# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype

- Deck identity: Falls is a Simic Pauper Commander deck built around `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` as the commander, with a main plan of accelerating mana, casting oversized threats, and converting six-plus-mana spells into cascading pressure when the rules engine exposes those legal actions. Treat the commander as the deck's strategic center, but never assume commander availability, commander tax, cascade resolution, or cast timing unless Veles shows the legal action and current visible state supports it.

- Format validation: Active format is Pauper Commander, with `Main (100)` and `Sideboard (10)`. The provided format-aware validation contract says the list passes: exactly 100 main-deck cards, singleton main deck outside basic lands, and a 10-card Veles policy sideboard. Do not report 60-card constructed deck-size concerns for this command-zone format.

- Registered commander and colors: `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` defines the deck's Simic identity for piloting purposes, supported by `Command Tower`, `Thornwood Falls`, `Evolving Wilds`, `Terramorphic Expanse`, 15 `Forest`, and 14 `Island`. Mana sequencing must respect green ramp needs early and blue interaction/card-selection needs later; keep decisions grounded in legal land, artifact, and spell actions exposed by the engine.

- Archetype tags: Use `ramp` as the primary operational tag and `tribal` as a user-supplied secondary tag. The visible list reads more like rogue Simic ramp/top-end than a tight creature-type tribal deck, so the pilot should not overvalue creature-type cohesion unless a visible card, matchup guide, or legal action makes that synergy explicit.

- Stock/rogue status: Classify Falls as a rogue-to-hybrid Pauper Commander ramp deck, not a stock format staple shell. It contains familiar ramp and selection tools such as `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, `Rampant Growth`, `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Skyshroud Claim`, `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, and `Opt`, but the win plan is deck-specific: stabilize, reach large mana, deploy high-cost threats, and use `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` to turn expensive casts into compounding board or resource advantage.

- Primary role concern: Falls is not a pure control deck despite having `Forceful Denial`, `Vapor Snag`, `Lignify`, `Utter Insignificance`, `Scour from Existence`, and sideboard counters. Default posture should be proactive ramp into pressure, with interaction reserved for threats that race the top end, stop the commander plan, or invalidate combat.

- Mana concern: The deck has many expensive spells, including `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Spined Megalodon`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Timberland Ancient`, `Greater Sandwurm`, `Greater Tanuki`, and `Generous Ent`. Mulligans and early turns must punish hands that have only top-end and no credible path to early mana development.

- Legality concern: Several cards have alternate faces, landcycling, cycling, affinity, convoke, suspend, prototype-style or cost-reduction-like play patterns, or modal/adventure-style names, including `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave`, `Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection`, `Tolarian Terror`, `Gearseeker Serpent`, `Spire Golem`, `Tangle Golem`, `Siege Wurm`, `Errant Ephemeron`, `Krosan Tusker`, `Elvish Aberration`, `Generous Ent`, and `Greater Tanuki`. The pilot must choose only legal engine-listed actions and must not infer that a discount, alternate cost, or mode is available from deck identity alone.

- Sideboard status: The registered sideboard is exactly 10 cards: `Hydroblast`, `Witness Protection`, `Unsummon`, `Blue Elemental Blast`, `Dispel`, `Negate`, `Weather the Storm`, `Return to Nature`, `Scattershot Archer`, and `Relic of Progenitus`. Sideboard guidance must use only those names for cards brought in and only registered main-deck names for cards removed.

- Opponent information status: No specific opponent deck is supplied for this guide batch. Runtime matchup decisions must therefore rely on visible permanents, revealed cards, public graveyards, commander identity if visible, logged game actions, and Veles matchup metadata when available; do not invent hidden cards, expected staples, removal suites, or commander protection unless they are observed or named as `opponent:` examples outside policy `Cards:` fields.

- Guide quality gate: This specification is deck-specific to Falls and should teach an MTG decision agent to prioritize early mana, commander timing, high-cost spell conversion, and disciplined interaction. Any tactical claim about exact card text that is not visible through the rules engine should be treated as conditional or marked for card text verification in later sections.

## Thesis

Falls assembles early Simic mana, commander access to `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`, and a critical mass of expensive creatures/spells that turn each six-plus-mana cast into pressure, material, or card advantage when the engine exposes the relevant legal actions. Prioritize hands and lines that develop green mana first, add blue mana without slowing ramp, and reach turns where `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Spined Megalodon`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Greater Sandwurm`, `Greater Tanuki`, `Generous Ent`, `Timberland Ancient`, or `Read the Tides` can matter.

Falls wins by making mana count more than the opponent's early tempo: ramp, landcycle or select to hit land drops, cast `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` when the board and mana allow, then chain large legal casts into board advantage and combat pressure. Treat `Rush of Knowledge`, `Mulldrifter`, `Treasure Cruise`, `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Opt`, `Sigiled Starfish`, and `Darksteel Pendant` as ways to keep the top-end pipeline full rather than as an excuse to play a slow control game.

Falls is not trying to trade one-for-one forever, protect a tiny evasive clock as its only plan, or hold up countermagic at the cost of missing ramp turns. Use `Forceful Denial`, `Vapor Snag`, `Lignify`, `Utter Insignificance`, `Scour from Existence`, `Aethersnipe`, and sideboard interaction to buy the time needed for large spells, not to drift into pass-heavy play while the opponent improves their board.

Falls should prioritize visible survival over speculative value whenever the opponent presents a short clock. Block with replaceable bodies, deploy `Crashing Drawbridge` or medium creatures to stabilize, and spend removal or bounce on threats that invalidate the big-mana plan; only delay interaction for commander payoff when life total, blockers, and open mana make that delay credible.

## Role Package

- Threats: `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Spined Megalodon`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Greater Sandwurm`, `Timberland Ancient`, `Colossal Dreadmaw`, `Siege Wurm`, `It of the Horrid Swarm`, `Tangle Golem`, `Thundering Tanadon`, `Wretched Gryff`, `Gearseeker Serpent`, `Tolarian Terror`, `Spire Golem`, and `Errant Ephemeron` are the main bodies that end games or force trades. Cast them when mana is stable and the board needs pressure; do not strand early development just to protect a later perfect cascade turn.

- Payoffs: `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` is the deck's central payoff, and high-cost spells are the fuel. `Rush of Knowledge` is a payoff when a large permanent is visible, while `Read the Tides`, `Aethersnipe`, `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave`, `Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection`, and `Scour from Existence` can swing tempo if their legal modes and targets are exposed. Card text check required for exact tactical use of `Slavering Branchsnapper`, `Snapping Voidcraw`, `Timberland Ancient`, `Generous Ent`, and `Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection`; treat their role as conditional until Veles shows text or legal actions.

- Engines: `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` plus repeated expensive casts is the only true engine, so protect the engine by sequencing mana before commander dependency. `Crashing Drawbridge` can convert large creatures into immediate pressure if its ability is legal, while `Whispersilk Cloak` can turn one oversized threat into a closing plan when equip timing is legal and the opponent lacks visible answers.

- Velocity: `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Opt`, `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, `Coiling Oracle`, `Mulldrifter`, `Treasure Cruise`, `Mental Journey`, `Krosan Tusker`, `Elvish Aberration`, `Greater Tanuki`, `Generous Ent`, `Halimar Depths`, `Darksteel Pendant`, and `Sigiled Starfish` help find lands, ramp, or payoff density. Use cheap selection early to fix mana and late to find either a finisher or the specific answer the visible board demands.

- Interaction: `Lignify`, `Utter Insignificance`, `Vapor Snag`, `Forceful Denial`, `Aethersnipe`, `Scour from Existence`, `Natural Reclamation`, and `Mirrorshell Crab` form the main interactive package. Spend them on commanders, lethal attackers, snowballing engines, or blockers that stop a decisive large-creature attack; avoid using premium answers on low-impact creatures unless life total or combat math requires it.

- Protection: `Whispersilk Cloak`, `Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Forceful Denial`, and sideboard counters can protect a key turn, but only if Veles shows the relevant legal action. Prefer protecting `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` or a lethal/evasive threat over protecting routine ramp creatures.

- Recursion / graveyard resource: Falls has no clear registered true recursion engine, so do not plan around replaying spent cards unless the rules engine exposes a legal action. Treat the graveyard mainly as a resource for `Treasure Cruise` and any visible legal cost reduction on cards such as `Tolarian Terror`; do not consume graveyard cards if a stronger visible future use is already available.

- Mana: `Rampant Growth`, `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Skyshroud Claim`, `Wood Elves`, `Farhaven Elf`, `Coiling Oracle`, `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, `Fellwar Stone`, `Arcane Signet`, `Simic Signet`, `Mind Stone`, `Seer's Lantern`, `Krosan Drover`, `Command Tower`, `Thornwood Falls`, `Evolving Wilds`, `Terramorphic Expanse`, `Tranquil Thicket`, `Lonely Sandbar`, `Forest`, and `Island` are the functional base. Keep lines that hit land drops and unlock both colors ahead of speculative top-end keeps.

- Sideboard modules: `Hydroblast` and `Blue Elemental Blast` are red-pressure tools; `Dispel` and `Negate` fight stack-based interaction or noncreature engines; `Witness Protection`, `Unsummon`, and `Return to Nature` add flexible board answers; `Weather the Storm` buys time against burst damage; `Scattershot Archer` addresses small flying pressure; `Relic of Progenitus` checks graveyard plans while requiring care around Falls's own `Treasure Cruise` and graveyard-cost cards.

## Primary Win Conditions

- Commander cascade pressure: set up `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` after reaching stable green-blue mana, then cast six-plus-mana spells such as `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Spined Megalodon`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Greater Sandwurm`, `Greater Tanuki`, `Timberland Ancient`, `Generous Ent`, `Read the Tides`, or `Aethersnipe` to convert each legal cast into extra material. Prioritize this path when life total is not under immediate lethal pressure, the opponent is not presenting obvious open stack interaction, and the hand contains either another large spell or card draw to continue the chain.

- Large-creature combat closes most games: use `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Rampant Growth`, `Skyshroud Claim`, `Wood Elves`, `Farhaven Elf`, `Coiling Oracle`, `Arcane Signet`, `Simic Signet`, `Fellwar Stone`, `Mind Stone`, and `Seer's Lantern` to reach the first oversized threat ahead of curve, then attack with bodies that outsize normal Pauper Commander boards. Execute with patient attacks when blockers trade poorly for the opponent; protect the clock with `Vapor Snag`, `Lignify`, `Aethersnipe`, `Scour from Existence`, or `Utter Insignificance` only when Veles shows legal answers to the blocker or threat that matters.

- Cascade redundancy wins even without the commander: `Annoyed Altisaur` and `Maelstrom Colossus` still provide high-impact legal casts, and threats such as `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Colossal Dreadmaw`, `Siege Wurm`, `It of the Horrid Swarm`, `Tangle Golem`, `Thundering Tanadon`, `Spire Golem`, `Gearseeker Serpent`, `Tolarian Terror`, and `Errant Ephemeron` can win by forcing repeated blocks. Prioritize this path when `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` is removed, commander tax is too high, or the opponent is spending resources answering the command zone instead of the battlefield.

- Draw-into-threats is the control-breaker: cast `Rush of Knowledge` after a large visible permanent, use `Mulldrifter`, `Treasure Cruise`, `Read the Tides`, `Mental Journey`, `Krosan Tusker`, `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Opt`, `Sigiled Starfish`, `Darksteel Pendant`, and `Halimar Depths` to keep finding lands and finishers. Prioritize this path against attrition or removal-heavy opponents, but do not take a slow draw line when the visible board requires a blocker or removal spell first.

## Secondary Win Conditions

- Evasive single-threat pressure is the backup closer: `Whispersilk Cloak` can make one large creature a decisive clock when equip is legal and the opponent has no visible answer, especially on `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Spined Megalodon`, `Greater Sandwurm`, or another oversized body. Use this line when the ground is stalled, not when spending equip mana would skip a required stabilizing spell.

- Haste conversion can steal tempo: `Crashing Drawbridge` can turn newly cast large creatures into immediate attacks if Veles exposes the relevant legal activation. Prioritize this when a fresh threat plus haste changes the race, pressures a planeswalker-like permanent if one is present, or punishes an opponent who tapped low; do not rely on this if the artifact is summoning-sick or the action is absent.

- Cost-reduced threats provide fallback pressure: `Tangle Golem`, `Spire Golem`, `Gearseeker Serpent`, `Tolarian Terror`, `Siege Wurm`, and `Wretched Gryff` may become cheaper through lands, artifacts, graveyard, convoke, emerge, or other visible cost mechanics. Card text check required for exact reductions and costs at runtime; use them as tempo plays when the engine confirms legal casts that leave mana for interaction or another spell.

- Tempo bounce can become lethal reach without burn: `Vapor Snag`, `Aethersnipe`, `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave`, and `Read the Tides` can clear blockers or reset a key permanent when their legal targets are visible. Use bounce to open a decisive attack or buy a full turn; avoid bouncing low-impact permanents when the opponent can simply recast them and continue pressuring life.

- Small creatures chip only when safe: `Delver of Secrets // Insectile Aberration`, `Coiling Oracle`, `Farhaven Elf`, `Wood Elves`, `Fierce Empath`, and `Krosan Drover` are not the primary damage plan, but they can add pressure after ramping or tutoring roles are complete. Attack with them only when trades do not reduce needed mana, blockers, or future emerge/convoke material.

## Emergency Lines

- Behind on life: prioritize blockers, removal, and bounce before commander value. Cast medium bodies like `Colossal Dreadmaw`, `Tangle Golem`, `Spire Golem`, `Wretched Gryff`, or `Gearseeker Serpent` when they block now, and spend `Lignify`, `Vapor Snag`, `Aethersnipe`, `Scour from Existence`, or `Utter Insignificance` on the threat that most changes the next combat step.

- Behind on board: stabilize first, then resume ramp. Do not tap out for `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` if the opponent can attack for lethal or force disastrous blocks; prefer a legal large blocker, bounce spell, or removal spell, then use the next safe turn to rebuild the cascade engine.

- Behind on cards: turn selection into material, not perfection. Use `Rush of Knowledge` with a large permanent, cast `Mulldrifter` or `Treasure Cruise` when legal, and use `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Opt`, `Sigiled Starfish`, `Darksteel Pendant`, `Mental Journey`, and `Krosan Tusker` to find lands plus a real stabilizer rather than bottoming into speculative top-end only.

- Behind on mana: search for basics and preserve land drops over flashy plays. Prioritize `Rampant Growth`, `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Skyshroud Claim`, `Wood Elves`, `Farhaven Elf`, `Coiling Oracle`, `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, `Evolving Wilds`, and `Terramorphic Expanse`; cycle `Tranquil Thicket` or `Lonely Sandbar` only when land count and color access are already sufficient.

- Engine removed or commander taxed: stop forcing the command zone and win with standalone threats. Cast the best legal body each turn, use `Fierce Empath` to find a large creature if available, and reserve interaction for blockers or lethal threats rather than protecting a delayed commander recast.

- Graveyard resources contested: treat the graveyard as optional fuel, not a required recursion plan. Falls has no reliable registered recursion engine, so if `Relic of Progenitus`-style pressure or exile effects appear, shift toward hand and battlefield threats; use `Treasure Cruise` or graveyard-cost creatures only when Veles confirms legal payment and the current payoff is worth consuming the graveyard.

## Resource Model

- Life is a setup buffer, not a payment resource: spend early turns taking some damage if the exchange produces lasting mana from `Rampant Growth`, `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Skyshroud Claim`, `Wood Elves`, `Farhaven Elf`, `Coiling Oracle`, `Arcane Signet`, `Simic Signet`, `Fellwar Stone`, `Mind Stone`, or `Seer's Lantern`. When the visible clock is short, stop maximizing ramp and prioritize a blocker, `Vapor Snag`, `Lignify`, `Aethersnipe`, `Utter Insignificance`, or `Scour from Existence` if Veles shows a legal answer.

- Hand cards should convert into mana first, then cascade pressure: early cantrips and selection are strongest when they find missing lands or a ramp piece before `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`. Preserve at least one payoff if possible, because `Rush of Knowledge`, `Treasure Cruise`, `Read the Tides`, `Mulldrifter`, `Mental Journey`, `Krosan Tusker`, `Opt`, `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Sigiled Starfish`, `Darksteel Pendant`, and `Halimar Depths` matter most when they bridge into a real threat rather than cycling without a follow-up.

- Mana is the deck's primary resource advantage: convert lands and artifacts into turns where a five-plus mana spell is cast ahead of schedule, especially while `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` is available. Treat commander tax as a real cost; if recasting Imoti delays `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, or another stabilizing body while behind, use the standalone threat line instead.

- Board material has separate jobs: ramp creatures can attack only after their mana or blocking role is no longer important, while large creatures are both finishers and shields. Keep `Crashing Drawbridge` alive when haste changes the race, protect enough bodies for `Siege Wurm` or other legal convoke-style costs when Veles exposes them, and do not trade away small creatures if they are needed for blocking, emerge payment, or future pressure.

- Graveyard is conditional fuel, not a recursion engine: `Treasure Cruise`, `Tolarian Terror`, `Gearseeker Serpent`, `Wretched Gryff`, and similar cost-reduction lines may care about visible graveyard or artifact counts, but Falls should not assume it can recover cards from the graveyard. Exile graveyard cards only when the engine confirms the legal payment and the resulting spell is worth reducing future graveyard-fuel options.

- Exile must be treated as rules-engine territory: adventure-style or temporary-permission cards such as `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave`, `Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection`, or any card moved to exile should be used only through legal actions Veles exposes. Do not assume a card in exile is castable, protected, or permanently available unless the visible state and legal action list say so.

- Lands are both color access and spell-count acceleration: basics support `Tangle Golem`, `Spire Golem`, ramp search, and stable commander colors, while `Evolving Wilds`, `Terramorphic Expanse`, `Thornwood Falls`, `Halimar Depths`, `Tranquil Thicket`, `Lonely Sandbar`, and `Command Tower` add utility at different tempo costs. Cycle `Tranquil Thicket` or `Lonely Sandbar` only after land drops and colors are already secure.

- Sideboard bullets are narrow resource converters: `Hydroblast`, `Blue Elemental Blast`, `Dispel`, `Negate`, `Unsummon`, `Witness Protection`, `Weather the Storm`, `Return to Nature`, `Scattershot Archer`, and `Relic of Progenitus` should trade for the opposing resource they actually constrain. Do not dilute the ramp-plus-threat core for a bullet unless that matchup makes the bullet's target visible, recurring, or strategically central.

## Mana Guide

- Keep hands that produce both green and blue by the early turns or have a legal route to them: green enables `Rampant Growth`, `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Skyshroud Claim`, `Wood Elves`, `Farhaven Elf`, `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, and many large creatures; blue enables `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`, cantrips, bounce, counters, and card draw. Mulligan hands that have only expensive spells, only one color with no fixing, or no credible play before turn three unless Veles shows an unusually strong legal sequence.

- Lead with untapped color access when it changes the turn-two play: prefer an untapped `Forest` for green ramp or an untapped `Island` for `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, or `Opt` over a slower utility land if the spell matters this turn. Play `Thornwood Falls`, `Halimar Depths`, `Tranquil Thicket`, or `Lonely Sandbar` early when tapped tempo is least costly, but avoid tapped lands when they prevent a legal ramp spell or interaction spell.

- Treat `Command Tower` as the cleanest color-stability land when the hand needs both green and blue on curve. Use it to unlock the next two turns of `Rampant Growth`, `Growth Spiral`, `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`, or blue interaction before cycling `Tranquil Thicket` or `Lonely Sandbar`; choose a basic or fetch line instead only when `Evolving Wilds`, `Terramorphic Expanse`, or a ramp spell needs a specific basic for future sequencing.

- Use fetch lands to fix the next two turns, not only the current turn: `Evolving Wilds` and `Terramorphic Expanse` should usually find the missing color, then support basic-count payoffs and future ramp search constraints. If `Halimar Depths`, `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Opt`, `Sigiled Starfish`, or `Darksteel Pendant` has arranged a top card, consider whether shuffling destroys useful information before cracking a fetch.

- Play land before draw when the land drop is already known and mana is needed immediately: cast `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Skyshroud Claim`, `Wood Elves`, `Farhaven Elf`, or a mana rock on curve rather than holding a land for marginal selection value. Draw or scry before land when `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, `Coiling Oracle`, `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Opt`, `Sigiled Starfish`, `Darksteel Pendant`, `Halimar Depths`, `Mental Journey`, or `Krosan Tusker` can reveal the correct land choice or determine whether a tapped utility land is safe.

- Sequence mana rocks around color pressure: `Arcane Signet`, `Simic Signet`, and `Fellwar Stone` can fix commander colors, while `Mind Stone` and `Seer's Lantern` are more about reaching large colorless requirements and later card flow. Prefer colored fixing before generic acceleration when the hand contains `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`, `Growth Spiral`, `Forceful Denial`, `Read the Tides`, or multiple blue spells.

- Preserve interaction mana only when it changes the visible turn cycle: leaving blue for `Vapor Snag`, `Forceful Denial`, `Opt`, `Hydroblast`, `Blue Elemental Blast`, `Dispel`, `Negate`, or `Unsummon` is correct when the opponent can present a relevant spell, attacker, or combo step. Tap out for ramp or a threat when the opponent's visible board and public information do not justify holding up a narrow answer.

## Mulligan Guide

- Strong keep: keep three-land hands with both colors plus one accelerator such as `Rampant Growth`, `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `S​​kyshroud Claim`, `Arcane Signet`, `Simic Signet`, `Fellwar Stone`, `Mind Stone`, `Wood Elves`, or `Farhaven Elf`. These hands reliably cast `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` or a standalone five-plus mana threat while still leaving room for `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Opt`, `Coiling Oracle`, or `Growth Spiral` to smooth the next turn.

- Strong keep: keep two-land hands with `Forest`, blue access or fixing, and a turn-two play that finds mana. `Forest` plus `Island` with `Rampant Growth`, `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, `Coiling Oracle`, `Arcane Signet`, or `Simic Signet` is functional; `Evolving Wilds` or `Terramorphic Expanse` counts as the missing color only if the rest of the hand still curves.

- Medium keep: keep a slower three-land hand with selection and one expensive payoff if the colors are stable. `Halimar Depths`, `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Opt`, `Sigiled Starfish`, or `Darksteel Pendant` can make hands with `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Tolarian Terror`, `Gearseeker Serpent`, or `Rush of Knowledge` acceptable, but the first priority is still reaching mana rather than protecting a perfect top card.

- Risky keep: keep one-land hands only on the draw when the hand contains a land-finding or deep-selection path that Veles can actually execute. `Forest` plus `Preordain` is not castable; `Island` plus `Rampant Growth` is not castable; a one-land hand usually needs `Opt`, `Preordain`, or `Serum Visions` with blue mana and multiple hits, or `Evolving Wilds` with cheap follow-up selection.

- Automatic ship: mulligan hands with no land, one land and no legal selection, no green source or fixing, no blue source or fixing plus a blue-heavy hand, or four-plus expensive spells without early mana. Hands full of `Scour from Existence`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Spined Megalodon`, `Greater Sandwurm`, `Walker of the Grove`, and `Maelstrom Colossus` lose before Falls becomes Falls.

- Matchup-dependent keep: against fast creature pressure, prefer hands with early bodies or cheap interaction over pure tapped-land setup. `Coiling Oracle`, `Farhaven Elf`, `Wood Elves`, `Crashing Drawbridge`, `Vapor Snag`, `Lignify`, `Utter Insignificance`, and `Aethersnipe` matter more than speculative `Treasure Cruise` or slow cycling.

- Matchup-dependent keep: against slower control or removal-heavy opponents, prefer mana density, card flow, and redundant threats. Hands with `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Skyshroud Claim`, `Rush of Knowledge`, `Read the Tides`, `Treasure Cruise`, `Mulldrifter`, and a large creature are better than hands relying on one fragile early creature.

- Play/draw adjustment: on the play, require a turn-two or turn-three mana development action unless the hand has premium selection. On the draw, accept one more tapped land, cycling land, or high-end spell if the hand already has both colors and a clear route to four mana.

- Trap hand: do not keep a hand that has `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` access in theory but no way to reach five mana on time. `Command Tower`, `Lonely Sandbar`, `Halimar Depths`, `Read the Tides`, `Rush of Knowledge`, `Annoyed Altisaur`, and `Eldrazi Devastator` looks powerful but is too slow without acceleration.

## Turn Arc

- Turn 1: play the land that unlocks the next legal spell. Prefer `Forest` when holding `Rampant Growth`, `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, or `Coiling Oracle`; prefer `Island` when holding `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, or `Opt`; use `Evolving Wilds` or `Terramorphic Expanse` immediately when the hand needs a missing color and no top-card setup is being preserved.

- Turn 1 deviation: use `Halimar Depths`, `Tranquil Thicket`, `Lonely Sandbar`, or `Thornwood Falls` early when tapped tempo does not break turn two. Do not cycle `Tranquil Thicket` or `Lonely Sandbar` this early unless Veles shows land abundance and missing action, because Falls needs land drops more than marginal velocity.

- Turn 2: cast the legal accelerator before cosmetic selection when mana is constrained. `Rampant Growth`, `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, `Coiling Oracle`, `Arcane Signet`, `Simic Signet`, `Fellwar Stone`, and `Mind Stone` are preferred over holding mana for `Opt` unless interaction or color discovery changes the visible turn.

- Turn 2 deviation: cast `Vapor Snag`, `Lignify`, or `Utter Insignificance` only when the opposing permanent or attack materially threatens the ramp window. If the opponent is not pressuring life, commander access, or a key engine, develop mana first.

- Turn 3: convert ramp into stable four-mana access or board presence. Preferred plays are `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Farhaven Elf`, `Wood Elves`, `Seer's Lantern`, `Krosan Drover`, `Fierce Empath`, or a second cheap spell plus land drop; choose `Fierce Empath` only when the visible hand and mana make a tutored large creature relevant soon.

- Turn 3 deviation: play `Crashing Drawbridge` when haste will turn a coming large creature into immediate pressure or stabilize a race. Otherwise, do not spend the turn on low-impact permanents if ramp or fixing is available.

- Turns 4-5: cast `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` when the next turn can convert into a five-plus mana spell or when commander pressure is safe enough. If the opponent can remove Imoti and the hand already has `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Tangle Golem`, `Spire Golem`, `Tolarian Terror`, `Gearseeker Serpent`, `Thundering Tanadon`, or `Mulldrifter`, consider deploying the standalone spell first.

- Turns 4-5 deviation: hold up `Forceful Denial`, `Vapor Snag`, `Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection`, or sideboard counters only when Veles shows a meaningful stack, attacker, or known opposing plan. Tap out for `Skyshroud Claim`, `Rush of Knowledge`, `Read the Tides`, or a threat when the visible board does not punish the shields-down turn.

- Late game: chain mana into cascade-scale threats and card reloads. Prioritize `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Greater Sandwurm`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Spined Megalodon`, `It of the Horrid Swarm`, `Wretched Gryff`, `Treasure Cruise`, and `Rush of Knowledge` according to legal actions, visible pressure, and available follow-up.

- Late game deviation: spend `Scour from Existence`, `Natural Reclamation`, `Aethersnipe`, `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, or `Read the Tides` defensively when a single opposing permanent, stack object, or combat step blocks lethal, threatens lethal, or invalidates Falls's largest threat. Do not assume adventure, channel, cycling, emerge, or cost-reduction text; use only legal modes and costs Veles exposes.

## Card Roles

- Commander engine: `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` is the deck's payoff multiplier, not the first threat to expose by default. Cast Imoti when the next legal turn can produce a five-plus mana spell, when commander tax is manageable, or when forcing removal clears the way for a larger follow-up; delay Imoti when visible pressure demands blockers or when holding only cheap ramp and selection.

- Early acceleration: `Rampant Growth`, `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Skyshroud Claim`, `Wood Elves`, `Farhaven Elf`, `Coiling Oracle`, `Arcane Signet`, `Simic Signet`, `Fellwar Stone`, `Mind Stone`, `Seer's Lantern`, and `Krosan Drover` are the deck's real opening hand keepers. Prioritize green ramp that finds lands before rocks when colors are unstable, prioritize rocks when the hand needs immediate commander access, and treat `Krosan Drover` as a fragile discount piece that is best when the hand already contains multiple large creatures.

- Cheap selection: `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Opt`, `Sigiled Starfish`, `Darksteel Pendant`, and `Halimar Depths` protect land drops and smooth cascade turns. Use them before land only when the legal selection can change the land choice; otherwise make the land drop first, then sculpt for the next mana threshold or a payoff.

- Card reloads: `Rush of Knowledge`, `Read the Tides`, `Treasure Cruise`, `Mulldrifter`, `Mental Journey`, and `Krosan Tusker` are recovery tools after ramping or trading. `Rush of Knowledge` wants a high-mana-value permanent already visible; `Treasure Cruise` should not consume graveyard resources if `Tolarian Terror`, `Gearseeker Serpent`, or another legal graveyard/discount line is more important; `Mulldrifter`, `Mental Journey`, and `Krosan Tusker` should follow the legal mode Veles exposes and are not automatic full-cost spells when cycling, evoke, or land-search modes are tactically better.

- Cascade and high-end pressure: `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Aethersnipe`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Greater Sandwurm`, `Spined Megalodon`, `Colossal Dreadmaw`, `Timberland Ancient`, `Greater Tanuki`, `Thundering Tanadon`, `It of the Horrid Swarm`, `Wretched Gryff`, `Tangle Golem`, `Spire Golem`, `Tolarian Terror`, and `Gearseeker Serpent` convert mana into board presence. Prefer the threat that stabilizes the current board first: reach or large toughness against flyers and attackers, evasion or annihilator pressure against stalls, and cost-reduced bodies when they preserve mana for interaction.

- Imoti follow-through: `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Greater Sandwurm`, `Spined Megalodon`, `Walker of the Grove`, `It of the Horrid Swarm`, `Wretched Gryff`, `Aethersnipe`, and other legal high-mana spells are strongest after Imoti because they can generate additional material. Do not cast the largest spell into obvious open interaction just because it cascades; check known counters, removal, lethal pressure, and whether a cheaper threat plus protection is available.

- Tutor package: `Fierce Empath` finds the large creature that solves the visible problem. Search for `Annoyed Altisaur` or `Maelstrom Colossus` when ahead on mana and seeking snowball pressure, `Ulamog's Crusher` when the opponent is low on permanent resources, `Aethersnipe` when bounce or tempo is legally relevant, and a large stabilizer such as `Greater Sandwurm`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Spined Megalodon`, or `Eldrazi Devastator` when combat size matters.

- Tempo and removal: `Vapor Snag`, `Lignify`, `Utter Insignificance`, `Scour from Existence`, `Forceful Denial`, `Natural Reclamation`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Aethersnipe`, and `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave` are answers, not generic curve-fillers. Spend cheap interaction to protect the ramp window or stop lethal; save `Scour from Existence` for permanents that cannot be raced or answered otherwise; use stack interaction only against spells that materially beat Falls's mana engine, board, or commander plan. Card text check required for `Utter Insignificance`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, and `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave`; follow only legal modes and targets exposed by Veles.

- Combat enablers: `Crashing Drawbridge` and `Whispersilk Cloak` turn large creatures into immediate or hard-to-block threats. Deploy `Crashing Drawbridge` before a decisive large-creature turn when haste matters more than another ramp spell; equip or use `Whispersilk Cloak` only when the protected attacker changes the race, pressures commander damage where relevant, or preserves a key body from targeted removal.

- Utility creatures and alternate pressure: `Delver of Secrets // Insectile Aberration`, `Slavering Branchsnapper`, `Snapping Voidcraw`, `Errant Ephemeron`, `Elvish Aberration`, `Generous Ent`, and `Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection` fill early defense, alternative casting modes, or late pressure. Card text check required for `Slavering Branchsnapper`, `Snapping Voidcraw`, `Generous Ent`, and `Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection`; treat them as conditional role players until Veles exposes exact legal actions.

- Land roles: `Command Tower`, `Thornwood Falls`, `Evolving Wilds`, `Terramorphic Expanse`, `Tranquil Thicket`, `Lonely Sandbar`, `Halimar Depths`, `Forest`, and `Island` support a two-color ramp shell that must hit many land drops. Fetch missing colors early, preserve cycling lands when land drops matter, cycle them only after mana is abundant or action is missing, and use `Halimar Depths` to line up early lands or late cascade-quality draws when tempo allows.

## Interaction Priorities

- Remove the permanent that blocks the ramp-to-cascade plan first: use `Lignify`, `Utter Insignificance`, `Scour from Existence`, legal `Aethersnipe` bounce modes, legal `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave` modes, or `Vapor Snag` on the creature or permanent that creates lethal pressure, shuts off large attacks, or makes `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` unsafe to deploy. Card text check required for `Utter Insignificance`; treat it as conditional removal only when Veles exposes a legal target and effect.

- Counter the spell that invalidates the next two turns, not the first spell cast: spend `Forceful Denial` or legal `Mirrorshell Crab` interaction on board wipes, hard removal aimed at `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`, haymakers that race Falls's top end, or stack interaction that stops a decisive `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, or `Eldrazi Devastator` turn. Card text check required for `Mirrorshell Crab`; follow only the legal action Veles shows.

- Exile only what cannot be handled cheaper: reserve `Scour from Existence` for commanders, engines, graveyard-resilient threats, protection-equipped bodies, prison pieces, or permanents that `Lignify` and bounce do not solve. Do not fire it at a medium attacker if a large blocker, `Vapor Snag`, or a race with `Whispersilk Cloak` is enough.

- Bounce for tempo when the opponent is mana-constrained or aura/equipment-invested: `Vapor Snag`, `Aethersnipe`, and `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave` are strongest against expensive threats, token-like tempo turns, commander tax pressure, or a blocker stopping lethal. Avoid bounce on cheap enter-the-battlefield value creatures unless it prevents lethal or buys the exact turn needed for a cascade payoff.

- Answer flyers and evasive pressure earlier than ground creatures: Falls can often brick-wall ground combat with `Colossal Dreadmaw`, `Greater Sandwurm`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Spined Megalodon`, `Tangle Golem`, `Tolarian Terror`, or `Gearseeker Serpent`, but evasive attackers can force interaction before the big bodies matter.

- Ignore low-impact creatures when a stabilizing body is imminent: do not spend premium removal on small utility attackers if the hand can cast `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Wretched Gryff`, `Walker of the Grove`, or another large blocker before damage becomes lethal. Change this rule against go-wide, pump, or sacrifice decks where small bodies multiply damage or resources.

- Bait interaction with replaceable threats before exposing the commander: if the opponent has open mana and likely answers, lead with `Tangle Golem`, `Spire Golem`, `Tolarian Terror`, `Gearseeker Serpent`, `Mulldrifter`, or another useful but nonessential spell before committing `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`. Do not bait when waiting gives the opponent lethal or when Imoti immediately enables a five-plus mana follow-up.

- Do not seek discard lines from this list: Falls has no registered discard spell in the main deck or sideboard. If Veles presents an opponent-driven discard choice, protect `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`, live ramp, and the best stabilizing payoff over redundant expensive creatures.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Attack only when the board remains stable after crack-back: Falls wins by making attacks too large to answer, so preserve life total and board material until `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, or an equipped `Whispersilk Cloak` threat can force meaningful damage.

- Block early to protect the ramp window: trade `Wood Elves`, `Farhaven Elf`, `Coiling Oracle`, or `Fierce Empath` after their value is gained when the trade preserves life or buys a turn for a five-plus mana spell. Preserve `Krosan Drover` when its discount is enabling multiple large creature turns, but trade it if life total or commander survival is under immediate threat.

- Preserve `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` from routine combat: do not attack or block with Imoti unless the exchange is lethal, prevents lethal, or commander tax is acceptable and the hand no longer needs cascade. Imoti's combat damage is secondary to making each large spell generate extra material.

- Use `Crashing Drawbridge` as a combat-turn converter: keep it untapped or available when the next large creature can attack immediately, stabilize with haste, or surprise a planeswalker-like permanent if one exists in the legal game. Do not spend it casually if the opponent can punish the shields-down attack.

- Equip `Whispersilk Cloak` when one attacker changes the race: prioritize `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Tolarian Terror`, or `Gearseeker Serpent` when unblockable damage or protection from targeted interaction is decisive. Avoid moving the Cloak onto a small creature unless evasion closes the game faster than waiting for a large body.

- Trade large bodies only for time, lethal setup, or commander protection: a `Colossal Dreadmaw`, `Greater Sandwurm`, `Spined Megalodon`, `Walker of the Grove`, or `Timberland Ancient` should usually dominate combat rather than exchange down. Accept a trade if it stops lethal, removes the opponent's only oversized threat, or clears attacks for multiple future turns.

- Race slower decks after the first dominant threat resolves: against control, ramp mirrors, or durdly value decks, attack aggressively with the largest legal attacker and force the opponent to answer before Falls runs out of pressure. Against fast creature decks, leave back enough toughness to prevent double-spell crack-back damage before pushing extra attacks.

- Respect go-wide boards more than single blockers: large creatures beat one-for-one combat, but token swarms and pump turns can ignore a lone `Ulamog's Crusher` or `Colossal Dreadmaw`. When facing many attackers, favor blockers, bounce tempo, or `Lignify` on the damage amplifier over a greedy attack.

- Use evasive or alternate-cost creatures according to visible legality: `Errant Ephemeron`, `Spire Golem`, `Wretched Gryff`, `Thundering Tanadon`, `It of the Horrid Swarm`, `Slavering Branchsnapper`, `Snapping Voidcraw`, `Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection`, `Generous Ent`, and `Elvish Aberration` may have tactical modes or combat text that matter. Card text check required for uncertain text; choose attacks, blocks, and modes only from Veles-visible legal actions.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Use cheap selection to find mana before finding threats: cast `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Opt`, `Darksteel Pendant`, `Sigiled Starfish`, and `Halimar Depths` to secure early land drops, blue-green access, or a ramp spell before keeping expensive cascade payoffs on top. Bottom or decline seven-plus mana cards when the hand cannot yet cast `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Rampant Growth`, `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, `Wood Elves`, or `Farhaven Elf` on time.

- Sequence selection before the land drop when the land choice is uncertain: use `Preordain`, `Opt`, `Serum Visions`, `Halimar Depths`, or visible scry actions first if they can reveal whether to play `Forest`, `Island`, `Command Tower`, `Thornwood Falls`, `Evolving Wilds`, `Terramorphic Expanse`, `Tranquil Thicket`, or `Lonely Sandbar`. Play the land first only when mana is required to cast the selection spell or when the current land drop is already forced.

- Use `Fierce Empath` as the true tutor for the next game state, not automatically the biggest card: find `Annoyed Altisaur` or `Maelstrom Colossus` when `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` is available and cascade chains matter, `Ulamog's Crusher` or `Eldrazi Devastator` when raw pressure is needed, `Aethersnipe` when bounce tempo is the legal stabilizing line, or `Walker of the Grove` when a body plus resilience is better. Card text check required for any target eligibility Veles does not expose.

- Treat landcycling and cycling-like actions as mana smoothing until the deck is functional: use legal abilities from `Krosan Tusker`, `Elvish Aberration`, `Generous Ent`, `Greater Tanuki`, `Mental Journey`, `Natural Reclamation`, `Greater Sandwurm`, or `Tranquil Thicket` when the hand is missing land drops or a key color. Preserve these cards as spells when mana is already abundant and their body, removal mode, or draw mode is more valuable than another land.

- Convert extra graveyard and hand resources into velocity after stabilizing mana: cast `Treasure Cruise`, `Rush of Knowledge`, `Read the Tides`, `Mulldrifter`, `Wretched Gryff`, or `Coiling Oracle` when the board is not demanding immediate interaction. Prefer draw before committing a threat if it can reveal a land, a cheaper play, or protection for `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`.

- Bottom redundant expensive spells when the hand lacks acceleration: one payoff is enough before six mana, so selection should prefer lands, ramp, `Arcane Signet`, `Simic Signet`, `Fellwar Stone`, `Mind Stone`, or `Seer's Lantern` over additional top-end. Keep multiple payoffs only when mana is already mapped for the next two turns or when `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` is ready to turn them into cascade pressure.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Pass priority through low-impact windows unless a legal action changes the current turn: Falls is not built to trade many small instant-speed resources, so preserve mana for ramp and large sorcery-speed turns unless `Vapor Snag`, `Forceful Denial`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection`, `Scour from Existence`, `Natural Reclamation`, `Utter Insignificance`, or sideboard interaction answers a decisive spell or combat step.

- Protect `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` only when the follow-up hand justifies the fight: use `Forceful Denial`, legal `Mirrorshell Crab` interaction, or a bounce/protection line if losing Imoti would strand five-plus mana spells or shut off the next cascade turn. Let removal resolve when commander tax is affordable, the hand has independent pressure, or spending interaction would leave the deck dead to a bigger visible threat.

- Let medium spells resolve when the answer is needed for a must-answer permanent: do not spend `Forceful Denial` or `Mirrorshell Crab` on cantrips, small creatures, or replaceable ramp unless they create lethal, break mana development, or remove the only stabilizer. Save hard interaction for sweepers, commander removal, stack interaction targeting a cascade payoff, or a permanent that `Lignify`, `Vapor Snag`, `Aethersnipe`, or combat cannot manage.

- Use bounce at the last profitable legal window: cast `Vapor Snag`, `Aethersnipe`, or `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave` after the opponent spends mana, equips, enchants, attacks, blocks, or targets the creature if Veles shows that timing. Avoid main-phase bounce unless it clears lethal damage, resets commander tempo, or unlocks an immediate attack.

- Treat optional payments and alternate modes as resource gates: pay for `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`-enabled lines, `Treasure Cruise`, evoke-style `Mulldrifter`, emerge-style `Wretched Gryff`, cycling, landcycling, or channel-like actions only when Veles presents the legal action and the resulting tempo is better than casting the card normally. Card text check required for `Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `It of the Horrid Swarm`, `Thundering Tanadon`, `Slavering Branchsnapper`, and `Snapping Voidcraw` if the prompt depends on exact rules text.

- Resolve cascade and follow-up choices by current need: after a five-plus mana spell or `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` trigger, choose mana, targets, and optional casts that preserve the board first, then increase pressure, then draw cards. Do not auto-cast a revealed spell if Veles presents a decline option and casting it would waste removal, shrink future `Treasure Cruise` fuel, or expose a key card into known interaction.

- Hold graveyard and artifact/enchantment timing for maximum information: use `Natural Reclamation`, `Scour from Existence`, and sideboard `Return to Nature` only after confirming the target is the real engine, lethal modifier, graveyard payoff, or lock piece. Use sideboard `Relic of Progenitus` activations according to visible graveyard pressure and avoid exiling your own graveyard before `Treasure Cruise` unless survival requires it.

## Sideboard Map

- `Hydroblast` enters against red commanders, red burn, red sweepers, red combat tricks, and red permanent engines that can race Falls before the cascade turns arrive. Use it as cheap protection for `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` or as tempo against a red spell that would remove the commander, end the game, or break a stabilizing blocker. It is bad against low-red lists, creature-heavy boards where the key threats are not red, and games where holding one blue mana prevents casting `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Skyshroud Claim`, or a five-plus mana payoff on curve.

- `Blue Elemental Blast` follows the same red-matchup rule as `Hydroblast`, but treat the second blast effect as density rather than a reason to play draw-go. Bring it when red interaction is expected to answer `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`, when red reach makes life total the key resource, or when red permanents create a board state that `Lignify`, `Vapor Snag`, and `Aethersnipe` do not answer cleanly. It is bad when the opponent’s red cards are incidental and the main threat is artifact, graveyard, or nonred commander pressure.

- `Weather the Storm` enters against burn, prowess-style red pressure, and storm-like turns where one life burst can buy the turn needed to cast `Spined Megalodon`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Annoyed Altisaur`, or `Ulamog's Crusher`. Use it as survival interaction, not as a value spell; hold it for a visible high-spell turn or lethal burn window when Veles shows legal priority. It is bad against commander-damage races where life does not solve the board, poison-like pressure, and slow control where extra life does not convert into a resolved threat.

- `Dispel` enters against instant-heavy interaction, counterspell fights, combat tricks, and removal that targets `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` or the first cascade payoff. Use it to force one decisive spell through or stop a lethal instant, not to fight low-impact cantrips. It is bad against tapout creature decks, artifact engines, enchantment engines, and sorcery-speed removal. Its role is strongest when Falls has a mapped turn involving `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` plus a five-plus mana spell and can reserve a single blue mana.

- `Negate` enters against control, combo, removal-heavy commanders, board wipes, enchantment engines, artifact engines, and noncreature prison pieces. Use it more broadly than `Dispel`, but still protect the turn that matters: commander deployment, cascade payoff, or survival against a noncreature finisher. It is bad against creature-swarm decks where the dangerous actions are attacks and creature abilities. Its role changes from early protection to late-game answer for a spell that beats a large board.

- `Witness Protection` enters when the opposing commander or single creature is the main engine and the deck needs a cheap permanent answer. Use it over bounce when returning the creature to hand is not enough and over `Lignify` when one mana efficiency matters. It is bad against go-wide boards, sacrifice decks that can use the altered creature, and commanders with valuable static or zone-based functions if Veles-visible text indicates the aura will not solve the problem. Card text check required before assuming exact ability loss or creature sizing.

- `Unsummon` enters against aura stacks, equipment tempo, expensive commanders, token-adjacent threats, and decks trying to invest one large turn into a single attacker. Use it at the last legal window after mana or attachments are committed when that timing is visible. It is bad against low-cost creatures, enter-the-battlefield value loops, and decks happy to recast the same threat. Its role is tempo protection for Falls’ slow setup, especially when paired with `Aethersnipe`, `Vapor Snag`, or `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave`.

- `Return to Nature` enters against artifacts, enchantments, and graveyard engines where one flexible answer has live targets. Prioritize engines that stop attacks, drain resources, enable combo, or make `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` unsafe. It is bad when the opponent presents mostly creatures and spells with no durable target. Its role shifts from artifact/enchantment answer to graveyard containment only when the graveyard is the visible route to a win; avoid spending it on a minor card if `Relic of Progenitus` can manage the graveyard instead.

- `Scattershot Archer` enters against flying-token boards, small evasive commanders, and blue skies decks that pressure Falls while ignoring `Colossal Dreadmaw`, `Tangle Golem`, `Siege Wurm`, and other ground blockers. Use it when repeated pings matter more than a single bounce spell. It is bad against large flyers, reach-resistant boards, and noncreature control. Its role is early stabilization so ramp spells can continue resolving without taking too much evasive damage.

- `Relic of Progenitus` enters against graveyard recursion, delve, flashback, reanimation, threshold-style pressure, and commanders that repeatedly use the graveyard. Use the single-card activation to tax graveyard setup when Falls still wants its own graveyard for `Treasure Cruise`; use full exile when a visible graveyard line would otherwise swing the game. It is bad against decks with no graveyard dependency and in games where exiling Falls’ graveyard strands `Treasure Cruise` while not reducing opposing pressure.

Against red burn or red aggressive pressure
Side in: Hydroblast; Blue Elemental Blast; Weather the Storm; Unsummon
Cut: Read the Tides; Rush of Knowledge; Darksteel Pendant; Spined Megalodon

- Add cheap red interaction and life-gain effects when the opponent can end the game before Falls reaches seven mana. Reduce slow draw actions and expensive stabilizers that do not affect the first lethal window. Keep `Vapor Snag`, `Lignify`, `Aethersnipe`, and early ramp because the matchup still requires tempo plus mana development.

Against instant-heavy blue control or spell combo
Side in: Dispel; Negate; Relic of Progenitus
Cut: Utter Insignificance; Colossal Dreadmaw; Slavering Branchsnapper

- Add permission and graveyard pressure when the opposing plan depends on resolving a noncreature spell or reusing the graveyard. Reduce creature-only answers and vanilla pressure cards that walk into permission without immediate value. Keep `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`, `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Mulldrifter`, `Treasure Cruise`, and `Rush of Knowledge` as must-answer card-advantage threats.

Against artifact, enchantment, or graveyard engines
Side in: Return to Nature; Relic of Progenitus; Negate
Cut: Vapor Snag; Colossal Dreadmaw; Sigiled Starfish

- Add flexible permanent interaction and graveyard containment when a visible engine beats ordinary combat. Reduce pure tempo bounce effects and slow smoothing permanents when the game will hinge on answering a specific engine. Preserve ramp density so Falls can still cast `Scour from Existence` when the sideboard answers do not line up.

Against commander-centric creature decks
Side in: Witness Protection; Unsummon; Negate
Cut: Read the Tides; Spined Megalodon; Darksteel Pendant

- Add cheap commander answers when one creature creates the opponent’s pressure, combo, or card flow. Reduce expensive noninteractive spells and slow selection actions. Use `Witness Protection`, `Lignify`, `Vapor Snag`, `Aethersnipe`, and `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave` as a layered plan, but do not assume any aura or bounce line is sufficient unless Veles-visible text confirms the commander remains contained.

Against flying swarm or evasive small-creature pressure
Side in: Scattershot Archer; Unsummon; Weather the Storm
Cut: Read the Tides; Rush of Knowledge; Darksteel Pendant

- Add repeatable anti-flyer pressure, tempo, and life padding when evasive damage makes the ground-ramp plan too slow. Reduce slow draw spells and topdeck manipulation actions that do not affect combat. Keep reach-sized or stabilizing creatures when they are castable, and use `Whispersilk Cloak` offensively only after survival is stable.

Against aura, equipment, or single-large-threat tempo
Side in: Witness Protection; Unsummon; Return to Nature; Dispel
Cut: Read the Tides; Rush of Knowledge; Spined Megalodon; Sigiled Starfish

- Add cheap containment, bounce timing, permanent interaction, and instant protection when the opponent invests multiple resources into one attacker or one commander. Reduce slow card advantage that cannot answer the current board. Prefer waiting for the last profitable legal window when attachments or protection are on the stack, but choose the immediate answer if the next attack is lethal.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: Prioritize survival before cascade greed because Falls wins aggro games by reaching the first stabilizing creature with enough life to attack back. Keep hands with early green mana, a ramp spell such as `Rampant Growth`, `Explore`, `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Wood Elves`, or `Farhaven Elf`, and either a cheap interactive spell or a body that changes combat. Use `Vapor Snag`, `Lignify`, `Utter Insignificance`, `Aethersnipe`, and `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave` to break the highest-pressure turn, not to preserve a perfect answer for later. Role cards include `Weather the Storm`, `Unsummon`, `Witness Protection`, `Hydroblast`, or `Blue Elemental Blast` when their targets are visible or strongly implied by public colors. Reduce slow smoothing from `Darksteel Pendant`, expensive draw from `Read the Tides`, and late-only bodies that do not block before lethal pressure.

- Burn: Treat life total as the primary resource and avoid paying tempo for card selection when a legal stabilizing action exists. `Weather the Storm` is the cleanest sideboard role card when the opponent is chaining spells; `Hydroblast` and `Blue Elemental Blast` should answer a red lethal spell, red commander, or red permanent that materially changes the clock. Preserve `Vapor Snag` and `Unsummon` for attackers carrying damage bursts or for buying the turn needed to cast `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Spined Megalodon`, `Timberland Ancient`, or another large blocker. Do not assume `Forceful Denial`, `Dispel`, or `Negate` can answer every burn line; follow Veles legal actions and visible stack text.

- Tempo: Force the opponent to spend interaction on ramp and medium threats before committing `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` into an obvious punish window. Develop mana with `Arcane Signet`, `Simic Signet`, `Fellwar Stone`, `Mind Stone`, `Seer's Lantern`, `Rampant Growth`, and `Growth Spiral`, then present threats that generate value even if answered, especially `Mulldrifter`, `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Wretched Gryff`, and `Treasure Cruise`. Role cards include `Dispel`, `Negate`, and `Unsummon` when the tempo deck depends on one stack fight or one suited attacker. Reduce clunky sorcery-speed selection that cannot protect the turn it enables.

- Control: Accumulate mana, cards, and must-answer threats instead of walking every large spell into open permission. `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` is a commitment gate: cast it when Falls can either gain value soon, recast through commander tax, or force the opponent to answer another threat first. `Rush of Knowledge`, `Treasure Cruise`, `Read the Tides`, `Mulldrifter`, `Mental Journey`, and cycling land/spell options help recover from removal-heavy exchanges. Role cards include `Negate` and `Dispel` to protect cascade payoffs, draw spells, and commander turns; `Relic of Progenitus` only when the control deck visibly uses its graveyard. Reduce creature-only answers such as `Lignify` when the opposing win condition is mostly noncreature.

- Removal-heavy decks: Sequence redundant threats before fragile engine turns because Falls can win by exhausting one-for-one answers. Lead with castable bodies like `Tangle Golem`, `Spire Golem`, `Gearseeker Serpent`, `Colossal Dreadmaw`, or `Tolarian Terror` when they pressure life totals without risking the commander. Use `Whispersilk Cloak` after a threat matters on board, not as an unsupported setup play into removal. `Crashing Drawbridge` is valuable when haste turns a top-end creature into immediate pressure, but do not spend a key turn on it if the opponent already has lethal pressure. Role cards include `Negate` or `Dispel` when removal is stack-based; `Witness Protection` only if their own commander is the important threat.

- Midrange: Win the mana-and-card-size contest by making every turn either ramp, draw, or a board body that invalidates smaller creatures. `Fierce Empath` should look for a top-end creature only when the hand can realistically cast it or when finding a specific stabilizer is worth revealing the plan. `Krosan Drover` can make the heavy creature chain faster, but it is not more important than surviving combat. Use `Rush of Knowledge` when a high mana-value permanent is already present and the stack window is not punishing. Role cards include `Witness Protection`, `Unsummon`, or `Return to Nature` if the midrange deck is built around a commander, aura, equipment, artifact, or enchantment engine.

- Big mana: Pressure the setup turns while preserving answers for the first threat that beats Falls in size or inevitability. Ramp mirrors reward `Skyshroud Claim`, `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Elvish Aberration`, `Krosan Tusker`, `Generous Ent`, and `Greater Tanuki` as mana development, but the pilot must still decide when to stop ramping and start attacking. `Scour from Existence` is a late universal answer, so avoid spending smaller interaction on a merely large creature if an engine permanent or commander is the real problem. Role cards include `Negate` for noncreature payoff turns and `Return to Nature` for visible artifact/enchantment engines.

- Combo: Identify the visible dependency and hold the answer for that dependency rather than interacting with filler. Use `Forceful Denial`, `Negate`, or `Dispel` only on a spell that public information makes important; do not counter a cantrip automatically. `Relic of Progenitus` pressures graveyard combo, `Return to Nature` pressures artifact/enchantment combo, and `Witness Protection` or `Lignify` pressures creature-commander combo when legal text supports containment. Falls can race slower combo by landing `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` into cascade threats, but the commitment should consider open mana, known cards, and whether waiting gives the opponent a faster deterministic line.

- Graveyard decks: Treat `Relic of Progenitus` as a timing-sensitive resource, not a default early play to cash in. Use single-card pressure when it slows setup while preserving Falls graveyard for `Treasure Cruise`; use full graveyard exile when a visible graveyard action would produce a major threat, recursion loop, or lethal swing. `Return to Nature` can serve as graveyard interaction when the legal mode and target are visible. Reduce bounce-only answers if the opponent will simply replay or recur the same threat.

- Artifact/enchantment decks: Preserve `Return to Nature`, `Natural Reclamation`, and `Scour from Existence` for permanents that actually stop Falls from attacking, cascading, drawing, or surviving. `Negate` can stop a key noncreature engine before it resolves, but the pilot should prefer board development when the opponent has no visible payoff. `Lignify`, `Witness Protection`, and `Utter Insignificance` matter only if the artifact/enchantment shell still relies on a creature. Do not use `Vapor Snag` as permanent interaction unless the tempo swing itself is enough.

- Go-wide decks: Stabilize with large blockers, bounce the highest-tempo attacker, and avoid racing until Falls can survive the crack-back. `Scattershot Archer` is a priority role card against small flying boards; `Weather the Storm` buys time against swarm damage plus spell chains. `It of the Horrid Swarm`, `Siege Wurm`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, and `Annoyed Altisaur` can dominate ground combat once castable. Use `Crashing Drawbridge` defensively when haste enables a stabilizing blocker to also threaten a quick reversal.

- Single-threat decks: Answer the one threat cleanly and then punish the opponent for investing too much into it. `Witness Protection`, `Lignify`, `Unsummon`, `Vapor Snag`, `Aethersnipe`, and `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave` form the layered plan, with `Scour from Existence` as the late catch-all. If the threat carries auras or equipment, wait for the last legal window that maximizes tempo only when Veles shows the action remains legal. If the single threat is evasive, prioritize `Scattershot Archer` only when its damage or pressure actually lines up with the creature size.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- General/archetype-only note: Exact opponents are absent, so treat these notes as scouting defaults and let revealed cards override assumptions. Falls should begin each match by identifying whether the opponent is pressuring life, attacking mana, using the graveyard, building around a commander, or trying to win through a noncreature engine.

- Red aggressive or burn-heavy decks: Role cards are `Hydroblast`, `Blue Elemental Blast`, `Weather the Storm`, and sometimes `Unsummon`. Priority targets are burn spells that change the clock, red commanders that keep damage flowing, and tempo plays that stop `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` or a large stabilizer from mattering. Reduce slow top-end that does not block soon and slow selection when life total is already the bottleneck.

- Blue control or spell-combo decks: Role cards are `Negate`, `Dispel`, and sometimes `Relic of Progenitus` if the graveyard is part of the engine. Priority targets are the spell that counters a cascade payoff, removes `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`, wins a stack fight, or enables a visible combo turn. Reduce sorcery-speed removal that lacks legal targets and expensive creatures when the hand cannot force through one threat at a time.

- Graveyard decks: Role cards are `Relic of Progenitus` and sometimes `Return to Nature` when Veles shows a legal graveyard target. Priority targets are graveyard cards or pending actions that create recursion, a large threat, or lethal pressure. Preserve `Treasure Cruise` value when the opponent is not close to using the graveyard, but use graveyard interaction immediately when public information shows a high-impact graveyard window.

- Artifact or enchantment engines: Role cards are `Return to Nature`, `Negate`, and sometimes `Witness Protection` if the engine depends on a creature commander. Priority targets are permanents that stop attacking, invalidate large creatures, generate repeated cards or mana, or protect the opponent from combat. Keep `Natural Reclamation` and `Scour from Existence` for visible permanents that matter more than ordinary blockers.

- Small evasive creature decks: Role cards are `Scattershot Archer`, `Unsummon`, and `Witness Protection` when legal targets line up. Priority targets are evasive threats carrying the clock, especially when Falls has ground blockers but cannot race in the air. `Spire Golem`, `Gearseeker Serpent`, `Tolarian Terror`, and `Whispersilk Cloak` can reverse the race only after survival is stable.

- Commander-centric single-threat decks: Role cards are `Witness Protection`, `Unsummon`, `Negate`, or `Dispel` according to whether the threat is permanent-based or stack-protected. Priority targets are the commander, protection spell, aura, equipment, or recast window that makes the same threat keep returning. `Lignify`, `Utter Insignificance`, `Vapor Snag`, `Aethersnipe`, and `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave` are layered answers, but Veles legality and visible timing decide which one is usable.

- Go-wide ground creature decks: Do not over-sideboard into narrow one-for-one answers unless a commander or engine is the reason the board grows. Falls should keep ramp, large blockers, and cascade pressure as the primary plan, using `Weather the Storm` only when the damage race is genuinely about life total and `Negate` only when a noncreature payoff is the visible source of the swarm.

- Big-mana mirrors and ramp commanders: Role cards are `Negate` for noncreature payoff turns and `Return to Nature` for artifact or enchantment acceleration that materially changes the game. Do not cut too much top-end; Falls still needs to end the game with `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, or another large body. `Scour from Existence` remains the late catch-all for threats no narrow sideboard card answers cleanly.

- Aura, equipment, or protected-attacker decks: Role cards are `Unsummon`, `Witness Protection`, `Return to Nature`, and sometimes `Dispel`. Priority targets are the permanent or protection spell that converts one creature into a lethal or unanswerable clock. If Veles shows a profitable response after the opponent commits attachments, prefer the tempo swing; if the next attack is lethal, answer immediately rather than waiting for perfect timing.

## Risk Summary
- Mana risk: Falls can draw too many six-plus mana cards before enough lands, signets, or land-search effects. Mulligan or sequence toward early green and blue access so `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, `Rampant Growth`, `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Skyshroud Claim`, `Wood Elves`, `Farhaven Elf`, `Elvish Aberration`, `Krosan Tusker`, `Generous Ent`, and `Greater Tanuki` can bridge into the top end.

- Matchup risk: Fast evasion and burn can beat Falls before `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, or `Ulamog's Crusher` stabilizes. Against pressure, prioritize blockers, bounce, life-gain sideboard roles, and legal removal over slow card advantage.

- Draw risk: `Rush of Knowledge`, `Read the Tides`, `Treasure Cruise`, `Mulldrifter`, `Opt`, `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Sigiled Starfish`, `Darksteel Pendant`, and `Mental Journey` can smooth awkward games, but spending a turn selecting cards while under lethal pressure is a losing exchange.

- Over-sideboarding risk: Too many reactive cards can dilute the ramp-cascade plan. Add narrow role cards only when revealed cards show targets, and keep enough mana development plus large spells for `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` to turn the corner.

- Graveyard risk: `Relic of Progenitus` can weaken Falls's own `Treasure Cruise` if used casually. Treat graveyard exile as a timed answer to a visible opposing resource, not a default value action.

- Sweeper/removal risk: Removal-heavy opponents can punish tapping out for `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` before Falls can gain value. Lead with redundant threats when possible, and commit the commander when the board, hand, or stack context makes waiting worse.

- Closer risk: Large creatures without evasion can stall against tokens or expendable blockers. Use `Whispersilk Cloak`, bounce, haste from `Crashing Drawbridge`, and cascade chains to convert size into actual damage.

- Interaction risk: `Forceful Denial`, `Negate`, `Dispel`, `Hydroblast`, and `Blue Elemental Blast` are strongest when held for pivotal spells. Do not spend interaction on low-impact cantrips or creatures unless the visible clock or combo dependency makes that spell decisive.

- Sequencing risk: Casting expensive threats before developing mana can strand follow-up plays. Build mana first unless a legal threat, answer, or combat action prevents immediate loss or creates a decisive commander-cascade turn.

## Test Feedback Checklist
- Deciding factor: Which turn or decision most changed the game: early ramp, resolving `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`, missing a land drop, spending interaction, sideboarding, or failing to close after a large creature resolved?

- Mulligans: Did the opening hand have green and blue access, at least one early mana play such as `Rampant Growth`, `Explore`, `Growth Spiral`, `Arcane Signet`, `Simic Signet`, `Fellwar Stone`, or `Mind Stone`, and a realistic path to six-plus mana?

- Mana: Did `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, `Skyshroud Claim`, `Wood Elves`, `Farhaven Elf`, `Krosan Tusker`, `Elvish Aberration`, `Generous Ent`, or `Greater Tanuki` fix the game, arrive too late, or get stranded by missing colors?

- Velocity: Did `Opt`, `Preordain`, `Serum Visions`, `Sigiled Starfish`, `Darksteel Pendant`, `Mulldrifter`, `Treasure Cruise`, `Read the Tides`, `Mental Journey`, or `Rush of Knowledge` improve the next two turns, or did selection consume a turn while the opponent's clock mattered more?

- Commander engine: Did casting `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` produce immediate cascade value, bait removal at an acceptable time, or sit in hand because commander tax, board pressure, or open interaction made the commitment unsafe?

- Top-end conversion: Did `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, `Ulamog's Crusher`, `Walker of the Grove`, `Timberland Ancient`, `Spined Megalodon`, or `Colossal Dreadmaw` stabilize, pressure life, or merely get chump-blocked?

- Removal and tempo: Were `Lignify`, `Utter Insignificance`, `Vapor Snag`, `Aethersnipe`, `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave`, `Witness Protection`, `Unsummon`, and `Scour from Existence` used on threats that actually changed the clock or engine state?

- Stack discipline: Did `Forceful Denial`, `Negate`, `Dispel`, `Hydroblast`, or `Blue Elemental Blast` stop the pivotal spell, or were they spent before the opponent exposed a decisive action?

- Sideboard: Did `Weather the Storm`, `Relic of Progenitus`, `Return to Nature`, and `Scattershot Archer` have visible targets or matchup pressure, or did sideboarding dilute the ramp-cascade plan?

- Closing: Did `Whispersilk Cloak`, `Crashing Drawbridge`, bounce, or repeated large attackers convert board advantage into lethal damage before the opponent rebuilt?

- Role and mistakes: Did Falls correctly identify whether it was stabilizing, racing, grinding, or forcing through one threat, and were any passes, attacks, blocks, or tap-out choices inconsistent with visible board state?

- Stranded and standout cards: Which cards stayed in hand for three or more turns, which cards changed the game immediately, and which cards looked strong or weak only because of matchup context?

## First Tuning Questions
- Mana base question: If losses come from color stumbles or missed early land drops, should the deck increase early fixing density around effects like `Rampant Growth`, `Cultivate`, `Kodama's Reach`, and `Skyshroud Claim`, or are tapped/cycling lands such as `Tranquil Thicket`, `Lonely Sandbar`, `Thornwood Falls`, and `Halimar Depths` slowing key turns?

- Ramp quantity question: If hands with `Annoyed Altisaur`, `Maelstrom Colossus`, `Eldrazi Devastator`, and `Ulamog's Crusher` lose before casting spells, is the top-end count too high relative to cheap ramp, cheap blockers, and selection?

- Velocity question: If games stall with lands and large creatures but no pressure, should `Rush of Knowledge`, `Read the Tides`, `Treasure Cruise`, and `Mulldrifter` remain enough card flow, or does the list need more low-cost selection before the commander turn?

- Aggro plan question: If red or evasive decks are the problem, are `Weather the Storm`, `Hydroblast`, `Blue Elemental Blast`, `Scattershot Archer`, `Witness Protection`, and `Unsummon` enough sideboard coverage, or are too many slow expensive creatures still left after sideboarding?

- Control plan question: If blue or removal-heavy opponents beat the first big spell, should Falls preserve more threat redundancy and hold `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` longer, or should sideboard counterspells like `Negate` and `Dispel` be prioritized more aggressively?

- Closer question: If large creatures stabilize but do not end games, is `Whispersilk Cloak` doing enough, should `Crashing Drawbridge` be protected more carefully, or are bounce lines with `Aethersnipe` and `Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave` being held too long?

- Interaction mix question: If single commanders or enchantment/artifact engines dominate games, should `Lignify`, `Utter Insignificance`, `Natural Reclamation`, `Return to Nature`, and `Scour from Existence` be weighted differently in play and sideboarding?

- Graveyard conflict question: If `Relic of Progenitus` is needed often, does it conflict too much with `Treasure Cruise`, or are pilots simply activating it before the opponent presents a visible graveyard payoff?

- Role conflict question: If Falls loses while trying to cantrip, ramp, defend, and hold counters at once, which role should be simplified for each matchup: faster commander-cascade, lower-curve stabilization, or slower permission-backed threat deployment?

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Opening Keep Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan
Cards: Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty; Rampant Growth; Explore; Growth Spiral; Arcane Signet; Simic Signet; Fellwar Stone; Mind Stone; Cultivate; Kodama's Reach
Phase windows: pregame, opening hand, mulligan decisions
Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; opening hand; commander available
Use when: evaluating any opening hand before the first keep decision.
Avoid when: the rules engine has already locked the keep or bottom decision.
Instructions: Keep hands with two or more lands, green access, a blue path by turn three, and one early ramp or selection spell; ship hands with only six-plus mana threats and no acceleration unless already on a deep mulligan. Treat `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` as a payoff that needs mana first, not as a reason to keep a slow hand alone.
Pilot skill floor: basic
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: London Bottom Discipline
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mulligan, selection
Cards: Annoyed Altisaur; Maelstrom Colossus; Eldrazi Devastator; Ulamog's Crusher; Spined Megalodon; Colossal Dreadmaw; Timberland Ancient
Phase windows: pregame, post-mulligan bottom choices
Runtime cues: prompt:bottom; mulligan count; visible kept hand
Use when: choosing cards to put on bottom after taking a mulligan.
Avoid when: the prompt requires random discard or a non-hand zone choice.
Instructions: Bottom redundant top-end before lands, ramp, and color fixing. Preserve at least one castable ramp spell and enough lands to reach the first three turns. Keep one large threat only when the hand can realistically cast ramp first.
Pilot skill floor: basic
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: First Land And Early Fixing
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana
Cards: Command Tower; Thornwood Falls; Evolving Wilds; Terramorphic Expanse; Halimar Depths; Tranquil Thicket; Lonely Sandbar
Phase windows: turns 1-3, precombat main phase
Runtime cues: action:play Command Tower; action:play Thornwood Falls; action:activate Evolving Wilds; action:activate Terramorphic Expanse
Use when: selecting the first land drop or a fetch activation during early setup in the first three turns.
Avoid when: a survival interaction spell must be held up this turn.
Instructions: Prioritize untapped or fixing land that gives both colors over cycling lands. Use `Evolving Wilds` and `Terramorphic Expanse` to repair missing green before missing blue unless the hand already has green ramp and lacks blue for `Growth Spiral`, cantrips, or `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`.
Pilot skill floor: basic
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Single Legal Command Tower Play
Priority: Low
Decision families: mana
Cards: Command Tower
Phase windows: precombat main phase, postcombat main phase
Runtime cues: action:play Command Tower
Use when: no land has been played this turn and the legal action list contains exactly one land-play action named `Command Tower`.
Avoid when: any other legal land-play action is present.
Instructions: Choose the `Command Tower` land-play action.
Pilot skill floor: none
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Early Ramp Before Top-End
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana, priority
Cards: Rampant Growth; Explore; Growth Spiral; Cultivate; Kodama's Reach; Skyshroud Claim; Wood Elves; Farhaven Elf; Coiling Oracle
Phase windows: turns 2-5, main phases with priority
Runtime cues: action:cast Rampant Growth; action:cast Cultivate; action:cast Kodama's Reach; action:cast Skyshroud Claim; action:cast Wood Elves; action:cast Farhaven Elf
Use when: hand contains ramp and expensive creatures or commander-cascade payoffs.
Avoid when: the opponent has lethal pressure or a visible engine that requires immediate interaction.
Instructions: Develop mana before casting medium threats. Prefer ramp that fixes missing colors, then ramp that adds the most future mana. Cast `Coiling Oracle` early when it helps hit land drops or blocks small attackers.
Pilot skill floor: basic
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Commander Cascade Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority, mana
Cards: Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty; Annoyed Altisaur; Maelstrom Colossus; Aethersnipe; Wretched Gryff; Ulamog's Crusher; Eldrazi Devastator
Phase windows: main phases with enough mana for commander or six-plus mana spell
Runtime cues: action:cast Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty; action:cast Annoyed Altisaur; action:cast Maelstrom Colossus
Use when: deciding whether to spend the turn on `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` or a cascade-enabled six-plus spell.
Avoid when: open opposing mana, known removal, or a faster visible clock makes waiting with interaction materially safer.
Instructions: Commit when the spell produces immediate cascade value, stabilizes the board, or waiting gives the opponent more draw steps than Falls can afford. Delay when holding up `Forceful Denial`, `Negate`, `Dispel`, `Hydroblast`, or `Blue Elemental Blast` answers the opponent's pivotal line.
Pilot skill floor: intermediate
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Fierce Empath Threat Selection
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection
Cards: Fierce Empath; Annoyed Altisaur; Maelstrom Colossus; Ulamog's Crusher; Eldrazi Devastator; Walker of the Grove; Spined Megalodon
Phase windows: triggered search resolution, main phase tutor resolution
Runtime cues: prompt:search; action:choose Fierce Empath
Use when: `Fierce Empath` asks for a creature card from library.
Avoid when: the visible legal candidates do not include a six-plus creature or the search is optional and declining is legal for a specific revealed-information reason.
Instructions: Select a creature that fits the current role: `Annoyed Altisaur` or `Maelstrom Colossus` for cascade pressure, `Ulamog's Crusher` for inevitability, `Spined Megalodon` or `Walker of the Grove` for stabilizing bodies. Use visible mana, commander state, and opponent clock to choose.
Pilot skill floor: intermediate
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Landcycling And Basic Search
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection, mana
Cards: Krosan Tusker; Elvish Aberration; Generous Ent; Greater Tanuki; Greater Sandwurm; Rampant Growth; Cultivate; Kodama's Reach; Skyshroud Claim
Phase windows: main phase, end step, search resolution
Runtime cues: action:cycle Krosan Tusker; action:basic landcycling; prompt:search library for Forest; prompt:search library for Island
Use when: choosing land search targets or whether to use a landcycling action.
Avoid when: spending the card prevents casting a necessary spell already available this turn.
Instructions: Fix missing colors first, then increase green count for land-ramp chains, then blue count for commander and interaction. Use landcycling before missing a land drop, and delay it when the hand already has enough lands and needs the creature body.
Pilot skill floor: basic
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Cantrip And Top Manipulation Timing
Priority: Low
Decision families: selection, mana
Cards: Opt; Preordain; Serum Visions; Sigiled Starfish; Darksteel Pendant; Halimar Depths
Phase windows: early turns, end step, precombat main phase before land decisions
Runtime cues: action:cast Opt; action:cast Preordain; action:cast Serum Visions; action:activate Sigiled Starfish; action:activate Darksteel Pendant
Use when: a selection action can affect land drop, ramp sequencing, or next-turn threat timing.
Avoid when: tapping mana prevents required interaction or a stronger ramp play this turn.
Instructions: Use selection before land drops when it can reveal a better land or ramp line. Use instant-speed `Opt`, `Sigiled Starfish`, and `Darksteel Pendant` late when holding interaction matters. Bottom excess top-end when mana is not developed.
Pilot skill floor: basic
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Card-Draw Refill Timing
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority, selection
Cards: Mulldrifter; Treasure Cruise; Rush of Knowledge; Read the Tides; Mental Journey; Wretched Gryff
Phase windows: main phases, post-stabilization turns
Runtime cues: action:cast Mulldrifter; action:cast Treasure Cruise; action:cast Rush of Knowledge; action:cast Read the Tides; action:cast Mental Journey
Use when: deciding whether to spend mana on cards instead of board development or interaction.
Avoid when: the opponent has visible lethal pressure or a must-answer permanent already in play.
Instructions: Refill after establishing mana or a blocker, not before preventing lethal damage. Use `Rush of Knowledge` when a high mana-value permanent is visible under your control. Treat delve for `Treasure Cruise` as a resource conflict with graveyard-dependent future choices only when such choices are visible.
Pilot skill floor: intermediate
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Removal And Bounce Target Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction, priority
Cards: Lignify; Utter Insignificance; Vapor Snag; Aethersnipe; Sword Coast Serpent // Capsizing Wave; Scour from Existence; Witness Protection; Unsummon
Phase windows: opponent combat, opponent end step, own main phase before attacks, stack-response windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Lignify; action:cast Vapor Snag; action:cast Scour from Existence; action:cast Witness Protection; action:cast Unsummon
Use when: choosing whether and what to answer with removal or bounce.
Avoid when: the target is low impact and a larger commander, combo piece, lethal attacker, or lock permanent is visible or likely next.
Instructions: Answer commanders, evasive clocks, combo enablers, and blockers preventing lethal before generic bodies. Prefer temporary bounce for tempo, lethal openings, or saving life; prefer `Lignify`, `Utter Insignificance`, `Witness Protection`, and `Scour from Existence` for threats that must stay answered.
Pilot skill floor: intermediate
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Permission Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction, priority
Cards: Forceful Denial; Dispel; Negate; Hydroblast; Blue Elemental Blast
Phase windows: stack response windows, opponent main phase, combat trick windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Forceful Denial; action:cast Dispel; action:cast Negate; action:cast Hydroblast; action:cast Blue Elemental Blast
Use when: an opposing spell or ability is on the stack and a counter-action is legal.
Avoid when: the stack object is low impact, does not affect the board or clock, and holding permission protects `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty` or a six-plus payoff next turn.
Instructions: Spend counters on removal aimed at the commander engine, lethal burn, opposing combo pieces, board wipes, and spells that invalidate the current threat. Do not counter routine cantrips or small creatures unless the visible game state makes that spell decisive.
Pilot skill floor: intermediate
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Stabilization
Priority: High
Decision families: combat
Cards: Coiling Oracle; Wood Elves; Farhaven Elf; Crashing Drawbridge; Tangle Golem; Spire Golem; Tolarian Terror; Colossal Dreadmaw
Phase windows: declare blockers, precombat interaction windows
Runtime cues: prompt:blockers; action:block; visible attackers
Use when: opponent attacks and Falls can block, bounce, or remove a creature.
Avoid when: blocking sacrifices a needed engine piece and life total remains above the visible two-turn clock.
Instructions: Preserve life against evasive or high-power clocks before protecting small ramp bodies. Trade expendable ramp creatures after their enter effects have resolved. Keep `Crashing Drawbridge` when haste will create a decisive counterattack unless blocking is required to survive.
Pilot skill floor: intermediate
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Closing With Large Creatures
Priority: Medium
Decision families: combat, priority
Cards: Whispersilk Cloak; Crashing Drawbridge; Ulamog's Crusher; Eldrazi Devastator; Annoyed Altisaur; Maelstrom Colossus; Colossal Dreadmaw; Spined Megalodon; Timberland Ancient
Phase windows: precombat main phase, declare attackers
Runtime cues: action:equip Whispersilk Cloak; action:activate Crashing Drawbridge; prompt:attackers
Use when: Falls controls one or more large creatures and can pressure life total.
Avoid when: attacking opens lethal on the backswing or loses the only blocker against a larger visible clock.
Instructions: Convert stabilized boards into damage with haste, evasion, and repeated attacks. Equip or activate haste before combat only when the creature can attack legally and the mana is not needed for interaction. Attack with `Ulamog's Crusher` when annihilator pressure matters and survival blockers remain adequate.
Pilot skill floor: intermediate
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Plan Selection
Priority: Medium
Decision families: sideboard, matchup assessment, risk management
Cards: Hydroblast; Blue Elemental Blast; Weather the Storm; Dispel; Negate; Witness Protection; Unsummon; Return to Nature; Scattershot Archer; Relic of Progenitus
Phase windows: sideboarding, pre-lock review
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; opponent colors visible; revealed commander role; visible graveyard dependency; visible artifact or enchantment engine; evasive creature pressure
Use when: Veles asks for a sideboard plan and public information identifies red pressure, stack interaction, graveyard reliance, permanent engines, commander-centric pressure, or small evasive pressure.
Avoid when: the matchup signal is weak and adding narrow answers would dilute ramp, threat density, or the ability to cast five-plus mana cascade payoffs.
Instructions: Select the narrowest legal plan that answers the public axis of pressure while preserving Falls’ core of mana development, `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`, and large cascade threats. Prefer two to four changes unless multiple sideboard cards have clear live targets. Never replace ramp density casually in a Commander-family game where recasting the commander and reaching top-end mana are central.
Pilot skill floor: intermediate
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Lock Submission
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard, validation, registration integrity
Cards: Hydroblast; Blue Elemental Blast; Weather the Storm; Dispel; Negate; Witness Protection; Unsummon; Return to Nature; Scattershot Archer; Relic of Progenitus
Phase windows: sideboarding, sideboard lock submission
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; action:submit sideboard; validation:registered deck; validation:sideboard count
Use when: a sideboard decision must be finalized for the next game.
Avoid when: the proposed exchange names a card outside the registered 100-card main deck or registered 10-card sideboard, changes counts illegally, or uses a generic placeholder instead of an exact card name.
Instructions: Submit only exact legal exchanges using registered card names. Confirm every incoming card is one of the ten registered sideboard cards and every outgoing card is one of the registered main-deck cards. If generated changes fail validation, fall back to the closest conservative legal plan that preserves ramp, commander-cascade pressure, and enough early interaction for the matchup.
Pilot skill floor: basic
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Narrow Answer Deployment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction, stack response windows, graveyard timing, permanent interaction, combat response windows
Cards: Hydroblast; Blue Elemental Blast; Weather the Storm; Dispel; Negate; Witness Protection; Unsummon; Return to Nature; Scattershot Archer; Relic of Progenitus
Phase windows: stack response windows, combat response windows, main phase activation windows, opponent end step
Runtime cues: action:cast Hydroblast; action:cast Blue Elemental Blast; action:cast Weather the Storm; action:cast Dispel; action:cast Negate; action:cast Witness Protection; action:cast Unsummon; action:cast Return to Nature; action:activate Scattershot Archer; action:activate Relic of Progenitus
Use when: a sideboard card has a visible high-impact target or protects the turn where Falls commits `Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty`, a cascade payoff, or a stabilizing blocker.
Avoid when: the sideboard card would answer a low-impact object, consume mana needed for ramp or a decisive threat, or fire before the opponent has committed the resource it is meant to punish.
Instructions: Use narrow cards for the pressure they were added to answer. Hold blast effects for red spells or red permanents that change the clock, hold `Dispel` and `Negate` for decisive stack points, time `Unsummon` after investment when possible, use `Return to Nature` on engines rather than minor permanents, activate `Relic of Progenitus` around `Treasure Cruise` when safe, and treat `Scattershot Archer` as stabilization rather than a clock.
Pilot skill floor: intermediate
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
