# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Azorius Flash is a Historic 60-card main deck with a registered 15-card sideboard, validated as format-legal under the active Veles contract. The current tags are `tempo, tempo`, and the practical runtime identity is flash-tempo with soft permission, temporary stack denial, disruptive permanents, and evasive pressure rather than pure draw-go control.

- Validation: The registered configuration is 60 main / 15 sideboard and passes the active Historic validation contract supplied to Veles.
- Registered colors: The main deck is primarily white-blue, with `Hallowed Fountain`, `Seachrome Coast`, `Floodfarm Verge`, `Sunbillow Verge`, `Plains`, `Island`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, and `Hall of Storm Giants` supporting the core plan. `Steam Vents` is registered but the supplied list contains no explicit red spell name, so treat red access as incidental unless a visible legal action proves otherwise.
- Stock status: Treat this as a hybrid/rogue Azorius Flash build, not a stock Historic archetype script. The deck combines familiar flash-tempo play patterns with a registered `High Noon` package and unusual named threats, so pilot decisions should follow the visible legal action list and this specification rather than assuming a metagame stock list.
- Role concern: The deck should usually start as tempo-control, preserving mana and forcing the opponent to act into `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Snare`, `Sink into Stupor`, and instant-speed interaction windows. It can become tap-out control only when `Divine Purge`, sideboard sweepers, or a decisive permanent-stabilization line is visibly necessary.
- Mana concern: Twenty registered lands plus `Sink into Stupor` require disciplined mulligans and sequencing. Keep hands that cast early interaction on time; be cautious with hands that need both early white and early blue but cannot produce them by turn two.
- Threat concern: The main deck does not win by flooding the board early. It wins by converting small evasive or flash bodies such as `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, and eventually `Hall of Storm Giants` into pressure after the opponent has been delayed.
- Text certainty: Card text check required for `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Talion's Throneguard`, and `Quantum Riddler` before assigning precise trigger, combat, or transformation obligations. Runtime choices involving those cards must remain conditional on rules-engine legal actions and visible card text.
- Opponent info status: No specific opponent deck is supplied for this batch. Matchup policy must begin from public archetype cues, revealed cards, companion/status information if any, and Veles visible-state output rather than hidden-hand assumptions.
- Sideboard identity: The sideboard gives the deck configurable pressure and control pivots through `Oust`, `Spell Snare`, `Stern Scolding`, `Rest in Peace`, `Wrath of the Skies`, `Archon of Emeria`, `Force of Negation`, and `Quantum Riddler`. Exact plans must respect registered sideboard counts and should be matchup-specific in later sections.

## Thesis
Azorius Flash assembles a low-permanent-count tempo shell that keeps mana open, makes the opponent commit first, and converts stack disruption into evasive damage. The deck wants early untapped white-blue mana, a cheap interactive spell, and a flash threat or disruptive permanent so each turn can represent `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Snare`, `Sink into Stupor`, or `Fragment Reality` before committing more sorcery-speed material.

- Priority: Protect the ability to act on the opponent's turn. A hand or line that casts a threat while still holding interaction is usually stronger than a line that taps out for marginal board presence.
- Win plan: Delay the opponent's first meaningful spell, place an evasive or resilient body on the table, then preserve tempo until `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, or `Hall of Storm Giants` closes the game.
- Constraint: Do not pilot this as pure draw-go control. The deck has many temporary answers in `Remand`, `Reprieve`, and `Spell Queller`, so it must eventually turn each delay into damage, a lock-like `High Noon` position, or a reset with `Divine Purge`.
- Constraint: Do not pilot this as creature-curve aggro. The threat density is real, but the deck's best starts are interactive starts that punish the opponent for walking into open mana.
- Priority: Use `High Noon` as a strategic commitment only when it improves the visible exchange pattern. It can restrict both players, so Veles should value it most when the deck already has board presence, flash-speed follow-up, or a matchup where the opponent depends on chaining spells. Card text check required for exact runtime obligations.
- Priority: Treat unclear named cards conservatively. Card text check required for `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Talion's Throneguard`, and `Quantum Riddler`; choose lines involving their triggers, combat roles, or activated abilities only from visible legal actions and observed text.

## Role Package
- Threats: `Aven Interrupter` and `Spell Queller` are the central flash threats because they pressure life totals while interfering with the stack. `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, and `Hall of Storm Giants` are secondary threats whose exact tactical use depends on visible card text, board texture, and available protection.
- Payoffs: `Spell Queller` and `Aven Interrupter` reward passing with mana open by turning opponent spells into board presence. `High Noon` rewards being ahead or stable by making each future exchange more about the single best spell per turn. `Hall of Storm Giants` rewards long games where lands become a finisher after both players trade resources.
- Engines: `High Noon` is the main structural engine, shaping how many spells can matter each turn if its visible text matches the expected one-spell pressure role. `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student` may function as a longer-game engine only if the runtime card text and legal actions show a reliable value path; card text check required.
- Velocity: `Remand` and `Reprieve` are tempo-velocity tools because they replace themselves while denying the opponent's current turn. Use them to keep land drops flowing, preserve threat timing, and avoid spending hard interaction on low-impact spells.
- Interaction: `Spell Snare` handles narrow cheap-spell windows when the legal target matches. `Fragment Reality` is cheap permanent interaction; exact target restrictions and opponent compensation must be respected from rules-engine text. `Sink into Stupor` is flexible interaction or land-channel style smoothing only when Veles exposes the corresponding legal action. `Divine Purge` is the main-deck reset for boards that outgrow single-card tempo.
- Protection: `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Sink into Stupor`, and sideboard `Force of Negation` protect the tempo plan by stopping or delaying removal, sweepers, combo pieces, and must-answer threats. Protection decisions should be based on visible stack contents, current clock, and whether the answer is temporary or durable.
- Recursion: The registered list has no clear dedicated recursion module from supplied names. Do not assume graveyard loops, rebuy lines, or hidden inevitability unless the rules engine exposes a legal action from a visible card.
- Mana: `Hallowed Fountain`, `Seachrome Coast`, `Floodfarm Verge`, `Sunbillow Verge`, `Plains`, `Island`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Hall of Storm Giants`, and `Steam Vents` support a tight two-color flash plan with occasional utility-land actions. Prioritize untapped blue-white access for turns two through four over preserving life total when interaction timing matters.
- Sideboard modules: `Oust`, sideboard `Spell Snare`, and `Stern Scolding` expand cheap interaction. `Rest in Peace` attacks graveyard dependence. `Wrath of the Skies` increases reset density. `Archon of Emeria` adds another spell-rate restriction package. `Force of Negation` protects against stack-critical decks while tapped low. `Quantum Riddler` is a sideboard threat or value card only after card text check confirms its tactical role.

## Primary Win Conditions
- Flash-evasion tempo is the main kill path: establish `Aven Interrupter` or `Spell Queller` while holding two to four mana open, then attack every safe turn while `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Snare`, `Fragment Reality`, and `Sink into Stupor` prevent the opponent's highest-impact recovery spell from resolving on time. Prioritize this path when the opponent is stumbling, relying on one expensive spell per turn, or forced to cast into open mana.
- `Spell Queller` pressure wins by turning the opponent's stack commitment into both delay and damage. Set it up by passing with three mana, execute by taking a legal spell only when the tempo gain or protected body matters, and protect it from visible removal if losing the exiled spell would swing the game. Avoid using it on a low-impact spell when a more dangerous cast is likely and the current board is not under pressure.
- `Aven Interrupter` pressure wins by adding an evasive body while disrupting the opponent's current plan. Use it most aggressively when Veles shows a legal interrupt action against a spell that defines the opponent's turn, especially if the body will shorten the clock or make later `Remand` and `Reprieve` trades lethal. Card text and exact delayed-cast implications must come from the rules engine.
- `High Noon` lock-pressure is the main structural win path when Azorius Flash is ahead or stable. Set up with an existing threat or enough instant-speed interaction, execute by forcing one-spell-per-turn exchanges where the deck's flash cards and cantrip delays are worth more than the opponent's single action, and prioritize it against visible decks that need chains of cheap spells. Do not commit `High Noon` just because it is legal if the deck is behind and needs to double-spell to recover. If Veles exposes a legal red activated damage ability from `High Noon`, treat it as a possible finisher only from visible legal text and lethal math.
- Larger threat pressure from `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, and `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student` is a win path only through visible card text. Commit these cards when their legal actions improve the current clock, stabilize combat, or create repeatable advantage without giving the opponent a clean tap-out punish. Card text check required for exact trigger, protection, and transformation decisions.
- `Hall of Storm Giants` is the late-game inevitability plan after resources trade down. Preserve it when possible, keep enough mana to activate and still respect visible interaction, and prioritize it when both players are low on cards or when creature spells have been answered. Do not expose it into obvious lethal crack-back or visible removal unless the attack is necessary to end the game or force a final answer.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Incremental creature combat is the fallback plan when stack disruption has already bought time. Attack with `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, and `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student` only when the damage advances a real clock or the trade improves the one-spell exchange pattern.
- Cantrip-delay value wins by converting `Remand` and `Reprieve` into more land drops, more flash threats, and repeated denial of the opponent's best turn. Use this path when the opponent's spell will still be answerable later, the card draw matters, and delaying one turn lets Azorius Flash add pressure without falling behind on board.
- Reset-then-threat wins use `Divine Purge` to clear or shrink a battlefield that single-target interaction cannot handle, then rebuild with flash threats and one-spell-per-turn discipline. Prioritize this line when behind on board but not dead on life, and avoid it when your own board is the only meaningful clock unless the alternative loses to combat immediately.
- Utility-land tempo can create secondary wins through `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Sink into Stupor`, and `Hall of Storm Giants` when Veles exposes legal channel, spell, or activation actions. Use these lines to preserve spell slots, answer a specific visible permanent, or convert excess lands into action; exact legality and target restrictions must come from runtime prompts.
- There is no dedicated recursion win condition in the registered list. Do not plan around graveyard loops, rebuy engines, or inevitability from the graveyard unless a visible legal action explicitly creates that line.

## Emergency Lines
- When behind on life, shift from tempo greed to survival math. Preserve blockers, answer the largest immediate attacker with `Fragment Reality`, `Sink into Stupor`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Divine Purge`, or a legal flash body, and use `Remand` or `Reprieve` on damage-producing spells when the extra turn changes lethal or lets `Hall of Storm Giants` stabilize later.
- When behind on board, stop spending interaction on low-impact stack targets and look for `Divine Purge` or a tempo bounce/removal line that resets attacks. If no reset is visible, use flash creatures as blockers only when trading prevents more damage than racing can recover.
- When behind on cards, prefer `Remand` and `Reprieve` lines that replace themselves over temporary exchanges that leave no material behind. Commit a threat only if it will demand an answer, pressure planeswalkers or life totals, or let `High Noon` compress the opponent's ability to use their card advantage.
- When behind on mana, protect land drops and avoid speculative tap-out plays. Hands or turns with `Sink into Stupor` or utility lands should follow only legal runtime modes that fix mana without surrendering a critical response window.
- When the engine plan is disrupted, rebuild around the next visible axis: creature damage if threats remain, `High Noon` if one-spell exchanges favor you, `Divine Purge` if the board is too wide, or `Hall of Storm Giants` if the game has slowed.
- When facing graveyard recursion, do not pretend the main deck has graveyard hate. Race, counter the recursion spell if legal, delay the payoff with `Remand` or `Reprieve`, remove the permanent that matters if `Fragment Reality` or `Sink into Stupor` legally can, and reserve sideboard answers for later games.
- When facing combo, prioritize interaction over clock unless the opponent is already within lethal range. Use `Spell Snare`, `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, and `High Noon` on visible combo-enabling casts or chain turns, but do not invent hidden combo pieces that the rules engine has not revealed.
- When win conditions are removed, treat every remaining evasive body, utility-land activation, and exposed `High Noon` damage action as a finite resource. Avoid unnecessary trades, preserve `Hall of Storm Giants`, and make the opponent answer one threat at a time while drawing toward the next legal pressure source.

## Resource Model
- Life is a tempo buffer, not a spendable engine resource. Use life to preserve cards and keep mana open when a hit is nonlethal, but switch immediately to survival lines when visible attackers or burn make the next turn cycle dangerous; `Divine Purge`, `Fragment Reality`, `Sink into Stupor`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, flash blockers, and stack delay all become life-protection tools.
- Hand size is the deck's real fuel. `Remand` and `Reprieve` should often trade for time while replacing themselves, because Azorius Flash wins when it keeps drawing lands, threats, and interaction while the opponent spends full turns recasting spells.
- Mana converts directly into optionality. Leaving two to four mana open threatens `Spell Snare`, `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Sink into Stupor`, and possible utility-land actions, so avoid tapping out unless the legal play stabilizes the board, creates a protected clock, or establishes a decisive `High Noon` exchange pattern.
- Board presence is valuable only when it changes the clock or blocks profitably. Do not overcommit `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, or `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student` into visible sweepers or a board where one body already forces the opponent to act.
- Graveyard resources are minimal in the main deck. Do not plan to rebuy spells or creatures from the graveyard unless Veles exposes a legal action that explicitly does so; after sideboard, `Rest in Peace` changes graveyards from a future resource into a denial axis.
- Exile must be tracked as a rules-engine zone, not assumed value. `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Divine Purge`, `Fragment Reality`, `Reprieve`, and sideboard `Rest in Peace` can all involve exile or delayed access depending on legal text, so follow Veles zone output and do not infer hidden or unavailable cards.
- Lands are both mana and spells. Preserve `Hall of Storm Giants` as a late-game threat, treat `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire` and `Otawara, Soaring City` as conditional interaction when legal, and count `Sink into Stupor` as either action or mana only from the mode Veles exposes.
- Sacrifice fodder is not part of the registered plan. Do not treat creatures as expendable resources except for combat trades, legend-rule constraints, or visible legal costs presented by the engine.
- Tempo is gained by making the opponent spend mana twice. Prioritize delaying expensive, turn-defining, or chain-enabling spells with `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Queller`, and `Aven Interrupter` when the delay lets Azorius Flash add damage, protect `High Noon`, or survive to the next draw.
- Information is a bounded resource. Use public zones, revealed hands, known suspended/exiled cards, visible mana, and prior decisions; never assume hidden cards, and downgrade speculative lines when the opponent can represent multiple unknown answers.
- Sideboard bullets convert narrow cards into matchup resources. `Rest in Peace` attacks graveyards, `Wrath of the Skies` and `Oust` answer creature pressure, `Spell Snare`, `Stern Scolding`, and `Force of Negation` adjust stack fights, `Archon of Emeria` reinforces one-spell constraints, and `Quantum Riddler` is a threat/value slot with card text check required.

## Mana Guide
- Keep hands that produce early blue and white mana with a functional curve. A strong opener usually has two or three lands, access to both colors by turn two or three, and at least one early interaction or flash threat; mulligan one-land hands without a visible path and slow hands that cannot cast `Spell Snare`, `Fragment Reality`, `Remand`, or `Reprieve` on time.
- Prioritize untapped blue-white sources in the first three turns. `Hallowed Fountain`, `Seachrome Coast`, `Floodfarm Verge`, and `Sunbillow Verge` should be sequenced to keep two-mana interaction available, while `Plains`, `Island`, `Steam Vents`, and utility lands fill specific color or late-game needs.
- Sequence lands to preserve open interaction. If holding `Spell Snare`, keep blue available early; if holding `Fragment Reality` or `High Noon`, ensure white is available; if holding `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Aven Interrupter`, or `Spell Queller`, plan for the exact mana Veles shows before passing with priority.
- Treat `Steam Vents` mainly as a blue source unless a legal red `High Noon` action appears. Do not fetch, shock, or preserve red mana for absent cards; use red only for visible registered-card costs or abilities.
- Use tapped or utility lands when the turn has no required response window. `Hall of Storm Giants`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, and `Sink into Stupor` as a land can be correct when they do not prevent holding the interaction needed for the opponent's next spell.
- Delay land drops before draw effects when land choice is uncertain and no landfall-style or mana-immediate reason exists. With `Remand` or `Reprieve`, consider waiting to play a land until after the draw if Veles still leaves all required current actions legal; play first when the land is needed to cast the interaction or represent a channel/utility action.
- Play lands before committing spells when the mana is required or the spell line depends on exact colors. Do not miss a land drop to conceal information if doing so blocks `High Noon`, `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Divine Purge`, or a needed double-spell recovery turn.
- Avoid tap-out sequencing into the opponent's main turn unless the payoff is immediate. `High Noon`, `Divine Purge`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, and `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student` require card text or board-state justification when they consume mana that could hold stack interaction.
- Preserve fourth and fifth lands for the deck's strongest turns. Four mana supports flash threat plus cheap interaction patterns; later lands enable `Hall of Storm Giants`, utility channels, and multiple legal responses once `High Noon` is not constraining your own turn.
- Mulligan mana that cannot cast the hand's first real spell. A hand with `High Noon` but no white, interaction but no blue, or only colorless/awkward utility timing should be sent back unless Veles-visible matchup context strongly rewards the risk and the hand has enough draw or lands to recover.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keep: keep two or three lands with early blue-white access plus `Spell Snare`, `Fragment Reality`, `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Aven Interrupter`, or `Spell Queller`. This hand already plays the deck's preferred game: pass with mana open, answer the first meaningful spell, then add a flash threat without surrendering priority control.
- Strong keep: keep `Hallowed Fountain` or `Seachrome Coast` plus another castable land, one cheap answer, one two-mana tempo spell, and one flash body. `Spell Snare` into `Remand` or `Reprieve` into `Spell Queller` is a clean opener when the opponent must resolve a spell to develop.
- Medium keep: keep three lands, `High Noon`, and at least one interactive card when the matchup appears spell-chain, combo, or cascade-like from public deck context. This hand is weaker against creature swarms if it has no `Fragment Reality`, `Spell Snare`, `Divine Purge`, or sideboard sweeper after boarding.
- Medium keep: keep `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student` or `Aang, Swift Savior` only when the rest of the hand already casts interaction. Do not keep a hand because these cards might become engines; card text check required for exact tactical triggers, and the opening hand must still function if they are removed.
- Risky keep: keep one land only when it is an untapped blue source, the hand has multiple one- or two-mana plays, and the matchup clock is slow enough that missing turn two is not fatal. Ship one-land hands with `High Noon`, `Spell Queller`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, or `Divine Purge` as the first meaningful plays.
- Risky keep: keep utility-heavy mana only when Veles-visible colors still cast the first two interaction spells. `Hall of Storm Giants`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, and `Sink into Stupor` as a land are valuable, but they cannot justify a hand that misses early blue or white.
- Automatic ship: mulligan zero-land, one-land no-blue, no-white `High Noon` hands, five-plus-land hands with no interaction, and hands whose first legal play is turn three while the opponent is likely aggressive. A flash deck without early agency becomes a pile of delayed answers.
- Automatic ship: mulligan hands with only expensive or unclear text cards and no stack interaction. `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, and `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student` need surrounding mana and interaction before they are keep reasons; card text check required for exact standalone value.
- Matchup-dependent keep: keep `Divine Purge` hands more often against visible creature or artifact-board pressure and less often against spell-light control. Keep `High Noon` hands more often against decks trying to cast multiple spells per turn and less often when the opponent can win through one large permanent already on board.
- Matchup-dependent keep after sideboard: keep `Rest in Peace` only when graveyard dependence is visible or strongly established by matchup context; keep `Wrath of the Skies`, `Oust`, or `Stern Scolding` against fast creature starts; keep `Force of Negation`, extra `Spell Snare`, `Archon of Emeria`, or `Quantum Riddler` only when their role matches the public matchup plan.
- Play/draw rule: on the play, favor a hand with a proactive lock or flash curve because `High Noon` and early threat-plus-answer sequences punish the opponent's first stumble. On the draw, favor cheap interaction and removal because falling behind before `Spell Queller` mana is available makes later tempo cards less effective.
- Trap hand: do not keep four lands, `High Noon`, `Spell Queller`, and two slow threats against an unknown opponent just because every card is castable. The hand can lose to a one-drop curve, an early resolved engine, or an opponent who simply plays one relevant spell per turn.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1: lead with untapped blue-white mana when possible and preserve `Spell Snare` or `Fragment Reality` access. Cast `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student` only when Veles shows it is legal, the matchup does not demand holding removal, and the remaining hand still has turn-two interaction.
- Turn 1 deviation: play `Hall of Storm Giants`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, or `Sink into Stupor` as a land only when no turn-one action is needed and the next land still enables turn-two blue-white interaction. Do not spend `Fragment Reality` on a low-impact permanent if a more dangerous two-mana window is likely and life total is not under pressure.
- Turn 2: prioritize passing with `Spell Snare`, `Remand`, `Reprieve`, or `Fragment Reality` over tapping out for uncertain value. If the opponent presents a must-answer creature, engine, or stack spell, use the lowest-cost answer that preserves the best turn-three line.
- Turn 2 deviation: cast `High Noon` when the matchup rewards a one-spell constraint and the opponent is unlikely to punish the tap-out with a resolved board threat. Deploy `Aang, Swift Savior` or another legal proactive card only when its text is relevant from Veles output or the hand lacks a better instant-speed posture.
- Turn 3: hold up `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Remand`, or `Reprieve` as the default line. The preferred turn is to counter, delay, or tax the opponent's spell, then untap with a body or card-neutral tempo exchange that turns future passes into pressure.
- Turn 3 deviation: cast `Divine Purge` only when the visible board justifies spending the turn at sorcery speed. Cast `High Noon` on turn three when it pairs with a cheap held answer or when waiting would allow the opponent to chain spells before the lock matters.
- Turns 4-5: convert tempo into a clock while keeping interaction open. Flash in `Spell Queller` or `Aven Interrupter`, add `Talion's Throneguard` or `Calim, Djinn Emperor` only when the stack is safe enough, and prefer sequences that leave `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Snare`, `Sink into Stupor`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` available.
- Turns 4-5 deviation: tap out for a larger threat only when the opponent is constrained by `High Noon`, low on visible resources, or facing lethal pressure soon. If behind on board, stabilize first with `Fragment Reality`, `Divine Purge`, sideboard `Wrath of the Skies`, or a legal utility-land action before adding a slow clock.
- Late game: protect `Hall of Storm Giants` and utility lands as real threats and answers. Attack with `Hall of Storm Giants` only when Veles-visible mana still covers the required interaction or when the attack materially shortens the clock without exposing a lethal counterattack.
- Late-game deviation: stop cycling `Remand` or `Reprieve` on low-impact spells if the opponent can immediately replay a more dangerous permanent through your remaining mana. Save delay spells for threats that change the race, break `High Noon`, remove the only clock, or force an unfavorable combat step.

## Card Roles
- `High Noon`: treat `High Noon` as the deck's main rule-setting permanent, not a generic value play. Cast it when the one-spell-per-turn constraint will hurt the opponent more than it hurts your own flash-and-pass game, especially against decks that need spell chains, cantrip turns, cheap-creature double-spells, or stack rebuilding after `Remand` and `Reprieve`. Avoid tapping out for it when the opponent already has a threatening permanent that must be answered first. If Veles shows a legal red activation through `Steam Vents` or other mana, evaluate it as late reach or removal only after the lock has already produced value; card text check required for exact activated ability output.

- `Spell Queller`: use `Spell Queller` as the premier tempo threat because it answers a spell while adding evasive pressure. Prefer holding it for spells that matter on board, break a race, remove your clock, or invalidate `High Noon`; do not spend it on a minor spell just to use mana. Respect visible removal: if the opponent can immediately kill `Spell Queller` and reclaim the exiled spell, favor `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Snare`, or `Aven Interrupter` when those lines are legal and sufficiently protective. Under `High Noon`, `Spell Queller` is stronger because the opponent may be unable to remove it and recast the original spell in the same turn.

- `Aven Interrupter`: use `Aven Interrupter` as a flash disruption body when the stack interaction or tax effect is relevant from legal action text. It should usually enter on the opponent's turn so the deck gains both a delayed spell and a flying clock without exposing mana on your main phase. Card text check required for exact plotted, exiled, or taxed-spell handling; do not assume the opponent cannot later cast the affected card unless Veles exposes that result. In fair matchups, it is often correct to let a low-impact spell resolve and save `Aven Interrupter` for a sweeper, planeswalker, combo piece, or removal spell aimed at the only clock.

- `Remand`: use `Remand` as a tempo cantrip that buys a turn rather than a permanent answer. It is excellent when the opponent spent most of their mana, when `High Noon` prevents immediate recasting, when your evasive creatures are already racing, or when drawing a card keeps land drops and interaction flowing. It is weak against cheap spells the opponent can immediately replay, uncounterable effects if Veles marks them that way, and threats whose cast trigger or on-resolution impact still beats you next turn. Do not fire `Remand` merely to cycle if the opponent has a known must-answer spell coming and you have no better answer.

- `Reprieve`: use `Reprieve` like a flexible delay spell that protects the current turn cycle and replaces itself. It is strongest against expensive spells, removal pointed at `Spell Queller` or another key threat, and any spell the opponent cannot recast profitably under `High Noon`. Because the spell returns rather than disappears, plan the next turn before choosing it: if the replayed card is still unbeatable, look for `Spell Queller`, `Spell Snare`, `Fragment Reality`, `Sink into Stupor`, or pressure that makes the replay too slow. Against low-resource opponents, `Reprieve` can function as a time-walk for the race.

- `Spell Snare`: hold `Spell Snare` for high-impact two-mana spells and do not waste it on the first legal target when another answer handles that target cleanly. Its role improves on the draw, against aggressive starts, against cheap engines, and in counter wars where protecting `High Noon` or `Spell Queller` matters. It gets worse when the opponent's visible plan is mostly one-mana, three-plus-mana, creatures already on board, or lands. When multiple answers are legal, spend `Spell Snare` on the exact two-mana spell and preserve broader cards for later.

- `Fragment Reality`: treat `Fragment Reality` as cheap emergency interaction with a replacement-risk profile. Use it when the current permanent is more dangerous than the unknown or Veles-shown resulting object, especially against fast creatures, small engines, problematic artifacts or enchantments, or permanents that invalidate your flyers. Card text check required for exact exile/replacement result in Historic; do not assume the exchange is always favorable. It is better early when mana efficiency matters and worse when the opponent's deck can convert the replacement into a larger threat that `Spell Queller` and delay spells cannot answer.

- `Divine Purge`: reserve `Divine Purge` for visible board states where a sorcery-speed reset is worth giving up flash posture. It is a stabilizer against low-cost creature or artifact boards, not a default curve play into a single minor attacker. Card text check required for exact exile, tax, or replay mechanics; choose it only when the immediate battlefield reset matters enough even if the opponent later reuses affected cards. It can conflict with your own small creatures, so count `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, and any sideboard creatures before sweeping.

- `Sink into Stupor`: use `Sink into Stupor` as a modal glue card: a land when the opening hand needs mana, and an interactive spell when the game has reached stable mana. As a spell, prioritize returning a stack spell, key nonland permanent, or blocker when the tempo swing enables lethal, protects a threat, or buys a turn under `High Noon`; card text check required for exact legal target classes. As a land, play it when missing land drops would strand `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, or double-spell interaction turns.

- `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`: use `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student` as an early engine or pressure piece only when the rest of the hand already has interaction. Card text check required for exact transformation, clue, card-draw, or planeswalker rules, so do not treat it as guaranteed advantage without Veles-visible support. It is better against slower decks where a one-mana permanent can accumulate value and worse when the opponent is attacking quickly or when tapping mana conflicts with `Spell Snare` or `Fragment Reality`. Protect it only if the protected line matters more than preserving the deck's main tempo cards.

- `Aang, Swift Savior`: use `Aang, Swift Savior` as a tactical creature whose exact role depends on exposed card text and legal actions. Card text check required; do not invent protection, flash, lifegain, bounce, or combat abilities unless Veles shows them. In practice, cast it when its visible action text stabilizes combat, protects a key permanent, or adds a cheap body while preserving later interaction. Avoid keeping or sequencing around it as the sole plan; it should complement `High Noon`, delay spells, and flash threats rather than replace them.

- `Talion's Throneguard`: treat `Talion's Throneguard` as a midgame threat or value creature that needs a safe window. Card text check required for exact ward, draw, taxing, or combat text. Deploy it when you can still protect the turn with `Reprieve`, `Remand`, `Spell Snare`, `Sink into Stupor`, or when `High Noon` has already reduced the opponent's ability to answer and develop together. Do not cast it into a board where the immediate problem is a lethal attack, a resolved engine, or a spell you must hold mana to answer.

- `Calim, Djinn Emperor`: use `Calim, Djinn Emperor` as a higher-impact finisher or stabilizing threat only after deciding the tap-out window is safe. Card text check required for exact flying, cost, triggered, or protection abilities. It is strongest when the opponent is constrained by `High Noon`, down to few cards, or already forced to answer your smaller flyers. It is weakest when you are behind on board and need `Divine Purge`, `Fragment Reality`, `Sink into Stupor`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` first.

- Utility lands: treat `Hall of Storm Giants`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` as part of the spell suite, not just mana. `Hall of Storm Giants` is a late-game win condition when attacking does not expose you to lethal or leave you unable to interact. `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire` and `Otawara, Soaring City` should be preserved when their channel-like legal actions answer a visible attacker, blocker, stack problem, or permanent that normal counters missed; card text check required for exact target limits.

- Colored lands: sequence `Hallowed Fountain`, `Seachrome Coast`, `Floodfarm Verge`, `Sunbillow Verge`, `Plains`, `Island`, and `Steam Vents` to keep early blue-white interaction available. `Steam Vents` has special value if Veles exposes red costs such as a `High Noon` activation, but it should not compromise casting `Spell Snare`, `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Queller`, or `Fragment Reality` on time. Avoid land choices that make `High Noon` castable while cutting off blue stack interaction unless the matchup specifically demands the lock immediately.

## Interaction Priorities
- Counter or delay the spell that changes the battlefield or resource race now; do not spend `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, or `Spell Snare` on low-impact cantrips unless the opponent is bottlenecked by `High Noon` or missing land drops. `Spell Snare` should take decisive two-mana plays first; `Spell Queller` and `Aven Interrupter` should cover broader cheap-to-mid spells that would resolve past `Spell Snare`.

- Exile or remove permanents when counters are no longer live; `Fragment Reality`, `Divine Purge`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` are the main recovery tools after a threat resolves. Use `Fragment Reality` on a permanent that is already invalidating attacks, racing faster than flyers, enabling a combo, or blocking the only winning attack; card text check required for the replacement result, so do not treat it as clean removal by default.

- Bounce first when the tempo swing wins a turn or breaks protection; `Sink into Stupor` and `Otawara, Soaring City` should prioritize a lethal attacker, a large blocker, a resolved engine permanent, or a spell/permanent that lets you untap into `High Noon` plus open interaction. Bounce is weaker when the opponent can simply replay the same object through `High Noon` better than you can progress your board.

- Sweep only when the board asks for it; `Divine Purge` is for clustered low-cost creature or artifact pressure, not a single creature that `Fragment Reality`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Oust`, `Stern Scolding`, or `Wrath of the Skies` can handle after sideboarding. Count your own `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, and `Talion's Throneguard` before choosing a reset.

- Bait interaction with replaceable tempo cards before committing fragile engines; `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Snare`, and sometimes `Aven Interrupter` can draw out opposing counters or removal before `High Noon`, `Spell Queller`, `Talion's Throneguard`, or `Calim, Djinn Emperor`. Do not bait when the legal action in front of you is a must-answer spell; answer that spell first.

- Ignore low-impact spells when the opponent is under `High Noon`, behind on board, or spending mana without affecting lethal math. Let minor card selection, redundant small creatures, or nonlethal setup resolve if answering them would expose `Spell Queller`, strand `Divine Purge`, or leave no answer for a visible payoff.

- Change priorities by archetype: against aggro, preserve life and trade interaction for damage sources early; against control, fight card advantage, planeswalkers, and sweepers while forcing end-step threats; against combo, counter the enabling spell instead of the decorative setup; against graveyard decks, protect `Rest in Peace` and use `Force of Negation` on the spell that beats it; against go-wide boards, prioritize `Divine Purge` and `Wrath of the Skies` over one-for-one delay.

- This deck has no main-deck discard, so hand disruption decisions only apply if Veles exposes a temporary effect from another source. Do not infer hidden cards from archetype alone; use public information, revealed cards, and legal action text.

## Combat And Trading Rules
- Attack when pressure does not break your interaction posture; the ideal turn adds damage with `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, `Quantum Riddler`, or `Hall of Storm Giants` while still leaving mana for the legal answer that matters. Passing an attack is correct when the creature is needed to block, protect a planeswalker-like permanent, or keep `Spell Queller` from dying in a trade that releases a dangerous spell.

- Preserve `Spell Queller` unless the trade wins the race or the exiled spell is no longer dangerous. Before blocking or attacking with it, check whether its departure would return a spell the opponent can cast profitably; do not trade it for a small attacker if the hidden cost is giving back a removal spell, sweeper, combo piece, or card advantage spell.

- Use flyers as a clock against stalled boards and ground creatures; `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Talion's Throneguard`, and `Calim, Djinn Emperor` should usually race ground pressure when life total and visible attack power allow it. Hold them back only when blocking changes a lethal or two-turn clock into a survivable game.

- Trade small creatures to protect life totals against aggro, but do not trade away the only threat against control without a replacement. `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student` and `Aang, Swift Savior` can block when survival matters; card text check required for exact combat or protection abilities, so rely on Veles-visible actions rather than assumed text.

- Treat 8 life as the caution threshold and 5 life as the emergency threshold against aggressive boards. At 8 or less, prioritize blocking, `Fragment Reality`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Oust`, `Stern Scolding`, `Divine Purge`, or `Wrath of the Skies` over chip damage; at 5 or less, only attack if the race math or legal protection action clearly supports it.

- Activate `Hall of Storm Giants` only when the attack meaningfully advances lethal or closes a control mirror. Do not expose it into open removal, tap below needed interaction, or attack when losing the land would cut off `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Queller`, `Sink into Stupor`, `Force of Negation`, or a postcombat stabilizer.

- Protect engines by sequencing combat after stack decisions when possible. If `High Noon` is constraining both players, one clean attack plus one protected interactive spell is often better than developing another creature into a sweeper or tapping out for `Calim, Djinn Emperor` without protection.

- Sideboard creatures change combat roles: `Archon of Emeria` is a rule-setting body that should be preserved against combo and spell-chain decks, while `Quantum Riddler` is a pressure/value threat whose exact combat role needs card text confirmation. Against creature swarms, sideboarded `Wrath of the Skies` makes blocking less important if you can survive to the reset.

## Selection And Tutor Rules
- Treat the deck as pseudo-selection, not tutoring; Azorius Flash finds wins by choosing which legal action to preserve, delay, or convert into a threat rather than searching the library. There are no true main-deck tutors, so do not spend a decision looking for a named card unless Veles exposes a legal selection action from `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Quantum Riddler`, or another visible effect.

- Prioritize land drops over speculative selection through turn four because `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, `High Noon`, `Divine Purge`, `Sink into Stupor`, and double-spell response turns all punish missed mana. If a modal land choice is offered, keep `Sink into Stupor` as a spell only when the hand already has enough lands and an opposing permanent is likely to matter before the next draw step.

- Use `Remand` and `Reprieve` as tempo plus redraw, not as guaranteed answers. Favor them when the drawn card and delayed opposing spell improve the next-turn position: hitting a land drop, finding `High Noon`, digging to `Fragment Reality`, or buying time for a flyer clock. Avoid spending them on a spell the opponent can immediately recast profitably through available mana unless the draw or delay changes lethal, protects a key permanent, or preserves a harder answer.

- Sequence draw-bearing permission before irreversible removal when the board is not already lethal. `Remand` or `Reprieve` can reveal whether the next card makes `Fragment Reality`, `Divine Purge`, `Spell Snare`, `Spell Queller`, or `Sink into Stupor` the right follow-up, but do not delay a must-answer permanent just to see one more card.

- Keep selection decisions bounded by visible information. If Veles exposes scry, surveil, draw-discard, look-at-top, or choose-card prompts from `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, or `Quantum Riddler`, use the visible candidate names and current role: keep lands when missing the next land drop, keep cheap interaction when behind, keep threats when the opponent is empty or locked by `High Noon`, and bottom expensive or redundant pieces when they do not affect the next two turns. Card text check required for the exact selection abilities of those cards.

- Choose sideboard selection targets by matchup role after sideboarding. `Rest in Peace` matters more than generic pressure against graveyard decks; `Wrath of the Skies`, `Oust`, and `Stern Scolding` matter more against fast creature starts; `Force of Negation`, `Archon of Emeria`, and `Spell Snare` matter more against spell-combo or control. Do not assume a sideboard card is present unless it is visible in hand, on top of a revealed pile, or named by legal action text.

- Preserve channel and utility lands as hidden mode flexibility when mana is already sufficient. `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, and `Hall of Storm Giants` are lands first in mana-light hands, but become tactical resources later; avoid playing a redundant untapped source over a utility land if the current hand already covers white and blue requirements.

## Priority And Stack Rules
- Pass priority aggressively only when the opponent’s visible action does not change the clock, resolve an engine, answer your pressure, or break `High Noon`. This deck wins by acting last; holding `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Snare`, `Sink into Stupor`, `Fragment Reality`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, or `Force of Negation` is often the play.

- Commit to `High Noon` when it constrains the opponent more than your own hand. Cast it early against decks that need multiple spells per turn, but be cautious when your hand contains several cheap answers that must be used in the same turn cycle. Once `High Noon` is active, choose the single spell per turn that has the highest tactical impact; do not spend the turn’s spell on a low-impact cantrip, redundant creature, or answer to a nonessential threat.

- Use stack interaction by finality rank: `Spell Snare` for decisive two-mana spells, `Spell Queller` for spells that must not resolve and fit its visible legality, `Aven Interrupter` when delaying or taxing the spell is enough, `Remand` and `Reprieve` when tempo plus draw is better than permanent denial, and `Force of Negation` after sideboarding for noncreature spells that can decide the game. Card text check required for exact `Aven Interrupter` and `Force of Negation` alternate-cost handling.

- Let spells resolve when answering later is better. If the opponent casts a small creature into a hand with `Divine Purge`, `Wrath of the Skies`, `Fragment Reality`, or `Oust`, saving stack interaction for a payoff may be correct. If a spell threatens immediate lethal, a protected engine, a sweeper against your only clock, or a combo start, answer it on the stack when a legal action exists.

- Protect `Spell Queller` decisions with departure risk. Before choosing it, evaluate whether losing `Spell Queller` later would release a dangerous spell; prefer `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Snare`, or `Aven Interrupter` when the exiled spell would become better for the opponent after removal.

- Use end-step flash threats to preserve information. Cast `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller` without a target only if legal and tactically justified, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, or `Quantum Riddler` at the opponent’s end step when Veles exposes that legal action and no higher-priority response is needed. Card text check required for creatures whose flash timing is not explicit in the legal action list.

- Resolve optional payments and triggers only when they advance the current role. Do not pay optional costs or activate abilities that tap below needed interaction, consume the only spell allowed by `High Noon`, or expose a key permanent. If Veles offers a `High Noon` sacrifice or damage mode, use it only for visible lethal, planeswalker-like threats, or survival math; card text check required for exact activation cost and target scope.

- Take combat priority windows seriously. After attackers, after blockers, before damage, and after damage, use `Fragment Reality`, `Sink into Stupor`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Oust`, `Stern Scolding`, or `Wrath of the Skies` only if the legal action changes lethal, removes a key blocker, saves a key creature, or denies a combat trick. Passing is correct when the current board remains favorable and the interaction is needed for the next stack fight.

## Sideboard Map
- Sideboard with the runtime role first, then the card name. This deck stays Azorius flash tempo after sideboarding: protect mana efficiency, keep enough instant-speed interaction, and avoid transforming into a sorcery-speed control deck unless the opponent forces creature-sweeper density. The main-deck cards most often reduced are `Divine Purge` against low-permanent spell decks, excess `High Noon` against fair one-spell decks, extra `Reprieve` or `Remand` when delaying a spell does not answer the battlefield, and fragile expensive threats when survival or graveyard hate matters more.

- Add `Rest in Peace` against graveyard engines, recursive threats, escape/flashback-style resources, reanimation, delve-like costs, and decks whose battlefield is less dangerous than their graveyard. `Rest in Peace` is bad when the opponent wins mostly from hand or board and the graveyard is incidental; in those games it dilutes the flash plan and should not replace live stack interaction. After it enters, value `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Queller`, and `Aven Interrupter` more as protection for the hate piece than as pure tempo.

- Add `Wrath of the Skies` against wide creature decks, small artifact/enchantment battlefields, and starts where `Fragment Reality` or `Oust` cannot answer enough permanents. Card text check required for exact payment and permanent-scope handling; use it only when Veles exposes a legal action whose visible X/payment meaning stabilizes the board. It is bad when your own `High Noon`, `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, or `Talion's Throneguard` would be more important than the permanents it removes.

- Add `Archon of Emeria` against spell-chain combo, low-curve cantrip decks, cascade-style turns, and opponents that need to cast multiple spells in one turn to recover from `High Noon`. Card text check required for exact land and spell restrictions, but tactically it is a second rule-setting threat. It is weaker against creature decks that already cast one spell per turn, against removal-heavy decks where a creature tax dies easily, and in games where you need to double-spell defensively.

- Add `Force of Negation` against noncreature combo, control mirrors, sweepers, planeswalker-like engines, and any deck where losing a card is acceptable to stop a decisive noncreature spell. Card text check required for exact alternate-cost timing and exile requirements. It is poor against creature swarms, low-impact one-for-one games, and hands that cannot afford blue-card pitch cost without losing all pressure.

- Add `Quantum Riddler` against fair midrange, control, and slow mirrors where an extra flash-speed threat or selection body matters more than narrow removal. Card text check required for exact stats and triggered choices. It is bad against fast aggro if it does not stabilize immediately, against combo when it does not interact, and under `High Noon` when the turn’s single spell must be an answer.

- Add `Oust` against early creature pressure, cheap must-answer creatures, and creature decks where gaining the opponent life is less important than buying a draw step. It is bad against noncreature combo, control, and threats with enters-the-battlefield value that become better when replayed. Use it as a tempo reset, not as a permanent answer.

- Add the sideboard `Spell Snare` against two-mana engines, two-mana threats, two-mana removal that frees a spell under `Spell Queller`, and low-curve decks where a clean counter is better than `Reprieve`. It is bad when the opponent’s important spells cluster at one, three, or higher mana values. In those games, keep flexible delay and flash pressure instead.

- Add `Stern Scolding` against small creature decks and creature-combo starts where the legal stack target has power or toughness within the visible restriction. Card text check required for exact power/toughness condition. It is bad against large creatures, noncreature engines, and battlefields where the key decision is already resolved.

Aggro / small-creature pressure balanced plan
Side in: 1 Oust; 1 Stern Scolding; 3 Wrath of the Skies
Cut: 2 High Noon; 2 Remand; 1 Reprieve

- Against aggro, keep enough cheap plays to avoid falling behind before turn three. `Oust`, `Stern Scolding`, `Fragment Reality`, `Spell Snare`, and `Wrath of the Skies` are survival cards; `Aven Interrupter` and `Spell Queller` become tempo blockers only when their stack text or body changes the race. Reduce main-deck emphasis: expensive threat development, redundant `High Noon`, and delay-only counters that allow the same creature to be recast immediately.

Graveyard engine balanced plan
Side in: 3 Rest in Peace; 2 Force of Negation
Cut: 2 Divine Purge; 2 Fragment Reality; 1 Remand

- Against graveyard decks, mulligan and sequence around `Rest in Peace` without assuming it is in hand. When it is visible, protect it with `Reprieve`, `Remand`, `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Snare`, or `Force of Negation` if the opponent’s answer or engine restart is the decisive spell. Reduce main-deck emphasis: sorcery-speed sweepers and creature-only removal when the graveyard is the actual battlefield.

Spell-combo / control balanced plan
Side in: 2 Archon of Emeria; 2 Force of Negation; 1 Spell Snare; 2 Quantum Riddler
Cut: 2 Divine Purge; 4 Fragment Reality; 1 Remand

- Against spell-combo and control, increase rule-setting and hard interaction while preserving pressure. `High Noon` and `Archon of Emeria` stack as constraints, but do not commit both into obvious removal if one already locks the opponent’s current line. `Force of Negation` protects the lock or stops the payoff; `Quantum Riddler` adds a threat when the game is about cards and end-step pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal, sweepers, and combat-only cards.

Fair midrange balanced plan
Side in: 2 Quantum Riddler; 1 Spell Snare; 1 Oust
Cut: 1 High Noon; 1 Reprieve; 1 Remand; 1 Fragment Reality

- Against fair midrange, sideboard lightly and keep the flash shell intact. `Quantum Riddler` and `Talion's Throneguard` pressure resource exchanges, while `Spell Snare`, `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Remand`, and `Reprieve` punish tap-out turns. `Oust` is acceptable only when the opponent’s creature tempo matters more than the life gained. Reduce main-deck emphasis: redundant rule pieces and expensive threats that do not win through removal.

Artifact/enchantment board deck balanced plan
Side in: 3 Wrath of the Skies; 2 Force of Negation
Cut: 2 Divine Purge; 2 Remand; 1 Reprieve

- Against artifact or enchantment board decks, choose between `Divine Purge` and `Wrath of the Skies` based on legal action text and visible permanents, not on card names alone. Keep `Fragment Reality` when a single permanent matters; prefer `Wrath of the Skies` when the board contains multiple low-cost permanents and the payment shown by Veles is favorable. `Force of Negation` is for the engine spell that makes the board snowball, not for every value spell.

- Broad archetype rule: add narrow cards only when their target class is visible in the opponent’s plan. Add role cards: `Rest in Peace` for graveyards, `Wrath of the Skies` for wide low-cost permanents, `Archon of Emeria` for multi-spell turns, `Force of Negation` for decisive noncreature spells, `Oust` and `Stern Scolding` for early creatures, sideboard `Spell Snare` for two-mana density, and `Quantum Riddler` for slower attrition. Reduce main-deck emphasis: cards whose legal targets or tactical timing are absent in the observed matchup.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: prioritize survival turns over perfect flash timing, because this deck wins aggro games by converting early stack delays into a stabilized air clock. Keep hands with early white or blue interaction, use `Fragment Reality`, `Spell Snare`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Reprieve`, and `Remand` to prevent the first high-damage turn, then let `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, or a protected flyer close. Add role cards: `Oust`, `Stern Scolding`, and `Wrath of the Skies`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: redundant `High Noon`, slow threat-only hands, and delay counters when the recast creature still kills you next turn.

- Burn: preserve life total first and card advantage second, because one extra turn is often worth more than a clean answer. Use `Reprieve` and `Remand` on damage spells when they buy a full draw step or protect a lethal counterattack, but do not bounce a spell that the opponent can immediately replay for lethal. `High Noon` is strong when it caps multi-spell burn turns; `Spell Queller` is strong only if you can protect it from visible removal. Add role cards: `Force of Negation` for decisive noncreature burn or engine spells and `Oust` only when a creature is the clock.

- Go-wide decks: treat the battlefield, not the stack, as the main problem once multiple attackers are already visible. `Divine Purge` and `Wrath of the Skies` are the reset tools; choose the one whose legal action text and payment best match the current permanents. `Fragment Reality` is for the one permanent that makes the swarm lethal or resilient, not for the least relevant token. Add role cards: `Wrath of the Skies`, `Stern Scolding`, and `Oust`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Remand` on low-cost creatures and expensive threats that cannot block profitably.

- Single-threat decks: answer the threat at the stack or tempo layer before spending sweepers. `Spell Snare`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Reprieve`, and `Remand` should protect the window before the threat resolves; `Fragment Reality`, `Sink into Stupor`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` become backup lines when Veles shows legal interaction after resolution. Add role cards: `Oust` for early creatures, sideboard `Spell Snare` for two-mana threats, and `Force of Negation` for noncreature payoff threats. Reduce main-deck emphasis: broad sweepers unless the opponent pivots into multiple permanents.

- Control: play mostly on the opponent's end step and force them to answer one meaningful object per turn. `High Noon` restricts their ability to fight long stack battles, while `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Snare`, and `Force of Negation` punish tap-out draw spells, sweepers, and finishers. `Talion's Throneguard`, `Quantum Riddler`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, and `Hall of Storm Giants` are pressure sources, but commit them through open mana only when waiting gives control more cards than it costs you. Add role cards: `Force of Negation`, `Quantum Riddler`, `Archon of Emeria`, and sideboard `Spell Snare`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature-only removal and sweepers.

- Combo: identify whether the combo needs one decisive spell, a graveyard, a permanent engine, or multiple spells in one turn. `High Noon` and `Archon of Emeria` are the best rule pieces against spell-chain combo; `Rest in Peace` is the graveyard stop; `Force of Negation`, `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Remand`, and `Reprieve` defend the turn where the opponent tries to break through. Do not tap out for `Calim, Djinn Emperor` or `Quantum Riddler` if Veles shows a likely combo turn next. Add role cards: `Archon of Emeria`, `Force of Negation`, `Rest in Peace`, and sideboard `Spell Snare`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Divine Purge`, `Fragment Reality`, and combat-only cards unless the combo depends on visible permanents.

- Tempo mirrors: fight for mana efficiency and protect the threat that is already winning. `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, and `Talion's Throneguard` matter because each can pressure while holding up interaction; `Reprieve` is often better than `Remand` when it protects your own spell or resets their answer. `High Noon` is strongest when you are ahead on board and weakest when you need to double-spell to catch up. Add role cards: sideboard `Spell Snare`, `Stern Scolding` if the visible creatures match its restriction, and `Quantum Riddler` for grindy games. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow sweepers and clunky tap-out lines.

- Midrange: win by making their expensive turns inefficient, not by answering every card permanently. `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Remand`, and `Reprieve` are best against three- to five-mana plays; `Fragment Reality`, `Sink into Stupor`, `Divine Purge`, and channel lands handle resolved permanents when the tempo loss is acceptable. `High Noon` is good against midrange decks that double-spell to recover and mediocre against single-threat curves. Add role cards: `Quantum Riddler`, sideboard `Spell Snare`, and `Oust` for early pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: extra rule pieces when the game is about individual board presence.

- Big mana: pressure early and spend counters on acceleration or payoff according to visible urgency. Stop the spell that changes mana development when you already have pressure; stop the payoff when the opponent has reached enough mana and the payoff is visible on the stack. `High Noon` can slow recovery turns but does not beat large single spells by itself, so pair it with `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Spell Snare`, or `Force of Negation`. Add role cards: `Force of Negation`, `Archon of Emeria` when multiple-spell turns matter, and `Quantum Riddler` only when the matchup is slow enough for extra pressure.

- Graveyard decks: treat graveyard access as the resource to deny and do not overvalue normal creature exchanges. `Rest in Peace` is the cleanest role card; protect it from visible answers with `Reprieve`, `Remand`, `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Snare`, or `Force of Negation` when the engine cannot function through it. Use `Fragment Reality` or `Divine Purge` only when the visible permanent matters after graveyard denial. Add role cards: `Rest in Peace` and `Force of Negation`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: sweepers and removal that ignore the graveyard engine.

- Artifact/enchantment decks: separate engine permanents from replaceable board material before choosing removal. `Fragment Reality` is for a single critical artifact or enchantment if legal action text supports the target; `Divine Purge` and `Wrath of the Skies` are for clustered low-cost permanents; `Force of Negation` is for the noncreature spell that creates the engine. Add role cards: `Wrath of the Skies` and `Force of Negation`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Remand` on cheap permanents when the opponent can replay them without losing a meaningful turn.

- Removal-heavy decks: avoid giving them one clean target per turn unless that target creates immediate pressure or taxes their mana. Prefer end-step threats, protect `Spell Queller` when it is holding an important spell, and lean on `High Noon`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Quantum Riddler`, `Hall of Storm Giants`, and repeated flash pressure to make removal awkward. `Aang, Swift Savior` and `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student` need card-text-aware use; Card text check required for exact protection, transformation, or value timing. Add role cards: `Quantum Riddler` and `Force of Negation` for sweepers or planeswalker-like engines. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow creature removal and overcommitting into visible sweepers.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- General/archetype-only note: revealed cards, public zones, and Veles legal actions override all assumptions here. Use these notes as matchup priors until the opponent's actual plan is visible, then re-rank around the current stack, battlefield, graveyard, hand counts, mana, and known revealed cards.

- Creature aggro: preserve life total while forcing the opponent to spend turns redeploying. Priority targets are haste threats, snowballing one-drops, and cards that make `Divine Purge` or `Wrath of the Skies` worse if delayed. Add role cards: `Oust`, `Stern Scolding`, `Wrath of the Skies`, and sometimes sideboard `Spell Snare`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow closers and extra `High Noon` if the opponent wins through board size rather than spell volume.

- Spell-chain combo: make `High Noon` and `Archon of Emeria` matter before fighting over individual cantrips. Priority targets are the first engine spell, the spell that breaks the one-spell limit, or the payoff that wins through a locked board. Add role cards: `Archon of Emeria`, `Force of Negation`, sideboard `Spell Snare`, and `Rest in Peace` only when the graveyard is part of the engine. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Divine Purge`, `Fragment Reality`, and combat-only pressure if no relevant permanent is visible.

- Graveyard combo or recursion: land `Rest in Peace` early and protect it if the graveyard is the opponent's primary resource. Priority targets are graveyard enablers, reanimation payoffs, escape-style threats, and removal aimed at `Rest in Peace`. Add role cards: `Rest in Peace`, `Force of Negation`, and sideboard `Spell Snare` if key setup cards cost two. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Divine Purge` and `Wrath of the Skies` unless the opponent also presents a creature board.

- Control: deploy threats on end steps, then spend `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, and `Force of Negation` on sweepers, card-advantage engines, and finishers. Priority targets are spells that undo a protected board, not every cantrip. Add role cards: `Force of Negation`, `Quantum Riddler`, `Archon of Emeria`, and sideboard `Spell Snare`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Divine Purge`, `Wrath of the Skies`, `Oust`, and `Stern Scolding` unless creature targets are revealed.

- Midrange: trade on mana and timing, not one-for-one permanence. Priority targets are three- to five-mana threats, planeswalker-like engines, and removal aimed at a `Spell Queller` holding an important spell. Add role cards: `Quantum Riddler`, sideboard `Spell Snare`, and `Oust` when early creatures matter. Reduce main-deck emphasis: excess `High Noon` when the opponent casts one strong spell per turn.

- Artifact/enchantment engines: identify whether the engine is a single permanent or a board cluster. Priority targets are the permanent that converts resources, the payoff spell, or the low-cost board before it grows beyond `Wrath of the Skies`. Add role cards: `Wrath of the Skies` and `Force of Negation`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Remand` on cheap permanents when replaying them is nearly free.

- Card text uncertainty: use `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, and `Quantum Riddler` according to legal action text and visible outcomes. Card text check required for exact transformation, protection, trigger, and selection timing.

## Risk Summary

- Mana risk: this deck needs early untapped white and blue while also supporting channel lands and `Hall of Storm Giants`. Avoid hands where `Hall of Storm Giants`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Floodfarm Verge`, or `Sunbillow Verge` delays turn-two interaction unless the hand already has legal early plays.

- Matchup risk: `High Noon` is powerful against spell volume but weak when behind against single large threats. Do not keep or sideboard as if `High Noon` alone answers big mana, midrange haymakers, or creature boards.

- Draw risk: too many bounce counters can cycle time without solving a resolved board. `Remand` and `Reprieve` need pressure from `Aven Interrupter`, `Spell Queller`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Quantum Riddler`, or `Hall of Storm Giants` to convert tempo into a win.

- Over-sideboarding risk: adding every narrow answer can dilute flash pressure and leave hands that react without closing. Keep enough threats and stack interaction after adding `Oust`, `Stern Scolding`, `Rest in Peace`, `Wrath of the Skies`, `Archon of Emeria`, `Force of Negation`, `Quantum Riddler`, or sideboard `Spell Snare`.

- Graveyard risk: `Rest in Peace` can be essential, but it is low-impact when the opponent's visible plan is board pressure or non-graveyard combo. Do not spend mana protecting it over lethal prevention or a decisive stack fight unless graveyard access is visibly central.

- Sweeper/removal risk: `Divine Purge` and `Wrath of the Skies` can conflict with your own permanent pressure. Use them when the opponent's board matters more than your current clock, and avoid clearing your own winning position for marginal value.

- Closer risk: expensive or uncertain closers can strand the deck if cast into open interaction without protection. Commit `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Quantum Riddler`, or `Hall of Storm Giants` when the opponent is constrained, tapped low, or when waiting gives them a better window.

- Interaction risk: `Spell Queller` and `Aven Interrupter` are tempo answers, not guaranteed permanent answers. Protect them when they contain a decisive spell, and do not assume a delayed or exiled spell is gone forever unless Veles confirms the resulting game state.

- Sequencing risk: playing on your own main phase can waste the deck's flash leverage. Prefer passing with mana up when legal actions include meaningful instant-speed pressure or interaction, then act after the opponent commits mana or at end step.

## Test Feedback Checklist

- Deciding factor: identify whether the match was won by tempo pressure, a protected `High Noon`, repeated stack delay from `Remand` and `Reprieve`, a `Spell Queller` or `Aven Interrupter` exchange, a closer such as `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, or a sideboard card.

- Mulligans: record whether opening hands had both early mana and legal interaction, especially hands relying on `Hall of Storm Giants`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Floodfarm Verge`, or `Sunbillow Verge` as early lands.

- Mana: flag games where untapped white or blue was missing on turns one through three, where `Steam Vents` mattered despite no obvious red main-deck use, or where channel lands reduced early spell availability.

- Velocity: note whether `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Aven Interrupter`, and `Spell Queller` bought enough time to add pressure, or only delayed spells while the opponent built a better board.

- Engine constraint: check whether `High Noon` changed the opponent's legal action quality, stranded their spell chain, or arrived too late after the relevant engine was already established.

- Removal and reset timing: review each `Fragment Reality`, `Divine Purge`, `Oust`, `Stern Scolding`, and `Wrath of the Skies` decision for whether it answered the threat that actually mattered.

- Sideboard impact: record which of `Rest in Peace`, `Archon of Emeria`, `Force of Negation`, `Quantum Riddler`, sideboard `Spell Snare`, `Oust`, `Stern Scolding`, and `Wrath of the Skies` was drawn, cast, stranded, or irrelevant.

- Closing: determine whether `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Quantum Riddler`, `Spell Queller`, `Aven Interrupter`, or `Hall of Storm Giants` ended the game fast enough after the first tempo gain.

- Role: compare the intended role against the visible game state; mark mistakes where the pilot played pure control against inevitability, pure tempo while behind on board, or prison while the opponent ignored spell volume.

- Mistakes: log every main-phase action that gave up flash leverage, every pass with meaningful legal interaction available, and every creature commitment into a visible or strongly represented sweeper.

- Stranded cards: count cards that stayed in hand because of mana, timing, target absence, `High Noon`, or matchup mismatch, with special attention to `Spell Snare`, `Fragment Reality`, `Divine Purge`, `Sink into Stupor`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, and `Quantum Riddler`.

- Overperformers and underperformers: list the cards that produced decisive exchanges and the cards that failed to affect the game before the loss condition became unavoidable.

## First Tuning Questions

- Card quantity question: should `High Noon` remain four copies if aggressive or midrange opponents repeatedly make it low-impact, or is four correct because it is the defining anti-chain card against spell-heavy decks?

- Interaction mix question: should the main deck keep four `Remand`, four `Reprieve`, two `Spell Snare`, and two `Sink into Stupor` if bounce-style permission delays but does not answer resolved threats?

- Removal question: should `Fragment Reality` and `Divine Purge` quantities change if creature decks beat the deck before flash pressure stabilizes, or if these cards conflict too often with the deck's own permanents?

- Mana question: should the land mix change if early untapped blue-white mana fails too often, especially in hands containing `Hall of Storm Giants`, `Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Floodfarm Verge`, `Sunbillow Verge`, or `Steam Vents`?

- Aggro plan question: are `Oust`, `Stern Scolding`, and `Wrath of the Skies` enough after sideboarding, or does the deck need more cheap stabilization instead of relying on delayed counters and sweepers?

- Control plan question: are `Force of Negation`, `Quantum Riddler`, `Archon of Emeria`, and sideboard `Spell Snare` enough to win long stack fights, or does the deck need a different threat density against removal-heavy opponents?

- Graveyard plan question: is three `Rest in Peace` the correct commitment if graveyard opponents are common, or does the card become stranded too often against decks where the graveyard is only incidental?

- Closer question: do `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, `Quantum Riddler`, and `Hall of Storm Giants` close quickly enough after the deck gains tempo?

- Role conflict question: does `High Noon` conflict with the deck's own need to double-spell after drawing multiple cheap answers, or does the flash creature package make one-spell turns acceptable?

- Sideboard slot question: should `Archon of Emeria` overlap with `High Noon`, or is the redundancy necessary against spell-chain combo despite being awkward against creature pressure?

- Threat protection question: does `Spell Queller` need more support because losing it releases a decisive spell, or are `Reprieve`, `Remand`, `Aven Interrupter`, and `Force of Negation` sufficient protection windows?

- Card text verification question: confirm exact runtime behavior for `Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student`, `Aang, Swift Savior`, `Talion's Throneguard`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, and `Quantum Riddler` before changing quantities based on incomplete pilot impressions.

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Mulligan For Two-Land Interaction
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan
Cards: Spell Snare; Fragment Reality; Remand; Reprieve; Aven Interrupter; Spell Queller; High Noon
Phase windows: pregame mulligan decisions
Runtime cues: opening-hand, mulligan-choice, visible hand cards
Use when: deciding keep or mulligan with full opening hand visible to the pilot.
Avoid when: Veles exposes a forced keep, forced mulligan, or incomplete hand data.
Instructions: Keep hands with two functional early lands and at least one early interaction or flash play. Mulligan one-land hands without multiple one-mana plays, hands with only colorless or tapped early access, and hands that cannot interact before turn three. Treat `High Noon` as keep support against spell-chain opponents, not as a substitute for mana.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Early Untapped Blue-White Mana
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana
Cards: Hallowed Fountain; Seachrome Coast; Plains; Island; Steam Vents; Floodfarm Verge; Sunbillow Verge; Hall of Storm Giants; Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire; Otawara, Soaring City
Phase windows: turns one through three, land-play choices
Runtime cues: action:play, land options, hand spells, available colors
Use when: choosing the land for the turn before holding up `Spell Snare`, `Fragment Reality`, `Remand`, `Reprieve`, `Aven Interrupter`, or `Spell Queller`.
Avoid when: a visible lethal or survival action requires a different land immediately.
Instructions: Prioritize untapped blue and white over future utility. Preserve channel lands only when another land provides the same immediate colors. Do not let `Hall of Storm Giants` or verge sequencing prevent turn-two interaction.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: First Flash Threat Setup
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; combat
Cards: Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student; Aang, Swift Savior; Aven Interrupter; Spell Queller; Talion's Throneguard
Phase windows: opponent end step, own main phase, early combat setup
Runtime cues: action:cast, opponent tapped mana, empty stack, legal creature spells
Use when: selecting the first battlefield commitment while both players are still developing.
Avoid when: holding interaction is required for a visible opposing spell, attack, or engine permanent.
Instructions: Prefer deploying flash threats after the opponent commits mana or at end step. Use main-phase deployment only when mana would otherwise be wasted, pressure is required, or `High Noon` will restrict later double-spell development.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: High Noon Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; interaction
Cards: High Noon
Phase windows: own main phase, early turns before opponent engine turns
Runtime cues: action:cast High Noon, opponent archetype context, spell count pressure
Use when: deciding whether to commit `High Noon` instead of passing with interaction.
Avoid when: the opponent already has a dangerous resolved board and the legal actions include direct stabilization.
Instructions: Cast `High Noon` when the opponent's plan depends on chaining spells or when one-spell turns favor your flash threats. Delay it when it locks your own hand under pressure or prevents casting the answer required this turn.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Permission Spend Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Spell Snare; Remand; Reprieve; Spell Queller; Aven Interrupter; Force of Negation
Phase windows: stack decisions, opponent main phases, combat trick windows
Runtime cues: action:counter, action:cast Remand, action:cast Reprieve, action:cast Spell Queller, stack spell visible
Use when: a visible stack spell can be delayed, countered, exiled, or taxed.
Avoid when: the stack spell is low impact and preserving interaction covers a later lethal, engine, sweeper, or planeswalker-class threat.
Instructions: Spend hard or exile-style interaction on cards that change the board, break `High Noon`, force lethal pressure, or invalidate your current clock. Use `Remand` and `Reprieve` to preserve tempo when the opponent cannot immediately recast through mana or spell-count limits.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Spell Queller Risk Check
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Spell Queller; Reprieve; Remand; Aven Interrupter
Phase windows: stack decisions, opponent removal windows, your protection windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Spell Queller, visible stack spell, visible removal risk
Use when: deciding whether `Spell Queller` should answer the current spell.
Avoid when: losing `Spell Queller` would release a spell that is worse than letting the current spell resolve.
Instructions: Use `Spell Queller` aggressively only when the tempo swing matters or protection is available. Prefer delay spells for low-cost threats that the opponent can punish by killing `Spell Queller` later.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Removal And Reset Triage
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Fragment Reality; Divine Purge; Oust; Stern Scolding; Wrath of the Skies
Phase windows: removal windows, combat setup, own main phase sweep windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Fragment Reality, action:cast Divine Purge, action:cast Oust, action:cast Stern Scolding, action:cast Wrath of the Skies
Use when: visible permanents or creatures threaten life total, engine access, or the ability to attack safely.
Avoid when: the target or reset would improve the opponent's board relative to the current visible threat.
Instructions: Answer the permanent that will matter before the next decision cycle. Use sweepers when single-target interaction cannot stabilize. Treat `Fragment Reality` as conditional removal because replacement outcomes and exact card text must be respected by Forge.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Single Legal Pass
Priority: Low
Decision families: priority
Cards: none
Phase windows: any priority window
Runtime cues: action:pass
Use when: the legal action list contains exactly one pass-style action and no cast, activate, attack, block, target, payment, or selection action.
Avoid when: any non-pass legal action is present.
Instructions: Submit the visible pass action. Do not infer strategic intent from this policy.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: One-Spell Turn Sequencing
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; mana
Cards: High Noon; Remand; Reprieve; Fragment Reality; Spell Snare; Aven Interrupter; Spell Queller
Phase windows: turns with `High Noon` on battlefield or stack restrictions visible
Runtime cues: visible High Noon, spell-count status, legal cast actions
Use when: choosing the single spell or held action for a restricted turn.
Avoid when: Veles shows no active spell-count restriction.
Instructions: Spend the turn's spell on the action that changes the next opponent turn most. Prefer answering a live threat over adding pressure when behind, and prefer adding flash pressure when the opponent is constrained and the board is stable.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Pressure Discipline
Priority: Medium
Decision families: combat
Cards: Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student; Aang, Swift Savior; Aven Interrupter; Spell Queller; Talion's Throneguard; Calim, Djinn Emperor; Hall of Storm Giants; Quantum Riddler
Phase windows: declare attackers, declare blockers, end-step threat deployment
Runtime cues: action:attack, action:block, battlefield creatures, life totals
Use when: deciding attacks or blocks with visible creatures.
Avoid when: exactly lethal or survival math is not visible in state summaries.
Instructions: Attack when pressure advances a protected clock and does not expose a key containment creature for poor damage. Hold back creatures that are carrying delayed interaction, blocking lethal pressure, or needed to preserve planeswalker or life-total stability.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Finisher Tap-Out Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; mana; combat
Cards: Calim, Djinn Emperor; Talion's Throneguard; Quantum Riddler; Hall of Storm Giants
Phase windows: own main phase, opponent end step, late-game attack steps
Runtime cues: action:cast Calim, Djinn Emperor, action:cast Talion's Throneguard, action:cast Quantum Riddler, action:activate Hall of Storm Giants
Use when: choosing whether to spend most mana on a closer.
Avoid when: the opponent has a visible stack, lethal crack-back, or must-answer permanent requiring interaction.
Instructions: Commit a closer when the opponent is constrained, low on resources, or unable to punish tapped mana. Keep mana open when a delayed counter or removal spell protects an existing clock better than adding another threat.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sink Into Stupor Flex Slot
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction; mana; selection
Cards: Sink into Stupor
Phase windows: land-drop decisions, bounce/interaction windows, stack or permanent response windows
Runtime cues: action:play Sink into Stupor, action:cast Sink into Stupor
Use when: choosing between mana development and interactive use of `Sink into Stupor`.
Avoid when: exact card text or legal mode is unclear; Card text check required.
Instructions: Use it as mana when missing early land drops or colors. Preserve it as interaction when lands are sufficient and the visible opposing object can be delayed at a meaningful timing point confirmed by Forge.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Plan Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Oust; Spell Snare; Stern Scolding; Rest in Peace; Wrath of the Skies; Archon of Emeria; Force of Negation; Quantum Riddler
Phase windows: between games, sideboard submission
Runtime cues: sideboard-choice, opponent archetype label, game number, revealed cards
Use when: selecting a legal sideboard plan after game one or game two.
Avoid when: the proposed plan violates registered 60 plus 15 preservation.
Instructions: Add graveyard hate for graveyard engines, sweepers and cheap answers for creature pressure, `Force of Negation` for stack-centric threats, `Archon of Emeria` for spell-chain opponents, and `Quantum Riddler` for slower matchups needing more closing power. Keep cuts tied to matchup speed and card text relevance.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Force Of Negation Pitch Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; selection; priority
Cards: Force of Negation
Phase windows: opponent turn stack decisions, free-spell payment prompts
Runtime cues: action:cast Force of Negation, action:exile, payment-choice
Use when: `Force of Negation` is legal and Veles asks for alternate cost or pitch choices.
Avoid when: exiling the selected blue card removes the only current answer to a visible threat that must be answered this turn.
Instructions: Use free interaction for noncreature spells that win the game, break the lock, or overpower the current board. Pitch the least necessary blue card after checking mana, current role, and whether `High Noon` makes future double-spelling unlikely.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
