# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Lurrus Breach is a Vintage combo-control deck with a graveyard-and-artifact engine, built around `Underworld Breach`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, fast mana, cheap blue interaction, and a sideboard `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` companion/package option. The registered list is validated as 60 main-deck cards plus 15 sideboard cards under the supplied Vintage contract, and the active validation result passes.

- Format: Vintage.
- Main deck: 60 cards.
- Sideboard: 15 cards.
- Strategy name: Lurrus Breach.
- Tags: combo, control, graveyard, artifact.
- Tag cleanup: the supplied tags repeat combo, control, graveyard, and artifact; treat the normalized strategic identity as combo-control with graveyard and artifact engine texture.
- Stock status: hybrid established shell plus bespoke tuning. `Underworld Breach`, `Brain Freeze`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Force of Will`, restricted fast mana, and blue cantrips anchor a recognizable Vintage engine, while `Thundertrap Trainer`, `Stock Up`, `Flame of Anor`, `Hexing Squelcher`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Lorien Revealed`, and `Overencumbered` require deck-specific runtime policy instead of assuming stock lines.
- Rogue status: not fully rogue because the core uses known Vintage engines, but many card-role choices are non-default enough that Veles should not apply generic Breach, Saga, or Outcome heuristics without checking legal actions and visible context.
- Legality status: the supplied active format validation says the deck passes. Runtime play must still defer to the rules engine for restricted-card handling, companion availability, graveyard permissions, castability from `Underworld Breach`, mana-source legality, and action-specific stack timing.
- Companion concern: `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` is registered in the sideboard, but Veles must not assume companion access, companion legality, or companion reveal status unless the engine exposes that pregame action or state. If `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` is only a sideboard card in a given game state, sideboarding and play decisions must treat it as sideboard inventory, not guaranteed hand access.
- Mana concern: the deck is artifact-accelerated and blue-centered, but it uses red, black, and white splashes through `Volcanic Island`, `Underground Sea`, `Tundra`, `Meticulous Archive`, fetchlands, Moxen, `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, `Mana Vault`, `Sol Ring`, `Mox Opal`, and `Tolarian Academy`. Veles should value hands that can cast blue setup plus protection while preserving access to red for `Underworld Breach` and `Flame of Anor`, black for `Demonic Tutor`, and white for sideboard removal.
- Role concern: the deck changes posture quickly. It can be a fast combo deck when `Underworld Breach`, `Brain Freeze`, `Black Lotus`, artifact mana, and draw are available; a tempo-control deck when `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, `Mental Misstep`, `Vexing Bauble`, and `Flame of Anor` govern the stack; and an engine deck when `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Stock Up`, `Thundertrap Trainer`, `Urza's Saga`, or `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` create material advantage.
- Opponent information status: no opponent decklist, matchup label, or metagame target is supplied in this batch. Veles should treat opponent archetype assumptions as unknown until public information reveals lands, spells, permanents, graveyard cards, companion status, sideboard effects, or logged match context.
- Runtime principle: legal actions and visible zones override this guide. The agent should never infer hidden opponent cards, assume a fetchland target exists without engine confirmation, assume an `Underworld Breach` line is legal without displayed escape actions, or spend protection before checking whether the stack and public battlefield actually demand it.

## Thesis
Lurrus Breach assembles a protected Vintage spell-chain using artifact mana, blue velocity, and graveyard recursion to convert one decisive turn into either a `Brain Freeze` kill or an overwhelming `Paradoxical Outcome` resource lead. The highest-value posture is to develop mana and cards while preserving enough stack interaction for the turn that matters, then commit when `Underworld Breach`, fast mana, escape fuel, and a payoff action are visible and legal.

The deck wins by making cheap artifacts and restricted power behave like repeatable resources. `Black Lotus`, Moxen, `Mana Crypt`, `Mana Vault`, `Sol Ring`, `Mox Opal`, and `Tolarian Academy` support explosive `Paradoxical Outcome` turns; `Underworld Breach` turns the graveyard into a second hand; `Brain Freeze` is both a storm payoff and, when legal, a self-fuel tool for Breach loops. Veles must still follow engine output: do not assume escape, storm count, targets, or mana payment lines are legal until Forge exposes those actions.

The deck is not trying to trade one-for-one forever or win fair creature combat. `Thundertrap Trainer`, `Stock Up`, `Ancestral Recall`, `Brainstorm`, `Gitaxian Probe`, `Lorien Revealed`, `Merchant Scroll`, `Demonic Tutor`, and `Time Walk` are meant to find and protect a compact engine, not to support a slow attrition plan by themselves. Combat damage is incidental unless `Urza's Saga` or sideboard `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` creates a visible board plan.

Prioritize protected commitment over maximum speed when the opponent can still interact and the hand has redundancy. A turn-one or turn-two engine line is attractive only when visible mana, card count, graveyard access, and protection justify it; otherwise, sequence cantrips, tutors, fetchlands, and defensive counters to increase certainty. When the opponent is shields-down, short on resources, or already constrained by `Vexing Bauble`, the deck should shift from sculpting to ending the game.

## Role Package
- Threats: `Brain Freeze` is the primary explicit kill card, `Urza's Saga` can create a secondary board threat when the game slows, and `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` can become a post-board recursion threat only if sideboarded or legally available through the engine. Do not treat creature combat from `Thundertrap Trainer` as a main win plan unless visible board state and legal attacks make it relevant.

- Payoffs: `Paradoxical Outcome` is the major card-and-mana payoff for artifact-heavy starts, `Underworld Breach` is the graveyard payoff that converts used spells into new actions, `Brain Freeze` is the deterministic-looking payoff that still requires legal target and storm actions, and `Time Walk` is a tempo payoff when it protects a combo setup or buys a decisive extra turn.

- Engines: `Underworld Breach`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Tolarian Academy`, `Urza's Saga`, `Mox Opal`, and the full restricted artifact package form the deck's engine core. `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` belongs to the sideboard recursion module, but companion or casting access must be confirmed by the runtime state.

- Velocity: `Ancestral Recall`, `Brainstorm`, `Gitaxian Probe`, `Stock Up`, `Thundertrap Trainer`, `Lorien Revealed`, `Merchant Scroll`, and `Demonic Tutor` find the engine, protection, and mana. Card text check required for exact `Stock Up` and `Thundertrap Trainer` tactical branches; until verified, treat them as registered velocity pieces whose legal choices must come from Forge.

- Interaction: `Force of Will`, main-deck `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, `Mental Misstep`, `Chain of Vapor`, `Flame of Anor`, `Hexing Squelcher`, and `Vexing Bauble` are the main disruption suite. Card text check required for exact `Hexing Squelcher`, `Vexing Bauble`, and `Flame of Anor` branches; use them only through visible legal actions and stack/battlefield context.

- Protection: `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, `Mental Misstep`, and `Vexing Bauble` protect the combo turn, stop opposing lock pieces, and prevent high-impact stack exchanges. Prefer saving free interaction for cards that stop `Underworld Breach`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Brain Freeze`, or mana development unless immediate survival or a visible opposing win requires action.

- Recursion: `Underworld Breach` is the main-deck recursion engine, and sideboard `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` is the registered long-game recursion module. Do not assume either card returns a specific permanent or spell without a legal action naming that object.

- Mana: `Black Lotus`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Pearl`, `Mox Opal`, `Mox Sapphire`, `Mox Emerald`, `Mana Crypt`, `Mana Vault`, `Sol Ring`, `Tolarian Academy`, fetchlands, `Volcanic Island`, `Tundra`, `Underground Sea`, and `Meticulous Archive` create the color and burst requirements. Protect blue first for setup and counters, red for `Underworld Breach` and `Flame of Anor`, black for `Demonic Tutor`, and white for sideboard removal.

- Sideboard modules: `Swords to Plowshares`, `Portable Hole`, `Pyroblast`, `Steel Sabotage`, `Soul-Guide Lantern`, sideboard `Force of Negation`, sideboard `Hexing Squelcher`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Overencumbered`, and `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` adjust removal, stack defense, artifact interaction, graveyard pressure, and long-game recursion. Exact sideboard plans belong in Sideboard Map; here, treat these as modular answers that should enter only when the opposing public plan makes their role valuable.

## Primary Win Conditions
- `Underworld Breach` plus `Brain Freeze` is the cleanest kill path when Forge exposes escape, target, and storm actions that convert the graveyard into enough repeated spells to deck the opponent. Setup needs red mana, graveyard fuel, a legal `Underworld Breach` action, access to `Brain Freeze`, and enough mana or artifact replay capacity from `Black Lotus`, Moxen, `Mana Crypt`, `Mana Vault`, `Sol Ring`, `Mox Opal`, or `Tolarian Academy`; prioritize this line when protection is available or the opponent is visibly low on stack resources.

- `Brain Freeze` can target self as a fuel action only when the legal action text clearly allows that target and the resulting graveyard volume advances a visible `Underworld Breach` turn. Use self-targeting to bridge from a small graveyard to a larger escape chain, but do not choose it if the engine has not exposed follow-up escape actions, if decking yourself is a visible risk, or if the opponent-target kill is already legal.

- `Paradoxical Outcome` is the main non-graveyard engine win path because it turns artifact mana into cards, mana, and storm count. Setup favors multiple zero- or one-mana artifacts, blue mana, and at least one follow-up payoff or tutor; execute by floating mana where legal, returning expendable artifacts, replaying them, then using `Ancestral Recall`, `Stock Up`, `Demonic Tutor`, `Merchant Scroll`, `Brainstorm`, `Gitaxian Probe`, `Time Walk`, or `Underworld Breach` to convert the resource burst into `Brain Freeze` or another decisive `Paradoxical Outcome` chain.

- `Demonic Tutor` and `Merchant Scroll` should aim the primary win path toward the missing piece rather than the flashiest card. If `Underworld Breach` is present but payoff is missing, look for `Brain Freeze` or a legal tutor route; if payoff is present but graveyard recursion is missing, look for `Underworld Breach`; if mana is abundant but cards are low, `Paradoxical Outcome` or `Ancestral Recall` can be the better setup than immediate commitment.

- Protect the winning turn before maximizing storm count. `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, `Mental Misstep`, and `Vexing Bauble` should be conserved for visible interaction that stops `Underworld Breach`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Brain Freeze`, or critical mana, unless the opponent presents an immediate legal win or prison effect that must be answered first.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- `Urza's Saga` is the best slow-game pressure plan when combo resources are disrupted or the opponent spends too much effort fighting the stack. Prioritize it when the battlefield can support artifact count, when creature-land pressure is safer than a graveyard commitment, or when the engine exposes construct-making and search actions that improve mana or disruption with cards such as `Black Lotus`, Moxen, `Mox Opal`, `Sol Ring`, `Mana Vault`, `Mana Crypt`, or `Vexing Bauble`.

- `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` is a post-board or companion-visible recursion plan only when Forge shows it as available. Use it to rebuild through traded artifacts and cheap permanents, especially after the opponent has exhausted removal or counters, but do not assume access from the sideboard zone without a legal action and do not expose it into obvious battlefield pressure unless the recursion value matters immediately.

- `Time Walk` converts partial advantages into wins by protecting a setup turn, giving `Urza's Saga` another chapter or attack, or letting a rebuilt artifact board untap before the opponent can stabilize. Treat it as a bridge to a decisive engine turn rather than a standalone payoff unless the visible board already creates lethal or near-lethal pressure.

- `Flame of Anor` can become a backup damage or control card only through legal action text. Card text check required for exact modal use; use it conditionally as removal, reach, or card advantage only when Forge exposes the relevant mode and the visible state makes that mode materially better than saving mana for combo or protection.

- `Thundertrap Trainer` is not a primary damage plan, but repeated small attacks can matter when both players are low on resources or when `Time Walk` and interaction create a safe tempo window. Card text check required for exact selection role; treat combat with it as incidental pressure unless the legal attack is clearly low-risk and does not sacrifice a needed blocker.

- `Chain of Vapor` can enable a secondary burst by rebuying own artifacts or clearing a blocking/prison permanent, but use it only when the legal target and sacrifice-copy consequences are visible. It is usually stronger as a tactical bridge to `Paradoxical Outcome` or `Underworld Breach` than as a standalone answer.

## Emergency Lines
- When behind on life, prioritize survival actions that preserve a future combo turn. Use `Chain of Vapor`, `Flame of Anor`, sideboard `Swords to Plowshares`, `Portable Hole`, `Steel Sabotage`, or counters only if they are legal and answer the visible threat that changes the clock; do not spend the last protection spell on low-impact pressure while a combo turn is still plausible.

- When behind on board, shift from sculpting to stabilizing if the visible clock is short. `Urza's Saga` constructs, `Thundertrap Trainer` blocks, bounce, removal, and `Time Walk` can buy the turn needed for `Paradoxical Outcome` or `Underworld Breach`; avoid attacks that remove necessary blockers unless they create a clear faster win.

- When behind on cards, favor high-ceiling draw engines over narrow interaction unless the stack demands an answer. `Ancestral Recall`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Stock Up`, `Brainstorm`, `Lorien Revealed`, and legal `Thundertrap Trainer` selection actions should rebuild toward mana plus payoff; protect the first major reload if losing it would leave no engine.

- When behind on mana, use fetchlands and artifact mana to restore colored access before committing payoff cards. Prioritize blue for draw and counters, red for `Underworld Breach`, black for `Demonic Tutor`, and white only when sideboard removal is needed; do not trap the hand with colorless acceleration if the visible next line needs colored mana.

- When graveyard recursion is disrupted, pivot to `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Urza's Saga`, `Time Walk`, and raw restricted-card advantage instead of forcing `Underworld Breach`. If `Brain Freeze` no longer kills, it may still be useful only if a legal target and follow-up engine action are visible.

- When win conditions are removed or inaccessible, play to the longest visible resource loop: protect `Urza's Saga`, recur with visible `Lurrus of the Dream-Den`, chain `Paradoxical Outcome`, and conserve counters for cards that end the game or lock out the remaining plan.

## Resource Model
- Life is a spendable clock buffer, not a primary engine fuel. Accept pressure from small attacks when the hand is assembling `Underworld Breach`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, or protected `Urza's Saga`, but convert to survival mode when the visible board threatens to shorten the game before the next engine turn; post-board, `Swords to Plowshares`, `Portable Hole`, and `Steel Sabotage` are life-preserving bullets, not automatic tempo plays.

- Hand size is the deck's most important hidden-resource advantage. Preserve a mix of mana, engine, payoff, and protection; do not pitch `Force of Will` or `Force of Negation` casually if the remaining hand cannot either reload with `Ancestral Recall`, `Stock Up`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Brainstorm`, `Lorien Revealed`, or convert immediately through `Underworld Breach`.

- Mana is explosive but uneven, so count colored access separately from total mana. `Black Lotus`, `Mox Sapphire`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Pearl`, `Mox Emerald`, `Mox Opal`, `Sol Ring`, `Mana Vault`, `Mana Crypt`, `Tolarian Academy`, and `Urza's Saga` can create large turns, but they do not all pay for `Underworld Breach`, `Demonic Tutor`, counter backup, or sideboard removal.

- Board presence is primarily an engine platform. Cheap artifacts increase `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Mox Opal`, `Tolarian Academy`, and `Urza's Saga` value; `Thundertrap Trainer` and construct tokens can buy turns or pressure planes of interaction, but avoid treating creature combat as the main plan unless combo resources are blocked.

- Graveyard count is a live combo resource for `Underworld Breach` and `Brain Freeze`. Fill it through normal play, fetchlands, counters, draw spells, and spent artifacts, but do not expose the graveyard plan into visible hate when `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Urza's Saga`, or restricted-card advantage can wait one turn.

- Exile is a real cost sink, especially from pitch interaction and escape-style play. Track what `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, and `Underworld Breach` consume; do not exile the only remaining path to `Brain Freeze`, protection, or colored setup unless the current stack or combo line requires it.

- Lands are both colored sources and tactical assets. Fetchlands fix colors and fuel the graveyard, `Urza's Saga` is a win condition and artifact access point, `Tolarian Academy` is a burst source, and `Meticulous Archive` may enter tapped; sequence them around whether this turn needs immediate interaction or future engine density.

- Sacrifice fodder is limited and contextual. If `Chain of Vapor` exposes copy or sacrifice decisions, sacrifice a land only when the legal visible outcome advances a decisive combo, removes a must-answer permanent, or protects survival; do not trade a colored land for marginal storm count.

- Tempo is created by protected bursts, not by spending every card early. `Time Walk`, cheap counters, `Chain of Vapor`, and sideboard bullets should either preserve a combo window, buy a full extra draw step, or stop a visible opposing win.

- Information changes decisions immediately. `Gitaxian Probe`, visible stack actions, revealed cards, and public graveyards should decide whether to commit `Underworld Breach`, hold counters, fire `Demonic Tutor`, or pass with protection; never infer exact hidden cards beyond revealed information.

## Mana Guide
- Utility-land sequencing: explicitly track `Flooded Strand` as the deck's named nonbasic or utility-land decisions. Use these lands to satisfy the next visible color or utility requirement before taking speculative lines: play or fetch colored sources before cantrips and discard that need exact mana, keep utility lands when their activated or disruptive text is part of the current plan, and delay utility-land sacrifices until the follow-up spell or ability is already legal. When choosing between a stable colored source and a utility land, choose the source that casts the current hand under visible pressure, then use the utility land once the required colors are secure.

- Prioritize blue access first because `Ancestral Recall`, `Brainstorm`, `Stock Up`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Merchant Scroll`, `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, `Mental Misstep`, `Thundertrap Trainer`, and `Brain Freeze` all lean on blue decisions. A hand with fast colorless mana but no reliable blue source needs a strong reason to keep.

- Preserve red access for `Underworld Breach` and `Flame of Anor`. `Volcanic Island`, `Mox Ruby`, `Black Lotus`, and fetchland routes should be planned before committing artifacts, because a hand that draws cards without red may fail to convert into the graveyard engine.

- Preserve black access when `Demonic Tutor` is part of the plan. `Underground Sea`, `Mox Jet`, `Black Lotus`, and fetchlands should be valued higher in hands where the tutor is the cleanest bridge to `Underworld Breach`, `Brain Freeze`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, or protection.

- Treat white as post-board or utility access unless the current hand needs it. `Tundra`, `Mox Pearl`, `Meticulous Archive`, `Black Lotus`, and fetchlands matter more after boarding into `Swords to Plowshares`, `Portable Hole`, `Lurrus of the Dream-Den`, or `Overencumbered`.

- Sequence artifact mana before `Paradoxical Outcome` only when it increases net mana, metalcraft, or storm without exposing a critical resource to visible punishment. When possible, float mana before returning artifacts, then replay zero-mana artifacts to rebuild storm and mana.

- Play fetchlands before cantrips when the hand needs a specific color now or wants graveyard count for `Underworld Breach`. Hold fetchlands until after `Brainstorm`, `Stock Up`, or `Thundertrap Trainer` selection when the current colors are already covered and the shuffle or graveyard timing may improve card quality.

- Play lands after draw effects when land choice is uncertain and no immediate interaction is required. Play lands before draw effects when mana from that land is needed to cast `Ancestral Recall`, `Stock Up`, `Brainstorm`, `Gitaxian Probe` follow-up lines, counters, or a same-turn `Paradoxical Outcome`.

- Keep opening mana that casts at least one meaningful blue spell or protects a fast artifact start. Mulligan hands that rely only on `Mana Vault`, `Mana Crypt`, or `Sol Ring` without colored conversion, unless the visible hand already has `Urza's Saga`, `Tolarian Academy` with artifacts, or a legal explosive `Paradoxical Outcome` path.

- Respect tapped or delayed utility lands. `Meticulous Archive` should be played early when the turn can absorb tapped mana; `Urza's Saga` should be played when its chapter timing or construct plan matters; `Tolarian Academy` should often wait until artifact count makes it materially better than an ordinary land.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keeps have blue access, an engine, and either acceleration or protection. Keep hands such as `Volcanic Island` plus `Mox Sapphire`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Force of Will`, a blue pitch card, and another cheap artifact; keep `Underground Sea`, `Black Lotus`, `Demonic Tutor`, `Underworld Breach`, and blue interaction when the hand can act before the opponent's second turn.

- Medium keeps need a clear first two turns. Keep `Misty Rainforest`, `Brainstorm`, `Stock Up`, `Thundertrap Trainer`, `Force of Will`, and one artifact when the hand can sculpt while interacting; keep `Urza's Saga` plus artifact mana and a blue card when construct pressure or artifact access can bridge to a later engine.

- Risky keeps require one missing piece but already contain velocity. A hand with `Underworld Breach` and `Brain Freeze` but only one red or blue source is keepable only with `Gitaxian Probe`, `Brainstorm`, `Stock Up`, `Ancestral Recall`, or fetchland fixing; a hand with `Paradoxical Outcome` and multiple artifacts but no protection is better on the play than on the draw.

- Automatic ships lack colored action or a believable engine. Mulligan hands built around only `Mana Vault`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, and lands without blue spells; ship hands with `Brain Freeze` as the only payoff, no draw, no tutor, and no protection; ship hands that cannot cast any meaningful spell before a fast opponent can present pressure or disruption.

- Matchup-dependent keeps shift around interaction. Against visible blue combo/control, value `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, `Mental Misstep`, `Gitaxian Probe`, and fast protected `Underworld Breach`; against creature pressure, value `Chain of Vapor`, `Flame of Anor`, `Thundertrap Trainer`, and post-board `Swords to Plowshares` or `Portable Hole`.

- Play/draw changes tolerance for fragility. On the play, keep more artifact-heavy hands that can deploy `Vexing Bauble`, `Urza's Saga`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, or protected `Demonic Tutor`; on the draw, require more free interaction or immediate selection because opposing first-turn plays may force a defensive stack decision.

- Trap hands look powerful but fail to convert. Do not keep `Tolarian Academy` with too few artifacts; do not keep `Mox Opal` without metalcraft support; do not keep `Lorien Revealed` as the only smoothing if the hand needs immediate colored mana; do not keep `Underworld Breach` without graveyard, red mana, or a route to `Brain Freeze` unless the rest of the hand is a strong control keep.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1 prefers information, mana shape, and protected setup. Lead with fetchland or blue source into `Gitaxian Probe`, `Brainstorm`, `Ancestral Recall`, `Thundertrap Trainer`, or artifact deployment; deploy zero-mana artifacts when they enable `Mox Opal`, `Tolarian Academy`, `Urza's Saga`, or a near-term `Paradoxical Outcome`; hold `Black Lotus` when spending it does not create a decisive spell or protected engine turn.

- Turn 1 deviations are driven by visible danger. Cast `Mental Misstep`, `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, `Force of Will`, or `Force of Negation` when the opposing stack threatens a win, graveyard hate, lock piece, or decisive draw; cast `Chain of Vapor` only when bouncing a visible permanent preserves a combo turn or prevents immediate loss.

- Turn 2 should assemble either `Paradoxical Outcome` or `Underworld Breach`. If artifacts are in play, plan floating mana, resolving `Paradoxical Outcome`, replaying artifacts, and protecting the reload; if graveyard count and red mana are ready, use `Demonic Tutor`, `Merchant Scroll`, `Brainstorm`, `Stock Up`, or `Thundertrap Trainer` to connect to `Underworld Breach`, `Brain Freeze`, or protection.

- Turn 2 deviations keep the deck alive. Use `Flame of Anor` as removal or card advantage only according to legal modes shown by the engine; Card text check required for exact `Thundertrap Trainer`, `Stock Up`, and `Flame of Anor` mode details, so follow visible action labels rather than assumed text.

- Turn 3 is the first common commitment turn. Go for `Underworld Breach` plus `Brain Freeze` when mana, graveyard, and protection are visible; otherwise cast `Paradoxical Outcome` for a high-card reload, advance `Urza's Saga`, or use `Time Walk` when the extra turn converts into a protected engine, construct clock, or additional draw step.

- Turns 4-5 punish stalled opponents with layered engines. Rebuy tempo through `Paradoxical Outcome`, pressure with `Urza's Saga` constructs, use `Tolarian Academy` for burst turns, and protect a decisive `Underworld Breach`; do not spend pitch counters on low-impact spells if the hand still needs them to force through the actual win.

- Late game shifts from speed to inevitability management. Count library, graveyard, exile, and remaining artifacts before starting `Underworld Breach`; use `Brain Freeze` as payoff only when legal targeting and storm count support the line; use `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` only if a legal runtime action makes it available and the game has slowed enough for permanent recursion to matter.

- Late-game deviations prioritize known hate and lethal clocks. If visible graveyard hate blocks `Underworld Breach`, pivot toward `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Urza's Saga`, restricted draw, and hard-cast interaction; if the opponent presents lethal or near-lethal pressure, spend `Chain of Vapor`, `Flame of Anor`, counters, or post-board removal to buy exactly the turn needed for a protected engine.

## Card Roles
- `Paradoxical Outcome` is the main non-graveyard engine and the safest way to convert artifact mana into a decisive turn. Cast it when it can return multiple zero- or one-mana artifacts, float mana first when legal, and preserve a blue card or cheap counter if the opponent can interact on the stack. Avoid firing it for one card unless the hand is otherwise stranded, the extra storm count matters immediately, or survival requires finding interaction.

- `Underworld Breach` is the central graveyard engine and should be treated as a commitment card, not a casual value play. Cast it when red mana, graveyard size, mana artifacts, and a payoff route such as `Brain Freeze`, `Demonic Tutor`, `Merchant Scroll`, or repeated draw are visible. Do not expose it into open interaction or visible graveyard hate unless waiting is worse or protection is already available.

- `Brain Freeze` is both payoff and setup. Target the opponent when storm count and loop resources can plausibly finish the game; target self only when the legal action text and visible resources support a Breach line that wants graveyard density. Do not spend it as a random mill spell without `Underworld Breach`, storm pressure, or a tutor-driven continuation.

- `Force of Will` protects the engine and stops opposing wins. Pitch it for spells that end the game, remove the graveyard engine, lock out zero-mana artifacts, or invalidate a protected combo turn; avoid pitching the only engine enabler or only blue card for a low-impact exchange. In control mirrors, hold it for stack fights over `Ancestral Recall`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Underworld Breach`, or lethal opposing combo actions.

- `Force of Negation` is narrower protection and should usually defend a key turn or stop opposing noncreature engines. Use it aggressively on the draw against visible fast combo, graveyard hate, artifact locks, or decisive draw spells. Because it can be awkward on your own turn depending on legal action labels, follow the engine output and do not assume it covers every commitment.

- `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, and `Mental Misstep` are tempo counters that buy the window for a protected engine. Use `Mental Misstep` on opposing one-mana disruption, acceleration, or pressure that materially changes the first turns; use `Flusterstorm` and `Spell Pierce` in stack fights where the opponent must pay through pressure. Do not spend them merely because they are legal if the opponent can still resolve the card that actually matters.

- `Ancestral Recall`, `Brainstorm`, `Gitaxian Probe`, and `Time Walk` are restricted efficiency cards that should create information, velocity, or a protected extra turn. Cast `Gitaxian Probe` early when life and legality permit because perfect information changes whether to commit `Underworld Breach` or `Paradoxical Outcome`; cast `Brainstorm` with fetchlands when possible to fix stranded pieces; cast `Time Walk` when the extra turn converts into a combo setup, `Urza's Saga` chapter, or protected draw step.

- `Demonic Tutor` is the highest-flexibility selection spell and should search for the missing piece that makes the current hand coherent. Find `Underworld Breach` when graveyard and red mana are ready, `Brain Freeze` when Breach is already online, `Paradoxical Outcome` when artifacts are deployed, or protection when the win is otherwise assembled. Avoid tutoring before using visible information if `Gitaxian Probe` or a safe draw spell can clarify the required card.

- `Merchant Scroll` is a narrower bridge to blue interaction or blue engine support. Use it for `Ancestral Recall`, `Brain Freeze`, `Flusterstorm`, `Force of Negation`, `Force of Will`, `Spell Pierce`, or `Chain of Vapor` only when the legal search options confirm the target. Treat it as a setup spell unless the searched instant immediately protects or completes the current turn.

- `Stock Up` is a four-copy consistency card, but Card text check required for exact selection and timing. Use it when the visible legal action label indicates it improves card quality or finds missing engine pieces; prefer it in turns where holding up free interaction still leaves the deck protected. Do not assume hidden cards or specific ordering effects beyond what Veles shows.

- `Thundertrap Trainer` is a four-copy early body and selection piece, but Card text check required for exact spell text, creature type relevance, and mode details. Use it to develop while digging toward `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Underworld Breach`, protection, or mana, especially when the deck needs a non-artifact play that does not expose the graveyard engine. If `Flame of Anor` offers modes that depend on visible `Thundertrap Trainer` characteristics, follow the rules-engine labels rather than assumed creature types.

- `Flame of Anor` is a flexible interaction or card-advantage spell, but Card text check required for exact mode access and Wizard-related conditions. Use removal modes when a creature threatens lethal, a hate creature blocks the combo, or tempo is needed; use card-advantage modes when the board is stable and the hand needs velocity. Do not pick a mode based on remembered text if the legal action label shows a different available choice.

- `Chain of Vapor` is the clean temporary answer to hate permanents and urgent board states. Save it for visible graveyard hate, artifact locks, lethal attackers, or a permanent that prevents the current engine turn; use it proactively only when the bounce opens a same-turn win or a protected `Paradoxical Outcome` turn. Remember that bouncing your own artifact or permanent is only correct when the legal action and visible mana/storm math make the tempo gain concrete.

- `Vexing Bauble` is a disruptive artifact and `Paradoxical Outcome` object, but Card text check required for exact activated and static abilities. Deploy it early when it taxes or checks opposing free interaction according to visible action text, especially before a protected engine turn. Avoid sacrificing or consuming it if artifact count matters for `Mox Opal`, `Tolarian Academy`, `Urza's Saga`, or a pending `Paradoxical Outcome`.

- `Hexing Squelcher` is a main-deck disruptive role-player, but Card text check required. Use it only according to legal action labels and visible board context; prioritize it when it interferes with an opposing activated ability, hate piece, or threat line that Veles exposes. Do not assume it answers a card type or ability class unless the runtime prompt confirms it.

- `Lorien Revealed` is primarily a smoothing and mana-fixing card before it is a late draw spell. Use its visible land-search or cycling-style action when the hand needs a real land, blue source, or splash color to cast engines and protection; cast the spell side later only when mana is abundant and the game is about raw cards. Do not keep slow hands that rely on it as the only early action against fast pressure.

- `Black Lotus`, `Mox Sapphire`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Pearl`, `Mox Emerald`, `Mox Opal`, `Sol Ring`, `Mana Crypt`, and `Mana Vault` are the deck's burst-mana package. Deploy them when they enable `Paradoxical Outcome`, metalcraft, `Tolarian Academy`, `Urza's Saga`, or a protected spell chain; hold `Black Lotus` or a spare artifact when spending it produces no decisive action and would weaken a later engine turn. Count color carefully before committing to `Underworld Breach`, counters, or tutor chains.

- `Urza's Saga` is the main land-based backup plan and artifact access engine. Play it when chapter timing, construct pressure, or a future artifact search matters more than immediate colored mana; pair it with artifact density to create a real clock when graveyard hate is visible. Avoid sequencing it as the only land if the hand needs immediate blue or red interaction.

- `Tolarian Academy` is explosive only when artifact count is already meaningful. Hold or delay it when it taps for little mana, then use it on turns where artifacts, `Paradoxical Outcome`, or recast sequences convert it into multiple spells. Protect it indirectly by not wasting artifacts that make it function.

- Fetchlands and dual lands define spell access. Use `Misty Rainforest`, `Scalding Tarn`, `Polluted Delta`, and `Flooded Strand` to set up `Volcanic Island`, `Tundra`, `Underground Sea`, or `Meticulous Archive` according to the hand's missing color; fetch before `Brainstorm` only when shuffle value or mana access matters. `Volcanic Island` is the key Breach color pair, `Tundra` supports white post-board plans, and `Underground Sea` enables `Demonic Tutor` while preserving blue interaction.

## Interaction Priorities

- Priority: Counter or answer cards that stop the engine before cards that merely slow damage. Use `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, `Spell Pierce`, and post-board `Pyroblast`, `Mindbreak Trap`, or `Steel Sabotage` first on visible spells or stack objects that prevent `Underworld Breach`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, artifact mana, graveyard use, or spell resolution; let low-impact cantrips and fair creatures resolve when they do not change the commitment gate.

- Priority: Bounce permanent hate only when the same turn can exploit the window or survival requires it. Save `Chain of Vapor` for a visible lock piece, graveyard hate, artifact blocker, lethal permanent, or protected combo barrier; do not spend it on a nuisance permanent if the opponent can simply redeploy it before `Underworld Breach` or `Paradoxical Outcome` matters.

- Priority: Fight opposing stack interaction at the commitment point, not during harmless setup. Bait with `Stock Up`, `Thundertrap Trainer`, `Lorien Revealed`, or nonlethal `Paradoxical Outcome` only when losing that spell still leaves mana, cards, or artifacts for the real turn; protect `Underworld Breach`, `Brain Freeze`, `Demonic Tutor`, `Ancestral Recall`, and decisive `Paradoxical Outcome` more aggressively.

- Priority: Use `Force of Will` and `Force of Negation` as emergency protection, not as routine tempo. Exile the least essential blue card only after comparing whether that card is needed for the current engine line; avoid pitching `Brain Freeze` when `Underworld Breach` is the plan, avoid pitching the only draw engine when the hand is otherwise empty, and avoid pitching protection if another counter can answer the same stack object.

- Priority: Use `Flame of Anor` as removal only when the target is a true tactical blocker, hate creature, fast clock, or lethal setup. Card text check required for exact modes and conditions; if the legal action label confirms a draw or damage mode, choose the mode that either preserves life against pressure or creates enough cards to reach the engine.

- Priority: Treat `Vexing Bauble` and `Hexing Squelcher` as role-specific disruption whose text must be verified by runtime labels. Card text check required for both; activate, sacrifice, or deploy them only when Veles exposes a concrete opposing action, free-spell fight, activated ability, or hate line they interact with, and remember both are also artifacts for `Mox Opal`, `Tolarian Academy`, `Urza's Saga`, and `Paradoxical Outcome`.

- Priority: Ignore threats that cannot kill before the next engine turn unless they carry disruption. A small attacker, value creature, or fair draw spell is often less important than protecting mana, graveyard access, and blue cards; switch to survival mode only when visible damage puts the pilot near a two-turn clock, `Mana Crypt` loss risk matters, or a combat step threatens lethal.

- Priority: Change interaction posture by archetype. Against fast artifact or combo decks, counter mana accelerants, deterministic payoffs, and protection fights; against blue control, conserve counters for the stack battle over `Underworld Breach` or `Paradoxical Outcome`; against creature pressure, protect life total with `Chain of Vapor`, `Flame of Anor`, and post-board `Swords to Plowshares` or `Portable Hole`; against graveyard decks, value `Soul-Guide Lantern` and avoid committing `Underworld Breach` into visible opposing graveyard pressure without a reason.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Priority: Treat combat as a clock-management tool because the deck wins through engines, not creature dominance. Attack with `Thundertrap Trainer`, `Urza's Saga` Construct tokens, or `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` only when the attacker is not needed as a blocker and the damage advances a backup win or planes the opponent into `Brain Freeze` range through a shorter game.

- Priority: Preserve `Thundertrap Trainer` when it is enabling selection, pressure absorption, or `Flame of Anor` mode access shown by Veles. Do not trade it for a low-impact creature if the board is stable; trade it when the opponent's visible attack would put life near lethal range, when protecting `Mana Crypt` risk matters, or when the Trainer has already delivered its setup value.

- Priority: Preserve `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` if it is legally available post-board and its visible actions recur artifacts or cheap permanents. Card text check required for exact companion/cast permissions and recursion text; do not expose it in combat unless blocking prevents lethal or attacking creates a near-certain backup clock.

- Priority: Use `Urza's Saga` Construct tokens as both pressure and defense. Attack when the opponent is constrained, lacks profitable blocks, or must answer the token instead of holding interaction; hold back when the token is the only way to survive creature pressure or when its size depends on artifacts that may be picked up by `Paradoxical Outcome` this turn.

- Priority: Keep life above the next visible attack plus `Mana Crypt` damage risk when possible. Against aggro and artifact pressure, block earlier than a pure combo deck would if doing so buys a full draw step or protected engine turn; against control and combo, accept moderate damage to keep selection bodies, artifacts, and mana available.

- Priority: Avoid combat tricks unless the rules engine exposes exact legal actions. This deck has limited creature-combat interaction in the main deck; `Chain of Vapor`, `Flame of Anor`, and post-board `Swords to Plowshares` or `Portable Hole` should be used before damage only when the visible target, timing, and survival or tempo payoff are clear.

- Priority: Do not sacrifice engine artifacts to combat math unless the engine turn is no longer realistic. `Black Lotus`, Moxen, `Mana Vault`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Mox Opal`, `Vexing Bauble`, and `Soul-Guide Lantern` can represent mana, storm, artifact count, or disruption; losing artifact count can shrink Construct tokens, weaken `Tolarian Academy`, or reduce `Paradoxical Outcome` output.

- Priority: Shift combat posture after sideboarding. With `Swords to Plowshares`, `Portable Hole`, `Steel Sabotage`, `Overencumbered`, and `Pyroblast`, the deck can spend more turns answering pressure or protecting a permanent-based plan; with fewer visible pressure answers, prefer racing to a protected engine instead of fighting every creature.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Priority: Treat selection as building either a protected `Underworld Breach` turn or a high-output `Paradoxical Outcome` turn. Keep hands and lines that convert artifacts, blue cards, and one decisive payoff into a protected stack fight; bottom or pass on redundant slow pieces when the current hand lacks mana, protection, or a win condition.

- Priority: Use `Demonic Tutor` to find the missing unique piece, not the flashiest card. Get `Underworld Breach` when graveyard volume, mana, and `Brain Freeze` access already exist; get `Brain Freeze` when `Underworld Breach` is present or easily found; get `Paradoxical Outcome` when artifacts are abundant but cards are low; get `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, or `Spell Pierce` when a protected commitment matters more than speed.

- Priority: Use `Merchant Scroll` as a precision blue-instant tutor. Fetch `Ancestral Recall` when the game is about raw cards and the stack is not hostile, `Flusterstorm` when the next turn is a counter war, `Force of Negation` when a noncreature stop is needed, `Chain of Vapor` when a visible permanent blocks the engine, or `Brainstorm` only when the hand specifically needs a cheap setup spell and a shuffle effect.

- Priority: Sequence `Brainstorm` with `Misty Rainforest`, `Scalding Tarn`, `Polluted Delta`, or `Flooded Strand` whenever possible. Put back excess lands, redundant expensive engines, or matchup-dead interaction, then shuffle; without a shuffle, cast `Brainstorm` mainly to protect a key card from discard, dig for immediate mana, or set up a same-turn action.

- Priority: Cast `Gitaxian Probe` before committing if the legal cost is acceptable and hidden information changes whether to go now. Use the revealed hand to decide whether `Underworld Breach`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Demonic Tutor`, or `Ancestral Recall` needs protection; do not spend life casually when visible pressure or `Mana Crypt` risk makes life a real resource.

- Priority: Use `Stock Up` as a main selection engine, but obey runtime text. Card text check required for exact look count and zone movement; choose cards that complete mana plus payoff plus protection first, then graveyard volume, then backup engines, and bottom low-impact duplicates when the immediate line already has enough resources.

- Priority: Use `Thundertrap Trainer` to smooth the early game and preserve blue density. Card text check required for exact selection and future permissions; take the card that fixes the current bottleneck, and prefer keeping `Thundertrap Trainer` on board when it buys time, enables visible `Flame of Anor` modes, or pressures planeswalkers and life totals.

- Priority: Use `Lorien Revealed` as flexible land access before it is a spell. If the hand needs a land drop, blue source, shuffle, or stable mana, use the visible land-search action before committing to slower card draw; cast it as a spell only when mana is plentiful and the game is about refueling through interaction.

- Priority: Time land drops around information and engine math. Delay fetchland activation until after `Brainstorm`, `Gitaxian Probe`, or tutor decisions when no mana is needed immediately; play `Tolarian Academy` after artifacts are deployed when it increases mana, but play colored lands first when interaction or `Underworld Breach` colors are the binding constraint.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Priority: Commit to `Underworld Breach` only when the visible game state supports a real turn or waiting is worse. Check available mana, graveyard size, `Brain Freeze` access, storm count, protection, visible hate, and opponent pressure before starting; once committed, prioritize resolving the engine and payoff over extra value spells.

- Priority: Commit to `Paradoxical Outcome` when it creates a material mana-card swing or protects artifacts from a hostile board. Bounce Moxen, `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, `Mana Vault`, `Sol Ring`, `Mox Opal`, `Vexing Bauble`, and tokens only when the resulting hand and mana can continue the turn or reload safely; avoid picking up artifacts that must stay for `Tolarian Academy`, `Urza's Saga` Constructs, or immediate protection unless the draw swing is decisive.

- Priority: Fight on the stack over cards that decide the game, not every spell. Protect `Underworld Breach`, `Brain Freeze`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Demonic Tutor`, and `Ancestral Recall`; let low-impact opposing setup resolve when countering it would strand the pilot without blue cards, mana, or protection for the real fight.

- Priority: Use free counters with a pitch-value audit. Before casting `Force of Will` or `Force of Negation`, compare the exiled blue card against the current plan; do not pitch the only payoff, only draw engine, or only protection spell unless the opposing stack object threatens the game or the combo turn.

- Priority: Use `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, and `Mental Misstep` in the window where their text still matters. Aim them at opposing counters, discard, cheap hate, or decisive accelerants when Veles exposes legal targets; avoid firing them into mana-rich board states where the opponent can pay unless forcing payment opens the current turn.

- Priority: Cast `Ancestral Recall` at the point where cards beat concealment. Use it early when digging for land or protection, hold it when baiting counters is useful, and protect it when resolving three cards is the cleanest path to `Underworld Breach` or `Paradoxical Outcome`.

- Priority: Use `Chain of Vapor` as a timing tool, not generic removal. Bounce visible graveyard hate, stack-locking permanents, lethal attackers before damage, or artifacts/enchantments that stop the engine; prefer same-turn exploitation so the opponent has less opportunity to redeploy the permanent.

- Priority: Treat `Brain Freeze` as both payoff and setup only when legal text and graveyard math support it. Target opponent when the deterministic win is available; target self only when filling the graveyard for `Underworld Breach` is explicitly legal, strategically selected, and not exposing the pilot to losing by library depletion.

- Priority: Use `Time Walk` to convert a stabilized board or engine setup into a protected extra turn. Cast it when the extra untap, land drop, attack, or draw step materially improves the combo turn; do not spend it as a blank cantrip substitute if stack protection or mana is missing.

- Priority: Respect optional payments and activated abilities by current bottleneck. Activate `Vexing Bauble`, `Hexing Squelcher`, `Soul-Guide Lantern`, or sideboard artifacts only when the runtime label shows a relevant stack object, activated ability, graveyard card, or hate exchange; Card text check required for `Hexing Squelcher` and exact activation consequences.

## Sideboard Map

- Role: Use sideboarding to change which axis the deck must respect before it commits to `Underworld Breach` or `Paradoxical Outcome`. Keep enough blue cards for `Force of Will`, enough cheap artifacts for `Paradoxical Outcome`, enough graveyard density for `Underworld Breach`, and enough colored lands to cast sideboard interaction through pressure.

- Role: `Swords to Plowshares` is the clean creature-answer package. Add it against creature clocks, hate creatures, large Construct tokens, initiative-style pressure, and decks where removing one permanent buys the combo turn; it is bad when the opponent presents mostly stack interaction, graveyard hate, artifacts, or spell-combo with few relevant creatures.

- Role: `Portable Hole` is the cheap permanent-answer package. Add it when visible or expected threats are low-cost nonland permanents that can stop the engine or win before the engine assembles; it is bad against decks whose key cards cost outside its range, against stack-only combo, and when artifact count must stay high but white mana is unreliable. Card text check required for exact target restriction.

- Role: `Pyroblast` is the efficient blue-fight card. Add it against blue control, blue combo, opposing counter-heavy decks, and blue draw engines; it is bad against Shops-like artifact decks, creature decks with few blue spells, or graveyard decks where the decisive objects are not blue.

- Role: the sideboard `Force of Negation` increases free stack coverage. Add it against fast combo, prison-combo, and decks where a noncreature spell must be stopped while tapped low; it is bad when the opponent wins mainly through creatures or activated abilities and the pilot cannot spare blue cards.

- Role: `Mindbreak Trap` is the emergency stack-breaker for storm-like or chain-spell turns. Add it against decks likely to cast multiple spells before the decisive payoff; it is bad in slow attrition games, creature matchups, and matches where one-for-one permission is enough.

- Role: `Soul-Guide Lantern` is the graveyard-control artifact. Add it against `opponent:` graveyard engines, recursive threats, mirror-style `Underworld Breach` plans, and decks where one cheap artifact that can cantrip or interact improves both `Paradoxical Outcome` and hate density; it is bad when graveyards are incidental and drawing it delays a needed engine.

- Role: `Steel Sabotage` is the narrow artifact-answer or artifact-stack card. Add it against artifact prison, artifact mana mirrors, `opponent:` lock pieces, and large artifact threats; it is bad against creature or blue-control decks where `Pyroblast`, `Swords to Plowshares`, or `Portable Hole` answer more relevant objects. Card text check required for exact mode timing.

- Role: sideboard `Hexing Squelcher` is an extra activated-ability hate slot. Add it when opponent permanents or combo lines depend on activated abilities and the runtime state exposes relevant ability prompts; it is bad when the opponent presents mostly triggered abilities, static hate, combat pressure, or stack-only interaction. Card text check required.

- Role: `Overencumbered` is a metagame-specific disruption card. Add it only when its exact text is verified and the opposing archetype is vulnerable to that effect; until text is verified, do not select it over known-function interaction in high-confidence plans. Card text check required.

- Role: `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` is a grind and recovery pivot, not an automatic companion assumption. Add it when slower games reward replaying cheap permanents or threats from the graveyard and when the sideboarded main deck can use the extra body without weakening combo density; it is bad when the matchup is too fast, graveyard hate is heavy, or three mana sorcery-speed commitment is punished. Card text check required for exact companion/use constraints in this registered configuration.

Blue Control / Counterspell Mirrors
Role cards: 2 Pyroblast; 1 Force of Negation; 1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Trim roles: 1 Chain of Vapor; 1 Hexing Squelcher; 1 Vexing Bauble; 1 Lorien Revealed

- Plan: Add cheap blue interaction and one recursive threat axis while reducing narrow board-interaction and slower setup. Keep `Force of Will`, `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, `Mental Misstep`, `Ancestral Recall`, `Demonic Tutor`, `Merchant Scroll`, `Underworld Breach`, and all four `Paradoxical Outcome` unless runtime evidence shows the opponent has almost no stack fight.

Creature Pressure / Hatebears
Role cards: 3 Swords to Plowshares; 3 Portable Hole
Trim roles: 1 Force of Negation; 1 Flusterstorm; 1 Spell Pierce; 1 Lorien Revealed; 1 Flame of Anor; 1 Vexing Bauble

- Plan: Add direct answers to creatures and cheap permanents while reducing permission that is weak after threats resolve. Preserve enough blue count for `Force of Will`; do not overload on white answers if visible mana cannot support them.

Artifact Prison / Shops-Style Permanents
Role cards: 1 Steel Sabotage; 3 Portable Hole; 1 Force of Negation; 1 Overencumbered
Trim roles: 1 Flusterstorm; 1 Mental Misstep; 1 Spell Pierce; 1 Lorien Revealed; 1 Gitaxian Probe; 1 Flame of Anor

- Plan: Add cards that interact with artifacts, low-cost permanents, and lock pieces while reducing soft permission and slower card selection. Choose this plan only after `Overencumbered` text is verified; otherwise use the broad rule below and favor known-function answers.

Graveyard Combo / Breach Mirrors
Role cards: 1 Soul-Guide Lantern; 1 Force of Negation; 1 Mindbreak Trap; 2 Pyroblast
Trim roles: 1 Chain of Vapor; 1 Lorien Revealed; 1 Flame of Anor; 1 Hexing Squelcher; 1 Vexing Bauble

- Plan: Add graveyard hate and stack breakers while keeping the deck's own `Underworld Breach` plan intact. Use `Soul-Guide Lantern` carefully because it may pressure both graveyards; activate it only when the legal action and visible graveyards show that the opponent's payoff is more urgent than preserving the pilot's graveyard.

Fast Noncreature Combo
Role cards: 1 Force of Negation; 1 Mindbreak Trap; 2 Pyroblast
Trim roles: 1 Chain of Vapor; 1 Flame of Anor; 1 Lorien Revealed; 1 Hexing Squelcher

- Plan: Add free and cheap stack interaction while reducing creature/permanent-oriented cards. Keep acceleration and tutors because winning first is often safer than holding too many reactive cards.

Broad artifact-heavy advice: Add role cards: `Steel Sabotage`; `Portable Hole`; `Force of Negation`; `Soul-Guide Lantern` when graveyards matter; `Overencumbered` only after text verification. Reduce main-deck emphasis: soft permission that misses resolved permanents, slow `Lorien Revealed` casting, and narrow activated-ability hate if no relevant ability appears.

Broad creature-heavy advice: Add role cards: `Swords to Plowshares`; `Portable Hole`; `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` for grindy games. Reduce main-deck emphasis: stack-only counters after the opponent has resolved threats, expensive card draw that does not affect survival, and engine turns that cannot beat the visible clock.

Broad control advice: Add role cards: `Pyroblast`; `Force of Negation`; `Lurrus of the Dream-Den`; `Mindbreak Trap` only when the opponent chains many spells. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow bounce, creature removal, and unverified hate text.

Broad graveyard advice: Add role cards: `Soul-Guide Lantern`; `Force of Negation`; `Mindbreak Trap`; `Pyroblast` if the opponent is blue. Reduce main-deck emphasis: cards that do not interact with the stack or graveyard race, but keep enough graveyard fuel for the pilot's own `Underworld Breach`.

Explicit Sideboard Repair Plans

These balanced plans are legal Veles candidates built from the registered sideboard and main deck. Use them as baseline sideboarding options only when the matchup role fits; keep the role guidance above as the strategic source of truth.

Legal repair plan 1
Side in: 3 Swords to Plowshares; Pyroblast
Cut: 4 Paradoxical Outcome

Legal repair plan 2
Side in: 2 Swords to Plowshares; 2 Pyroblast
Cut: 3 Paradoxical Outcome; Flame of Anor

Legal repair plan 3
Side in: Swords to Plowshares; 2 Pyroblast; Force of Negation
Cut: 2 Paradoxical Outcome; 2 Flame of Anor

Legal repair plan 4
Side in: 2 Pyroblast; Force of Negation; Steel Sabotage
Cut: Paradoxical Outcome; 2 Flame of Anor; Force of Will

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: Prioritize survival before engine size when the opponent presents early creature pressure. Keep hands that cast early artifacts plus blue interaction only if they also find `Swords to Plowshares`, `Portable Hole`, `Chain of Vapor`, `Flame of Anor`, or a fast `Paradoxical Outcome`; a hand that spends turns only sculpting can die before `Underworld Breach` matters. Add role cards: `Swords to Plowshares`; `Portable Hole`; `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` when the game is expected to slow. Reduce main-deck emphasis: soft permission that misses resolved creatures, slow `Lorien Revealed` development, and narrow text-check cards such as `Hexing Squelcher` when no activated ability is visible.

- Control: Play as a patient combo-control deck that makes land drops, protects restricted draw, and forces the opponent to answer multiple axes. Lead with information from `Gitaxian Probe` when legal, preserve `Ancestral Recall` for protected windows when possible, and avoid committing `Underworld Breach` into untapped blue mana unless the graveyard, mana, and protection justify the risk. Add role cards: `Pyroblast`; sideboard `Force of Negation`; `Lurrus of the Dream-Den`; `Mindbreak Trap` only if the opponent chains many spells. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Portable Hole`, `Swords to Plowshares`, and narrow bounce unless the opponent shows permanent hate.

- Combo: Identify whether the opponent is faster on the stack, graveyard, artifacts, or a single permanent, then decide whether to race or hold permission. Keep `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, `Mental Misstep`, and `Mindbreak Trap` for the action that actually wins or unlocks their win, not for every cantrip-like setup spell. Add role cards: `Mindbreak Trap`; sideboard `Force of Negation`; `Pyroblast` against blue combo; `Soul-Guide Lantern` against graveyard combo. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature interaction, slow card advantage, and `Flame of Anor` when it cannot disrupt the decisive turn.

- Tempo: Treat every mana source as contested and every tap-low engine turn as a commitment gate. Fetch stable blue mana early with `Misty Rainforest`, `Scalding Tarn`, `Polluted Delta`, or `Flooded Strand`, but respect life pressure when choosing shock-free duals such as `Tundra`, `Volcanic Island`, `Underground Sea`, or `Meticulous Archive`. Sequence cheap artifacts before `Paradoxical Outcome` only when the opponent cannot punish the exposed window, and keep `Chain of Vapor` for a tempo threat or hate permanent that blocks the combo. Add role cards: `Swords to Plowshares`; `Portable Hole`; `Pyroblast` against blue tempo. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Lorien Revealed` casting, `Mana Vault` or `Mana Crypt` lines that create avoidable damage exposure, and fragile all-in `Underworld Breach` turns.

- Midrange: Win by making their removal inefficient and their discard late. Keep hands with multiple draw engines, artifact acceleration, or tutor access because one answered `Thundertrap Trainer` or one discarded `Paradoxical Outcome` should not end the plan. Use `Time Walk` as a stabilizing tempo spell when it protects a setup turn, buys a `Urza's Saga` chapter, or allows a lethal `Underworld Breach` turn next. Add role cards: `Lurrus of the Dream-Den`; `Swords to Plowshares`; `Portable Hole`; `Soul-Guide Lantern` if graveyard recursion matters. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow stack counters after threats resolve and text-check hate with no visible target.

- Big mana: Pressure their setup while preserving counters for payoffs that dwarf one-for-one interaction. `Tolarian Academy`, `Sol Ring`, `Mana Vault`, `Mana Crypt`, `Black Lotus`, and the Moxen let this deck race, but do not spend the whole hand into a visible sweeper or prison piece unless `Paradoxical Outcome` is ready to reload. Add role cards: `Force of Negation`; `Steel Sabotage` for artifact mana or artifact threats; `Portable Hole` for cheap permanents; `Overencumbered` only after exact text is verified. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Mental Misstep` and creature removal when the opponent's relevant cards cost more or are noncreature permanents.

- Graveyard: Separate hate timing from self-sabotage because `Underworld Breach` and `Brain Freeze` also need graveyard fuel. Use `Soul-Guide Lantern` when the opponent's visible graveyard or stack action threatens an immediate payoff; delay activation when the pilot's own graveyard is the clearer route to winning and the opponent is not presenting a current graveyard action. Add role cards: `Soul-Guide Lantern`; `Mindbreak Trap`; sideboard `Force of Negation`; `Pyroblast` if blue cards matter. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow noninteractive development, but keep `Demonic Tutor`, `Merchant Scroll`, `Ancestral Recall`, `Brainstorm`, `Stock Up`, and `Paradoxical Outcome` because finding the exact hate or combo piece is often decisive.

- Artifact/enchantment: Name the permanent problem before choosing a line because this deck answers cheap permanents differently from stack actions. Use `Portable Hole` for cheap resolved permanents when legal, `Steel Sabotage` for artifact stack or battlefield problems after text confirmation, `Chain of Vapor` for temporary relief, and `Force of Negation` for noncreature hate before it resolves. Add role cards: `Steel Sabotage`; `Portable Hole`; sideboard `Force of Negation`; `Overencumbered` only after text check. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Flusterstorm` and `Spell Pierce` once the permanent is already resolved, unless the legal action can still contest a follow-up spell.

- Go-wide: Stabilize the board before trying to loop unless the visible combo line wins immediately. `Flame of Anor` may be relevant if its legal modes answer pressure or draw into action; Card text check required for mode certainty at runtime. `Swords to Plowshares` should answer the creature that most changes the clock, while `Portable Hole` should remove a cheap permanent that multiplies attacks or blocks the combo. Add role cards: `Swords to Plowshares`; `Portable Hole`; `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` in slower creature games. Reduce main-deck emphasis: stack-only counters, slow `Lorien Revealed`, and mana-positive artifacts that expose the pilot to lethal crack-back without enabling `Paradoxical Outcome`.

- Single-threat: Trade efficiently with the one object that matters and avoid panic-comboing into open interaction. Hold `Swords to Plowshares`, `Chain of Vapor`, `Portable Hole`, or `Flame of Anor` for the threat if it is the only clock; otherwise use permission to stop protection, recursion, or a second threat that invalidates the answer. Add role cards: `Swords to Plowshares`; `Portable Hole`; `Pyroblast` if the threat or protection is blue; sideboard `Force of Negation` if the threat is noncreature or stack-based. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Mindbreak Trap` unless the opponent casts several spells in the decisive turn.

- Burn: Treat life as a hard resource and avoid unnecessary `Mana Crypt`, fetchland, and `Mana Vault` exposure when a slower line still wins. Use `Time Walk` to steal a draw step or attack step, and prefer action that gains tempo over extra cards if the visible clock is short. Add role cards: `Swords to Plowshares` when creatures are part of the burn plan; `Portable Hole` for cheap permanents; `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` only if three mana and graveyard access are realistic. Reduce main-deck emphasis: pain-heavy artifact lines, slow selection, and permission that cannot stop resolved damage sources.

- Removal-heavy: Make removal awkward by valuing spells, artifacts, and graveyard recursion above creature dependence. Do not rely on `Thundertrap Trainer` surviving unless the legal line already gained value or unlocks an immediate engine turn; let removal trade for it while `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Stock Up`, `Demonic Tutor`, and `Underworld Breach` carry the real plan. Add role cards: `Lurrus of the Dream-Den`; `Pyroblast` against blue removal-control; `Soul-Guide Lantern` only if opposing recursion matters. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature-centric blocking plans and narrow removal that has no visible target.

## Specific Matchup Notes
- General note: These notes are archetype-only because no exact opponent decklists were supplied; revealed cards, legal actions, and public board state override every assumption. Treat the first visible cards as evidence for sideboarding and priority targets rather than forcing a prewritten role.

- Blue combo-control: Protect the turn that resolves `Underworld Breach`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, or a tutor into one of them, because trading counters on low-impact setup often leaves the deck short on action. Add role cards: `Pyroblast`; sideboard `Force of Negation`; `Mindbreak Trap` when the opponent can chain multiple spells. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal and slow `Lorien Revealed` casting. Priority targets are opposing draw engines, stack interaction aimed at `Underworld Breach`, and effects that exile or disable the graveyard before the combo turn.

- Artifact prison or Workshop-style decks: Keep hands that produce mana through pressure and answer at least one hate permanent, because `Paradoxical Outcome` cannot rescue a hand that never gets to cast spells. Add role cards: `Steel Sabotage`; `Portable Hole`; sideboard `Force of Negation`; `Overencumbered` only after card text check required. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, and `Mental Misstep` once the opponent’s relevant threats are resolved artifacts or permanents outside their range. Priority targets are taxing artifacts, artifact mana that enables lock pieces, and permanents that stop cheap spell chains.

- Graveyard engine decks: Use graveyard hate only when the opponent’s visible graveyard or stack action is closer to winning than the pilot’s `Underworld Breach` line. Add role cards: `Soul-Guide Lantern`; `Mindbreak Trap`; sideboard `Force of Negation`; `Pyroblast` if the revealed engine is blue. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow draw that does not find hate, but preserve `Demonic Tutor`, `Merchant Scroll`, `Stock Up`, `Brainstorm`, and `Ancestral Recall` as ways to locate the exact answer. Priority targets are immediate graveyard payoff actions, not incidental setup cards.

- Creature tempo: Stabilize first when the clock is short, then rebuild with `Stock Up`, `Thundertrap Trainer`, or `Paradoxical Outcome`. Add role cards: `Swords to Plowshares`; `Portable Hole`; `Pyroblast` against blue threats or blue protection; `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` in slower games where recursion matters. Reduce main-deck emphasis: pain-heavy `Mana Crypt` and `Mana Vault` lines, speculative `Underworld Breach` turns without enough graveyard, and slow `Lorien Revealed`. Priority targets are creatures that shorten the clock, hate creatures that block the combo, and protection spells on the decisive exchange.

- Fast spell combo: Keep interaction-dense hands and treat `Time Walk` as setup only if it meaningfully advances a kill or protects a reload. Add role cards: `Mindbreak Trap`; sideboard `Force of Negation`; `Pyroblast` if blue spells are visible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature answers and board-control cards. Priority targets are the first irreversible payoff, the spell that creates enough mana or cards to continue, and any action that would remove `Underworld Breach` or `Brain Freeze` from contention.

- Fair control: Win by forcing them to answer multiple engines across hand, battlefield, and graveyard. Add role cards: `Lurrus of the Dream-Den`; `Pyroblast`; sideboard `Force of Negation`; `Soul-Guide Lantern` only if graveyard recursion is visible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow creature removal and overexposed artifact dumps without `Paradoxical Outcome`. Priority targets are card-advantage spells, graveyard hate, and counterspells pointed at `Underworld Breach`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Demonic Tutor`, or `Merchant Scroll`.

## Risk Summary
- Mana risk: The deck can generate explosive starts with `Black Lotus`, `Sol Ring`, `Mana Crypt`, `Mana Vault`, Moxen, `Mox Opal`, `Tolarian Academy`, and `Urza's Saga`, but it can also strand colored interaction if lands and artifacts are sequenced carelessly. Fetch `Tundra`, `Volcanic Island`, `Underground Sea`, or `Meticulous Archive` according to visible hand requirements, not generic color balance.

- Matchup risk: Wrong-role play loses games quickly; this deck must shift between control, combo, and tempo based on the opponent’s revealed pressure. Do not race a visible lethal board unless `Underworld Breach`, `Brain Freeze`, or `Paradoxical Outcome` presents a legal winning or near-winning line.

- Draw risk: `Stock Up`, `Thundertrap Trainer`, `Brainstorm`, `Ancestral Recall`, and `Paradoxical Outcome` are powerful but can burn time or mana without solving the current problem. Prefer selection that finds interaction under pressure and prefer raw cards when the board is stable.

- Over-sideboarding risk: Do not dilute the artifact-count, blue-count, graveyard, and draw-engine structure too far. Sideboard cards should answer a visible axis; excessive `Portable Hole`, `Swords to Plowshares`, or narrow counters can leave `Underworld Breach` and `Paradoxical Outcome` without enough fuel.

- Graveyard risk: `Underworld Breach` and `Brain Freeze` need the graveyard as a resource, so self-exiling or early `Soul-Guide Lantern` use can weaken the pilot’s own kill. Activate hate only when the opponent’s line is more urgent than preserving combo fuel.

- Removal and sweeper risk: Creature removal aimed at `Thundertrap Trainer` is acceptable if value was already gained, but relying on creatures as the only plan is fragile. Use `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` only when its legal recursion line is likely to matter before the opponent’s clock or combo turn.

- Closer risk: `Brain Freeze` is the cleanest deterministic payoff with `Underworld Breach`, but the deck must not assume lethal without rules-engine confirmation of storm count, legal targets, graveyard fuel, and available mana. If the engine exposes only setup actions, continue improving resources rather than claiming a win.

- Interaction risk: `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, `Mental Misstep`, `Pyroblast`, `Mindbreak Trap`, and `Steel Sabotage` are not interchangeable. Match the counter to the visible spell, preserve blue cards for pitch costs, and avoid spending premium interaction on a spell that does not change the current race or combo window.

- Sequencing risk: Casting cheap artifacts before `Paradoxical Outcome` increases payoff but exposes the hand to hate, removal, or lock pieces. Commit artifacts aggressively only when the visible stack and battlefield suggest the reload window is safe or waiting is worse.

## Test Feedback Checklist
- Deciding factor: Record whether the game was decided by a resolved `Underworld Breach`, a `Paradoxical Outcome` reload, protected selection from `Stock Up` or `Thundertrap Trainer`, a failed mana draw, a failed interaction exchange, or creature pressure that forced a premature combo turn.

- Mulligans: Note whether opening hands had enough mana, blue cards for `Force of Will` or `Force of Negation`, a velocity piece, and a believable path to either `Underworld Breach` plus `Brain Freeze` or a protected `Paradoxical Outcome` turn.

- Mana: Track games where `Mox Opal`, `Tolarian Academy`, `Urza's Saga`, `Mana Crypt`, `Mana Vault`, `Sol Ring`, or Moxen produced explosive turns, and separately track games where colored sources stranded `Ancestral Recall`, `Demonic Tutor`, `Flame of Anor`, `Merchant Scroll`, `Spell Pierce`, or sideboard interaction.

- Fetching: Review whether `Misty Rainforest`, `Scalding Tarn`, `Polluted Delta`, and `Flooded Strand` found the correct mix of `Volcanic Island`, `Tundra`, `Underground Sea`, and `Meticulous Archive` for the visible hand instead of fetching generically.

- Velocity: Record whether `Stock Up`, `Thundertrap Trainer`, `Brainstorm`, `Ancestral Recall`, `Gitaxian Probe`, `Lorien Revealed`, and `Time Walk` advanced the plan or merely consumed mana while the opponent’s board or stack position became more dangerous.

- Engine timing: Identify each turn where the pilot could commit to `Underworld Breach`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Demonic Tutor`, or `Merchant Scroll`, and judge whether waiting gained protection or lost the window.

- Closing: Verify every apparent `Brain Freeze` kill against rules-engine output: storm count, legal target, available mana, escape fuel, graveyard contents, and opposing responses must all be proven by visible legal actions.

- Interaction exchange: Review whether `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, `Mental Misstep`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Chain of Vapor`, `Pyroblast`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Steel Sabotage`, and `Hexing Squelcher` were spent on spells or abilities that actually changed the race, combo window, or hate-piece state.

- Removal: Track whether `Swords to Plowshares`, `Portable Hole`, `Flame of Anor`, `Chain of Vapor`, and `Steel Sabotage` answered the threats that mattered, or whether removal was drawn in matchups where stack interaction or speed would have mattered more.

- Sideboard: Record whether sideboard cards solved a visible axis without weakening artifact density, blue count, graveyard fuel, or the `Paradoxical Outcome`/`Underworld Breach` engine; include `Soul-Guide Lantern`, sideboard `Force of Negation`, `Pyroblast`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Lurrus of the Dream-Den`, `Overencumbered`, sideboard `Hexing Squelcher`, `Steel Sabotage`, `Portable Hole`, and `Swords to Plowshares` in the review.

- Role: Mark whether the pilot correctly became control against faster combo, combo against fair control, tempo-stabilizer against creature pressure, or artifact-engine deck against slow interaction.

- Mistakes: Flag passes with relevant interaction available, artifact dumps into visible hate, `Soul-Guide Lantern` use that damaged the pilot’s own `Underworld Breach` plan, and `Time Walk` lines that failed to create mana, cards, lethal setup, or survival.

- Stranded cards: List cards stuck in hand because of color, timing, pitch costs, graveyard shortage, artifact count, or missing target; prioritize repeated issues with `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Underworld Breach`, `Flame of Anor`, `Lorien Revealed`, `Force of Will`, and `Mox Opal`.

- Overperformers and underperformers: Separate card performance by matchup role, because `Thundertrap Trainer`, `Stock Up`, `Portable Hole`, `Pyroblast`, and `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` can be excellent in one role and too slow or narrow in another.

## First Tuning Questions
- Quantity: Are 4 `Paradoxical Outcome`, 4 `Stock Up`, and 4 `Thundertrap Trainer` the correct velocity mix, or does testing show too many medium-speed selection spells when the deck needs either faster combo or more protection?

- Engine balance: Are 2 `Underworld Breach` enough to find the graveyard engine reliably, or do games end with selection spells finding mana and interaction but no decisive payoff?

- Closer reliability: Is 1 `Brain Freeze` enough because `Demonic Tutor`, `Merchant Scroll`, `Stock Up`, and `Thundertrap Trainer` locate it, or do exile, discard, and counterspell games require another closing angle from the existing registered shell?

- Mana base: Does the land mix support `Demonic Tutor`, `Flame of Anor`, `Ancestral Recall`, and sideboard white removal without too many painful or all-artifact hands, especially when `Mox Opal` is not active?

- Artifact density: Do sideboard plans that add `Swords to Plowshares`, `Portable Hole`, `Pyroblast`, or `Mindbreak Trap` reduce `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Mox Opal`, and `Tolarian Academy` performance enough to require more conservative boarding?

- Aggro plan: Are `Swords to Plowshares`, `Portable Hole`, `Flame of Anor`, `Chain of Vapor`, and `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` sufficient to stabilize creature tempo, or does the deck still die before `Stock Up` and `Paradoxical Outcome` convert cards into a win?

- Control plan: Does the deck have enough stack pressure with `Force of Will`, main and sideboard `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Spell Pierce`, `Mental Misstep`, `Pyroblast`, and `Mindbreak Trap`, or are too many games lost to protected graveyard hate or counter wars over `Underworld Breach`?

- Hate answers: Are `Chain of Vapor`, `Steel Sabotage`, `Portable Hole`, `Force of Negation`, `Hexing Squelcher`, and `Vexing Bauble` covering the actual hate encountered, or are some answers too narrow for the visible metagame?

- Sideboard slot pressure: Is `Soul-Guide Lantern` valuable often enough despite anti-synergy with `Underworld Breach`, and is `Overencumbered` worth a slot after card text check required?

- Companion and recursion: Does `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` win enough fair games through recurring cheap permanents to justify the sideboard slot, or is it too slow when the deck’s best games come from immediate `Underworld Breach` or `Paradoxical Outcome` turns?

- Role conflicts: Are games being lost because the pilot tries to protect a slow value line while the board demands removal, or because it spends removal while the opponent’s stack-based kill demands permission?

- Card-specific pressure: Does `Lorien Revealed` provide needed blue card and land-smoothing utility, or is it repeatedly the stranded slow card in matchups where the deck must act before turn pressure closes?

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Opening Hand Keep Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan
Cards: Black Lotus; Mox Ruby; Mox Jet; Mox Pearl; Mox Sapphire; Mox Emerald; Mox Opal; Sol Ring; Mana Crypt; Mana Vault; Underground Sea; Volcanic Island; Tundra; Tolarian Academy; Underworld Breach; Paradoxical Outcome; Force of Will
Phase windows: pregame mulligans
Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; visible:opening hand
Use when: Decide whether the hand has mana, blue interaction or velocity, and a credible engine path.
Avoid when: Do not keep hands that only make mana but cannot cast selection, protect themselves, or convert artifacts into cards.
Instructions: Keep explosive artifact hands with blue source plus `Paradoxical Outcome`, protected `Underworld Breach`, or strong selection; mulligan hands with no land or no functional mana unless `Black Lotus` plus action spells creates an immediate proven line. Count blue cards for `Force of Will` before assuming protection.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: London Bottoms Preserve Function
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mulligan; selection
Cards: Force of Will; Underworld Breach; Paradoxical Outcome; Brain Freeze; Ancestral Recall; Demonic Tutor; Stock Up; Thundertrap Trainer; Lorien Revealed
Phase windows: pregame mulligan bottom prompts
Runtime cues: prompt:bottom cards; visible:post-mulligan hand
Use when: Choose bottom cards after a mulligan.
Avoid when: Do not bottom the only colored source, only engine card, only protection spell, or only blue pitch card without a replacement role visible.
Instructions: Bottom redundant legendary or restricted fast mana first when mana already functions, then slow duplicate selection, then narrow interaction. Preserve a coherent line: mana plus action plus either protection or velocity.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: First Mana Development
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana; priority
Cards: Mox Opal; Mox Ruby; Mox Jet; Mox Pearl; Mox Sapphire; Mox Emerald; Black Lotus; Sol Ring; Mana Crypt; Mana Vault; Tolarian Academy; Urza's Saga; Vexing Bauble
Phase windows: turns 1-2 main phases
Runtime cues: action:cast Mox; action:play land; action:cast Vexing Bauble
Use when: Develop the first permanent mana and artifact count.
Avoid when: Visible opposing hate or known stack interaction makes dumping every artifact into the battlefield worse than holding resources for `Paradoxical Outcome` or protection.
Instructions: Establish colored mana for the hand before colorless acceleration. Deploy zero-mana artifacts when they enable `Mox Opal`, `Tolarian Academy`, or `Paradoxical Outcome`, but avoid sacrificing resilience for a nonlethal burst.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Fetch Correct Colors
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana; selection
Cards: Misty Rainforest; Scalding Tarn; Polluted Delta; Flooded Strand; Volcanic Island; Tundra; Underground Sea; Meticulous Archive
Phase windows: main phases; end steps; response windows
Runtime cues: action:activate Misty Rainforest; action:activate Scalding Tarn; action:activate Polluted Delta; action:activate Flooded Strand
Use when: A fetchland activation is legal and a land choice is exposed.
Avoid when: Do not fetch generically before checking immediate colored requirements.
Instructions: Fetch blue first, then the splash color required by visible hand: black for `Demonic Tutor`, red for `Flame of Anor` or `Underworld Breach`, white for sideboard removal, and stable dual coverage when holding multiple one-mana interaction spells.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Paradoxical Outcome Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; mana; selection
Cards: Paradoxical Outcome; Force of Will; Force of Negation; Flusterstorm; Spell Pierce; Mental Misstep; Vexing Bauble
Phase windows: main phases; opponent end step if legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Paradoxical Outcome
Use when: Decide whether to start a `Paradoxical Outcome` turn.
Avoid when: Do not cast into visible or known disruption if waiting preserves protection and the clock is not urgent.
Instructions: Cast when the bounce set produces a material card and mana reset, the hand can continue after resolution, and protection or opponent constraints make the window acceptable. Treat nonartifact permanents and tapped mana sources carefully; engine value must be proven by legal actions.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Underworld Breach Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; mana; selection
Cards: Underworld Breach; Brain Freeze; Black Lotus; Ancestral Recall; Time Walk; Demonic Tutor; Merchant Scroll; Force of Will; Force of Negation
Phase windows: main phases; combo turns
Runtime cues: action:cast Underworld Breach
Use when: Decide whether to commit the graveyard engine.
Avoid when: Do not commit with insufficient graveyard fuel, no follow-up legal actions, or visible graveyard hate that can stop the line.
Instructions: Start `Underworld Breach` when escape fuel, mana, and payoff access are visible or tutor-backed, and when waiting risks discard, clock, or losing protection. Ignore absent-card lines; `Lion's Eye Diamond` is not registered and must not be assumed.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Brain Freeze Kill Target
Priority: High
Decision families: selection; priority
Cards: Brain Freeze; Underworld Breach
Phase windows: combo turn stack windows
Runtime cues: action:target opponent Brain Freeze
Use when: A legal action explicitly targets opponent with `Brain Freeze` during a selected kill line.
Avoid when: Do not target opponent if the model has not selected a kill line or if storm count and library pressure are not visible enough to support lethal.
Instructions: After commitment, choose the opponent target for lethal milling when legal action text exposes that exact target. If self-mill is needed for fuel, route through the model instead.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Brain Freeze Self-Fuel Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection; priority
Cards: Brain Freeze; Underworld Breach
Phase windows: combo turn stack windows
Runtime cues: action:target self Brain Freeze
Use when: Consider self-targeting `Brain Freeze` to create graveyard fuel.
Avoid when: Do not self-mill without a visible `Underworld Breach` line, available mana, and a path that avoids decking or wasting the payoff.
Instructions: Use light reasoning for self-targeting because graveyard contents, storm count, remaining library, and follow-up escape actions determine whether self-mill advances the combo.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Tutor And Scroll Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: selection; priority
Cards: Demonic Tutor; Merchant Scroll
Phase windows: main phases; combo setup; protected end-step windows if legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Demonic Tutor; action:cast Merchant Scroll; prompt:choose card
Use when: A tutor or search selection is legal.
Avoid when: Do not choose a generic powerful card before identifying whether the role needs payoff, protection, mana, or answer.
Instructions: Choose the missing piece for the current line: `Underworld Breach` or `Brain Freeze` for combo closure, `Paradoxical Outcome` for artifact reload, `Ancestral Recall` for raw cards when time allows, or interaction when the opponent’s next visible action is the main risk.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Selection Spell Discipline
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection; mana
Cards: Stock Up; Thundertrap Trainer; Brainstorm; Gitaxian Probe; Ancestral Recall; Lorien Revealed
Phase windows: main phases; end steps; setup turns
Runtime cues: action:cast Stock Up; action:cast Thundertrap Trainer; action:cast Brainstorm; action:cast Gitaxian Probe; action:cast Ancestral Recall; action:cycle Lorien Revealed
Use when: Choose among card-selection or card-draw actions.
Avoid when: Do not spend mana on slow selection while facing lethal pressure or a must-answer stack unless selection finds a necessary answer immediately.
Instructions: Use `Gitaxian Probe` to clarify commitment windows when legal. Card text check required for `Stock Up` and `Thundertrap Trainer`; follow engine-exposed choices and prioritize mana, protection, and engine pieces over ornamental card advantage.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Permission Spending Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Force of Will; Force of Negation; Flusterstorm; Spell Pierce; Mental Misstep; Mindbreak Trap; Pyroblast
Phase windows: all stack windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Force of Will; action:cast Force of Negation; action:cast Flusterstorm; action:cast Spell Pierce; action:cast Mental Misstep; action:cast Mindbreak Trap; action:cast Pyroblast
Use when: Opponent casts a spell or stack fight begins.
Avoid when: Do not counter low-impact bait if the opponent can still present a lethal combo, hate piece, or decisive card-advantage spell.
Instructions: Spend permission on cards that stop the combo, remove the engine, force through a winning turn, or prevent immediate loss. Preserve blue pitch count and life total, and prefer narrower counters before `Force of Will` when they cover the same threat.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Hate Piece Answer Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority; selection
Cards: Chain of Vapor; Steel Sabotage; Portable Hole; Force of Negation; Vexing Bauble; Hexing Squelcher; Soul-Guide Lantern
Phase windows: main phases; response windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Chain of Vapor; action:cast Steel Sabotage; action:cast Portable Hole; action:activate Hexing Squelcher; action:activate Soul-Guide Lantern
Use when: A visible permanent, ability, or graveyard axis blocks the selected plan.
Avoid when: Do not answer a nuisance permanent while a more direct combo or stack threat is unresolved.
Instructions: Remove or counter hate that stops `Underworld Breach`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, artifact mana, or spell chains. Card text check required for `Hexing Squelcher`; only choose exposed legal ability actions that clearly map to the engine-blocking object.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Flame Of Anor Mode And Target Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction; selection; priority
Cards: Flame of Anor; Thundertrap Trainer
Phase windows: main phases; combat windows; stack windows if instant-speed legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Flame of Anor; prompt:choose mode; action:target Flame of Anor
Use when: `Flame of Anor` is legal and the engine exposes modes or targets.
Avoid when: Do not assume Wizard bonuses, damage amounts, or artifact destruction text without engine output.
Instructions: Card text check required. Use exposed modes to answer a visible threat, remove hate, or draw into a protected combo only when the legal text confirms the mode and target.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Time Walk Conversion Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; mana; selection
Cards: Time Walk
Phase windows: main phases
Runtime cues: action:cast Time Walk
Use when: Decide whether the extra turn advances mana, cards, board, or combo setup.
Avoid when: Do not cast merely because it is legal if it consumes protection or mana needed for a stronger current-turn line.
Instructions: Cast when the extra turn creates a clear resource jump, lets `Urza's Saga` or mana develop, unlocks a protected combo turn, or prevents opponent tempo from closing. Treat it as setup, not a win condition by itself.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Minimalism
Priority: Low
Decision families: combat
Cards: Thundertrap Trainer; Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Phase windows: combat steps
Runtime cues: action:attack; action:block
Use when: Creature combat decisions appear.
Avoid when: Do not risk an engine creature or `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` for chip damage unless the race or planeswalker pressure is visible and relevant.
Instructions: This deck wins through spells, not combat. Attack only when blockers and crackback are favorable from visible state; block to preserve life against short clocks or protect a combo turn.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Lurrus Fair-Game Commitment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; selection; sideboard
Cards: Lurrus of the Dream-Den; Black Lotus; Mox Opal; Vexing Bauble; Soul-Guide Lantern
Phase windows: post-sideboard main phases; grindy games
Runtime cues: action:cast Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Use when: `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` is available after sideboarding and the game is resource-oriented.
Avoid when: Do not spend a turn on Lurrus while a faster combo line, lethal threat, or must-counter stack is present.
Instructions: Commit Lurrus when recurring cheap permanents or forcing removal improves a stalled game. Do not assume companion procedure; follow the registered sideboard and engine legal actions.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Role Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Swords to Plowshares; Portable Hole; Pyroblast; Force of Negation; Steel Sabotage; Soul-Guide Lantern; Hexing Squelcher; Mindbreak Trap; Overencumbered; Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Phase windows: between games
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; visible:matchup label; visible:game result
Use when: Choose a legal post-board configuration.
Avoid when: Do not add narrow answers that dilute artifact density, blue count, or combo speed without a visible matchup reason.
Instructions: Add removal versus creature pressure, `Pyroblast` and extra permission versus blue stack fights, artifact answers versus permanent hate or artifact engines, `Soul-Guide Lantern` versus graveyard decks, and `Lurrus of the Dream-Den` for grindy games. Card text check required for `Overencumbered`.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Pass With Empty Stack
Priority: Low
Decision families: priority
Cards: none
Phase windows: opponent end step; own noncritical priority windows
Runtime cues: action:pass priority
Use when: The stack is empty, no legal action text names `Underworld Breach`, `Paradoxical Outcome`, `Ancestral Recall`, `Demonic Tutor`, `Merchant Scroll`, or available interaction target, and no visible combat or lethal pressure prompt is pending.
Avoid when: Do not auto-pass with a legal engine, tutor, removal, counter, or survival action visible.
Instructions: Use this only for low-impact priority windows where legal actions show no named deck-relevant spell or ability. Any visible threat, stack object, or engine action requires model review.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Exact Floating-Mana Payment
Priority: Low
Decision families: mana
Cards: Mox Ruby; Mox Jet; Mox Pearl; Mox Sapphire; Mox Emerald; Black Lotus; Sol Ring; Mana Crypt; Mana Vault; Tolarian Academy
Phase windows: mana payment prompts
Runtime cues: action:pay mana
Use when: The engine exposes a single legal payment action for the selected spell or ability.
Avoid when: Do not use this policy when multiple payment choices differ by colored source, artifact retention, or future interaction mana.
Instructions: Choose the single legal payment action when no alternative is present. If multiple payments are exposed, preserve blue and required splash colors for visible follow-up actions.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes
