on the draw and in games where commander tax or four-drops matter.

#### Phyrexian Revoker
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, activated-ability hate creature.
- Role type: hate piece.
- Deck-specific job: As it enters, choose a nonland card name; activated abilities of sources with that name cannot be activated.
- Timing: Deploy when a visible commander, planeswalker, artifact, creature, or known source has a crucial non-mana activated ability.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two generic mana; outputs a 2/1 artifact creature and name-based activated ability lock.
- Partners / packages: Naming suite with Disruptor Flute, Anointed Peacekeeper, Curse of Silence, Runed Halo, and Gideon's Intervention.
- Role peers: Disruptor Flute also stops non-mana activated abilities of the chosen name and taxes spells; Revoker is a body but cannot name lands.
- Failure modes: Does not stop triggered abilities, static abilities, or mana abilities.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against planeswalkers, equipment activations, combo artifacts, and activated commanders.

#### Idyllic Grange
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, Plains mana resource with counter upside.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; role glue.
- Deck-specific job: Adds {W}; enters tapped unless you control three or more other Plains, and if it enters untapped puts a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
- Timing: Play later when three other Plains are present if the counter matters; play early tapped only when mana curve allows.
- Inputs / outputs: Produces white mana; can output one +1/+1 counter on a legal creature you control.
- Partners / packages: Works with early Plains, Knight of the White Orchid, Starfield Shepherd, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, and evasive carriers from Maul of the Skyclaves or Steel Seraph.
- Role peers: Plains is untapped reliable white; Shefet Dunes provides pump but costs life or sacrifice.
- Failure modes: Early tapped entry can delay one-mana interaction or double-white spells.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Better in slower games where a counter improves combat or protects a key creature from damage.

#### Sunpearl Kirin
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, flash flyer and self-bounce value piece.
- Role type: modal utility; threat/clock; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Flash flying 2/1 that returns up to one other target nonland permanent you control to its owner’s hand; if it was a token, draw a card.
- Timing: Use to save a nonland permanent from removal, reset an enters permanent by recasting later, or cash a token into a card when tempo permits.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs a flyer and optional bounce of your nonland permanent, with card draw if the bounced permanent was a token.
- Mode map: Cast as flash threat with no target, rescue/bounce a nonland permanent you control, or bounce your token to draw a card.
- Partners / packages: Can pick up Portable Hole, Seam Rip, Static Prison, Hopeful Vigil, Blade Splicer’s Golem token, Staff of the Storyteller Spirit token, and Wedding Announcement Human tokens.
- Role peers: Cloudshift saves creatures without returning to hand; Sunpearl Kirin handles nonland permanents you control.
- Failure modes: Returning containment enchantments/artifacts releases exiled opposing cards.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong versus removal and when token-to-card conversion matters.

#### Remorseful Cleric
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, flying graveyard hate creature.
- Role type: hate piece; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: 2/1 flyer that sacrifices to exile target player’s graveyard.
- Timing: Attack until a graveyard window matters; sacrifice in response to recursion, escape, flashback setup, or before a graveyard payoff can be used.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs flying pressure and a one-shot target-player graveyard exile.
- Partners / packages: Graveyard hate with Scavenger Grounds, Sanctifier en-Vec, Sungold Sentinel, and Rest in Peace.
- Role peers: Scavenger Grounds exiles all graveyards with mana and Desert sacrifice; Remorseful Cleric hits one target player and attacks.
- Failure modes: Sacrificing too early can miss the real target window; exiling your own graveyard can hurt Extraction Specialist and Pre-War Formalwear if you target yourself.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against graveyard decks, flashback, escape, delve, and reanimation.

#### Guardian of New Benalia
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, resilient attacker and discard outlet.
- Role type: threat/clock; discard outlet; protection/evasion; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Enlists a nonattacking creature to add power and scry 2, and can discard a card to gain indestructible until end of turn and tap.
- Timing: Attack when enlist improves damage without sacrificing necessary blockers; discard for indestructible only when preserving Guardian matters.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes attack step, possible enlist tap, and discarded cards; outputs scry 2 and indestructible protection.
- Partners / packages: Enlist with Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Castle Ardenvale tokens, Wedding Announcement tokens, and Gideon tokens when those bodies are not needed to block.
- Role peers: Kytheon, Hero of Akros also has indestructible access; Guardian filters draws through enlist.
- Failure modes: Discarding premium removal or protection to save a replaceable 2/2 is costly.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against sorcery removal and ground stalls; weaker against exile, bounce, and edicts.

#### Selfless Spirit
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, flying protection creature.
- Role type: protection/evasion; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: 2/1 flyer that sacrifices to give creatures you control indestructible until end of turn.
- Timing: Deploy before sweepers or damage-based combat; sacrifice only for destruction, lethal combat, or preserving a decisive board.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes Selfless Spirit; outputs team indestructible for your creatures.
- Partners / packages: Protects Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Palace Jailer, Blade Splicer’s board, Wedding Announcement tokens, Gideon tokens, and hate creatures.
- Role peers: Benevolent Bodyguard protects one creature from a color; Brave the Elements protects white creatures from a color; Selfless Spirit protects against destruction but not exile or sacrifice.
- Failure modes: Does not save planeswalkers, artifacts without creature status, enchantments, or creatures from -X/-X/exile/edict effects.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against sweepers, red damage sweep, and combat damage.

#### Spirit of the Labyrinth
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, card-draw hatebear.
- Role type: hate piece; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Each player cannot draw more than one card each turn.
- Timing: Deploy when the opponent relies on extra draws more than you do; sequence your Clue, Staff, Wedding Announcement, and monarch draw carefully around it.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs a 3/1 enchantment creature and symmetrical draw restriction.
- Partners / packages: Pairs with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Deafening Silence, Elite Spellbinder, and Anointed Peacekeeper against spell-heavy decks.
- Role peers: Deafening Silence limits noncreature spells, not draws; Spirit attacks card velocity.
- Failure modes: Can shut off your Staff of the Storyteller, Thraben Inspector Clue, Novice Inspector Clue, Palace Jailer monarch, and Wedding Announcement extra draw if used carelessly in the same turn.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against cantrip-heavy control, combo, and draw engines.

#### Novice Inspector
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, one-mana material creature.
- Role type: card selection; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Enters and investigates, creating a Clue token with {2}, sacrifice: draw a card.
- Timing: Cast early to create board presence and future card access; crack Clue when tempo and interaction windows allow.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana; outputs a 1/2 body and one Clue token.
- Partners / packages: Rebuy with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Charming Prince, Flickerwisp, and Cloudshift; supports Guide of Souls, Staff of the Storyteller, Wedding Announcement, and Shefet Dunes through body/token texture.
- Role peers: Thraben Inspector is the closest direct peer; both are Ranger of Eos and Starfield Shepherd targets.
- Failure modes: Clue activation can be too slow under pressure; Stony Silence stops Clue activation.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good opening play in unknown matchups and strong in attrition.

#### Leonardo, Big Brother
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, scaling attacker with Sneak access.
- Role type: modal utility; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Can be cast normally for {2}{W}, or Sneak for {W} during declare blockers by returning an unblocked attacker you control to hand; gets +1/+0 for each other creature you control.
- Timing: Normal-cast when board size makes it a large threat; Sneak when returning an unblocked attacker is worth surprise tapped-and-attacking pressure or replay value.
- Inputs / outputs: Normal cast consumes three mana; Sneak consumes one white mana and bounces an unblocked attacker you control.
- Mode map: Normal cast gives a stable scaling body; Sneak is a combat-timing alternate cast that returns an unblocked attacker and puts Leonardo tapped and attacking.
- Partners / packages: Sneak can return Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Elite Spellbinder, Blade Splicer, Charming Prince, and other enter-trigger creatures.
- Role peers: Adeline, Resplendent Cathar also scales with creatures; Leonardo converts existing board count into power.
- Failure modes: Sneak can remove damage from the returned attacker or lose an important attack trigger/body.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in wide boards and against tapped-out opponents.

#### Cave of the Frost Dragon
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, white mana resource and evasive creature land.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; threat/clock; reach/finisher.
- Deck-specific job: Adds {W}; if you control two or more other lands it enters tapped; for {4}{W} becomes a 3/4 white Dragon creature with flying until end of turn.
- Timing: Play early only if tapped entry will not cost a key spell; animate late for evasive pressure or planeswalker attacks.
- Inputs / outputs: Produces white mana; animation consumes five mana including one white.
- Partners / packages: Finishes alongside Mishra's Factory, Castle Ardenvale, Shefet Dunes, Maul of the Skyclaves, Steel Seraph, Brave the Elements, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.
- Role peers: Mishra's Factory animates cheaper but is smaller and not evasive; Castle Ardenvale makes tokens instead of risking itself in combat.
- Failure modes: Animation into removal can lose a land; tapped entry can delay early interaction.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong post-sweeper and against control; risky against instant-speed removal.

#### Castle Ardenvale
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, white mana resource and token mana sink.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; engine piece; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Adds {W}, enters tapped unless you control a Plains, and can create a 1/1 white Human creature token for {2}{W}{W}, {T}.
- Timing: Play after Plains when possible; activate late when holding interaction is less important than adding material.
- Inputs / outputs: Produces white mana; token ability consumes four mana and tap access.
- Partners / packages: Tokens fuel Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Staff of the Storyteller, Guide of Souls, Toby, Beastie Befriender, Wedding Announcement, Shefet Dunes, and Brave the Elements.
- Role peers: Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Wedding Announcement make repeat bodies; Castle Ardenvale is land-based and resilient to discard.
- Failure modes: Early tapped entry without Plains can cost tempo; activation is expensive.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent in flood, post-sweeper games, and attrition mirrors.

#### Hopeful Vigil
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, token enchantment and sacrifice-selection role player.
- Role type: engine fuel/material; card selection; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Enters creating a 2/2 white Knight creature token with vigilance, scries 2 when put into a graveyard from battlefield, and can sacrifice itself for {2}{W}.
- Timing: Cast early for a vigilant body; sacrifice when scry 2 is worth the mana or when you need an enchantment to leave.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs a vigilant token and later scry 2 if the enchantment goes to graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Token works with Guide of Souls, Staff of the Storyteller, Toby, Beastie Befriender, Shefet Dunes, Brave the Elements, and Wedding Announcement.
- Role peers: Blade Splicer makes a larger first-strike Golem package; Hopeful Vigil leaves a scry trigger when the enchantment dies.
- Failure modes: The token is separate from the enchantment; removing the token does not trigger scry.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Solid against aggro and midrange where vigilance helps offense and defense.

#### Sungold Sentinel
- Deck role: main deck, 1 copy, graveyard pressure attacker with coven evasion.
- Role type: hate piece; threat/clock; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles up to one target card from a graveyard whenever it enters or attacks; coven lets it gain hexproof from a chosen color and become unblockable by creatures of that color if you control three different powers.
- Timing: Cast or attack to pick off relevant graveyard cards; activate coven when it forces damage or dodges targeted removal.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs graveyard card exile on enter/attack; coven activation consumes {1}{W}.
- Partners / packages: Different powers from Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Blade Splicer’s Golem token, Guardian of New Benalia, and tokens enable coven.
- Role peers: Remorseful Cleric exiles an entire target player graveyard once; Sungold Sentinel chips exact cards repeatedly.
- Failure modes: Targeted player does not choose; you target the graveyard card. Coven fails without three different powers.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against recursive threats, flashback, escape, and graveyard setup while keeping pressure.

#### Plains
- Deck role: main deck, 33 copies, primary mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provides the reliable {W} base for a white-heavy curve, including double-white cards and commander recasts.
- Timing: Prioritize early Plains over Mishra's Factory, Scavenger Grounds, Shefet Dunes, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Castle Ardenvale, and Kabira Takedown when one-mana interaction or double-white spells matter.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {W}; supports On Thin Ice only if the rules engine treats a permanent as snow, but Card Reference lists ordinary Plains.
- Partners / packages: Enables Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Brave the Elements, Swords to Plowshares, and Mana Tithe.
- Role peers: Idyllic Grange and Castle Ardenvale also produce {W}; Plains is untapped and basic.
- Failure modes: Flooding on Plains without Castle Ardenvale, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Mishra's Factory, Shefet Dunes, or engines can stall pressure.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Keep hands with Plains plus early action; ship utility-heavy hands that cannot cast white spells.

#### Rest in Peace
- Deck role: sideboard, 1 copy, graveyard hate bullet.
- Role type: hate piece; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles all graveyards on entry and exiles any card or token that would go to a graveyard from anywhere.
- Timing: Bring in and cast before the opponent converts graveyard resources; prioritize over your own recursion if their graveyard plan is stronger.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs global graveyard exile and replacement.
- Partners / packages: Overlaps with Scavenger Grounds, Remorseful Cleric, Sanctifier en-Vec, and Sungold Sentinel.
- Role peers: Scavenger Grounds is one-shot all-graveyard exile; Rest in Peace is continuous but noncreature and symmetrical.
- Failure modes: Shuts off Extraction Specialist, Pre-War Formalwear, your own death-to-graveyard value, and some graveyard targets.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against reanimation, delve, escape, flashback, graveyard-count threats, and graveyard recursion.

#### Stony Silence
- Deck role: sideboard, 1 copy, activated-artifact hate bullet.
- Role type: hate piece; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Stops activated abilities of artifacts from being activated.
- Timing: Cast before artifact mana, Equipment, or artifact engines can take over; avoid when your own artifacts matter more.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs symmetrical artifact activated-ability lock.
- Partners / packages: Affects your Staff of the Storyteller, Pre-War Formalwear equip, Clue tokens from Thraben Inspector and Novice Inspector, Portable Hole only minimally because it has no activated ability, and Mishra's Factory only while it is an artifact creature after animation.
- Role peers: Phyrexian Revoker and Disruptor Flute stop named sources; Stony Silence broadly hits artifacts.
- Failure modes: Can disable your own card draw and Equipment plan.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against artifact mana, artifact combo, activated artifact value, and equipment engines.

#### Deafening Silence
- Deck role: sideboard, 1 copy, spell-chain hate bullet.
- Role type: hate piece; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Each player cannot cast more than one noncreature spell each turn.
- Timing: Cast before combo or control can chain spells; sequence your own noncreature spells carefully afterward.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana; outputs symmetrical noncreature spell-count restriction.
- Partners / packages: Stacks with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Mana Tithe, Elite Spellbinder, Anointed Peacekeeper, Curse of Silence, and Tithe Taker.
- Role peers: Thalia taxes noncreature spells but does not limit count; Deafening Silence restricts count but not cost.
- Failure modes: Can slow your own Swords to Plowshares, Portable Hole, Wedding Announcement, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, and Staff of the Storyteller turns.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against storm-like turns, spell-chain combo, cascade-style sequencing if rules apply, and noncreature-heavy control.

#### Burrenton Forge-Tender
- Deck role: sideboard, 1 copy, red-damage protection bullet and Ranger target.
- Role type: sideboard bullet; protection/evasion; lifegain/stabilization.
- Deck-specific job: Protection from red, and can sacrifice to prevent all damage a red source of your choice would deal this turn.
- Timing: Deploy before red damage removal or sweepers; sacrifice only when a red source would kill a key permanent, board, or you.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes one white mana; sacrifice prevents damage from one chosen red source for the turn.
- Partners / packages: Ranger of Eos and Starfield Shepherd can find it; protects Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Palace Jailer, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, and Maul of the Skyclaves carriers from red damage.
- Role peers: Sanctifier en-Vec has protection from red and black but does not prevent damage to others.
- Failure modes: Does nothing against exile, bounce, black removal, white exile, or nonred sweepers.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against red aggro, red sweepers, red commanders, and burn-heavy decks.

#### Hushbringer
- Deck role: sideboard, 1 copy, trigger-hate flying lifelinker.
- Role type: hate piece; sideboard bullet; lifegain/stabilization.
- Deck-specific job: Flying lifelink creature that stops creatures entering or dying from causing abilities to trigger.
- Timing: Bring in only when opposing enter/die triggers matter more than your own; cast before the trigger engine starts.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana; outputs 1/2 flying lifelink and symmetrical creature enter/death trigger suppression.
- Partners / packages: Conflicts with Blade Splicer, Elite Spellbinder, Extraction Specialist, Flickerwisp, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Skyclave Apparition, Charming Prince, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Knight of the White Orchid, and Loran of the Third Path.
- Role peers: Containment Priest attacks noncast creature entry; Hushbringer stops triggers but not the creature entering.
- Failure modes: Can blank your own Phelia blink-value plan and recovery tools.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against aristocrats, opposing blink, and creature-trigger engines where the opponent’s trigger value is decisive.

#### Council's Judgment
- Deck role: sideboard, 1 copy, universal sorcery-speed answer.
- Role type: interaction-removal; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Starting with you, each player votes for a nonland permanent you do not control; exiles each permanent with the most votes or tied for most votes.
- Timing: Use when narrower removal cannot answer the permanent, especially resilient, protected, or noncreature threats.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}{W} at sorcery speed; outputs vote-based exile of nonland permanent(s) you do not control.
- Partners / packages: Complements Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Skyclave Apparition, Static Prison, Celestial Purge, and Solitude.
- Role peers: Static Prison is cheaper but temporary; Council's Judgment can answer planeswalkers, enchantments, artifacts, and protected permanents if vote rules allow.
- Failure modes: Sorcery speed can be too slow against lethal attackers or stack-based combo.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against sticky permanents, planeswalkers, single-threat decks, and targets that dodge color or target restrictions.

#### Celestial Purge
- Deck role: sideboard, 1 copy, black/red permanent exile bullet.
- Role type: interaction-removal; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Exiles target black or red permanent.
- Timing: Hold for the black or red permanent that compounds value, threatens lethal, or dodges your cheaper answers.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}; outputs instant-speed exile of a legal black or red permanent.
- Partners / packages: Complements Sanctifier en-Vec, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Council's Judgment, and Solitude.
- Role peers: Swords to Plowshares hits creatures of any color; Celestial Purge hits black or red permanents including noncreatures.
- Failure modes: Dead against white, blue, green, artifact, or colorless permanents unless they are also black or red.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against black/red commanders, planeswalkers, creatures, enchantments, and burn permanents.

#### Gideon's Intervention
- Deck role: sideboard, 1 copy, named-card lock and damage prevention bullet.
- Role type: hate piece; sideboard bullet; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: As it enters, choose a card name; opponents cannot cast spells with that name, and damage from sources with that name to you or permanents you control is prevented.
- Timing: Cast after commander identity, revealed hand, graveyard, stack history, or repeated actions identify the decisive name.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes four mana; outputs cast prevention and damage prevention for one chosen name.
- Partners / packages: Naming suite with Runed Halo, Curse of Silence, Anointed Peacekeeper, Disruptor Flute, and Phyrexian Revoker.
- Role peers: Runed Halo protects only you; Gideon's Intervention protects you and permanents from damage and stops casting.
- Failure modes: Too slow against wide threats and poor if you name the wrong card.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against commander-centric decks, known combo payoffs, repeated burn names, and single-card dependency.

#### Loran of the Third Path
- Deck role: sideboard, 1 copy, artifact/enchantment removal body.
- Role type: interaction-removal; sideboard bullet; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Vigilance 2/1 that destroys up to one target artifact or enchantment on entry, and can tap for you and target opponent to each draw a card.
- Timing: Cast when a meaningful artifact or enchantment target exists; use draw ability only when symmetrical cards favor you.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana; outputs a body, artifact/enchantment destruction, and optional symmetrical card draw.
- Partners / packages: Blink with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, Charming Prince, and Cloudshift for repeated removal if Hushbringer is not active.
- Role peers: Cathar Commando and Curious Farm Animals sacrifice to destroy artifact/enchantment; Loran destroys on entry.
- Failure modes: Drawing both players can help the opponent more; Hushbringer stops Loran’s enter trigger.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against artifact engines, enchantment engines, equipment, and lock pieces.

#### Solitude
- Deck role: sideboard, 1 copy, instant-speed creature exile bullet.
- Role type: interaction-removal; lifegain/stabilization; sideboard bullet; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Flash lifelink creature that exiles up to one other target creature on entry; that creature’s controller gains life equal to its power. Evoke by exiling a white card from hand.
- Timing: Hard-cast when body plus exile matters; evoke only when immediate exile is worth card disadvantage.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {3}{W}{W} or exiles a white card for evoke; outputs creature exile and possible 3/2 lifelink body.
- Mode map: Normal cast gives flash body and enter exile; Evoke is alternate cost for urgent exile, then Solitude is sacrificed by evoke rules after entering.
- Partners / packages: White cards to pitch include redundant Plains-independent white spells only when the target would decide the game; recursion with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd or blink can reuse Solitude if it remains.
- Role peers: Swords to Plowshares is cheaper creature exile; Solitude adds flash body or free emergency mode.
- Failure modes: Life gain can matter in races, and pitching a key hate card can lose the matchup.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Bring against creature commanders, large attackers, must-answer combo creatures, and fast creature decks.

## Interaction Priorities
- Priority: spend Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, On Thin Ice, Ossification, Portable Hole, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, Giant Killer, Kabira Takedown, and Touch the Spirit Realm on the permanent that currently beats your board, enables a combo, or stops Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd from attacking. Do not conserve premium removal for theoretical hidden cards when the visible threat represents lethal, commander snowballing, or a protected engine.

- Priority: use Mana Tithe as a tempo counter when the opponent taps low for a commander, sweeper, planeswalker, combo piece, or removal spell aimed at Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Palace Jailer, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Staff of the Storyteller, or a decisive hate permanent. Let low-impact cantrips, redundant blockers, or spells that do not change combat pass unless countering them preserves monarch, lethal pressure, or a lock piece.

- Priority: use Anointed Peacekeeper, Elite Spellbinder, Curse of Silence, Disruptor Flute, Phyrexian Revoker, and Runed Halo on cards identified by commander identity, revealed hand, stack history, activated ability use, graveyard, or visible battlefield. Do not name hidden format staples from memory; if no exact public card is known, choose the visible commander or the public permanent/action that is already constraining the game.

- Priority: treat Skyclave Apparition, Palace Jailer, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Ossification, and Static Prison as containment effects that can be undone by removal or blink. Prefer Swords to Plowshares or March of Otherworldly Light for threats that must not return, and prefer Skyclave Apparition when Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, Cloudshift, or Charming Prince can reuse the effect without exposing lethal risk. Card text check required for Static Prison before relying on duration or payment details.

- Priority: preserve Containment Priest, Aven Mindcensor, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Sanctifier en-Vec, Remorseful Cleric, Sungold Sentinel, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tithe Taker, and Tax Collector when their text attacks the opponent's visible plan. Against graveyard or recursion decks, hold Remorseful Cleric or Scavenger Grounds until the opponent commits the graveyard resource; against search or spell-chain decks, value Aven Mindcensor, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Deafening Silence, and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben above marginal attackers.

- Priority: ignore small creatures that cannot profitably attack through Blade Splicer tokens, Curious Farm Animals bodies, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar pressure, Steel Seraph lifelink/evasion lines, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar tokens, Castle Ardenvale tokens, or Mishra's Factory blocks. Remove enablers, lords, equipment carriers, sacrifice outlets, planeswalkers, and evasive attackers before spending removal on ground creatures that are already contained.

- Priority: bait removal with Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Guardian of New Benalia, Knight of the White Orchid, Wedding Announcement, Hopeful Vigil, or token bodies before committing Maul of the Skyclaves, Pre-War Formalwear, Palace Jailer, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Steel Seraph, or Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. Card text check required for Curious Farm Animals, Starfield Shepherd, Sunpearl Kirin, Leonardo, Big Brother, Toby, Beastie Befriender, and Overlord of the Mistmoors before treating them as specific engines.

## Combat And Trading Rules
- Attack: make Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd attacks when the legal attack is safe enough to blink a high-impact target or when commander damage/tempo matters more than keeping Phelia back. Decline attacks into visible profitable blocks, first-strike blowouts, or open removal unless Brave the Elements, Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, Cloudshift, Touch the Spirit Realm, or a favorable trade protects the plan.

- Attack: pressure planeswalkers and monarch access before life total when the opponent can convert an unchecked permanent into more cards than your board can absorb. Palace Jailer should attack or be defended only when keeping monarch is plausible; if the opponent has evasive attackers or wide pressure, delay Palace Jailer or pair it with removal and blockers.

- Attack: use Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Wedding Announcement, Staff of the Storyteller, Blade Splicer, Toby, Beastie Befriender, Castle Ardenvale, Mishra's Factory, Cave of the Frost Dragon, and Shefet Dunes to widen pressure when the opponent is answering one card at a time. Do not animate Mishra's Factory or Cave of the Frost Dragon into open removal when losing the land would cut off double-white spells or commander tax payments.

- Block: trade expendable bodies from Blade Splicer, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Hopeful Vigil, Wedding Announcement, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Castle Ardenvale, or Staff of the Storyteller before trading Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Containment Priest, Aven Mindcensor, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Sanctifier en-Vec, or other live hate creatures. Preserve creatures that unlock Phelia blink value or shut off the opponent's current resource engine.

- Block: protect life total aggressively once visible attacks put you below roughly eight life, or below a two-turn clock from known attackers and creature lands. Trade down if needed against aggro; against control, accept more damage to preserve pressure; against combo, block only when life is the limiting resource and keep disruptive creatures alive when their text is the real defense.

- Protection: use Brave the Elements, Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, Cloudshift, and Touch the Spirit Realm to save a creature only when the protected permanent is decisive or the same spell also wins combat. Do not spend protection on a low-impact creature if the opponent still has visible lethal pressure or a more important removal target pending.

- Equipment: attach Maul of the Skyclaves or Pre-War Formalwear to a creature that can attack immediately, survive common visible blocks, or force a race the opponent cannot ignore. Avoid suiting up the only necessary blocker unless lifelink, evasion, or lethal pressure changes the race; Card text check required for Pre-War Formalwear before relying on recursion or stat details.

- Trades: take even trades when ahead on cards or monarch, and avoid even trades when Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd can blink the creature for repeat value. Against creature decks, prioritize stabilizing trades; against removal-heavy decks, keep redundant bodies for post-sweeper pressure; against combo, trade combat value for clock only after disruption is deployed.

## Selection And Tutor Rules
- Sequence: make the land-drop decision after all available visible selection that can change the land choice, unless delaying the land would prevent casting the selection spell or expose a required land to discard. Use Charming Prince scry, Thraben Inspector or Novice Inspector Clue cracking, Staff of the Storyteller draws, Wedding Announcement draws, and any legal clue/card-draw action before choosing between Plains, Castle Ardenvale, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Mishra's Factory, Scavenger Grounds, Shefet Dunes, Idyllic Grange, or Kabira Takedown when mana and timing permit.

- Tutor: use Ranger of Eos to find one-mana creatures that match the current problem, not generic value. Prioritize Benevolent Bodyguard or Selfless Spirit-style protection when a key permanent is carrying the game, Giant Killer when a large creature is the visible blocker or attacker, Kytheon, Hero of Akros when the board can attack, Thraben Inspector or Novice Inspector when cards are scarce, and Guide of Souls only when its visible text and available mana support the current line. Card text check required for Guide of Souls before treating it as an engine.

- Tutor: use Moon-Blessed Cleric to place the enchantment that fixes the next turn cycle. Find On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, or Touch the Spirit Realm when a visible threat must be answered; find Wedding Announcement, Hopeful Vigil, Staff of the Storyteller, or Runed Halo when the matchup is about endurance, board growth, or a known named threat. Card text check required for Static Prison and Hopeful Vigil before relying on exact duration, cost, or token details.

- Search: use Knight of the White Orchid only when the visible land-count condition is legal and the extra Plains improves the current turn or commander-tax future. If the hand already curves out and the opponent is under pressure, do not delay a stronger board play just to enable the search.

- Bottom: bottom extra lands once a stable four to five mana plus command-zone access is present, unless Castle Ardenvale, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Scavenger Grounds, or Shefet Dunes is needed for the known matchup texture. Bottom redundant small creatures when the board already has pressure and a payoff is needed; keep cheap bodies when Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Staff of the Storyteller, Wedding Announcement, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, or Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd needs material.

- Blink selection: choose Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, Cloudshift, Charming Prince, and Touch the Spirit Realm targets based on the legal target list and the visible payoff. Reuse Skyclave Apparition, Elite Spellbinder, Palace Jailer, Blade Splicer, Ranger of Eos, Moon-Blessed Cleric, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Knight of the White Orchid, or Extraction Specialist when the repeated trigger matters more than preserving a blocker. Card text check required for Extraction Specialist before relying on exact recursion restrictions.

## Priority And Stack Rules
- Priority: spend instant-speed removal only on threats that matter before the next legal answer window. Use Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Parting Gust, Kabira Takedown, Portable Hole timing if legal, On Thin Ice timing if legal, and Giant Killer adventure or ability according to the rules-engine action text; do not fire them into low-value creatures already contained by blockers.

- Stack: use Mana Tithe when the opponent is tapped low and the spell meaningfully changes the game, such as a sweeper, planeswalker, combo piece, commander, or answer to Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Palace Jailer, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Staff of the Storyteller, or a hate permanent. Let replaceable creatures, small cantrips, and nonlethal setup resolve when Mana Tithe is unlikely to matter later only if the rules engine still offers a stronger line.

- Protection: respond with Benevolent Bodyguard, Brave the Elements, Selfless Spirit, Cloudshift, Touch the Spirit Realm, or Flickerwisp only when the protected permanent is strategically decisive or the same response creates a tempo swing. Preserve protection for Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Containment Priest, Aven Mindcensor, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Palace Jailer, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Maul of the Skyclaves carrier, or a lethal attacker over expendable tokens.

- Optional payments: accept optional payments only when the mana cannot be used for higher-impact actions in the same turn cycle. Decline optional value if it prevents holding Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Mana Tithe, Brave the Elements, Cloudshift, Cathar Commando, Remorseful Cleric, Scavenger Grounds, Castle Ardenvale, Cave of the Frost Dragon, or commander recast mana.

- Activated abilities: hold Cathar Commando, Remorseful Cleric, Scavenger Grounds, Phyrexian Revoker, Disruptor Flute, Giant Killer, Castle Ardenvale, Mishra's Factory, Cave of the Frost Dragon, and Shefet Dunes until the visible timing creates value. Use graveyard exile in response to a target, recursion spell, flashback-like action, or lethal graveyard setup; do not cash it in against an empty or irrelevant graveyard.

- Hate timing: deploy or activate Containment Priest, Aven Mindcensor, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tithe Taker, Tax Collector, Sanctifier en-Vec, Sungold Sentinel, Runed Halo, Curse of Silence, Anointed Peacekeeper, Disruptor Flute, and Phyrexian Revoker based on public information. Name or lock the visible commander, revealed card, stack card, activated ability source, or repeated public card pattern rather than hidden assumptions.

- Combat windows: after attackers and blockers, re-check legal actions before passing. Cast Brave the Elements, Cloudshift, Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Parting Gust, Kabira Takedown, Giant Killer, or Touch the Spirit Realm when the action saves a key creature, breaks a double block, preserves monarch, prevents lethal damage, or converts an otherwise losing combat into a winning exchange.

## Sideboard Map

- Rule: treat sideboarding as a role correction, not a generic power upgrade. This singleton Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd deck wins by combining pressure, disruptive permanents, blink value, and efficient removal, so every sideboard card should either answer a matchup axis the main deck cannot reliably contain or sharpen an existing hate package without hollowing out the creature count.

- Rest in Peace: bring this against graveyard recursion, delve, reanimation, escape-like engines, flashback-heavy control, graveyard-count threats, and decks where public graveyard size is a core resource. It is bad when the opponent's graveyard is incidental and your own Extraction Specialist, Sungold Sentinel, Remorseful Cleric, Scavenger Grounds, or Pre-War Formalwear value matters more than a static hate piece. Role change: after adding Rest in Peace, treat Remorseful Cleric and Scavenger Grounds as backup pressure or land utility rather than the primary graveyard plan.

- Stony Silence: bring this against artifact mana, artifact combo, equipment engines, activated artifact value, and decks where artifact permanents provide most of the opponent's velocity. It is bad when it disables more of your own tactical texture than it stops, especially Staff of the Storyteller, Pre-War Formalwear, Clue usage from Thraben Inspector or Novice Inspector, and other artifact activations. Role change: when Stony Silence enters, lean harder on creature pressure, enchantment removal, and Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd tempo rather than artifact-based card flow.

- Deafening Silence: bring this against spell-chain combo, storm-like turns, cascade-style chains if legal text applies, and control decks that rely on multiple noncreature spells in one turn. It is bad against creature-heavy boards where the opponent can develop through creatures while your own On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, Touch the Spirit Realm, Wedding Announcement, Maul of the Skyclaves, Staff of the Storyteller, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar turns become harder to sequence. Role change: after adding Deafening Silence, prioritize one high-impact noncreature spell per turn and spend creatures as the main development channel.

- Burrenton Forge-Tender: bring this against red removal, red sweepers, red combat damage, and commanders or threats that visibly present red damage. It is bad when the opponent's removal is exile, black edict, bounce, white exile, or nonred combat where the prevention ability has no legal target or low impact. Role change: with Burrenton Forge-Tender available, protect Palace Jailer, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, or a Maul of the Skyclaves carrier from red blowouts before using it as a small attacker.

- Hushbringer: bring this against opposing enter-the-battlefield or death-trigger engines when those triggers are more important than your own. It is bad in value mirrors where your Blade Splicer, Elite Spellbinder, Extraction Specialist, Flickerwisp, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Skyclave Apparition, Charming Prince, Moon-Blessed Cleric, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Knight of the White Orchid, and Loran of the Third Path need their triggers. Role change: when Hushbringer is included, become a leaner hate-bear attacker and avoid hands that rely on repeated blink triggers for traction.

- Council's Judgment: bring this against resilient permanents, protection-like shields, hexproof-like problems if legal text permits, planeswalkers, large creatures, and noncreature permanents that dodge narrower removal. It is bad when the matchup is low to the ground and spending three mana at sorcery speed fails to stabilize. Role change: use Council's Judgment as the universal answer that lets Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, On Thin Ice, Ossification, and Static Prison aim at cheaper or more urgent threats.

- Celestial Purge: bring this against black or red commanders, planeswalkers, enchantments, creatures, and sticky permanents where exile matters. It is bad against white, blue, green, artifact, or colorless cores unless the rules engine presents a legal black or red target that changes the game. Role change: when Celestial Purge is live, preserve flexible removal for off-color threats and spend Celestial Purge on the color-locked permanent before it compounds value.

- Gideon's Intervention: bring this against single-card dependency, commander-centric plans, known combo payoff names, repeated burn names, and visible cards that the opponent must resolve to win. It is bad against wide threat diversity, fast creature swarms, or hands that cannot survive to cast a four-mana naming effect. Role change: use Gideon's Intervention as a proactive lock only after public information identifies the correct name; otherwise prefer Runed Halo, Anointed Peacekeeper, Curse of Silence, Disruptor Flute, or Phyrexian Revoker for cheaper pressure plus disruption.

- Loran of the Third Path: bring this against artifact or enchantment engines where a body plus removal is valuable and the optional draw text will not help the opponent more than you. It is bad when there are no meaningful targets or when symmetrical card access gives a slower opponent exactly the resources they need. Role change: blink and protect Loran of the Third Path only when the rules engine confirms a legal permanent target and repeated removal is better than your other Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd targets.

- Solitude: bring this against creature decks, commander damage pressure, large attackers, must-answer combo creatures, and matchups where instant-speed exile is worth card disadvantage. It is bad against low-creature control, artifact or enchantment prison, and boards where your existing removal is already abundant while card count is the bottleneck. Role change: after adding Solitude, keep more hands with white cards and interaction, but do not pitch a decisive hate permanent unless the creature being exiled would otherwise decide the game.

Graveyard Recursion Or Reanimator
Side in: Rest in Peace; Solitude
Cut: Extraction Specialist; Curious Farm Animals

Artifact Engine Or Equipment Deck
Side in: Stony Silence; Loran of the Third Path
Cut: Staff of the Storyteller; Pre-War Formalwear

Spell-Chain Combo Or Heavy Noncreature Control
Side in: Deafening Silence; Gideon's Intervention
Cut: Seam Rip; Curious Farm Animals

Red Aggro Or Red Removal Midrange
Side in: Burrenton Forge-Tender; Celestial Purge; Solitude
Cut: Tax Collector; Curious Farm Animals; Seam Rip

Creature Midrange With Sticky Permanents
Side in: Council's Judgment; Solitude; Loran of the Third Path
Cut: Mana Tithe; Curious Farm Animals; Seam Rip

Triggered Creature Engine Or Aristocrats
Side in: Hushbringer; Rest in Peace
Cut: Extraction Specialist; Pre-War Formalwear

Commander-Centric Single Threat
Side in: Gideon's Intervention; Council's Judgment; Solitude
Cut: Curious Farm Animals; Seam Rip; Mana Tithe

- Against graveyard decks, prefer Rest in Peace first, then Solitude when creature-based recursion or graveyard-enabled attackers are present. Reduce slow equipment, graveyard recursion, and uncertain text that does not answer the graveyard axis.

- Against artifact engines, prefer Stony Silence when activated abilities are central and Loran of the Third Path when a single artifact or enchantment must be removed while keeping pressure. Reassess Staff of the Storyteller and Pre-War Formalwear because Stony Silence can weaken your own artifact texture.

- Against creature-heavy aggro, prefer Solitude, Burrenton Forge-Tender against red damage, Celestial Purge against red or black permanents, and Council's Judgment for the threat that normal removal cannot answer cleanly. Reduce Mana Tithe on the draw when the opponent can curve under it, slow card engines, and narrow tax permanents that do not affect combat.

- Against commander-centric decks, prefer Gideon's Intervention, Celestial Purge if color-legal, Solitude for creature commanders, Council's Judgment for resilient permanents, and Loran of the Third Path for artifact or enchantment commanders or support pieces. Keep enough cheap pressure to punish commander tax rather than becoming a reactive pile.

- Against opposing blink, aristocrats, or death-trigger value, consider Hushbringer only when the opposing triggers visibly outweigh your own trigger package. Reduce blink-dependent value if Hushbringer is part of the post-board plan, and avoid keeping hands that need Blade Splicer, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, or Skyclave Apparition triggers to function.

- Against control, use Deafening Silence, Gideon's Intervention, Council's Judgment, and Loran of the Third Path according to the public permanent mix. Reduce creature removal with no legal targets, combat-only tricks when sweepers or planeswalkers matter more, and fragile slow artifacts if the opponent is likely to answer them efficiently.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: stabilize first, then let Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and efficient bodies turn the corner after the first attack wave is contained. Keep hands with Plains plus one- or two-mana plays such as Benevolent Bodyguard, Guide of Souls, Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Giant Killer, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Swords to Plowshares, or March of Otherworldly Light. Role cards are Solitude, Burrenton Forge-Tender against red damage, Celestial Purge against red or black permanents, and Council's Judgment for threats that ignore smaller removal. Do not over-board into expensive answers if the matchup is about surviving turns one through three.

- Control: pressure early while forcing the opponent to spend mana inefficiently, because this deck wins control matchups by layering small threats, taxes, and sticky noncreature value rather than by holding every card. Lead with resilient or low-commitment threats such as Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Guardian of New Benalia, Mishra's Factory, Castle Ardenvale, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Wedding Announcement, Staff of the Storyteller, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar when legal. Use Elite Spellbinder, Anointed Peacekeeper, Curse of Silence, Disruptor Flute, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Tithe Taker, and Mana Tithe to create decision friction before committing Palace Jailer or Overlord of the Mistmoors. Role cards are Deafening Silence against spell density, Gideon's Intervention after public information identifies the relevant name, Council's Judgment for resolved permanents, and Loran of the Third Path only when artifacts or enchantments matter.

- Combo: identify whether the combo uses spells, graveyard, artifacts, creatures, triggers, or one named payoff, then choose the disruptive permanent that attacks that axis before advancing damage. Prioritize hands with Containment Priest, Aven Mindcensor, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Anointed Peacekeeper, Curse of Silence, Disruptor Flute, Phyrexian Revoker, Elite Spellbinder, Mana Tithe, or quick pressure. Role cards are Deafening Silence for spell-chain turns, Rest in Peace for graveyard reliance, Stony Silence for activated artifact engines, Gideon's Intervention for a known single-card payoff, Hushbringer only when opposing triggers matter more than your own, and Solitude for creature-based combo.

- Tempo: trade mana efficiency before card quantity, because falling behind on board lets tempo decks turn every protection spell or bounce effect into damage. Keep cheaper removal and bodies over slow value, and avoid tapping out into obvious punishment unless the legal action creates a durable board or removes the attacker. Swords to Plowshares, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, March of Otherworldly Light, Parting Gust, and Giant Killer should answer the threat carrying the clock rather than a marginal creature. Brave the Elements, Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, Cloudshift, and Touch the Spirit Realm are strongest when they counter visible removal or unlock a lethal swing. Role cards are Solitude and Council's Judgment when threats are larger or protected, with Celestial Purge only for legal red or black permanents.

- Midrange: become the deck with the more reusable battlefield, not the deck with the flashiest single spell. Use Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd to rebuy Blade Splicer, Charming Prince, Elite Spellbinder, Extraction Specialist, Flickerwisp, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Skyclave Apparition, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Knight of the White Orchid, and Loran of the Third Path when the relevant trigger is legal and beneficial. Protect snowballing permanents with Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, Brave the Elements, Cloudshift, and Touch the Spirit Realm. Role cards are Council's Judgment, Solitude, Celestial Purge where color-legal, and Loran of the Third Path against artifacts or enchantments. Avoid Hushbringer unless the opponent's trigger engine is clearly more important than your own.

- Big mana: use early taxes and naming effects to delay the payoff turn, then close before the opponent's top end blanks small attackers. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Elite Spellbinder, Anointed Peacekeeper, Curse of Silence, Disruptor Flute, Aven Mindcensor, Phyrexian Revoker, and Mana Tithe matter most before the opponent has excess mana. Pressure with Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Maul of the Skyclaves, Steel Seraph, Mishra's Factory, Cave of the Frost Dragon, and Castle Ardenvale rather than extending into an overcommitted board. Role cards are Stony Silence if the acceleration is artifact-activated, Council's Judgment for resolved payoff permanents, Gideon's Intervention when public information identifies the payoff name, and Loran of the Third Path for artifact or enchantment engines.

- Graveyard: attack the graveyard before extracting creature value, because your own recursion is less important than preventing the opponent from using the graveyard as a second hand. Main-deck tools include Scavenger Grounds, Remorseful Cleric, Sanctifier en-Vec, Containment Priest, Sungold Sentinel, and incidental exile from Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Skyclave Apparition, Static Prison, and Touch the Spirit Realm. Role cards are Rest in Peace first, Solitude for creature recursion or graveyard-enabled attackers, and Hushbringer only if enter-or-die triggers are the active engine and your own trigger loss is acceptable. Reduce reliance on Extraction Specialist and Pre-War Formalwear when Rest in Peace is active.

- Artifact/enchantment: answer the engine piece rather than the replaceable attacker, and preserve flexible exile for permanents that Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Ossification, or Static Prison cannot handle. Main-deck pressure plus Cathar Commando, Skyclave Apparition, Touch the Spirit Realm, March of Otherworldly Light, Disruptor Flute, Phyrexian Revoker, Seam Rip, and Loran of the Third Path if added should keep the opponent from assembling a static advantage. Role cards are Stony Silence for activated artifact engines, Loran of the Third Path for a key artifact or enchantment, Council's Judgment for hard-to-answer permanents, and Gideon's Intervention when one named permanent or spell defines the matchup. Watch your own Staff of the Storyteller, Pre-War Formalwear, Portable Hole, Thraben Inspector, and Novice Inspector texture before committing Stony Silence.

- Go-wide: preserve life total and board density before chasing individual card advantage, because one-for-one removal does not beat many bodies without a blocker plan. Blade Splicer, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Wedding Announcement, Castle Ardenvale, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Steel Seraph, Maul of the Skyclaves, Shefet Dunes, and Brave the Elements help convert a clogged board into favorable attacks. Use Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, and Skyclave Apparition on lords, anthem sources, evasive threats, or the attacker that makes blocks fail. Role cards are Solitude, Burrenton Forge-Tender against red sweep or burn pressure, and Council's Judgment for the permanent that scales the whole board.

- Single-threat: concentrate removal, protection, and naming effects on the one object that matters, then avoid losing to commander tax or repeated recasts. Swords to Plowshares, Solitude, Council's Judgment, Celestial Purge if legal, Giant Killer, Skyclave Apparition, March of Otherworldly Light, On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, Parting Gust, Runed Halo, Gideon's Intervention, Anointed Peacekeeper, and Palace Jailer are all role players depending on legal text and public board state. Role cards are Gideon's Intervention, Solitude, Council's Judgment, and Celestial Purge when color-legal, but keep enough pressure that the opponent cannot simply rebuild around the named object.

- Burn: treat life total as the primary resource and avoid self-inflicted tempo loss unless the play removes a damage source or creates a short clock. Prioritize cheap blockers, Guide of Souls if its legal text provides life or racing value, Sanctifier en-Vec, Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, Brave the Elements, Swords to Plowshares on your own creature only if the rules engine presents that legal line and survival requires life, and fast pressure from Kytheon, Hero of Akros or Adeline, Resplendent Cathar. Role cards are Burrenton Forge-Tender, Celestial Purge against red permanents, Solitude for large attackers, and Gideon's Intervention only when a public repeated burn name is the actual route to losing.

- Removal-heavy decks: diversify threat types and sequence protection before the creature that must live. Lead with expendable creatures, creature-lands, Wedding Announcement, Staff of the Storyteller, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Castle Ardenvale, Mishra's Factory, and Cave of the Frost Dragon to punish one-for-one removal. Save Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, Brave the Elements, Cloudshift, and Touch the Spirit Realm for Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Palace Jailer, Steel Seraph, or a lethal attacker when the rules engine confirms a legal protective action. Role cards are Celestial Purge against red or black removal permanents, Council's Judgment for planeswalkers or sticky engines, and Gideon's Intervention only after public information makes the named card clear.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- General/archetype-only note: exact opponents are not supplied for this batch, so revealed cards, commander identity, public zones, and rules-engine legal actions override every archetype assumption. Treat these notes as runtime defaults for common Duel Commander seats, not as certainty about hidden cards.

- Creature pressure: preserve board parity first, then turn the corner with protected attackers. Priority targets are lords, evasive attackers, anthem permanents, and creatures that make blocks fail; use Swords to Plowshares, Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, Skyclave Apparition, Giant Killer, Parting Gust, and March of Otherworldly Light according to legal target text. Role cards are Solitude, Council's Judgment, Burrenton Forge-Tender against red pressure, and Celestial Purge when the opposing threat is legally red or black. Reduce slow monarch or draw engines when Palace Jailer or Staff of the Storyteller cannot be defended.

- Control/removal-heavy: force answers across different permanent types and keep pressure coming without exposing every closer. Priority targets are planeswalkers, repeatable card-advantage permanents, sweep-enabling setup, and removal shields; tax them with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Mana Tithe, Elite Spellbinder, Curse of Silence, Anointed Peacekeeper, Disruptor Flute, and Tithe Taker before committing Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Wedding Announcement, Castle Ardenvale, Cave of the Frost Dragon, or Mishra's Factory. Role cards are Gideon's Intervention after public information identifies the key name, Council's Judgment for hard permanents, Loran of the Third Path for artifact or enchantment engines, Deafening Silence against heavy noncreature sequencing, and Celestial Purge when color-legal. Reduce narrow creature removal when the opponent is winning through noncreature permanents.

- Graveyard/combo: disrupt before developing slow value, because Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd blink lines are secondary to stopping the opponent's engine. Priority targets are graveyard enablers, recursion payoffs, sacrifice engines, and search pieces; use Scavenger Grounds, Remorseful Cleric, Sanctifier en-Vec, Containment Priest, Sungold Sentinel, Aven Mindcensor, Phyrexian Revoker, and Disruptor Flute at the first tactically meaningful window. Role cards are Rest in Peace, Hushbringer when triggers are the engine, Solitude for creature-based payoffs, and Deafening Silence against spell chains. Reduce Extraction Specialist, Pre-War Formalwear, and graveyard-dependent value if Rest in Peace is active.

- Artifact/enchantment engine: answer the source of repeated advantage before spending removal on replaceable bodies. Priority targets are activated artifact engines, lock pieces, equipment that changes combat math, and enchantments that blank your attackers; use Cathar Commando, Seam Rip, Skyclave Apparition, Touch the Spirit Realm, March of Otherworldly Light, Phyrexian Revoker, Disruptor Flute, and Static Prison when legal. Role cards are Stony Silence, Loran of the Third Path, Council's Judgment, and Gideon's Intervention for a known key name. Reduce Staff of the Storyteller and Pre-War Formalwear when artifact hate weakens your own artifacts or tempo matters more than value.

- Burn or low-to-the-ground red: treat life total as a hard constraint and choose stabilization over extra card economy. Priority targets are repeatable damage permanents and creatures that threaten immediate damage; value Sanctifier en-Vec, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, Guide of Souls if its legal text supports life or racing, and fast pressure from Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, and Maul of the Skyclaves. Role cards are Burrenton Forge-Tender, Celestial Purge, Solitude, and Gideon's Intervention only when a public repeated damage name is clear. Reduce Palace Jailer, slow equipment, and expensive blink value when monarch defense or tempo is poor.

- Go-wide creature boards: identify whether the problem is raw body count, an anthem, evasion, or a commander that turns small creatures into lethal attacks. Priority targets are anthem permanents, evasive payoffs, lords, and the attacker that breaks blocks; build around Blade Splicer, Wedding Announcement, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Steel Seraph, Castle Ardenvale, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Brave the Elements, and Shefet Dunes. Role cards are Solitude for the largest threat, Council's Judgment for the scaling permanent, and Burrenton Forge-Tender if red damage or sweepers are part of the pressure. Do not dilute too many creatures for narrow hate because Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd still needs bodies to race and block.

- Single commander or single permanent dependency: make the opponent pay commander tax or rebuild around the named object while continuing to attack. Priority tools are Runed Halo, Anointed Peacekeeper, Curse of Silence, Disruptor Flute, Phyrexian Revoker, Swords to Plowshares, Giant Killer, Skyclave Apparition, Palace Jailer, and Parting Gust when legal. Role cards are Gideon's Intervention, Council's Judgment, Solitude, and Celestial Purge if the commander or permanent is legally black or red. Avoid naming from guesswork when public information has not identified the actual dependency.

- Trigger-value mirrors: count whose triggers matter more before using Hushbringer. If the opponent's commander or engine repeatedly converts enter-the-battlefield or death triggers into cards, mana, drain, or removal, Hushbringer can shift the game into a fair creature race. If your own hand relies on Blade Splicer, Charming Prince, Elite Spellbinder, Flickerwisp, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Skyclave Apparition, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Knight of the White Orchid, or Loran of the Third Path, prefer normal removal or pressure unless the opposing trigger engine is already winning.

- Post-board uncertainty: default to the smallest correction that answers proven public information. A Commander-family singleton deck loses equity when it becomes a pile of answers with no pressure, so every added Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, Deafening Silence, Hushbringer, or Gideon's Intervention should be tied to a visible axis or a reliable commander-level inference. When in doubt, preserve curve, creature count, and Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd blink value.

## Risk Summary
- Mana risk: one-color mana is stable, but colorless or utility lands can still punish double-white curves. Sequence Plains, Idyllic Grange, Castle Ardenvale, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Mishra's Factory, Scavenger Grounds, and Shefet Dunes so Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, and Overlord of the Mistmoors remain castable under commander tax and taxes.

- Matchup risk: singleton answers are powerful but inconsistent, so do not assume the right hate piece is coming. Mulligan and sideboard toward the visible matchup role rather than hoping to draw Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, Deafening Silence, Hushbringer, or Gideon's Intervention later.

- Draw risk: Staff of the Storyteller, Wedding Announcement, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, and Moon-Blessed Cleric are value tools, not permission to ignore tempo. Choose board-stabilizing legal actions over slow selection when the opponent's clock is already short.

- Over-sideboarding risk: adding too many hate cards can dilute the creature count and Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd pressure plan. Keep enough early creatures, protection, removal, and closers so the deck still wins after disrupting the opponent.

- Graveyard risk: Rest in Peace, Scavenger Grounds, and Remorseful Cleric can weaken Extraction Specialist, Pre-War Formalwear, and recursion-adjacent value. Fire graveyard hate when it stops the opponent's stronger line, not merely because a graveyard exists.

- Sweeper/removal risk: committing every creature into an unknown reset can strand protection or make Palace Jailer unsafe. Stagger threats across Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Wedding Announcement, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Castle Ardenvale, Mishra's Factory, and Cave of the Frost Dragon.

- Closer risk: small creatures can stall if the opponent stabilizes. Prioritize Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Steel Seraph, Maul of the Skyclaves, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Shefet Dunes, Brave the Elements, and creature-lands when the board needs a decisive clock.

- Interaction risk: Mana Tithe, Brave the Elements, Cloudshift, Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, and Tithe Taker are timing-sensitive. Hold them for legal windows that protect a key permanent, stop lethal damage, or force through lethal pressure rather than spending them for minor tempo.

- Sequencing risk: Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, Charming Prince, Touch the Spirit Realm, Parting Gust, and Cloudshift can reset or save objects, but target legality and return timing come from the engine. Never assume a blink line works until the visible legal action text confirms the source, target, and resulting zone change.

## Test Feedback Checklist
- Deciding factors: Did wins come from early pressure plus disruption, protected Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd value, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar or creature-land closing, or a specific hate card such as Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, Deafening Silence, Hushbringer, or Sanctifier en-Vec?
- Loss diagnosis: Did losses come from mana bottlenecks, failing to answer a key permanent, losing monarch after Palace Jailer, overcommitting into removal, or drawing protection when the board needed Swords to Plowshares, March of Otherworldly Light, Skyclave Apparition, Static Prison, Council's Judgment, Celestial Purge, or Solitude?
- Mulligans: Did kept hands have Plains or enough white mana for double-white spells, a relevant one- or two-mana play, and a realistic turn-three plan, or did the pilot keep slow hands because the individual cards looked powerful?
- Mana: Did utility lands such as Mishra's Factory, Scavenger Grounds, Shefet Dunes, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Castle Ardenvale, Kabira Takedown, and Idyllic Grange ever block casting Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, or Overlord of the Mistmoors on time?
- Velocity: Did Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Staff of the Storyteller, Wedding Announcement, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, Moon-Blessed Cleric, and clue or token engines produce enough material before the opponent stabilized?
- Engine use: Did Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, Charming Prince, Cloudshift, Touch the Spirit Realm, Parting Gust, Extraction Specialist, and Pre-War Formalwear generate legal value, save key permanents, or create tempo, or were they stranded without good visible targets?
- Removal use: Did Portable Hole, On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, March of Otherworldly Light, Giant Killer, Swords to Plowshares, Skyclave Apparition, and Touch the Spirit Realm hit the opponent's decisive threat, or were they spent on replaceable attackers?
- Protection use: Did Benevolent Bodyguard, Selfless Spirit, Brave the Elements, Mana Tithe, Cloudshift, Tithe Taker, and Guardian of New Benalia change a combat, removal, or lethal turn, or did the pilot fire them for low-impact tempo?
- Sideboard impact: Did each chosen role card justify its slot, especially Rest in Peace versus graveyards, Stony Silence versus artifacts, Deafening Silence versus spell chains, Burrenton Forge-Tender versus red pressure, Hushbringer versus triggered engines, Gideon's Intervention versus known names, Loran of the Third Path versus artifacts/enchantments, and Solitude versus creature pressure?
- Closing: Did the pilot convert stable boards into lethal pressure with Maul of the Skyclaves, Steel Seraph, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Shefet Dunes, Brave the Elements, Mishra's Factory, or Cave of the Frost Dragon?
- Role accuracy: Did the pilot correctly choose beatdown, disruption, prison-hate, or attrition roles after seeing the opponent's public cards, or did it pursue slow Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd value while the matchup demanded immediate pressure?
- Mistakes: Did any decision ignore visible legal actions, known public information, commander tax, current phase, stack contents, combat damage risk, or a revealed hand from Elite Spellbinder or similar effects?
- Stranded cards: Which cards stayed in hand without legal or tactically useful windows: Mana Tithe, Brave the Elements, Disruptor Flute, Runed Halo, Curse of Silence, Phyrexian Revoker, Seam Rip, Maul of the Skyclaves, or Palace Jailer?
- Card text checks: Did Curious Farm Animals, Starfield Shepherd, Sunpearl Kirin, Tax Collector, Toby, Beastie Befriender, Leonardo, Big Brother, Hopeful Vigil, and Guide of Souls require exact Oracle text validation before trusting the pilot's tactical assumptions?
- Overperformers and underperformers: Which singletons repeatedly won or lost tempo, cards, or life, and were those outcomes matchup-specific or broadly repeated across games?

## First Tuning Questions
- Card quantities: Should the 33 Plains count change after tracking opening hands, missed land drops, double-white pressure, and the number of games where utility lands delayed critical spells?
- Mana structure: Are Mishra's Factory, Scavenger Grounds, Shefet Dunes, Cave of the Frost Dragon, Castle Ardenvale, Kabira Takedown, and Idyllic Grange providing enough closing or utility to justify any tempo loss in a double-white midrange shell?
- Aggro plan: Does the deck need more early stabilizers if Kytheon, Hero of Akros, Benevolent Bodyguard, Thraben Inspector, Novice Inspector, Giant Killer, Guide of Souls, and Portable Hole are not enough against fast creature starts?
- Control plan: Does the deck need more resilient closers or taxing pressure if Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Elite Spellbinder, Anointed Peacekeeper, Curse of Silence, Disruptor Flute, Tithe Taker, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar fail to keep control opponents under pressure?
- Closing power: Are Maul of the Skyclaves, Steel Seraph, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Shefet Dunes, Mishra's Factory, and Cave of the Frost Dragon enough to end games after disruption, or is the list spending too many slots on small value bodies?
- Blink density: Are Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Flickerwisp, Charming Prince, Cloudshift, Touch the Spirit Realm, Parting Gust, Extraction Specialist, and Pre-War Formalwear creating meaningful advantage often enough, or are there too many target-dependent pieces?
- Removal mix: Is the balance between exile effects, temporary containment, artifact/enchantment answers, and combat interaction correct after reviewing how often On Thin Ice, Ossification, Static Prison, Portable Hole, Skyclave Apparition, March of Otherworldly Light, and Council's Judgment solved the actual problem?
- Graveyard plan: Does Rest in Peace conflict too often with Extraction Specialist, Pre-War Formalwear, and other recursion-adjacent lines, or is the opponent's graveyard plan usually dangerous enough to accept that tension?
- Sideboard slots: Which sideboard card had the fewest high-impact matchups: Burrenton Forge-Tender, Celestial Purge, Council's Judgment, Deafening Silence, Gideon's Intervention, Hushbringer, Loran of the Third Path, Rest in Peace, Solitude, or Stony Silence?
- Role conflicts: Is the deck trying to be creature-curve pressure, blink value, hatebear disruption, and prison-style naming all at once, or do match results show one package should receive more slots while another becomes matchup-only support?
- Commander reliance: Did games without early Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd still present coherent pressure and interaction, or does the list need more standalone engines like Wedding Announcement, Staff of the Storyteller, Palace Jailer, Ranger of Eos, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar?

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Opening Hand Role Gate
- Priority: High
- Decision families: mulligan
- Cards: Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd; Thraben Inspector; Novice Inspector; Kytheon, Hero of Akros; Benevolent Bodyguard; Thalia, Guardian of Thraben; Portable Hole; Swords to Plowshares; On Thin Ice
- Phase windows: pregame mulligan and keep decisions.
- Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; action:keep; action:mulligan
- Use when: opening hand and visible commander availability are shown.
- Avoid when: runtime has already forced a keep or bottoming prompt.
- Instructions: Keep functional hands with two or three mana sources, at least one early creature or removal spell, and a path to either pressure or Phelia value. Mulligan hands with no early board presence, one land without cheap play, or utility-land heavy mana that cannot cast white spells on curve.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Early White Mana Setup
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: mana
- Cards: Plains; Idyllic Grange; Mishra's Factory; Scavenger Grounds; Shefet Dunes; Cave of the Frost Dragon; Castle Ardenvale; Kabira Takedown
- Phase windows: first three turns, precombat main phase, land-drop prompts.
- Runtime cues: action:play Plains; action:play Idyllic Grange; action:play Mishra's Factory; action:play Scavenger Grounds; action:play Shefet Dunes; action:play Cave of the Frost Dragon; action:play Castle Ardenvale; action:play Kabira Takedown
- Use when: multiple legal land plays are available.
- Avoid when: only one land play is legal.
- Instructions: Prioritize untapped white sources that unlock double-white pressure, removal, or commander deployment. Delay colorless utility lands when they would block Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, or Overlord of the Mistmoors.
- Pilot skill floor: low
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: First Permanent Setup
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: priority
- Cards: Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd; Thraben Inspector; Novice Inspector; Guide of Souls; Benevolent Bodyguard; Kytheon, Hero of Akros; Thalia, Guardian of Thraben; Tithe Taker
- Phase windows: turns one through three, main phases with empty or low-pressure board.
- Runtime cues: action:cast Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd; action:cast Thraben Inspector; action:cast Novice Inspector; action:cast Guide of Souls; action:cast Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- Use when: choosing the first creature or enabling permanent.
- Avoid when: opponent presents a threat that must be removed immediately.
- Instructions: Lead with pressure against slow opponents, protection before a key commander or engine against removal-heavy opponents, and tax effects before noncreature-heavy opponents. Treat exact text of Guide of Souls as conditional if runtime does not expose its legal outputs.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Phelia Blink Commitment Gate
- Priority: High
- Decision families: combat, selection
- Cards: Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd; Blade Splicer; Elite Spellbinder; Flickerwisp; Skyclave Apparition; Palace Jailer; Ranger of Eos; Charming Prince; Extraction Specialist
- Phase windows: declare attackers, attack-trigger target prompts, end-step return context.
- Runtime cues: action:attack with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd; action:target Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
- Use when: attacking or choosing a Phelia-related blink target is legal.
- Avoid when: combat math shows Phelia dies for low impact or the only targets are strategically harmful.
- Instructions: Attack with Phelia when the trigger can safely rebuy a known enter-the-battlefield effect, reset opposing pressure, or force tempo without losing a crucial board piece. Route target selection through reasoning because blink targets can be friendly, opposing, or dangerous depending on visible state.
- Pilot skill floor: high
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Exact Self-Blink Save
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: interaction, selection
- Cards: Cloudshift
- Phase windows: stack response, combat damage setup, removal response.
- Runtime cues: action:target self Cloudshift
- Use when: one legal Cloudshift target is controlled by self and an opponent-controlled spell or ability on stack targets that same permanent.
- Avoid when: more than one self target is legal or the stack does not target the same permanent.
- Instructions: Choose the visible self permanent named in both the opponent's stack object and the single legal Cloudshift target action.
- Pilot skill floor: low
- No-API allowed: yes
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Protection Commitment Gate
- Priority: High
- Decision families: interaction, combat
- Cards: Benevolent Bodyguard; Selfless Spirit; Brave the Elements; Guardian of New Benalia; Cloudshift; Mana Tithe
- Phase windows: removal on stack, lethal combat, sweeper or damage prevention windows.
- Runtime cues: action:activate Benevolent Bodyguard; action:activate Selfless Spirit; action:cast Brave the Elements; action:cast Cloudshift; action:cast Mana Tithe
- Use when: a protection action is legal and visible state shows targeted removal, sweeper pressure, lethal attack, or decisive combat.
- Avoid when: protection only preserves replaceable material and costs the next decisive play.
- Instructions: Spend protection for commander access, monarch or engine retention, lethal push, or survival. Do not fire protection merely to save a low-impact creature if the opponent's stronger follow-up remains unanswered.
- Pilot skill floor: high
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Removal Triage Gate
- Priority: High
- Decision families: interaction
- Cards: Swords to Plowshares; March of Otherworldly Light; Portable Hole; On Thin Ice; Ossification; Static Prison; Skyclave Apparition; Giant Killer; Touch the Spirit Realm; Parting Gust; Kabira Takedown; Council's Judgment; Celestial Purge; Solitude
- Phase windows: main phases, combat, stack response when legal.
- Runtime cues: action:cast Swords to Plowshares; action:cast Portable Hole; action:cast On Thin Ice; action:cast Ossification; action:cast Skyclave Apparition; action:cast Solitude
- Use when: removal target selection or spell commitment is legal.
- Avoid when: the target is not currently relevant and a larger visible threat or known card is pending.
- Instructions: Remove threats that decide the next combat, shut off Phelia attacks, invalidate the tax plan, or threaten immediate engine snowballing. Preserve flexible exile effects when cheap containment already handles the visible permanent type.
- Pilot skill floor: high
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Mana Tithe Permission Gate
- Priority: High
- Decision families: interaction, priority
- Cards: Mana Tithe
- Phase windows: opponent spell on stack while white mana is available.
- Runtime cues: action:cast Mana Tithe
- Use when: Mana Tithe is legal against a visible stack spell.
- Avoid when: opponent can visibly pay or the spell is low-impact compared to known future threats.
- Instructions: Counter spells that break the board, remove a key engine, establish an opposing engine, or decide lethal tempo. Passing is acceptable when the opponent has visible excess mana and the spell does not matter.
- Pilot skill floor: high
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Pressure And Trading
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: combat
- Cards: Adeline, Resplendent Cathar; Maul of the Skyclaves; Steel Seraph; Gideon, Ally of Zendikar; Mishra's Factory; Cave of the Frost Dragon; Shefet Dunes; Brave the Elements
- Phase windows: beginning of combat, attackers, blockers, combat trick windows.
- Runtime cues: action:attack; action:block; action:activate Mishra's Factory; action:activate Cave of the Frost Dragon; action:activate Shefet Dunes
- Use when: multiple attacks, blocks, or pump/animation choices are legal.
- Avoid when: exactly one forced combat action is legal.
- Instructions: Attack when pressure advances lethal, monarch defense, planeswalker pressure, or tax tempo without exposing needed blockers. Hold creatures back when the opponent's crack-back is larger or a key engine must survive.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Exact Lethal Alpha Support
- Priority: High
- Decision families: combat, interaction
- Cards: Brave the Elements; Shefet Dunes; Maul of the Skyclaves
- Phase windows: declare attackers through combat damage.
- Runtime cues: action:cast Brave the Elements; action:activate Shefet Dunes
- Use when: visible attackers plus one legal Brave the Elements or Shefet Dunes action produce lethal damage through currently declared blockers by rules-engine output.
- Avoid when: lethal is not confirmed by visible combat math or multiple color/protection choices are legal.
- Instructions: Execute the single legal pump or protection action only when runtime combat totals already show lethal after that action.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: yes
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Card Advantage Engine Commitment
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: priority
- Cards: Staff of the Storyteller; Wedding Announcement; Palace Jailer; Ranger of Eos; Gideon, Ally of Zendikar; Overlord of the Mistmoors; Steel Seraph
- Phase windows: main phases after land sequencing and before combat only when relevant.
- Runtime cues: action:cast Staff of the Storyteller; action:cast Wedding Announcement; action:cast Palace Jailer; action:cast Ranger of Eos; action:cast Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
- Use when: choosing between engine deployment, removal, or pressure.
- Avoid when: tapping out lets a visible threat or stack action decide the game.
- Instructions: Commit engines when life total and board can absorb the tempo loss, or when the engine immediately stabilizes. Prefer removal or blockers first under short-clock pressure.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Tutor And Selection Routing
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: selection
- Cards: Ranger of Eos; Moon-Blessed Cleric; Charming Prince
- Phase windows: search, reveal, scry, and selection prompts.
- Runtime cues: action:search; action:choose card; action:scry
- Use when: a legal search or selection prompt is active.
- Avoid when: runtime prompt is deterministic with one legal candidate.
- Instructions: Select cards that solve the current role: cheap bodies and protection for pressure, enchantment answers or engines for attrition, and hate pieces for known opposing plans. Card text check required for any candidate whose exact legal effect is not exposed by runtime.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Graveyard And Artifact Hate Timing
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: interaction, priority
- Cards: Scavenger Grounds; Remorseful Cleric; Sanctifier en-Vec; Sungold Sentinel; Rest in Peace; Stony Silence; Loran of the Third Path; Cathar Commando; Seam Rip
- Phase windows: main phases, opponent graveyard setup windows, artifact or enchantment engine windows.
- Runtime cues: action:activate Scavenger Grounds; action:activate Remorseful Cleric; action:cast Rest in Peace; action:cast Stony Silence; action:activate Cathar Commando; action:cast Loran of the Third Path
- Use when: hate or removal for graveyard, artifact, or enchantment resources is legal.
- Avoid when: own recursion or board development matters more and opponent has not exposed the resource.
- Instructions: Fire hate before the opponent converts graveyard or artifact resources, not after the payoff resolves. Respect tension with Extraction Specialist and Pre-War Formalwear when Rest in Peace is involved.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Rule-Text Uncertainty Brake
- Priority: Low
- Decision families: priority, selection
- Cards: Curious Farm Animals; Starfield Shepherd; Sunpearl Kirin; Tax Collector; Toby, Beastie Befriender; Leonardo, Big Brother; Hopeful Vigil; Guide of Souls
- Phase windows: any prompt involving these cards.
- Runtime cues: action:cast Curious Farm Animals; action:cast Starfield Shepherd; action:cast Sunpearl Kirin; action:cast Tax Collector; action:cast Toby, Beastie Befriender; action:cast Leonardo, Big Brother; action:cast Hopeful Vigil; action:cast Guide of Souls
- Use when: the legal action text does not expose the card's relevant effect.
- Avoid when: runtime shows exact targets, costs, triggers, and outcomes.
- Instructions: Treat tactical assumptions about these cards as conditional until rules output confirms their legal effect. Prefer stable pressure, removal, or known engines when uncertainty would risk a decisive turn.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Plan Selection
- Priority: High
- Decision families: sideboard
- Cards: Rest in Peace; Stony Silence; Deafening Silence; Burrenton Forge-Tender; Hushbringer; Council's Judgment; Celestial Purge; Gideon's Intervention; Loran of the Third Path; Solitude
- Phase windows: between games, sideboard planning prompt.
- Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; action:choose sideboard plan; action:generate sideboard swaps
- Use when: sideboarding is requested and opponent archetype, commander identity, revealed cards, public zones, or prior-game logs identify a clear axis.
- Avoid when: the opponent's axis is unknown and the proposed swaps would reduce pressure, mana consistency, or the core Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd blink-disruption plan without solving a concrete problem.
- Instructions: Choose the smallest exact swap set that answers the proven axis. Rest in Peace answers graveyards, Stony Silence answers activated artifact engines, Deafening Silence answers spell density, Burrenton Forge-Tender answers red damage, Hushbringer answers opposing trigger engines only when your own triggers are less important, Council's Judgment answers hard permanents, Celestial Purge answers legal black or red permanents, Gideon's Intervention answers known single-card dependency, Loran of the Third Path answers artifacts or enchantments while adding a body, and Solitude answers creature pressure. Preserve a functional curve and enough creatures for Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd.
- Pilot skill floor: high
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Lock Validation
- Priority: High
- Decision families: sideboard, validation
- Cards: Rest in Peace; Stony Silence; Deafening Silence; Burrenton Forge-Tender; Hushbringer; Council's Judgment; Celestial Purge; Gideon's Intervention; Loran of the Third Path; Solitude
- Phase windows: sideboard lock prompt, post-plan validation, pre-game submission.
- Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard lock; action:submit sideboard; validation:registered-110; validation:main-100; validation:sideboard-10
- Use when: a final sideboard configuration is about to be submitted.
- Avoid when: any added name is absent from the registered 10-card sideboard, any removed name is absent from the registered main deck, the resulting main deck is not exactly 100 cards, or the sideboard is not exactly 10 cards.
- Instructions: Submit only exact registered names. If validation fails, return to the nearest legal concrete plan from the Sideboard Map or keep the current configuration. Never invent replacement names, generic placeholders, or partial swaps. Treat validation failure as a strategic stop, not as permission to improvise.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Narrow Hate Deployment
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: sideboard, interaction, sequencing
- Cards: Rest in Peace; Stony Silence; Deafening Silence; Burrenton Forge-Tender; Hushbringer; Celestial Purge; Gideon's Intervention
- Phase windows: opening hand evaluation, main phases, priority windows after public information, post-board games.
- Runtime cues: action:cast Rest in Peace; action:cast Stony Silence; action:cast Deafening Silence; action:cast Burrenton Forge-Tender; action:cast Hushbringer; action:cast Celestial Purge; action:cast Gideon's Intervention; action:name
- Use when: the hate card attacks a visible or strongly inferred axis and casting it now changes the opponent's next meaningful turn.
- Avoid when: the hate card mostly damages your own plan, lacks legal targets, or arrives too late to matter compared with pressure or removal.
- Instructions: Deploy narrow hate before value when it blocks the opponent's engine, but keep pressure flowing. Rest in Peace should precede graveyard recursion turns; Stony Silence should precede artifact activation chains; Deafening Silence should enter before spell-chain turns; Burrenton Forge-Tender should protect decisive permanents from red damage; Hushbringer should be held back unless opposing triggers are clearly superior; Celestial Purge should answer the legal black or red permanent that compounds value; Gideon's Intervention should name a public, revealed, or commander-zone object that actually decides the game.
- Pilot skill floor: high
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Universal Answer Allocation
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: sideboard, removal, targeting
- Cards: Council's Judgment; Loran of the Third Path; Solitude
- Phase windows: main phases, combat interaction windows, end-step interaction windows, post-board games.
- Runtime cues: action:cast Council's Judgment; action:cast Loran of the Third Path; action:cast Solitude; prompt:choose target; prompt:evoke
- Use when: the opponent presents a permanent or creature that narrower maindeck interaction cannot answer cleanly, or when instant-speed exile prevents a decisive attack, combo turn, or commander damage line.
- Avoid when: the threat can be handled by cheaper removal without losing card count or tempo, when Loran of the Third Path has no meaningful artifact or enchantment target, or when pitching a white card to Solitude would discard the hate permanent needed for the matchup.
- Instructions: Spend Council's Judgment on resilient permanents and planeswalkers, not replaceable creatures. Use Loran of the Third Path when destroying an artifact or enchantment while adding a body is better than preserving blink value elsewhere. Use Solitude for creature commanders, lethal attackers, large threats, and must-answer combo creatures; evoke only when the game would swing immediately or survival requires it.
- Pilot skill floor: high
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes
