# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Silas Renn, Seeker Adept // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful is a Duel Commander Esper singleton midrange deck built around cheap legendary pressure, efficient interaction, disruptive flash threats, and commander-zone material. The active validation contract reports 100 main-deck cards and 10 sideboard cards, with singleton construction outside basic lands and a Veles policy sideboard of exactly 10 cards; do not flag this list for 60-card constructed sizing. Treat Silas Renn, Seeker Adept and Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful as the named command-zone identity for runtime strategy, even though the supplied inventory lists all registered cards together in Main.

The archetype is best classified as hybrid rogue midrange rather than stock Duel Commander. It uses familiar Esper pressure-and-answer patterns, but the exact package is highly deck-specific: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful rewards the dense legend count; Silas Renn, Seeker Adept gives artifact recursion access; Skullclamp, Pre-War Formalwear, Swift Reconfiguration, Parallax Wave, Flowering of the White Tree, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares create overlapping advantage or tempo plans. The pilot should not assume a solved stock playbook; legal actions, visible board state, public zones, and the rules engine’s current prompt must outrank any heuristic.

The primary strategic tag is midrange, with secondary pressure, tempo, disruptive-creature, legends-matter, and artifact-recursion subthemes. Early games often want Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful or another cheap threat backed by Thoughtseize, Mental Misstep, Spell Pierce, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Daze, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Stifle, Tale's End, Wash Away, Force of Negation, Cut Down, Fatal Push, Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Sheoldred's Edict, Dismember, Swift Reconfiguration, Solitude, Subtlety, or Tishana's Tidebinder. Longer games can pivot into Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Barrowgoyf, Emperor of Bones, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept recursion, or incremental chip damage from evasive and flash threats.

The mana base is powerful but tactically demanding because the deck is three colors with many early one-mana interaction spells and several colorless or conditional utility lands. Command Tower, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Plaza of Heroes, Underground Sea, Tundra, Scrubland, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Adarkar Wastes, Underground River, Caves of Koilos, Seachrome Coast, Concealed Courtyard, Undercity Sewers, Shadowy Backstreet, and Meticulous Archive are core fixing references. Fetch lands such as Polluted Delta, Flooded Strand, Marsh Flats, Verdant Catacombs, Misty Rainforest, Scalding Tarn, Arid Mesa, Windswept Heath, and Bloodstained Mire should preserve access to white, blue, and black unless a visible line demands a narrower source. Utility lands such as Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Otawara, Soaring City, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Eiganjo Castle, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, Flagstones of Trokair, Minas Tirith, Rivendell, Barad-dur, Starting Town, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth should be valued for text only after color needs are safe.

Legality and card-text confidence are runtime concerns, not excuses to improvise. The supplied format-aware validation result passes, but Veles must still rely on the rules engine for legal actions, commander tax, sideboard availability, target legality, timing, replacement effects, and hidden information boundaries. Card text check required for newer or less familiar registered cards if the local rules database does not expose exact text, especially Aang, Swift Savior; Spectacular Spider-Man; Cloud, Midgar Mercenary; Starting Town; Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector; Wan Shi Tong, Librarian; Requiting Hex; Pre-War Formalwear; Basim Ibn Ishaq; Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom; Pippin, Guard of the Citadel; Voice of Victory; and Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel.

Opponent information is currently unspecified, so pregame and mulligan policy must begin from open-field Duel Commander assumptions. Do not infer an opponent archetype from absent data, and do not name metagame staples inside policy card fields unless runtime reveals them or matchup notes explicitly prefix them as opponent examples. Sideboard guidance should use the registered sideboard only: Rest in Peace, Dovin's Veto, Grafdigger's Cage, Pithing Needle, Disenchant, Kaya's Guile, Supreme Verdict, Duress, Dauthi Voidwalker, and Stony Silence.

## Thesis
This deck assembles a low-curve Esper midrange battlefield where cheap legendary creatures, disruptive flash threats, and one-mana answers force the opponent to act first. Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful is the cleanest early pressure piece, while Silas Renn, Seeker Adept turns artifact permanents and graveyard access into longer-game material when combat stalls. Prioritize hands that cast a threat early, hold up at least one relevant interaction spell, and keep all three colors reachable without spending too many turns on tapped or utility-only lands.

The deck wins by converting small tempo edges into sustained damage, then closing with individually powerful threats or snowballing engines. Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful grows from legendary sequencing; Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Barrowgoyf, Psychic Frog, Emperor of Bones, Vendilion Clique, Brazen Borrower, and Orcish Bowmasters give the deck pressure that also taxes the opponent's decisions. Flowering of the White Tree, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Eiganjo Castle, Plaza of Heroes, and combat tricks or protection can turn modest creatures into a lethal clock, but only after the rules engine confirms legal timing and targets.

The deck is not trying to play draw-go control until inevitability, race blindly, or spend early turns on generic value with no clock. Its best games pair a visible threat with Thoughtseize, Mental Misstep, Spell Pierce, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Daze, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Stifle, Tale's End, Wash Away, Force of Negation, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dismember, Sheoldred's Edict, Solitude, Subtlety, Tishana's Tidebinder, Ertai Resurrected, or Swift Reconfiguration. Do not hold interaction indefinitely for perfect targets when the opponent is developing faster; do not tap out for a value permanent when a known stack or combat window can punish it.

The pilot should prioritize role clarity over card rarity or novelty. Against faster decks, preserve life total and trade resources until Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Solitude, Parallax Wave, Supreme Verdict after sideboard, or efficient removal stabilizes the board. Against slower decks, make the opponent answer early legends, protect the first real engine, and use discard or permission to stop sweepers, haymakers, or graveyard hate that turns off Silas Renn, Seeker Adept lines. When card text is uncertain for newer registered cards, especially Aang, Swift Savior; Cloud, Midgar Mercenary; Spectacular Spider-Man; Starting Town; Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector; Wan Shi Tong, Librarian; Requiting Hex; Basim Ibn Ishaq; Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom; Pippin, Guard of the Citadel; Voice of Victory; Pre-War Formalwear; and Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, treat the rules engine output as authoritative and avoid assuming unsupported abilities.

## Role Package
- Threats: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful; Silas Renn, Seeker Adept; Raffine, Scheming Seer; Sheoldred, the Apocalypse; Svyelun of Sea and Sky; Barrowgoyf; Psychic Frog; Emperor of Bones; Vendilion Clique; Brazen Borrower; Orcish Bowmasters; Opposition Agent; Dauthi Voidwalker after sideboard; and any text-confirmed pressure from Aang, Swift Savior, Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, Spectacular Spider-Man, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, Basim Ibn Ishaq, Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, Voice of Victory, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, and Requiting Hex. Lead with threats that fit current mana and protection; do not expose a fragile engine into open removal if a lower-value threat can pressure first.

- Payoffs: Flowering of the White Tree, Plaza of Heroes, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Eiganjo Castle, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Parallax Wave, and Skullclamp convert creature presence into damage, protection, cards, or tempo. Treat payoff deployment as a commitment decision when the opponent has visible mana and cards; prefer payoffs after a threat is already present or when the payoff itself stabilizes the board.

- Engines: Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Skullclamp, Pre-War Formalwear, Swift Reconfiguration, Parallax Wave, Teferi, Time Raveler, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Psychic Frog, and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse are the main repeatable advantage references. Card text check required for Pre-War Formalwear and several Universes Beyond cards; use them according to legal action text rather than assumed synergies.

- Velocity: Gitaxian Probe, Thoughtseize, Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, Vendilion Clique, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Rivendell, Minas Tirith, Barad-dur, and Skullclamp help convert information or material into the next relevant action. Spend selection on lands or interaction when behind, and on closing threats or engines when stable.

- Interaction: Fatal Push, Cut Down, Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dismember, Sheoldred's Edict, Swift Reconfiguration, Solitude, Subtlety, Force of Negation, Mental Misstep, Spell Pierce, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Daze, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Stifle, Tale's End, Wash Away, Tishana's Tidebinder, Ertai Resurrected, Orcish Bowmasters, Opposition Agent, Teferi, Time Raveler, Parallax Wave, Otawara, Soaring City, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, and sideboard Dovin's Veto, Duress, Disenchant, Kaya's Guile, Supreme Verdict, Pithing Needle, Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, and Stony Silence form the answer suite. Match the answer to the threat type; cheap soft permission is best before the opponent has spare mana.

- Protection and recursion: Plaza of Heroes, Eiganjo Castle, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Reverent Mantra, Force of Negation, Daze, Teferi, Time Raveler, Unearth, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, and Pre-War Formalwear preserve or rebuy key material. Protect the active clock first when racing and the active engine first when grinding.

- Mana and sideboard modules: Fetch lands plus Underground Sea, Tundra, Scrubland, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Command Tower, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Adarkar Wastes, Underground River, Caves of Koilos, Seachrome Coast, Concealed Courtyard, Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, Undercity Sewers, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, and utility lands must support early white, blue, and black interaction. Sideboard cards divide into graveyard hate with Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, Kaya's Guile, and Dauthi Voidwalker; noncreature or stack pressure with Dovin's Veto and Duress; artifact or enchantment pressure with Disenchant, Pithing Needle, and Stony Silence; and battlefield reset with Supreme Verdict.

## Primary Win Conditions
- Yoshimaru legend-tempo pressure is the cleanest proactive kill when the opener has white mana, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, and at least one follow-up legendary permanent. Set up by sequencing Yoshimaru before legends such as Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Teferi, Time Raveler, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, Vendilion Clique, or utility legends like Plaza of Heroes, Eiganjo Castle, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Otawara, Soaring City, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire when the mana plan allows it. Execute by pairing the clock with Thoughtseize, Mental Misstep, Spell Pierce, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Daze, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Stifle, Tale's End, Wash Away, Force of Negation, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Swords to Plowshares, or Prismatic Ending; prioritize this path against slower decks, combo decks, and hands where early pressure plus one or two answers can end the game before larger engines matter. Disruption that removes Yoshimaru or blanks combat should shift the plan toward a second threat rather than overprotecting an empty board.

- Esper disruptive midrange wins by sticking one high-impact threat and trading every later card for time. Set up with Psychic Frog, Barrowgoyf, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Orcish Bowmasters, Opposition Agent, Skyclave Apparition, Brazen Borrower, Vendilion Clique, or a text-confirmed threat from Cloud, Midgar Mercenary; Spectacular Spider-Man; Aang, Swift Savior; Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector; Basim Ibn Ishaq; Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom; Pippin, Guard of the Citadel; Voice of Victory; Wan Shi Tong, Librarian; Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel; or Requiting Hex. Card text check required for the newer named threats before relying on exact keywords, triggers, or combat math. Execute by keeping mana open after the threat when soft permission is live, using removal on blockers or faster clocks, and forcing the opponent to act into narrow windows. Prioritize this path when the opponent has visible removal, when commander pressure is taxed, or when the game is about two-for-one exchanges rather than raw speed.

- Silas artifact-value wins when combat damage or legal recursion can turn small artifacts into repeated material. Set up with Silas Renn, Seeker Adept plus Skullclamp, Pre-War Formalwear, Swift Reconfiguration, or any artifact permanent the rules engine shows as legally recastable or reusable. Card text check required for Pre-War Formalwear and Swift Reconfiguration synergies; choose only legal engine actions shown by Forge. Execute by clearing blockers with Fatal Push, Cut Down, Swords to Plowshares, Dismember, Sheoldred's Edict, Parallax Wave, Brazen Borrower, Otawara, Soaring City, or Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, then convert each successful connection into durable advantage. Prioritize this path in grindy games where life total is stable and the opponent is spending removal one-for-one.

- Protected haymaker pressure closes stabilized games through Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Parallax Wave, Teferi, Time Raveler, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, or a large Barrowgoyf/Psychic Frog battlefield. Set up by forcing action with discard or cheap counters before tapping low, then execute by protecting the haymaker with Plaza of Heroes, Reverent Mantra, Force of Negation, Daze, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, or Teferi, Time Raveler timing restrictions when legally relevant. Prioritize this path when both players have traded down and the opponent needs a single expensive spell, sweeper, graveyard piece, or planeswalker to recover.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Backup combat wins through small legendary and flash threats when the primary clock is removed. Use Orcish Bowmasters tokens, Vendilion Clique, Brazen Borrower, Skyclave Apparition, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, and other text-confirmed creatures as chip pressure, then turn the corner with Flowering of the White Tree, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Eiganjo Castle, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, or Plaza of Heroes if legal. Treat Flowering of the White Tree as a board-commitment payoff; do not cast it into an empty or unstable board unless the action text itself advances survival.

- Value attrition wins by making the opponent's last cards ineffective. Use Gitaxian Probe, Thoughtseize, Vendilion Clique, Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Skullclamp, Minas Tirith, Rivendell, Barad-dur, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Unearth, and Silas Renn, Seeker Adept to find or rebuy the next relevant threat or answer. Choose Demonic Tutor and Tainted Pact targets by current role: removal or Solitude when dying, permission or discard when protecting a lead, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Kaito, Bane of Nightmares when the game needs a finisher, and mana when the hand cannot cast its spells.

- Lock and tempo wins come from preventing the opponent from executing a key turn rather than hard-locking the table. Teferi, Time Raveler, Tishana's Tidebinder, Stifle, Tale's End, Opposition Agent, Orcish Bowmasters, Parallax Wave, Ertai Resurrected, Subtlety, Force of Negation, Daze, Memory Lapse, and Wash Away can each steal a critical exchange if the rules engine exposes the relevant legal action. Use these cards to preserve an existing clock, not as abstract value when no pressure or follow-up exists.

## Emergency Lines
- When behind on life, spend cards to stop damage before building engines. Prioritize Swords to Plowshares, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Prismatic Ending, Dismember, Sheoldred's Edict, Solitude, Subtlety, Swift Reconfiguration, Parallax Wave, Skyclave Apparition, Brazen Borrower, Otawara, Soaring City, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse over slow Silas Renn, Seeker Adept or Skullclamp lines unless the engine action immediately blocks, gains life, or removes pressure.

- When behind on board, trade down and reset the combat texture. Use edicts for single large threats, exile or bounce for recursive bodies, Parallax Wave for clustered attackers, and Supreme Verdict only after sideboarding and only when the legal action improves the battlefield more than it destroys your own winning pressure. Do not protect a medium threat if letting it die enables a cleaner stabilization line.

- When behind on cards, make every action answer a visible problem or create immediate velocity. Skullclamp, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Psychic Frog, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Gitaxian Probe, Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Minas Tirith, Rivendell, and Barad-dur are recovery tools, but they should not replace removal when lethal or a short clock is visible.

- When behind on mana, fetch and play lands for castable interaction first. Keep hands and lines that produce early white, blue, and black through Command Tower, Tundra, Underground Sea, Scrubland, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Adarkar Wastes, Underground River, Caves of Koilos, Seachrome Coast, Concealed Courtyard, and fetch lands; delay colorless utility lands when they prevent holding up a live answer.

- When engines, graveyard recursion, or win conditions are removed, become a low-curve permission deck with creatures. Win by chaining any legal threat with one answer per turn, using Unearth or Takenuma, Abandoned Mire only when they restore a relevant permanent, and accepting smaller attacks if they force the opponent to act first. If graveyard hate is visible, stop valuing Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Unearth, and Takenuma lines until Forge shows a legal, productive action through that hate.

## Resource Model
- Life buys tempo, not inevitability. Spend life from Thoughtseize, Dismember, fetch lands, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Adarkar Wastes, Underground River, and Caves of Koilos when it enables an early commander, holds up real interaction, or removes a threat that would deal more damage later. Stop paying extra life once the opponent has a visible short clock unless the legal action prevents lethal, protects a winning board, or unlocks Sheoldred, the Apocalypse stabilization.

- Hand size is the deck's tactical fuel. Convert cards into tempo with Force of Negation, Subtlety, Solitude, Daze, Mental Misstep, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Spell Pierce, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Wash Away, Tale's End, Stifle, and removal only when the exchange protects pressure, denies a decisive spell, or prevents a board snowball. Do not pitch a premium blue or white card to free interaction if a normal mana payment or cheaper answer preserves the same visible outcome.

- Mana is the binding constraint for double-spelling. The deck often wins by presenting Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Orcish Bowmasters, Psychic Frog, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, or Barrowgoyf while keeping one mana open for a counter or removal spell. Prefer lines that leave W, U, or B interaction available over lines that spend all colors on medium development.

- Board material converts into pressure, protection, and card flow. Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful rewards legendary sequencing; Skullclamp converts expendable small creatures or tokens when legal; Flowering of the White Tree rewards an established creature board; Eiganjo Castle, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, and Plaza of Heroes make specific legendary permanents harder to race or answer. Card text check required for Aang, Swift Savior, Spectacular Spider-Man, Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, and Requiting Hex before relying on exact resource conversion.

- Graveyard value is real but conditional. Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Unearth, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Emperor of Bones, Pre-War Formalwear, Barrowgoyf, Psychic Frog, and Tainted Pact can turn the graveyard into threats, recursion, or selection, but Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, Dauthi Voidwalker, and opponent graveyard hate can change the value of every graveyard line. When hate is visible, ask only what Forge says is legal and productive.

- Exile is both cost and denial. Solitude, Subtlety, Force of Negation, Reverent Mantra, Tainted Pact, Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Skyclave Apparition, Parallax Wave, and sideboard Rest in Peace can move cards to exile for tempo or permanence. Treat exiling your own cards as a commitment cost; treat exiling opposing threats as high value when it beats recursion, death triggers, or graveyard scaling shown by public information.

- Lands are not just mana sources. Otawara, Soaring City, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Minas Tirith, Rivendell, Barad-dur, Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, Eiganjo Castle, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Plaza of Heroes, and Flagstones of Trokair are utility resources. Do not expose or spend them early if a normal colored land casts the hand and the utility mode is likely to matter.

- Sacrifice fodder is scarce. Orcish Bowmasters tokens, small creatures made low-impact by board state, or creatures already blanked by removal can become Skullclamp material or edict buffers, but this deck is not a sacrifice engine. Preserve creatures that carry Flowering of the White Tree, pressure planeswalkers, enable Silas Renn, Seeker Adept combat damage, or hold equipment-like artifacts unless the legal sacrifice/draw line clearly improves the current exchange.

- Information changes card value immediately. Gitaxian Probe, Thoughtseize, Vendilion Clique, Opposition Agent, Duress after sideboarding, and public reveal effects should drive whether to tap out, hold counters, name a target, tutor, or commit a threat. Do not assume hidden cards; use only revealed cards, known zones, prior legal actions, and archetype guidance.

- Sideboard bullets convert narrow slots into matchup-specific resource denial. Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, Dauthi Voidwalker, Stony Silence, Pithing Needle, Disenchant, Dovin's Veto, Duress, Kaya's Guile, and Supreme Verdict should be valued as answers to visible or strongly expected engines, not as generic upgrades over the deck's low-curve pressure plan.

## Mana Guide
- Keep hands that cast an early threat and at least one relevant interaction spell. A strong opener normally has two or three lands, access to at least two of white, blue, and black, and a play involving Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Thoughtseize, Gitaxian Probe, Fatal Push, Swords to Plowshares, Mental Misstep, Spell Pierce, Wash Away, or another cheap legal action. Mulligan hands with only colorless utility, only tapped lands, or one land plus no free interaction unless the rules engine and matchup context make the risk necessary.

- Prioritize white and blue early, then black by turn two or three. White casts Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Solitude, Prismatic Ending, Swift Reconfiguration, Skyclave Apparition, and Flowering of the White Tree. Blue casts Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, counters, Gitaxian Probe, Psychic Frog, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, and Teferi, Time Raveler. Black casts Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Orcish Bowmasters, Sheoldred's Edict, Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

- Fetch for untapped dual colors when tempo matters. Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Marsh Flats, Windswept Heath, Verdant Catacombs, Scalding Tarn, Bloodstained Mire, Arid Mesa, and Misty Rainforest should find Tundra, Underground Sea, Scrubland, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Meticulous Archive, Undercity Sewers, or Shadowy Backstreet according to the next two turns of legal spells. Respect life total before choosing shock lands untapped.

- Sequence tapped lands when the turn has no one-mana obligation. Meticulous Archive, Undercity Sewers, Shadowy Backstreet, and any land Forge shows entering tapped are best played on turns where the hand still presents Gitaxian Probe, free interaction, or no needed instant-speed answer. Do not play a tapped land before holding up Swords to Plowshares, Fatal Push, Spell Pierce, Mental Misstep, or Wash Away if the opponent can punish the delay.

- Delay utility lands when colors are unstable. Plaza of Heroes, Minas Tirith, Rivendell, Barad-dur, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Otawara, Soaring City, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Eiganjo Castle, and Flagstones of Trokair are valuable, but early turns must cast spells. Play them early only if they complete colors, protect a key legendary permanent, or the hand already has stable WUB access.

- Play lands before selection when the legal action requires exact mana or landfall-adjacent information is irrelevant. Play a fetch or untapped source before Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, or a multi-spell turn when the chosen line needs known available colors. Delay land plays until after Gitaxian Probe, Thoughtseize, Vendilion Clique information, draw steps, or selection effects when land choice depends on revealed interaction, needed shock decisions, or whether Daze-style protection must remain represented.

- Preserve channel and special lands as spells when mana allows. Otawara, Soaring City, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire often function as interaction or recursion that dodges some permission. Use them as mana only when colored development would otherwise fail or when the spell mode is unlikely to matter before the game is decided.

- Count alternative costs before tapping out. Daze may need an Island-type land to return; Force of Negation, Subtlety, Solitude, and Reverent Mantra may need specific pitch cards; Plaza of Heroes or legendary utility may need the correct permanent context. Choose mana payments that keep these backup lines legal when the opponent's next turn is dangerous.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keep: Keep two or three lands with early WUB access plus Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful or Silas Renn, Seeker Adept and at least one cheap interaction spell such as Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Swords to Plowshares, Mental Misstep, Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, or Daze. A hand like Flooded Strand, Underground Sea, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Gitaxian Probe, Thoughtseize, Swords to Plowshares, and Orcish Bowmasters has information, pressure, and answer density.

- Medium keep: Keep slower hands when they still cast spells on the first two turns and have a clear stabilizer. A hand like Meticulous Archive, Scrubland, City of Brass, Psychic Frog, Mana Leak, Skyclave Apparition, and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is acceptable on the draw or against midrange, but it needs careful life and tapped-land sequencing.

- Risky keep: Keep one-land hands only with a fetch land or untapped blue/white/black source, Gitaxian Probe or cheap information, and multiple one-mana plays or free interaction. Polluted Delta, Gitaxian Probe, Mental Misstep, Daze, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Fatal Push, and Tainted Pact is a calculated keep only if the matchup rewards tempo and the engine confirms the legal first-turn play.

- Automatic ship: Mulligan hands with zero lands, one land plus only three- and four-mana spells, all utility lands without reliable colored spells, or no meaningful play before turn three. Hands built around Barad-dur, Rivendell, Minas Tirith, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Parallax Wave, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, and Ertai Resurrected should be shipped unless a legal free-interaction package and draw context make survival credible.

- Matchup-dependent keep: Keep Thoughtseize, Gitaxian Probe, Vendilion Clique, Opposition Agent, or counter-heavy hands against combo and control, but prefer Fatal Push, Cut Down, Swords to Plowshares, Sheoldred's Edict, Solitude, and cheap blockers against creature pressure. Against graveyard decks after sideboarding, Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, Dauthi Voidwalker, or Kaya's Guile can upgrade a slower hand only if mana casts them on time.

- Play/draw rule: On the play, prioritize Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Thoughtseize, Gitaxian Probe into disruption, or a one-mana answer backed by Daze, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, or Spell Pierce. On the draw, value Mental Misstep, Fatal Push, Swords to Plowshares, Cut Down, Force of Negation, Solitude, Subtlety, and hands that answer the opponent's first threat before deploying your own engine.

- Trap hand: Do not keep a hand because it contains powerful expensive cards if it cannot interact early. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Parallax Wave, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Ertai Resurrected, Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, and a single tapped land is not a plan; it is a delayed loss unless the mulligan context is extreme.

- Commander access rule: Treat command-zone access as pressure and recursion texture, not as a reason to keep bad mana. Silas Renn, Seeker Adept and Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful improve fair hands, but they do not rescue hands that fail to cast interaction through the first two turns.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1 priority: Lead on untapped mana that enables Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Thoughtseize, Gitaxian Probe, Fatal Push, Swords to Plowshares, Mental Misstep, Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, or Daze. Prefer information before committing a fragile threat when Thoughtseize or Gitaxian Probe can reveal whether the opponent has removal, a must-counter engine, or a faster clock.

- Turn 1 deviation: Play a tapped surveil or utility land only when no one-mana spell matters and the opponent cannot punish a shields-down start. Preserve Otawara, Soaring City, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, and Plaza of Heroes when a normal colored land casts the hand.

- Turn 2 priority: Establish a threat while holding or representing interaction. Preferred plays include Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Psychic Frog, Orcish Bowmasters, Barrowgoyf, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, or a protected Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful plus one-mana interaction.

- Turn 2 deviation: Pass with Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Spell Pierce, Stifle, Tale's End, Daze, Wash Away, or Sheoldred's Edict when the opponent's next legal play is more important than adding pressure. Use Cut Down, Fatal Push, Swords to Plowshares, Swift Reconfiguration, or Dismember before damage when visible attacks or snowball permanents threaten the resource plan.

- Turn 3 priority: Convert information into a swing turn. Teferi, Time Raveler, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Skyclave Apparition, Vendilion Clique, Tishana's Tidebinder, Brazen Borrower, Opposition Agent, Emperor of Bones, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, or Demonic Tutor should be chosen according to visible pressure, known cards, and available protection.

- Turn 3 deviation: Hold up interaction instead of tapping out when the opponent is representing a decisive spell, activated ability, graveyard setup, or planeswalker. Use Tainted Pact only when the needed answer, threat, or land category is worth the exile risk and the legal selection interface confirms each choice.

- Turns 4-5 priority: Commit a high-impact stabilizer or finisher when the stack and board allow it. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Ertai Resurrected, Parallax Wave, Solitude, Subtlety, Force of Negation backup, or Flowering of the White Tree should convert early tempo into a protected advantage state.

- Turns 4-5 deviation: Do not jam Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Parallax Wave, or Kaito, Bane of Nightmares into obvious open interaction if a cheaper threat plus counter line keeps pressure and protects life. Spend Reverent Mantra or free elementals only when the exchange prevents lethal, saves a decisive board, or wins the tempo race.

- Late-game priority: Turn utility lands and recursion into inevitability. Activate or channel Minas Tirith, Rivendell, Barad-dur, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Otawara, Soaring City, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, or Eiganjo Castle only when the visible state makes the spell or ability mode better than preserving mana.

- Late-game deviation: Protect against decking, overextension, and hidden-information traps. Use Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, Unearth, Pre-War Formalwear, Skullclamp, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, and Silas Renn, Seeker Adept lines only when Forge confirms legal targets and the chosen line beats visible board pressure or known interaction. Card text check required for Aang, Swift Savior, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, Spectacular Spider-Man, Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, Starting Town, Voice of Victory, Basim Ibn Ishaq, Requiting Hex, and Wan Shi Tong, Librarian before relying on precise tactical text.

## Card Roles
- Command-zone pressure: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful is the preferred early commander when the hand can cast it and follow with legendary permanents or protection; use it to punish slow starts, not as a reason to keep weak mana. Silas Renn, Seeker Adept is the grind commander and artifact-recursion texture; commit Silas when combat is credible or when Skullclamp, Pre-War Formalwear, or another legal artifact line is already visible, and do not attack Silas into free trades unless the recursion trigger matters.

- One-mana disruption: Thoughtseize and Gitaxian Probe convert hidden-information uncertainty into sequencing certainty; use them before deciding whether to tap out, expose Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, or hold counters. Mental Misstep, Spell Pierce, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Wash Away, Daze, Stifle, and Tale's End are tempo tools first; spend them on plays that beat your current board or invalidate your next turn, not on low-impact spells you can answer later.

- Harder permission and stack control: Mana Leak and Memory Lapse protect early advantage and buy tempo against midgame haymakers; Force of Negation is reserved for noncreature spells that threaten a decisive loss or protect an all-in turn. Dovin's Veto is sideboard-only and should replace softer permission when the matchup is about planeswalkers, sweepers, combo spells, or removal wars. Ertai Resurrected and Tishana's Tidebinder are flexible flash interaction; use them when the body matters after the counter or ability stop, and avoid spending them into known cheap removal unless the stopped effect is worth the body loss.

- Creature removal: Swords to Plowshares, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Dismember, Sheoldred's Edict, Swift Reconfiguration, Prismatic Ending, Skyclave Apparition, Solitude, and Parallax Wave are the deck's board-control spine. Prefer the cheapest clean answer that leaves mana for another action, but save exile or edict effects for creatures that cannot be killed normally, protected threats, large singular attackers, or recursive engines. Swift Reconfiguration is also a special-case answer to commanders or static creatures; Card text check required before using it as a combo or vehicle-line tool.

- Bounce, channel, and tempo removal: Brazen Borrower and Otawara, Soaring City reset a threat, clear a blocker, or break up a stack/board commitment when a permanent answer is not required. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire is best as uncounterable combat or planeswalker pressure interaction; do not spend it as a land if the hand already has stable mana and expects creature combat. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire is late-game recursion and selection; use it after a high-value creature or planeswalker is in the graveyard, not merely to spend mana.

- Card advantage engines: Psychic Frog, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, Minas Tirith, Rivendell, and Skullclamp are the primary ways to keep resources flowing. Commit them when you can attack safely, protect the engine, or immediately extract value. Card text check required for Wan Shi Tong, Librarian before relying on precise card draw, reveal, or permission text.

- Threats that stabilize while pressuring: Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Barrowgoyf, Orcish Bowmasters, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Vendilion Clique, Opposition Agent, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Emperor of Bones, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, and Voice of Victory create board presence while disrupting the opponent's plan. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is a finisher and life-buffer; deploy it when it survives likely visible removal or when forcing an answer is tactically acceptable. Card text check required for Voice of Victory before treating it as protection, token pressure, or anti-interaction.

- Flash and information creatures: Vendilion Clique, Opposition Agent, Orcish Bowmasters, Ertai Resurrected, Tishana's Tidebinder, Brazen Borrower, Solitude, and Subtlety reward passing with mana. Hold them when the opponent must act first, especially around tutors, draw spells, commander casts, activated abilities, or combat blowouts. Do not flash a creature only to spend unused mana if the legal prompt suggests a more valuable response window may occur later in the turn.

- Legendary-matters package: Flowering of the White Tree, Plaza of Heroes, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Eiganjo Castle, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares make legendary permanents more threatening. Cast Flowering of the White Tree only when it improves immediate combat, protects a key board, or turns multiple bodies into a clock; it is weak when behind without creatures.

- Planeswalker and tempo-control permanents: Teferi, Time Raveler changes stack timing and protects tap-out turns; prioritize it against instant-speed interaction and reactive decks. Kaito, Bane of Nightmares is a pressure-plus-card engine; commit it when the board can defend it or when its immediate legal action produces enough value even if attacked. Parallax Wave is a swing stabilizer; use it to remove attackers, clear blockers for lethal pressure, or protect your own creatures only when the rules engine exposes the exact legal targets.

- Recursion and artifact texture: Unearth, Pre-War Formalwear, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Skullclamp, and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire let the deck reuse small threats and convert creatures into cards. Use Unearth on a creature that changes the current turn, such as Orcish Bowmasters, Psychic Frog, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Opposition Agent, or a cheap legendary threat, rather than a body with no immediate impact. Card text check required for Pre-War Formalwear before choosing equip, recursion, or sacrifice-adjacent lines.

- Tutors and selection: Demonic Tutor is the exact-answer or exact-finisher card; choose the card that solves the visible problem, not the abstract strongest card. Tainted Pact is a commitment card because exiling singleton resources is real; use it when the needed category is narrow enough to justify stopping on the first legal hit, such as removal, counter, land, graveyard hate after sideboarding, or a protected finisher. Gitaxian Probe should often precede Demonic Tutor or Tainted Pact when legal.

- Free spells and pitch decisions: Force of Negation, Solitude, Subtlety, Reverent Mantra, Daze, and Mental Misstep let the deck steal tempo, but their card cost is high. Pitch only when the exchange preserves a winning board, stops a decisive opposing action, or prevents lethal pressure. Reverent Mantra is not generic protection; use it only when the chosen color and visible board make the protection mode materially change combat, removal, or lethal math.

- New or text-sensitive Universes cards: Aang, Swift Savior, Spectacular Spider-Man, Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, Basim Ibn Ishaq, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, Requiting Hex, Starting Town, and Wan Shi Tong, Librarian require card text verification before the agent relies on exact modes, triggers, costs, or target rules. Until verified, treat each as a legal-action-dependent role-player: cast only when the engine shows a clear immediate effect, a useful body, or synergy with the current pressure plan.

- Mana base roles: Command Tower, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Tundra, Underground Sea, Scrubland, Hallowed Fountain, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Meticulous Archive, Undercity Sewers, Shadowy Backstreet, Seachrome Coast, Concealed Courtyard, Adarkar Wastes, Underground River, Caves of Koilos, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth provide color stability; fetchlands should prioritize the colors needed for the next two turns. Preserve utility lands when possible: Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, Flagstones of Trokair, Barad-dur, Rivendell, Minas Tirith, Plaza of Heroes, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Eiganjo Castle, Otawara, Soaring City, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire all have tactical value beyond mana, but none is worth missing a critical colored spell.

### Card Hover Notes

#### Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, command-zone grind core piece and artifact-recursion threat.
- Role type: engine piece; recursion; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Attack through combat with deathtouch to unlock casting target artifact card from your graveyard this turn, chiefly Skullclamp, Pre-War Formalwear, Swift Reconfiguration, Grafdigger's Cage after sideboard, Pithing Needle after sideboard, or artifact cards exiled/returned by normal play only if they are actually in your graveyard.
- Timing: Cast when Silas can plausibly connect or when a 2/2 deathtouch body deters attacks; delay into open removal if Skullclamp, Pre-War Formalwear, or Swift Reconfiguration is not ready to make the recursion trigger matter.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana including blue and black plus combat access; outputs deathtouch blocking, commander pressure, and a one-turn artifact-cast permission after player combat damage.
- Partners / packages: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful grows from Silas entering; Shizo, Death's Storehouse can give Silas fear; Parallax Wave, Brazen Borrower, Otawara, Soaring City, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Swords to Plowshares, and Dismember clear blockers.
- Role peers: No direct peer; closest role overlap is Unearth and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire for graveyard recovery, and Skullclamp for artifact-centered card flow.
- Failure modes: Do not suicide Silas into first strike, exile, or unfavorable double blocks for a trigger that has no artifact target; Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, Dauthi Voidwalker, and Stony Silence can conflict with Silas lines after sideboarding.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against removal-heavy fair decks when artifacts trade off; weaker against exile-heavy removal, graveyard hate, or boards where deathtouch does not create profitable attacks.

#### Adarkar Wastes
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, untapped white-blue pain-land mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Cast early Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Gitaxian Probe for blue, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, and Pippin, Guard of the Citadel while preserving tempo.
- Timing: Prefer it early when untapped white or blue changes turn-one or turn-two interaction; switch to {C} when colored pain is no longer needed or life total is under pressure.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {C} without life loss, or taps for {W} or {U} and deals 1 damage to you.
- Partners / packages: Supports white interaction Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Swift Reconfiguration, and Solitude; supports blue interaction Mental Misstep, Spell Pierce, Stifle, Force Spike, Wash Away, and Daze.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is Underground River for blue-black pain mana and Caves of Koilos for white-black pain mana.
- Failure modes: Do not pay repeated life for colored mana when Command Tower, Tundra, Hallowed Fountain, Seachrome Coast, or Plaza of Heroes can cover the same line safely.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against burn or fast aggro, count each colored activation as real damage and favor painless sources once the hand is castable.

#### Meticulous Archive
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, tapped Plains Island fixing and surveil utility mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Provide fetchable white-blue access for Flooded Strand, Windswept Heath, Scalding Tarn, Misty Rainforest, Arid Mesa, and Polluted Delta through its Plains or Island types while smoothing the top card with surveil 1.
- Timing: Best on a turn where entering tapped does not forfeit Swords to Plowshares, Spell Pierce, Mental Misstep, Wash Away, Force Spike, or Mana Tithe; play earlier only when the surveil helps find missing action and the opponent cannot punish the tempo loss.
- Inputs / outputs: Enters tapped, taps for {W} or {U}, and on entry lets you look at the top card of your library and may put it into your graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Fetch targets overlap with Tundra and Hallowed Fountain; surveil can stock Unearth, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Pre-War Formalwear, Barrowgoyf, and Silas Renn, Seeker Adept.
- Role peers: Shadowy Backstreet and Undercity Sewers are the other surveil dual lands.
- Failure modes: Do not describe it as supporting turn-one one-mana plays, because it enters tapped; surveil can strand key singleton cards in graveyard against Rest in Peace or Dauthi Voidwalker effects.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Stronger in slower games where graveyard texture matters; risky against tempo starts that punish tapped lands.

#### Tishana's Tidebinder
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, flash disruption creature and ability-denial role player.
- Role type: interaction-stack; hate piece; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Counter up to one target activated or triggered ability, except mana abilities, then blank the source permanent’s abilities for as long as Tishana's Tidebinder remains on battlefield if the countered ability came from an artifact, creature, or planeswalker.
- Timing: Hold for a decisive ability rather than using it as a 3/2 flash body; cast proactively only if the body blocks or clocks and no meaningful ability window is expected.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana including blue; outputs a countered activated or triggered ability, possible long-term text loss on artifact, creature, or planeswalker source, and a 3/2 body.
- Partners / packages: Pairs with Stifle and Tale's End as ability interaction; Teferi, Time Raveler and Voice of Victory can restrict opponent response windows around your turn.
- Role peers: Stifle is cheaper and noncreature; Tale's End also hits legendary spells; Ertai Resurrected can counter spell, activated ability, or triggered ability but gives a card.
- Failure modes: Mana abilities cannot be targeted; if Tishana's Tidebinder leaves, the affected artifact, creature, or planeswalker regains abilities; do not use it on a low-impact trigger if a commander, planeswalker, fetch-like search payoff, or combo ability is expected.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against commander ability decks, planeswalkers, artifact engines, and creature combo; less valuable against spell-only control where Mana Leak or Dovin's Veto hits the real axis.

#### Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap legendary evasive looter and pressure role player.
- Role type: threat/clock; card selection; mechanic enabler.
- Deck-specific job: Flash in a 2/1 flying legendary body, pressure planeswalkers or life totals, and convert combat damage into draw-then-discard filtering while eventually enabling a free cast of the discarded card after Malcolm has four or more chorus counters.
- Timing: Deploy at end step or in combat when it dodges sorcery-speed removal or blocks profitably; protect repeated connections if the hand contains expensive spells such as Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Parallax Wave, or Force of Negation.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana including blue; outputs flying damage, chorus counters, one card drawn then one discarded on player combat damage, and possible free casting of the discarded card at four counters.
- Partners / packages: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful grows from Malcolm entering; Raffine, Scheming Seer and Psychic Frog also convert combat into cards or selection; Unearth, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Pre-War Formalwear, and Silas Renn, Seeker Adept can use discarded material.
- Role peers: Closest role overlap is Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom for unblockable draw setup and Psychic Frog for combat-damage draw.
- Failure modes: Do not discard a card expecting free casting before Malcolm has four chorus counters; discard-before-graveyard timing matters for recursion and graveyard hate.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against control and planeswalkers if it connects; fragile against cheap removal and reach blockers.

#### Rivendell
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary blue utility land and selection mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; card selection; role glue.
- Deck-specific job: Supply blue mana and turn excess mana into scry 2 when you control a legendary creature, helping find interaction, lands, or closing threats while adding a legendary permanent for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful.
- Timing: Play early only if it enters untapped because you control a legendary creature or if no untapped interaction is needed; activate scry 2 in slower windows after holding up Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Mana Leak, or Memory Lapse is no longer required.
- Inputs / outputs: May enter tapped without a legendary creature; taps for {U}; {1}{U}, tap scries 2 only if you control a legendary creature.
- Partners / packages: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful gets a counter from Rivendell entering; legendary creatures enabling the scry include Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, and Raffine, Scheming Seer.
- Role peers: Minas Tirith offers card draw after attacking with two or more creatures; Oboro, Palace in the Clouds is untapped blue utility without selection.
- Failure modes: Do not keep a hand relying on Rivendell as untapped blue without a current legendary creature; do not spend two mana on scry when the opponent can force a decisive stack fight.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Better in grindy games; risky against fast decks where tapped entry or activation tempo costs matter.

#### Minas Tirith
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary white utility land and attack-reward mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; card selection; engine payoff.
- Deck-specific job: Provide white mana and convert wide attacks into card draw, especially with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful plus a second attacker, Orcish Bowmasters token, Voice of Victory mobilized Warriors, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, or Brazen Borrower.
- Timing: Sequence it after a legendary creature when possible so it enters untapped; activate after attacking with two or more creatures only when leaving {1}{W} and tapping the land does not cost needed interaction.
- Inputs / outputs: May enter tapped without a legendary creature; taps for {W}; {1}{W}, tap draws a card only if you attacked with two or more creatures this turn.
- Partners / packages: Flowering of the White Tree makes multi-creature attacks more profitable; Raffine, Scheming Seer rewards attacking with multiple creatures; Voice of Victory creates tapped attacking 1/1 red Warrior tokens.
- Role peers: Rivendell offers scry 2 with a legendary creature; Skullclamp draws two through creature death rather than attack count.
- Failure modes: Do not activate before confirming the two-attacker condition; do not make bad attacks just to turn on Minas Tirith if blocks erase your best threat.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in midrange stalls where chip attacks are safe; weak when your creatures must stay back to block.

#### Barad-dur
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary black utility land and late-game token mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; engine payoff; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Provide black mana and, after any creature died this turn, convert large mana into an Orc Army through amass Orcs X for a battlefield rebuild or closing body.
- Timing: Avoid early if it would enter tapped without a legendary creature and prevent black interaction; activate only after a creature death and when {X}{X}{B} plus tapping the land is better than casting spells or holding answers.
- Inputs / outputs: May enter tapped without a legendary creature; taps for {B}; {X}{X}{B}, tap amasses Orcs X only if a creature died this turn.
- Partners / packages: Orcish Bowmasters also amasses Orcs; Skullclamp can deliberately kill a one-toughness equipped creature to create a death event; Supreme Verdict after sideboard can clear creatures before a later rebuild if mana remains in future turns.
- Role peers: Minas Tirith and Rivendell are other legendary utility lands; Orcish Bowmasters creates Orc material at instant speed.
- Failure modes: Do not spend an early land drop on Barad-dur if untapped white or blue is needed; the activation is expensive and unavailable without a creature dying.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Valuable in attrition mirrors after removal trades; poor against fast combo where mana must stay for discard or permission.

#### Pippin, Guard of the Citadel
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap legendary protection creature and combat role player.
- Role type: protection/evasion; threat/clock; role glue.
- Deck-specific job: Add a vigilant ward {1} legendary body and tap to give another target creature you control protection from a chosen card type until end of turn, enabling attacks through creatures, saving a key creature from damage or targeting by a chosen card type, or breaking combat.
- Timing: Cast early when Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful needs counters or when a protection activation can matter; keep Pippin untapped if the next combat or removal window is more valuable than attacking for 2.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}{U}; outputs vigilance, ward {1}, and a tap ability that targets another creature you control.
- Partners / packages: Protects non-Pippin creatures such as Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Psychic Frog, and Barrowgoyf; Flowering of the White Tree increases Pippin’s combat relevance.
- Role peers: Plaza of Heroes gives target legendary creature hexproof and indestructible; Eiganjo Castle prevents damage to target legendary creature; Reverent Mantra gives each creature protection from a chosen color.
- Failure modes: Pippin cannot target itself with its tap ability; choosing a card type does not stop effects from other card types, edicts, sweepers without targeting, or color-based protection needs.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against creature combat and target-heavy removal; weaker against sacrifice effects, Supreme Verdict-style sweepers, and non-targeting board wipes.

#### Orcish Bowmasters
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, flash punishment creature and token pressure role player.
- Role type: interaction-removal; engine payoff; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Flash in to deal 1 damage to any target on entry, then punish each opponent draw beyond the first card in their draw step with another 1 damage to any target and amass Orcs 1.
- Timing: Hold for a one-toughness creature, planeswalker at 1 loyalty, combat math, or known extra draw; cast end step as pressure only if no draw-punish window is likely.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes two mana including black; outputs a 1/1 body, damage to any target, and Orc Army material that can grow through later opponent extra draws.
- Partners / packages: Skullclamp can equip a one-toughness Bowmasters if trading it for two cards is correct; Sheoldred, the Apocalypse punishes opponent draws alongside Bowmasters; Barad-dur cares that a creature died before amassing.
- Role peers: Cut Down and Fatal Push are cleaner creature removal; Sheoldred, the Apocalypse punishes every opponent draw for life loss but costs four.
- Failure modes: Do not fire it into no target/value if the opponent is about to cast Gitaxian Probe-like draw, activate Clue-like draw, or resolve a multi-draw spell; amass creates or grows one Orc Army, not multiple separate tokens.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against cantrip, card-draw, and low-toughness decks; still serviceable as flash pressure against control.

#### Flowering of the White Tree
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary anthem core payoff.
- Role type: mechanic payoff; protection/evasion; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Turn the dense legendary creature package into a faster clock by giving legendary creatures you control +2/+1 and ward {1}, while nonlegendary creatures you control get +1/+1.
- Timing: Cast after at least one meaningful creature is present or when it makes immediate combat profitable; avoid casting into an empty board or when holding up Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Spell Pierce, or Daze is essential.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}{W}; outputs static power/toughness boosts and ward {1} for legendary creatures you control.
- Partners / packages: High-value legendary beneficiaries include Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, and Vendilion Clique.
- Role peers: Shizo, Death's Storehouse gives a single legendary creature fear; Eiganjo Castle and Plaza of Heroes protect single legendary creatures rather than the board.
- Failure modes: Double white can strain mana; ward {1} does not stop sweepers, sacrifice effects, or removal when the opponent can pay.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against fair removal and stalled boards; weak when behind to a board that requires removal or Supreme Verdict.

#### Force of Negation
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, free or hard-cast noncreature stack interaction core piece.
- Role type: interaction-stack; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Counter target noncreature spell and exile it if countered, protecting a pressure board from sweepers, planeswalkers, combo pieces, graveyard hate, or decisive removal spells.
- Timing: On an opponent’s turn, pitch a blue card only when stopping the spell is worth going down a card; on your turn, plan for paying {1}{U}{U} because the alternate cost applies only if it is not your turn.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes three mana including double blue, or exiles a blue card from your hand instead on a non-your-turn cast; outputs a countered and exiled noncreature spell.
- Partners / packages: Blue pitch candidates can include Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Tishana's Tidebinder, Wash Away, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Aang, Swift Savior, Subtlety, Psychic Frog, Vendilion Clique, Gitaxian Probe, Spell Pierce, Stifle, Force Spike, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, Tainted Pact, Brazen Borrower, Tale's End, Teferi, Time Raveler, Memory Lapse, Daze, and Demonic Tutor is not blue.
- Role peers: Dovin's Veto after sideboard is uncounterable noncreature interaction; Spell Pierce and Mana Leak tax noncreature or any spells but can be paid through.
- Failure modes: It cannot counter creature spells; pitching the only blue card may weaken Subtlety, Daze support, or your next play.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against combo, control, sweepers, and noncreature engines; lower value against creature-heavy aggro.

#### Sheoldred's Edict
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, instant edict removal role player.
- Role type: interaction-removal; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Force each opponent to sacrifice their choice of nontoken creature, creature token, or planeswalker, letting the deck answer hexproof, ward-heavy, indestructible, or otherwise hard-to-target threats.
- Timing: Use before combat when it removes the only relevant attacker or blocker; wait if the opponent has expendable material and a later removal spell can isolate the real target.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{B}; outputs a sacrifice chosen by each opponent, not by you.
- Mode map: Choose nontoken creature when the key threat is a single real creature; choose creature token when a token is the meaningful threat or token protection is present; choose planeswalker when a planeswalker is the engine and creature removal misses it.
- Partners / packages: Fatal Push, Cut Down, Swords to Plowshares, and Prismatic Ending can clear expendable tokens or low-mana creatures so Sheoldred's Edict hits a larger protected creature; Vendilion Clique and Thoughtseize reveal whether a planeswalker mode matters.
- Role peers: Kaya's Guile after sideboard can make each opponent sacrifice a creature while adding other modes; Supreme Verdict after sideboard sweeps each creature instead.
- Failure modes: Opponent chooses what to sacrifice, so do not cast into multiple expendable tokens unless token mode is the point.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against single-threat commanders and protection creatures; weak against go-wide boards without setup.

#### Plaza of Heroes
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary-fixing utility land and protection resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; protection/evasion; role glue.
- Deck-specific job: Cast legendary spells, fix colors based on legendary permanents you control, and protect a target legendary creature with hexproof and indestructible by paying {3}, tapping, and exiling Plaza.
- Timing: Play early when it helps cast Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, Raffine, Scheming Seer, or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse; save the exile ability for removal or combat that would otherwise kill the central legendary creature.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {C}; taps for any color only to cast a legendary spell; taps for one mana of a color among legendary permanents you control; protection activation consumes {3}, tap, and exiles Plaza.
- Partners / packages: Protects legendary creatures such as Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, and Vendilion Clique.
- Role peers: Eiganjo Castle prevents 2 damage to a legendary creature; Pippin, Guard of the Citadel grants protection from a card type to another creature; Reverent Mantra grants color protection to each creature.
- Failure modes: It cannot cast nonlegendary colored spells with the legendary-only mana; hexproof and indestructible do not stop sacrifice, exile without destruction if not targeted, bounce from non-targeting effects, or -X/-X.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against targeted removal and damage combat; weaker against edicts and sweepers that ignore indestructible.

#### Shadowy Backstreet
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, tapped Plains Swamp fixing and surveil utility mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Provide fetchable white-black access for Windswept Heath, Flooded Strand, Bloodstained Mire, Verdant Catacombs, Arid Mesa, Marsh Flats, and Polluted Delta through Plains or Swamp types while surveil 1 sets up draws or graveyard value.
- Timing: Play when entering tapped does not cost a critical one-mana removal, discard, or counter window; fetch it when white and black are both needed more than untapped tempo.
- Inputs / outputs: Enters tapped, taps for {W} or {B}, and on entry lets you look at the top card of your library and may put it into your graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Supports Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Sheoldred's Edict, and Prismatic Ending; surveil can feed Unearth, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Barrowgoyf, Emperor of Bones, and Pre-War Formalwear.
- Role peers: Meticulous Archive covers white-blue; Undercity Sewers covers blue-black.
- Failure modes: Do not treat it as an untapped turn-one source; binning a unique answer is dangerous when the matchup needs exact cards.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Better against midrange and control where surveil matters; risky against aggro starts that punish tapped lands.

#### Ertai Resurrected
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, flash legendary catch-all interaction creature and value role player.
- Role type: interaction-stack; interaction-removal; modal utility; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Hold up four mana to either counter a target spell, activated ability, or triggered ability, or destroy another target creature or planeswalker, accepting that that object’s controller draws a card.
- Timing: Best when the stopped effect is more important than the replacement card; cast as a 3/2 flash threat only if the opponent gives no relevant target and pressure matters.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {2}{U}{B}; outputs a 3/2 legendary body and either a countered stack object/ability or destroyed creature or planeswalker, with that controller drawing a card.
- Mode map: Counter mode handles spell on the stack or activated/triggered ability, including noncreature spells; destroy mode targets another creature or planeswalker and cannot target Ertai himself.
- Partners / packages: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful grows from Ertai; Teferi, Time Raveler can restrict opponent timing; Force of Negation, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Tale's End, and Tishana's Tidebinder overlap on stack defense.
- Role peers: Tishana's Tidebinder stops abilities without giving a card but is narrower; Solitude and Swords to Plowshares remove creatures without countering spells.
- Failure modes: The controller draws a card, so avoid low-value uses; destroy mode cannot answer artifacts or enchantments unless they are also creatures or planeswalkers.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against combo turns and planeswalker decks; medium against low-curve aggro where four mana is slow.

#### Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary stabilizing finisher core piece.
- Role type: threat/clock; lifegain/stabilization; reach/finisher.
- Deck-specific job: Turn your card draw into life gain and opponent draws into life loss while presenting a 4/5 deathtouch body that stabilizes combat and closes games quickly.
- Timing: Cast when she likely survives or when forcing an immediate answer is necessary to stabilize; avoid tapping out into known exile or bounce if holding interaction protects an existing clock better.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {2}{B}{B}; outputs deathtouch blocking, 2 life whenever you draw a card, and 2 life loss whenever an opponent draws a card.
- Partners / packages: Gitaxian Probe, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Psychic Frog, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Skullclamp, Minas Tirith, Rivendell, and Barrowgoyf combat triggers increase your draw/life swing; Orcish Bowmasters punishes opponent extra draws alongside Sheoldred.
- Role peers: Solitude and Kaya's Guile after sideboard stabilize life in different ways; Barrowgoyf has lifelink but requires combat.
- Failure modes: Double black strains mana; Sheoldred does not immediately remove an attacker unless blocking is legal and safe.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against burn, cantrip decks, and fair creature races; vulnerable to Swords to Plowshares-like exile and edicts when she is your only creature.

#### Cut Down
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, one-mana creature removal role player.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Destroy target creature with total power and toughness 5 or less, answering early commanders, utility creatures, and small attackers while leaving mana open for pressure or permission.
- Timing: Use before combat when the creature changes damage or snowballs; hold if a smaller attacker is manageable and a more important low-stat creature is expected.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {B}; outputs destruction of a target creature only if its power plus toughness is 5 or less.
- Partners / packages: Thoughtseize and Gitaxian Probe reveal whether to save Cut Down; Fatal Push, Requiting Hex, Swords to Plowshares, Dismember, and Prismatic Ending share cheap removal duty.
- Role peers: Fatal Push hits mana value 2 or less, or 4 or less with revolt; Requiting Hex hits mana value 2 or less and can gain life with blight; Swords to Plowshares exiles any target creature for one white.
- Failure modes: It cannot hit high-stat creatures even if cheap; damage boosts or counters can make a target illegal if total power/toughness rises above 5.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against low-curve aggro, utility commanders, and mana creatures; poor against large finishers or noncreature engines.

#### Swift Reconfiguration
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, flash Aura removal and artifact-conversion role player.
- Role type: interaction-removal; protection/evasion; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Enchant target creature or Vehicle so the enchanted permanent becomes a Vehicle artifact with crew 5 and loses all other card types, often turning an opposing creature or commander off without sending it to graveyard.
- Timing: Use at instant speed before combat damage, in response to creature abilities when legal, or to neutralize a creature that removal cannot profitably kill; save when the opponent can crew it or remove the Aura immediately.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}; outputs an Aura attached to a creature or Vehicle and changes that permanent into a noncreature Vehicle artifact unless crewed.
- Partners / packages: Silas Renn, Seeker Adept can later cast Swift Reconfiguration from graveyard after combat damage; Disenchant after sideboard can answer opposing artifacts/enchantments but does not perform this creature shutdown.
- Role peers: Swords to Plowshares and Solitude exile creatures; Skyclave Apparition exiles nonland nontoken permanents with mana value 4 or less; Parallax Wave temporarily exiles creatures.
- Failure modes: It does not destroy or exile; a crewed Vehicle can attack or block, and Aura removal restores the permanent’s normal characteristics.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against commanders, death triggers, and indestructible creatures; weaker against artifact synergies or decks that can crew 5 easily.

#### Raffine, Scheming Seer
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary evasive selection engine and pressure core piece.
- Role type: engine piece; card selection; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Attack with one or more creatures to make target attacking creature connive X, where X equals the number of attacking creatures, turning attacks into draw-discard selection and +1/+1 counters for nonland discards.
- Timing: Cast when you can attack safely next turn or protect Raffine through ward {1}; avoid running it into an empty or losing board where a removal spell is needed instead.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}{U}{B}; outputs a 1/4 flying ward {1} legendary body and attack-triggered card filtering/counters.
- Partners / packages: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful grows from Raffine; Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Psychic Frog, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, Brazen Borrower, and Vendilion Clique are useful evasive attackers; Unearth, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Pre-War Formalwear, Emperor of Bones, and Barrowgoyf can use graveyard material.
- Role peers: Kaito, Bane of Nightmares provides surveil and draw; Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel filters on combat damage; Psychic Frog draws on combat damage and uses discard for counters.
- Failure modes: Connive requires attacking and targets an attacking creature; do not attack multiple important creatures into bad blocks just to increase X.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against fair decks and stalled removal hands; fragile against sweepers and edicts if it is your whole plan.

#### Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary black land and channel recursion utility resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; recursion; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Function as black mana early or later channel from hand to mill three cards, then return a creature or planeswalker card from your graveyard to your hand, discounted by legendary creatures you control.
- Timing: Play as land when black mana is needed; preserve in hand when you already have mana and expect to rebuy Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Teferi, Time Raveler, Solitude, or a key cheap creature.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {B}; channel costs {3}{B}, discard Takenuma, mill three, then returns a creature or planeswalker card from your graveyard to hand; cost is {1} less for each legendary creature you control.
- Mode map: Land side supplies black; channel side is an ability from hand, not a spell, and requires a creature or planeswalker card in your graveyard to return profitably.
- Partners / packages: Legendary creatures reducing channel cost include Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, and Raffine, Scheming Seer.
- Role peers: Unearth returns mana value 3 or less creatures directly to battlefield; Pre-War Formalwear returns mana value 3 or less creature cards and equips itself.
- Failure modes: Rest in Peace, Dauthi Voidwalker, and Dennick, Pious Apprentice can interfere with graveyard targeting or availability; channeling without a valuable target wastes a land.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in attrition and removal-heavy games; weak when graveyard hate is visible.

#### Otawara, Soaring City
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary blue land and channel bounce interaction resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; interaction-removal; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Supply blue mana or channel from hand to return target artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker to its owner’s hand, often through stack-light windows that dodge ordinary spell counters.
- Timing: Play as land if blue is required; save as channel interaction when the hand has enough mana and a problematic permanent or lethal blocker is likely.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {U}; channel costs {3}{U}, discard Otawara, and bounces target artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker, reduced by {1} for each legendary creature you control.
- Mode map: Land side is stable blue; channel side is temporary interaction from hand and does not answer lands or spells on the stack.
- Partners / packages: Legendary creatures lowering channel cost include Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Raffine, Scheming Seer, and Vendilion Clique.
- Role peers: Brazen Borrower // Petty Theft bounces target nonland permanent an opponent controls; Teferi, Time Raveler bounces artifact, creature, or enchantment and draws; Prismatic Ending exiles nonland permanents at sorcery speed.
- Failure modes: Bounce is temporary and can give the opponent another enters-the-battlefield trigger; it cannot target lands or spell objects.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against tokens, expensive permanents, Aura/equipment tempo, and protected blockers; weaker against cheap recast threats.

#### Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary white land and channel combat removal resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; interaction-removal; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Provide white mana or channel from hand to deal 4 damage to target attacking or blocking creature, discounted by legendary creatures you control.
- Timing: Play as land if white is needed; hold as channel when combat is likely to decide the race and your mana is already stable.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {W}; channel costs {2}{W}, discard Eiganjo, and deals 4 damage to target attacking or blocking creature, with cost reduced by {1} for each legendary creature you control.
- Mode map: Land side casts white spells; channel side is combat-only damage to an attacking or blocking creature and does not shrink toughness or answer noncombat creatures.
- Partners / packages: Legendary creatures reducing channel cost include Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse; Eiganjo Castle protects legendary creatures but is a different land.
- Role peers: Swords to Plowshares and Solitude exile creatures; Dismember gives -5/-5; Cut Down destroys low total power/toughness creatures outside combat.
- Failure modes: Damage may fail against toughness above 4, prevention, protection from white, or indestructible; cannot hit planeswalkers or noncombat creatures.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in creature combat and commander races; lower value against spell combo and control.

#### Solitude
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, free or hard-cast exile removal and lifelink stabilizer core piece.
- Role type: interaction-removal; lifegain/stabilization; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Flash in to exile up to one other target creature, giving that creature’s controller life equal to its power, or evoke by exiling a white card from hand when tempo matters more than card count.
- Timing: Evoke only to stop lethal, remove a decisive creature, or protect a winning swing; hard-cast when a 3/2 flash lifelink body plus removal stabilizes the race.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {3}{W}{W}, or exiles a white card for evoke; outputs exile removal, opponent life gain based on exiled creature’s power, and possibly a lifelink body if not sacrificed through evoke.
- Mode map: Normal cast leaves Solitude on battlefield after its enters trigger; evoke uses alternate cost and sacrifices Solitude after it enters unless another effect changes that outcome.
- Partners / packages: White pitch cards include Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, Flowering of the White Tree, Swift Reconfiguration, Aang, Swift Savior, Spectacular Spider-Man, Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, Voice of Victory, Pre-War Formalwear, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Swords to Plowshares, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Prismatic Ending, Mana Tithe, Skyclave Apparition, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Parallax Wave.
- Role peers: Swords to Plowshares is cheaper exile; Subtlety handles creature or planeswalker spells before resolution.
- Failure modes: It cannot target itself, and life gain can extend the opponent’s clock if the exiled creature was not critical.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against aggro, single-threat commanders, and creature combo; less useful against noncreature control.

#### Opposition Agent
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, flash search-hate creature and disruptive threat role player.
- Role type: hate piece; threat/clock; interaction-stack.
- Deck-specific job: Punish opposing library searches by letting you control the opponent while they search, exile found cards, and possibly play those exiled cards with mana of any color.
- Timing: Hold up three mana when the opponent represents fetch lands, tutors, ramp searches, or commander-specific search effects; flash as pressure only if the search window is unlikely and a 3/2 body matters.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {2}{B}; outputs a 3/2 flash body, opponent-search control, exiled found cards, and permission to play those cards while exiled.
- Partners / packages: Wan Shi Tong, Librarian also rewards opponent searches; Stifle and Tale's End can instead counter search-related activated or triggered abilities when legal; Thoughtseize and Gitaxian Probe identify tutor-heavy hands.
- Role peers: Aven-style search hate is absent; closest current-list alternatives are Stifle for activated/triggered ability denial and Pithing Needle after sideboard for known activated search engines.
- Failure modes: Does nothing if the opponent is not searching; casting it after the search has resolved is too late.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against fetch-heavy, tutor, big-mana, and combo decks; weaker against low-curve creature decks with few searches.

#### Wash Away
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap conditional counter and cleave stack interaction role player.
- Role type: interaction-stack; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Counter target spell that was not cast from its owner’s hand for {U}, or pay cleave {1}{U}{U} to counter any target spell by removing the bracketed restriction.
- Timing: Use the one-mana version aggressively against commanders, flashback/disturb/adventure-from-exile style recasts, graveyard casts, or other non-hand casts; save cleave for a decisive spell when three mana is available.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {U} for restricted counter or {1}{U}{U} for unrestricted cleave; outputs a countered spell on the stack.
- Mode map: Normal mode only counters a spell not cast from its owner’s hand; cleave mode counters target spell with no source-zone restriction.
- Partners / packages: Daze, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Spell Pierce, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Force of Negation, and Dovin's Veto after sideboard share stack-defense roles.
- Role peers: Tale's End counters legendary spells or abilities; Mana Leak hits any spell but can be paid through.
- Failure modes: Do not cast the one-mana version on an ordinary hand-cast spell; cleave requires double blue plus one generic.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in Commander contexts and against graveyard/library/exile casting; lower value against decks that only cast spells from hand and can pay for soft counters.

#### Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary planeswalker pressure engine and selection core piece.
- Role type: engine piece; card selection; protection/evasion; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Use ninjutsu through an unblocked attacker or cast normally, then generate emblems, surveil and draw after opponent life loss, or tap and stun a creature to protect attacks and planeswalker loyalty.
- Timing: Ninjutsu when returning an unblocked low-value attacker creates a tapped-and-attacking Kaito safely; cast normally when the board can defend him or his -2 stops a critical attacker.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {2}{U}{B} normally or {1}{U}{B} and returns an unblocked attacker to hand for ninjutsu; outputs loyalty, possible 3/4 hexproof Ninja creature during your turn, surveil/draw, tap/stun interaction, or Ninja emblems.
- Mode map: Ninjutsu is an alternate battlefield entry from hand during combat; +1 creates a Ninja pump emblem; 0 surveils 2 then draws for each opponent who lost life this turn; -2 taps target creature and puts two stun counters on it.
- Partners / packages: Evasive attackers for ninjutsu include Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom, Brazen Borrower, Vendilion Clique, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, and Psychic Frog with flying; Teferi, Time Raveler protects planeswalker turns.
- Role peers: Teferi, Time Raveler is a tempo planeswalker; Raffine, Scheming Seer and Psychic Frog provide combat-linked cards.
- Failure modes: Ninjutsu needs an unblocked attacker; the 0 ability draws only for opponents who lost life this turn.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against midrange and control when chip damage is reliable; risky against wide boards that can attack Kaito down.

#### City of Brass
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, five-color painful fixing mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Cast any spell in the Esper deck despite tight color demands, especially early Thoughtseize, Swords to Plowshares, Spell Pierce, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Psychic Frog, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, Raffine, Scheming Seer, and Sheoldred's Edict.
- Timing: Use when exact colors matter more than 1 life; prefer painless duals, Command Tower, Seachrome Coast, Concealed Courtyard, or fetch targets once life total is stressed.
- Inputs / outputs: Whenever it becomes tapped, it deals 1 damage to you; taps for one mana of any color.
- Partners / packages: Enables Prismatic Ending with any needed color among white, blue, and black; supports double-spell turns involving black discard plus blue or white interaction.
- Role peers: Mana Confluence also taps for any color at 1 life; Starting Town taps for any color by paying 1 life or {C} without life.
- Failure modes: It damages you whenever tapped, including non-mana tap effects; do not treat the life as optional.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent for color consistency; dangerous against burn, aggro, and games where Thoughtseize, Dismember, fetches, or shock lands already pressure life.

#### Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap legendary unblockable card-flow and protection transformer role player.
- Role type: threat/clock; card selection; protection/evasion; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Use Sygg’s unblockability to enable combat damage, grant a creature a one-turn combat-damage draw trigger when Sygg enters or transforms into Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom, and transform between Wisdom and Shield for protection from each color.
- Timing: Cast early when unblockable pressure matters or when Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful wants a legendary follow-up; pay the first-main transform costs only when the resulting trigger changes combat or protection for the next turn.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{U} to cast; later first-main payments of {W} or {U} transform Sygg; outputs unblockable damage, temporary card-draw trigger, or color protection on a target creature you control.
- Mode map: Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom is unblockable and grants a target creature a combat-damage draw trigger until end of turn on entry/transform; Sygg, Wanderbrine Shield is unblockable and grants target creature you control protection from each color until your next turn when it transforms into that face.
- Partners / packages: Raffine, Scheming Seer, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, and Psychic Frog all reward evasive attacks; Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful grows from Sygg entering.
- Role peers: Pippin, Guard of the Citadel gives protection from a card type; Shizo, Death's Storehouse gives fear to a legendary creature.
- Failure modes: Card Reference lacks a consolidated Oracle line but supplies face text; do not assume extra transform timing or triggers beyond the listed first-main payment abilities and face triggers.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in board stalls and removal-light races; vulnerable to sweepers, edicts, and instant-speed removal before combat damage.

#### Requiting Hex
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, one-mana small-creature removal and life-buffer role player.
- Role type: interaction-removal; lifegain/stabilization.
- Deck-specific job: Destroy target creature with mana value 2 or less, with optional blight 1 as an additional cost to put a -1/-1 counter on a creature you control and gain 2 life if that cost was paid.
- Timing: Use early on creatures that enable damage, mana, or engines; pay blight only when the -1/-1 counter does not compromise your key creature or the 2 life matters in the race.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {B}; optionally consumes a -1/-1 counter placed on a creature you control; outputs destruction of a target creature with mana value 2 or less and conditional 2 life gain.
- Partners / packages: Fatal Push and Cut Down share cheap removal duties; Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Solitude, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, and Kaya's Guile after sideboard also stabilize life.
- Role peers: Fatal Push can hit mana value 4 with revolt; Cut Down uses total power/toughness 5 or less; Swords to Plowshares exiles any target creature but gives life.
- Failure modes: Blighting Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Psychic Frog, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, or Orcish Bowmasters can undo combat math or kill a one-toughness creature; cannot hit mana value 3 or higher.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against low-curve aggro and utility commanders; weak against large creatures and noncreature engines.

#### Aang, Swift Savior
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, flash legendary tempo creature and transformational threat role player.
- Role type: interaction-removal; protection/evasion; threat/clock; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: Flash in a 2/3 flying legendary body and airbend up to one other target creature or spell, exiling it and letting its owner cast it from exile for {2}; later waterbend {8} transforms Aang into Aang and La, Ocean's Fury.
- Timing: Use Aang as a tempo answer to a dangerous spell on the stack or creature on battlefield when delaying it for {2} changes the turn; transform only in late games where a 5/5 reach trample attack and tapped-creature counters will matter.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}{U}; airbend temporarily exiles up to one other target creature or spell; waterbend consumes {8}; transformed attacks put +1/+1 counters on each tapped creature you control.
- Mode map: Aang, Swift Savior has flash, flying, and airbend; Aang and La, Ocean's Fury has reach, trample, and attack-triggered counters for tapped creatures you control.
- Partners / packages: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful grows from Aang; Voice of Victory creates tapped attacking Warrior tokens; Raffine, Scheming Seer and Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector reward attacks.
- Role peers: Brazen Borrower and Otawara, Soaring City bounce permanents; Subtlety handles creature or planeswalker spells; Parallax Wave temporarily exiles creatures.
- Failure modes: Card Reference lacks a consolidated Oracle line but supplies face text; airbend gives the owner a recast option for {2}, so it is tempo, not permanent removal.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against tempo-sensitive stack or combat turns; less effective when the opponent can immediately recast the exiled object.

#### Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, flash legendary scalable flier and search-punishment card engine.
- Role type: engine piece; hate piece; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Use X to size a flash flying vigilance threat, draw half X rounded down on entry, and punish opponent library searches with +1/+1 counters and card draw.
- Timing: Cast for X=2 or more when immediate cards matter and mana is available; hold against fetches or tutors if the opponent is likely to search and you can afford passing.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {X}{U}{U}; outputs a 1/1 plus X +1/+1 counters, half X cards rounded down, flying vigilance pressure, and future draw/counters on opponent searches.
- Partners / packages: Opposition Agent punishes searches differently; Stifle and Tale's End can counter search-related activated or triggered abilities; Rivendell can scry toward land drops for large X.
- Role peers: Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel and Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom are cheaper evasive card engines; Kaito, Bane of Nightmares is a four-mana selection engine.
- Failure modes: X=1 draws zero cards; do not tap out for a large X if the opponent’s known next spell must be countered.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against fetchland/tutor/big-mana decks and control end-step windows; weaker against fast board pressure where four-plus mana draw is too slow.

#### Dismember
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, flexible instant creature shrink-removal role player.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Give target creature -5/-5 until end of turn, answering creatures that dodge Cut Down or Fatal Push and winning combat at low mana cost.
- Timing: Use before combat damage or in response to pump/protection when it still kills; pay life only when preserving mana changes the turn or prevents more damage than the life spent.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {1}{B/P}{B/P}; each Phyrexian black symbol can be paid with {B} or 2 life; outputs -5/-5 until end of turn.
- Partners / packages: Thoughtseize and Gitaxian Probe reveal whether life payment is safe; Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Solitude, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, and Kaya's Guile after sideboard can offset life pressure.
- Role peers: Swords to Plowshares and Solitude exile instead of shrinking; Cut Down and Fatal Push are cheaper but more restricted.
- Failure modes: This is -5/-5, not damage; protection from black or target illegality can stop it, and paying 4 life is dangerous at 8 or less life.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against mid-sized creatures and combat tricks; risky against burn and aggressive decks where life total is the bottleneck.

#### Spectacular Spider-Man
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap legendary flash threat and team-protection role player.
- Role type: protection/evasion; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Flash in a 3/2 legendary creature, threaten flying for {1}, and sacrifice itself for {1} to give creatures you control hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.
- Timing: Cast into end-step or combat windows when a 3/2 body blocks, pressures, or grows Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful; keep {1} open when team protection is likely to counter a sweeper, targeted removal cluster, or lethal combat.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}; flying activation consumes {1}; protection activation consumes {1} and sacrifices Spectacular Spider-Man to protect creatures you control.
- Partners / packages: Protects Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Psychic Frog, and Barrowgoyf; Flowering of the White Tree boosts it as a legendary creature.
- Role peers: Plaza of Heroes protects one legendary creature; Reverent Mantra gives color protection to each creature; Pippin, Guard of the Citadel protects another creature by card type.
- Failure modes: Hexproof and indestructible do not stop edicts, exile that does not destroy if already resolved, -X/-X, or bounce not relying on targeting after protection is active; sacrificing it removes a threat.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against targeted removal and destroy sweepers; weaker against sacrifice and exile-heavy control.

#### Cloud, Midgar Mercenary
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap legendary Equipment tutor and pressure role player.
- Role type: tutor/search; threat/clock; engine payoff.
- Deck-specific job: Search your library for an Equipment card, reveal it, put it into hand, then shuffle; in this registered deck the main target is Skullclamp or Pre-War Formalwear.
- Timing: Cast when finding Skullclamp produces card flow or Pre-War Formalwear threatens recursion/equipped pressure; avoid casting into removal if you need a guaranteed body to carry equipment.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}{W}; outputs a 2/1 legendary body, a revealed Equipment card to hand, and extra triggered ability copies only while Cloud is equipped.
- Partners / packages: Exact Equipment targets are Skullclamp and Pre-War Formalwear; Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful grows from Cloud; Flowering of the White Tree makes Cloud hit harder.
- Role peers: Demonic Tutor can find any card but costs black and a card slot; Stoneforge-style redundancy is absent.
- Failure modes: Double white strains mana; if Skullclamp and Pre-War Formalwear are unavailable, the enters trigger may fail to find; Cloud’s double-trigger text matters only while equipped.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in attrition and creature mirrors where Skullclamp or Formalwear matters; weaker against Stony Silence effects or artifact hate.

#### Starting Town
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, early untapped flexible land and painful fixing mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Enter untapped during turns one through three to support early interaction and pressure, then provide either colorless mana or any color at the cost of 1 life.
- Timing: Prioritize in opening turns when it enters untapped; later, account for entering tapped and for life loss from the any-color ability.
- Inputs / outputs: Enters tapped unless it is your first, second, or third turn; taps for {C}; taps and pays 1 life to add one mana of any color.
- Partners / packages: Helps cast one-mana spells Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Swords to Plowshares, Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, and Gitaxian Probe if colored life payment is acceptable.
- Role peers: City of Brass and Mana Confluence provide any color with life cost; Command Tower provides commander-color mana without life.
- Failure modes: After turn three it may enter tapped, so do not rely on it as late untapped interaction; colorless mode does not cast colored one-mana spells.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong for early color smoothing; against burn or aggro, choose {C} or other lands when possible to preserve life.

#### Voice of Victory
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap creature-turn shield and attack-token pressure role player.
- Role type: threat/clock; protection/evasion; mechanic enabler.
- Deck-specific job: Stop opponents from casting spells during your turn and create two tapped and attacking 1/1 red Warrior creature tokens whenever Voice attacks, sacrificing those tokens at the beginning of the next end step.
- Timing: Cast before a turn where you want to attack, resolve Flowering of the White Tree, equip Skullclamp, or protect a tap-out play from instant-speed opposition; attack when temporary Warriors improve damage, Raffine count, or Minas Tirith activation without exposing Voice to bad blocks.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}; outputs a 1/3 body, opponent turn-restriction during your turn, temporary tapped attacking tokens, and sacrifice triggers at end step.
- Partners / packages: Minas Tirith needs two or more attackers; Raffine, Scheming Seer counts attacking creatures; Skullclamp can use temporary Warrior tokens if timing and sacrifice/death are legal.
- Role peers: Teferi, Time Raveler restricts opponent casting timing more broadly; Grand Abolisher-like redundancy is absent.
- Failure modes: Mobilized Warriors are tapped and attacking, then sacrificed at the next end step; do not count them as long-term blockers.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against control and combat tricks; less useful against sorcery-speed creature decks that win on their own turn.

#### Pre-War Formalwear
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, Equipment recursion engine and combat payoff role player.
- Role type: recursion; engine piece; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Return target creature card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to battlefield and attach Pre-War Formalwear to it, then make equipped creature +2/+2 with vigilance.
- Timing: Cast when a relevant cheap creature is already in graveyard or when the equipment body immediately stabilizes or pressures; avoid exposing it into graveyard hate or Stony Silence-style artifact ability suppression.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {2}{W}; outputs a reanimated mana-value-3-or-less creature, an attached Equipment, +2/+2 vigilance, and later equip {3}.
- Partners / packages: High-value return targets include Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Orcish Bowmasters, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Psychic Frog, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Opposition Agent, Skyclave Apparition, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, and Vendilion Clique.
- Role peers: Unearth returns mana value 3 or less creatures for {B}; Takenuma, Abandoned Mire returns creature or planeswalker to hand; Silas Renn, Seeker Adept can recast Pre-War Formalwear from graveyard after combat damage.
- Failure modes: Needs a legal target creature card with mana value 3 or less in your graveyard for the enters recursion; Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, Dauthi Voidwalker, and Dennick, Pious Apprentice can interfere.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in attrition and removal mirrors; weak when graveyard hate or artifact hate is central.

#### Mana Leak
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, two-mana soft counter core interaction.
- Role type: interaction-stack.
- Deck-specific job: Counter target spell unless its controller pays {3}, buying tempo for early pressure and stopping midgame haymakers while the opponent’s mana is constrained.
- Timing: Strongest turns two through five or when the opponent taps low; spend it before the game reaches a point where {3} is easy to pay.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{U}; outputs a countered spell on the stack unless its controller pays {3}.
- Partners / packages: Works with early pressure from Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Psychic Frog, and Orcish Bowmasters; Thoughtseize, Gitaxian Probe, and Vendilion Clique reveal whether the opponent can pay or bait.
- Role peers: Memory Lapse counters then puts the spell on top; Daze, Force Spike, and Mana Tithe tax {1}; Spell Pierce taxes noncreature spells by {2}.
- Failure modes: Do not hold it too long against decks making land drops; it cannot answer a resolved permanent.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against tap-out midrange, combo setup, and big-mana payoff turns before excess mana; weak in late topdeck games with abundant mana.

#### Basim Ibn Ishaq
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap legendary historic-spell engine and unblockable attacker role player.
- Role type: engine piece; mechanic payoff; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Draw a card once each turn when you cast a historic spell, make Basim unblockable that turn, and grow Basim with +1/+1 counters when it deals combat damage to a player.
- Timing: Cast before a turn with historic follow-ups; sequence artifacts and legendary spells after Basim when you can immediately trigger the draw and unblockable clause.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {U}{B}; outputs a 2/2 legendary body, once-per-turn draw from casting artifacts, legendaries, or Sagas, temporary unblockability, and combat-damage counters.
- Partners / packages: Historic spells in this list include Skullclamp, Pre-War Formalwear, Swift Reconfiguration, Flowering of the White Tree, Parallax Wave, Teferi, Time Raveler, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, and the many legendary creatures and legendary lands when cast as spells only for nonland legendaries.
- Role peers: Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel and Psychic Frog need combat damage for cards; Raffine, Scheming Seer filters on attacks.
- Failure modes: Legendary lands are not cast, so playing Plaza of Heroes, Rivendell, or Eiganjo Castle does not trigger Basim; the draw trigger only happens once each turn.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in grindy games with cheap historic follow-ups; fragile against removal before the first trigger.

#### Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap legendary evasive attacker and exile-recurring life/selection role player.
- Role type: threat/clock; lifegain/stabilization; card selection; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Attack as a flying vigilance body, exile itself by tapping to gain 2 life and scry 2, then return from exile tapped and attacking when a legendary creature you control attacks and is not blocked.
- Timing: Use the exile ability when 2 life and scry 2 matter or when Senu would otherwise die; plan attacks with unblockable or evasive legendary creatures to bring Senu back.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}; tap/exile ability outputs 2 life and scry 2; return trigger outputs an attacking creature from exile.
- Partners / packages: Legendary attackers that can enable return include Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom, Vendilion Clique, and Raffine, Scheming Seer.
- Role peers: Dennick, Pious Apprentice provides lifelink; Rivendell scries without leaving battlefield; Minas Tirith draws after two attackers.
- Failure modes: Senu must be exiled by its own ability and needs a legendary creature you control to attack and be unblocked; do not exile it if the opponent can easily block every legendary attacker.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in races and board stalls with evasive legends; weaker against flyers or removal that stops the enabling attacker.

#### Subtlety
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, free or hard-cast creature/planeswalker spell tempo interaction.
- Role type: interaction-stack; protection/evasion; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Flash in to target a creature spell or planeswalker spell and have its owner put it on top or bottom of their library, buying tempo without using graveyard removal.
- Timing: Evoke by exiling a blue card when a creature or planeswalker spell would beat your board or kill you; hard-cast when a 3/3 flying body plus stack tempo is worth four mana.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {2}{U}{U}, or exiles a blue card for evoke; outputs a spell moved to owner’s choice of top or bottom of library and possibly a 3/3 flying body if not evoked.
- Mode map: Normal cast leaves Subtlety on battlefield after its trigger; evoke is an alternate cost that sacrifices Subtlety after entry.
- Partners / packages: Blue pitch cards include Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Tishana's Tidebinder, Force of Negation, Wash Away, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Aang, Swift Savior, Psychic Frog, Vendilion Clique, Gitaxian Probe, Spell Pierce, Stifle, Force Spike, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, Tainted Pact, Brazen Borrower, Tale's End, Teferi, Time Raveler, Memory Lapse, and Daze.
- Role peers: Force of Negation handles noncreature spells; Solitude handles resolved creatures; Memory Lapse handles any spell but puts it on top.
- Failure modes: It targets only creature spells or planeswalker spells on the stack, not resolved permanents.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against commander recasts, planeswalker haymakers, and creature combo; weak against noncreature spell combo.

#### Barrowgoyf
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, graveyard-scaling lifelink threat and value role player.
- Role type: threat/clock; lifegain/stabilization; card selection; mechanic payoff.
- Deck-specific job: Scale power and toughness from the number of card types among cards in all graveyards, attack with deathtouch and lifelink, then optionally mill that many cards and return a creature card among them to hand.
- Timing: Cast when graveyards already contain multiple card types or when a deathtouch lifelink blocker stabilizes; attack when lifegain and the optional mill/creature pickup are worth exposing it.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {2}{B}; outputs variable stats, combat life gain, optional self-mill after player combat damage, and possible creature card to hand from milled cards.
- Partners / packages: Fetch lands, Thoughtseize, removal, planeswalkers, enchantments, artifacts, instants, and creatures naturally diversify graveyard card types; Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Unearth, Pre-War Formalwear, and Emperor of Bones use graveyard creatures.
- Role peers: Sheoldred, the Apocalypse stabilizes without combat; Psychic Frog can grow and draw through combat; Dennick, Pious Apprentice has lifelink but blocks graveyard targeting.
- Failure modes: Rest in Peace, Dauthi Voidwalker, and graveyard exile shrink or blank Barrowgoyf; optional mill can fuel opponents or self-mill needed singleton cards.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in attrition and creature races; poor against graveyard hate or exile-heavy control.

#### Windswept Heath
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, fetch land for Plains access and color fixing mana resource.
- Role type: tutor/search; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Pay 1 life, sacrifice, and search for a Forest or Plains card; in this deck the relevant registered hits are Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Scrubland, Tundra, and Flagstones of Trokair is not searchable because it is not a Plains card by type.
- Timing: Fetch before needing untapped white; delay when a surveil land top-card decision or Daze bluff matters more than immediate mana.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes tap, 1 life, and Windswept Heath; outputs a Forest or Plains card onto battlefield and shuffle.
- Partners / packages: Finds white sources for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Solitude, Swift Reconfiguration, Prismatic Ending, and Flowering of the White Tree.
- Role peers: Flooded Strand and Marsh Flats also find Plains-type cards; Arid Mesa finds Mountain or Plains but there are no registered Mountain cards.
- Failure modes: It cannot find Underground Sea, Watery Grave, Undercity Sewers, or basic Forest because no registered Forest target is present in this decklist.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Against burn, minimize unnecessary fetch-shock damage; against tempo, prioritize untapped mana over surveil value.

#### Flooded Strand
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, fetch land for Plains or Island fixing mana resource.
- Role type: tutor/search; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Search for a Plains or Island card, mapping to Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, Undercity Sewers, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Scrubland, Underground Sea, Tundra, and any other registered land with Plains or Island type.
- Timing: Crack when the next two turns need exact white or blue; consider holding for shuffle value after Rivendell scry or surveil only if mana is already safe.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes tap, 1 life, and Flooded Strand; outputs a Plains or Island card onto battlefield and shuffle.
- Partners / packages: Enables early Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Daze, Mana Leak, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, and Teferi, Time Raveler.
- Role peers: Polluted Delta finds Island or Swamp; Marsh Flats finds Plains or Swamp; Misty Rainforest finds Forest or Island with no registered Forest targets.
- Failure modes: Do not fetch a tapped surveil land when an untapped shock or dual is needed for one-mana interaction; life payment plus shock costs can matter.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strongest opening fetch because it covers white-blue starts; preserve black access with Watery Grave or Underground Sea if discard/removal is next.

#### Bloodstained Mire
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, fetch land for Swamp access and black fixing mana resource.
- Role type: tutor/search; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Search for a Swamp or Mountain card; in this registered deck the relevant hits are Shadowy Backstreet, Undercity Sewers, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Scrubland, Underground Sea, and there are no registered Mountain targets.
- Timing: Fetch black early for Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Requiting Hex, Sheoldred's Edict, and Demonic Tutor; delay if the opponent may punish life loss and black is already covered.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes tap, 1 life, and Bloodstained Mire; outputs a Swamp or Mountain card onto battlefield and shuffle.
- Partners / packages: Supports black interaction and enables Daze if it finds an Island Swamp such as Underground Sea, Watery Grave, or Undercity Sewers.
- Role peers: Verdant Catacombs finds Swamp or Forest with no registered Forest targets; Marsh Flats finds Plains or Swamp.
- Failure modes: Do not claim red or Mountain access from this decklist, because no registered Mountain card is present; fetch cannot find Command Tower or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Prioritize untapped black against combo and aggro; against burn, avoid shock damage unless the spell prevents more damage.

#### Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap legendary blink-tempo creature and value role player.
- Role type: engine piece; interaction-removal; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Attack to exile up to one other target nonland permanent until the next end step, temporarily removing blockers or reusing your own enters abilities, and grow Phelia if the returned card entered under your control.
- Timing: Cast at flash speed to block or dodge sorcery removal; attack only when the blink target produces a better turn than holding Phelia back.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}; outputs a 2/2 legendary body and attack-triggered temporary exile of another nonland permanent.
- Partners / packages: Reuse enters triggers from Orcish Bowmasters, Skyclave Apparition, Solitude, Ertai Resurrected, Tishana's Tidebinder, Vendilion Clique, Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, and Pre-War Formalwear when legal; temporarily clear blockers for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful or Silas Renn, Seeker Adept.
- Role peers: Parallax Wave exiles creatures with fade counters; Teferi, Time Raveler and Brazen Borrower bounce rather than blink.
- Failure modes: Returned opponent permanents get their enters triggers again; Phelia cannot target lands and cannot target itself because it says another target nonland permanent.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in fair creature and planeswalker pressure games; risky against opponents with better enters triggers.

#### Psychic Frog
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap combat-draw threat and graveyard-powered evasive engine.
- Role type: engine piece; discard outlet; protection/evasion; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Draw on combat damage to a player or planeswalker, discard cards to add +1/+1 counters, and exile three cards from your graveyard to gain flying until end of turn for profitable attacks or blocks.
- Timing: Deploy early when you can protect it or force awkward blocks; use discard only when the counter matters or discarded cards have graveyard value, and use flying when it makes damage connect or saves a block.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {U}{B}; discard ability consumes cards in hand for counters; flying ability consumes three graveyard cards; combat damage outputs cards drawn.
- Partners / packages: Raffine, Scheming Seer and Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel also use combat for cards; Unearth, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Pre-War Formalwear, Barrowgoyf, and Emperor of Bones care about graveyard contents.
- Role peers: Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom is unblockable card pressure; Barrowgoyf uses graveyard count for stats and lifelink.
- Failure modes: Exiling three graveyard cards can shrink Barrowgoyf or cut off Takenuma, Unearth, and Emperor of Bones; discard is not free if hand size is low.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against control and planeswalkers when evasion works; weaker against graveyard hate or exile removal.

#### Emperor of Bones
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, graveyard pressure creature and temporary reanimation engine role player.
- Role type: hate piece; recursion; engine piece.
- Deck-specific job: At your beginning of combat, exile up to one target card from a graveyard, then use adapt 2 or other +1/+1 counter events to put a creature card exiled with Emperor of Bones onto battlefield under your control with haste and a finality counter until it is sacrificed at end step.
- Timing: Exile the best graveyard card before it can be used; adapt when a creature exiled with Emperor will immediately attack, block, or trigger for value.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{B}; adapt consumes {1}{B}; outputs graveyard exile, +1/+1 counters, temporary creature theft/reanimation, haste, finality counter, and end-step sacrifice.
- Partners / packages: Raffine, Scheming Seer and Psychic Frog can put +1/+1 counters on creatures, but Emperor specifically triggers when counters are put on itself; graveyard setup overlaps with Barrowgoyf, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Unearth, and Pre-War Formalwear.
- Role peers: Dauthi Voidwalker after sideboard is broader opponent graveyard exile plus one free play; Rest in Peace after sideboard is total shutdown.
- Failure modes: Dennick, Pious Apprentice stops cards in graveyards from being targets; Rest in Peace prevents graveyard cards from staying available; reanimated creature is sacrificed at the next end step.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against graveyard and creature decks; less effective against spell decks with few creature cards.

#### Undercity Sewers
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, tapped Island Swamp fixing and surveil utility mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Provide fetchable blue-black access for Flooded Strand, Bloodstained Mire, Verdant Catacombs, Scalding Tarn, Misty Rainforest, and Polluted Delta through Island or Swamp types while surveil 1 smooths draws or fuels graveyard tools.
- Timing: Use when the tapped entry will not miss one-mana interaction; fetch it when both blue and black are needed and tempo loss is acceptable.
- Inputs / outputs: Enters tapped, taps for {U} or {B}, and on entry lets you look at the top card and may put it into your graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Supports Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Psychic Frog, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Mana Leak, Tainted Pact, and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares.
- Role peers: Underground Sea and Watery Grave are untapped or optionally untapped Island Swamp alternatives; Meticulous Archive and Shadowy Backstreet are the other surveil duals.
- Failure modes: Do not keep a hand where Undercity Sewers is the only early interaction source against fast pressure; surveil can put needed singleton answers into vulnerable zones.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in slower games and fetch sequencing; risky in tempo mirrors where tapped lands lose stack windows.

#### Vendilion Clique
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, flash legendary evasive disruption threat role player.
- Role type: interaction-discard; threat/clock; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Flash in a 3/1 flying legendary creature, look at target player’s hand, and you may choose a nonland card for that player to reveal, put on the bottom of their library, then draw a card.
- Timing: Use during opponent draw step, end step, or before your tap-out play when the hand information and card exchange will change sequencing; cast as pressure if disruption is unnecessary.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{U}{U}; outputs hand information, possible bottoming of a nonland card, replacement draw for that player, and evasive damage.
- Partners / packages: Thoughtseize, Gitaxian Probe, and Duress after sideboard provide other hand information; Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful grows from Vendilion Clique entering; Kaito, Bane of Nightmares can use it as an evasive attacker.
- Role peers: Thoughtseize discards without replacement draw but costs 2 life; Duress after sideboard hits only noncreature nonland; Gitaxian Probe only looks and draws.
- Failure modes: The target player draws a replacement card, so do not bottom a medium card if an unknown draw is worse for your position.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against combo, control, and sweepers; fragile against one-damage effects and flash blockers.

#### Mana Confluence
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, five-color painful fixing mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provide any color for the deck’s WUB one-mana interaction, double-spell turns, and splash-demanding legendary spells without entering tapped.
- Timing: Use early when exact colors matter; later, prefer painless sources if the board is pressuring life or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse has not stabilized.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps and pays 1 life to add one mana of any color.
- Partners / packages: Enables Prismatic Ending converge with available white, blue, or black; supports tight sequences like Thoughtseize plus Spell Pierce, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful plus Fatal Push, or Swords to Plowshares plus Daze.
- Role peers: City of Brass is similar but deals damage whenever tapped; Starting Town provides any color with life or {C} without life.
- Failure modes: Life payment is part of activation; repeated use with Thoughtseize, Dismember, fetches, and shock lands can make races unwinnable.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against color-screw and combo where tempo matters; dangerous against burn and creature decks.

#### Thoughtseize
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, one-mana proactive hand disruption core piece.
- Role type: interaction-discard; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Target player reveals their hand, you choose a nonland card, that player discards it, and you lose 2 life, letting the deck protect early pressure or remove a combo/sweeper before it matters.
- Timing: Cast before committing Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Demonic Tutor, or Tainted Pact when hidden information changes the line.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {B} and 2 life; outputs revealed-hand information and one chosen nonland discard.
- Partners / packages: Pairs with Gitaxian Probe and Vendilion Clique for information; clears the way for Teferi, Time Raveler, Flowering of the White Tree, Parallax Wave, and commander pressure.
- Role peers: Duress after sideboard avoids life loss but cannot take creatures; Vendilion Clique can hit nonlands but gives a replacement draw.
- Failure modes: Do not cast at dangerously low life unless the taken card prevents more damage or a loss; cannot take lands.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against combo, control, sweepers, and removal-heavy hands; trim or delay against burn when life is the bottleneck and hand is low value.

#### Watery Grave
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, Island Swamp shock dual fixing mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provide blue-black access for Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Psychic Frog, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Tainted Pact, and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares while being fetchable.
- Timing: Pay 2 life for untapped entry only when the turn needs immediate blue or black; let it enter tapped when the hand can afford tempo and life matters.
- Inputs / outputs: Has Island and Swamp types, taps for {U} or {B}, and may enter untapped if you pay 2 life.
- Partners / packages: Fetchable by Flooded Strand, Bloodstained Mire, Verdant Catacombs, Scalding Tarn, Misty Rainforest, and Polluted Delta; supports Daze as an Island you can return.
- Role peers: Underground Sea is painless Island Swamp; Undercity Sewers is tapped surveil Island Swamp.
- Failure modes: Shock damage plus fetch and Thoughtseize can put you into burn range; do not fetch it when white is the missing color.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent for tempo and stack starts; against aggro, choose tapped entry or painless alternatives when possible.

#### Godless Shrine
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, Plains Swamp shock dual fixing mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provide white-black access for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Sheoldred's Edict, Prismatic Ending, and Kaya's Guile after sideboard while being fetchable.
- Timing: Pay 2 life for untapped entry when immediate white or black interaction matters; enter tapped on slower turns to preserve life.
- Inputs / outputs: Has Plains and Swamp types, taps for {W} or {B}, and may enter untapped if you pay 2 life.
- Partners / packages: Fetchable by Windswept Heath, Flooded Strand, Bloodstained Mire, Verdant Catacombs, Arid Mesa, Marsh Flats, and Polluted Delta through Plains or Swamp.
- Role peers: Scrubland is painless Plains Swamp; Shadowy Backstreet is tapped surveil Plains Swamp.
- Failure modes: It does not produce blue; fetching it early can strand Spell Pierce, Daze, Mana Leak, or Psychic Frog.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong for removal-discard starts; against burn, avoid unnecessary shock if City of Brass, Mana Confluence, or pain lands already tax life.

#### Hallowed Fountain
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, Plains Island shock dual fixing mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provide white-blue access for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Mana Leak, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Aang, Swift Savior while being fetchable.
- Timing: Pay 2 life when untapped white-blue is needed for pressure plus protection; enter tapped when the turn has no one-mana obligation.
- Inputs / outputs: Has Plains and Island types, taps for {W} or {U}, and may enter untapped if you pay 2 life.
- Partners / packages: Fetchable by Windswept Heath, Flooded Strand, Scalding Tarn, Arid Mesa, Misty Rainforest, Marsh Flats, and Polluted Delta through Plains or Island; supports Daze as an Island.
- Role peers: Tundra is painless Plains Island; Meticulous Archive is tapped surveil Plains Island.
- Failure modes: Does not produce black, so it can strand Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Cut Down, and Sheoldred's Edict.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong for tempo-protection starts; be careful with shock damage against aggressive decks.

#### Reverent Mantra
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, free or hard-cast mass color-protection combat trick role player.
- Role type: protection/evasion; interaction-stack.
- Deck-specific job: Choose a color and give each creature protection from that color until end of turn, using either {3}{W} or exiling a white card from hand rather than paying the mana cost.
- Timing: Use only when the chosen color changes lethal damage, combat blocks, targeted removal, or survival; preserve if the opponent’s threats are multicolor or colorless and protection will not solve the problem.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes four mana including white, or a white card from hand; outputs protection from one chosen color to each creature, including opponents' creatures.
- Partners / packages: Protects attacks from Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Psychic Frog, and Barrowgoyf; white pitch cards overlap with Solitude pitch resources.
- Role peers: Spectacular Spider-Man gives your creatures hexproof and indestructible; Plaza of Heroes protects one legendary creature; Pippin, Guard of the Citadel grants protection from a card type to another creature.
- Failure modes: It affects each creature, so it can also protect blockers or opposing attackers; it does not stop colorless effects, edicts, or sweepers that do not damage/destroy/target/enchant/equip/block by the chosen color.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in color-based combat and removal wars; weak against artifacts, sacrifice, and Supreme Verdict-like effects.

#### Mental Misstep
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, free or blue one-mana spell counter core interaction.
- Role type: interaction-stack.
- Deck-specific job: Counter target spell with mana value 1, trading life or blue mana for tempo against early removal, discard, cantrips, mana creatures, and one-mana engines.
- Timing: Spend early when the spell would disrupt your first threat or enable the opponent’s plan; later, hold for a high-leverage one-mana spell rather than firing at a low-impact cantrip if your hand can answer the result.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {U/P}, paid with {U} or 2 life; outputs a countered spell with mana value exactly 1.
- Partners / packages: Protects Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful and Psychic Frog from one-mana removal; pairs with Daze, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Spell Pierce, and Wash Away for low-cost stack pressure.
- Role peers: Spell Pierce hits noncreature spells with tax {2}; Force Spike and Mana Tithe hit any spell with tax {1}.
- Failure modes: Cannot counter mana value 0, 2, or higher; life payment is dangerous against burn and aggro.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium in low-curve mirrors, combo, and removal-heavy starts; weaker against expensive midrange threats.

#### Seachrome Coast
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, early untapped white-blue fast-land mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provide painless early {W} or {U} for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, and Dennick, Pious Apprentice.
- Timing: Best in the first three land drops while you control two or fewer other lands; sequence before slower lands if the hand needs immediate interaction.
- Inputs / outputs: Enters tapped unless you control two or fewer other lands; taps for {W} or {U}.
- Partners / packages: Supports white-blue tempo starts with Yoshimaru plus Spell Pierce, Swords to Plowshares plus Daze, or Dennick into Mana Leak.
- Role peers: Concealed Courtyard is the white-black fast-land; Adarkar Wastes gives white-blue untapped at life cost.
- Failure modes: It may enter tapped later, so do not hold it as a surprise untapped source beyond the early game.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against aggressive and tempo decks because it saves life; less flexible than fetchlands when black is missing.

#### Verdant Catacombs
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, fetch land for Swamp access and black fixing mana resource.
- Role type: tutor/search; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Search for a Swamp or Forest card; in this deck relevant hits are Shadowy Backstreet, Undercity Sewers, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Scrubland, Underground Sea, with no registered Forest targets.
- Timing: Fetch early black when Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Sheoldred's Edict, or Demonic Tutor is needed; pick a dual that preserves the next blue or white requirement.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes tap, 1 life, and Verdant Catacombs; outputs a Swamp or Forest card onto battlefield and shuffle.
- Partners / packages: Finds Island Swamp lands for Daze support through Underground Sea, Watery Grave, or Undercity Sewers; finds Plains Swamp lands for white-black removal/discard.
- Role peers: Bloodstained Mire is another Swamp fetch with no Mountain targets; Marsh Flats covers Plains or Swamp.
- Failure modes: No registered Forest target means it cannot access green or Forest mana in this deck; do not fetch tapped Shadowy Backstreet or Undercity Sewers when immediate mana is required.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong for black starts; manage life carefully against burn and aggro.

#### Scalding Tarn
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, fetch land for Island access and blue fixing mana resource.
- Role type: tutor/search; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Search for an Island or Mountain card; in this deck relevant hits are Meticulous Archive, Undercity Sewers, Watery Grave, Hallowed Fountain, Underground Sea, Tundra, with no registered Mountain targets.
- Timing: Fetch blue early for Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Mental Misstep, Daze, Mana Leak, and Psychic Frog; fetch white-blue or blue-black based on the hand’s missing color.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes tap, 1 life, and Scalding Tarn; outputs an Island or Mountain card onto battlefield and shuffle.
- Partners / packages: Supports Daze by finding Island lands; fuels revolt for Fatal Push by sacrificing itself.
- Role peers: Flooded Strand finds Plains or Island; Polluted Delta finds Island or Swamp; Misty Rainforest finds Island or Forest with no registered Forest targets.
- Failure modes: No registered Mountain target means it does not provide red access; do not fetch a tapped surveil Island if one-mana interaction must stay live.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in blue interaction starts; life and shock sequencing matter against fast decks.

#### Misty Rainforest
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, fetch land for Island access and blue fixing mana resource.
- Role type: tutor/search; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Search for a Forest or Island card; in this deck relevant hits are Meticulous Archive, Undercity Sewers, Watery Grave, Hallowed Fountain, Underground Sea, and Tundra, with no registered Forest targets.
- Timing: Fetch before a blue interaction window or when Daze requires a returnable Island; delay only if landfall/revolt timing or shuffle equity matters and mana is safe.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes tap, 1 life, and Misty Rainforest; outputs a Forest or Island card onto battlefield and shuffle.
- Partners / packages: Enables Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Stifle, Force Spike, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Psychic Frog, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, and Teferi, Time Raveler.
- Role peers: Scalding Tarn also finds Island with no Mountain targets; Flooded Strand finds Plains or Island.
- Failure modes: No registered Forest target means it cannot find green or Forest mana; tapped surveil targets can cost tempo.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against stack-based matchups where early blue matters; be life-conscious against pressure.

#### Spell Pierce
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, one-mana noncreature soft counter core interaction.
- Role type: interaction-stack.
- Deck-specific job: Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays {2}, protecting early pressure from removal, sweepers, planeswalkers, tutors, and combo setup.
- Timing: Best in early turns or when the opponent taps low; preserve for a noncreature spell that changes the game rather than a replaceable cantrip if your board is already safe.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {U}; outputs a countered noncreature spell unless its controller pays {2}.
- Partners / packages: Protects Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Psychic Frog, Raffine, Scheming Seer, and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares; Thoughtseize and Gitaxian Probe reveal when opponent cannot pay.
- Role peers: Force Spike and Mana Tithe tax any spell by {1}; Dovin's Veto after sideboard hard-counters noncreature spells and cannot be countered.
- Failure modes: Cannot counter creature spells and loses value when the opponent has two spare mana.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against control, combo, and noncreature haymakers; weak against creature-heavy decks on later turns.

#### Arid Mesa
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, fetch land for Plains access and white fixing mana resource.
- Role type: tutor/search; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Search for a Mountain or Plains card; in this deck relevant hits are Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Scrubland, and Tundra, with no registered Mountain targets.
- Timing: Fetch early white for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Swift Reconfiguration, and Prismatic Ending; choose a target that preserves blue or black according to hand.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes tap, 1 life, and Arid Mesa; outputs a Mountain or Plains card onto battlefield and shuffle.
- Partners / packages: Supports white removal plus blue permission through Hallowed Fountain, Tundra, or Meticulous Archive; supports white-black discard/removal through Godless Shrine, Scrubland, or Shadowy Backstreet.
- Role peers: Windswept Heath and Flooded Strand also find Plains-type cards; Marsh Flats finds Plains or Swamp.
- Failure modes: No registered Mountain card means it does not provide red access; do not fetch tapped lands if immediate white matters.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong for white interaction starts; life total matters against burn and creature decks.

#### Gitaxian Probe
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, free or blue information cantrip core role player.
- Role type: card selection; interaction-discard.
- Deck-specific job: Look at target player’s hand and draw a card, using the information to decide whether to commit a threat, hold permission, tutor, or sequence lands.
- Timing: Cast before Thoughtseize, Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Teferi, Time Raveler, or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse when knowing the hand changes the play; avoid paying 2 life when life is the limiting resource and information is low value.
- Inputs / outputs: Costs {U/P}, paid with {U} or 2 life; outputs hand information and one card drawn.
- Partners / packages: Improves decisions for Thoughtseize, Vendilion Clique, Spell Pierce, Mana Leak, Daze, Force of Negation, Demonic Tutor, and Tainted Pact; Sheoldred, the Apocalypse gains 2 life from your draw.
- Role peers: Thoughtseize and Duress after sideboard alter the hand; Vendilion Clique looks and may bottom a card.
- Failure modes: Probe does not remove a card and costs life if paid with Phyrexian mana; do not let it replace a needed removal spell against visible pressure.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against combo and control; trim or cast cautiously against burn and aggro.

#### Scrubland
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, Plains Swamp painless dual mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provide untapped white-black mana for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Sheoldred's Edict, and Demonic Tutor without life loss.
- Timing: Fetch or play early when white-black interaction is the next-turn plan; pair with a blue source for Esper development.
- Inputs / outputs: Has Plains and Swamp types and taps for {W} or {B}.
- Partners / packages: Fetchable by Windswept Heath, Flooded Strand, Bloodstained Mire, Verdant Catacombs, Arid Mesa, Marsh Flats, and Polluted Delta through Plains or Swamp.
- Role peers: Godless Shrine is shock Plains Swamp; Shadowy Backstreet is tapped surveil Plains Swamp.
- Failure modes: Does not produce blue, so hands with Scrubland only can strand Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Mana Leak, Psychic Frog, and Silas Renn, Seeker Adept.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against aggressive decks because it fixes without pain; prioritize blue elsewhere against stack-based opponents.

#### Flagstones of Trokair
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary white land and death-trigger Plains search utility resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; tutor/search.
- Deck-specific job: Provide white mana and, if put into graveyard from battlefield, search for a Plains card and put it onto the battlefield tapped.
- Timing: Play when white is needed or when a legendary permanent entering grows Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful; value the death trigger around opposing land destruction or your own sacrifice effects only if legal.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {W}; death trigger may find Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Scrubland, or Tundra and puts it onto battlefield tapped.
- Partners / packages: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful gets a counter from Flagstones entering; fetchable Plains targets include the listed Plains-type duals.
- Role peers: Eiganjo Castle and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire are legendary white utility lands; Plaza of Heroes provides legendary-specific fixing and protection.
- Failure modes: Its search trigger needs Flagstones to go to graveyard from battlefield; it does not trigger from hand or library, and Rest in Peace can replace the graveyard event.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Useful against land destruction and for legendary density; ordinary white source against most decks.

#### Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary blue utility land mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; role glue.
- Deck-specific job: Provide blue mana and use {1} to return Oboro to its owner’s hand when replaying a land, protecting it from certain effects, or enabling discard/land-drop decisions matters.
- Timing: Play early when untapped blue is required; use the bounce ability only when the extra mana and land-drop implications are beneficial.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {U}; {1} returns Oboro to its owner’s hand.
- Partners / packages: Supports Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Stifle, Force Spike, Daze, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Psychic Frog, and Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel; Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful gets a counter when Oboro enters as a legendary permanent.
- Role peers: Rivendell is legendary blue with scry and tapped-risk; Minamo, School at Water's Edge is legendary blue with untap utility.
- Failure modes: Returning Oboro costs mana and can reduce available lands if no land drop remains; do not bounce it when holding up blue interaction is essential.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in grindy games with land-drop or discard tension; usually just an untapped blue source in fast matchups.

#### Shizo, Death's Storehouse
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary black utility land and evasion resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; protection/evasion; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Provide black mana and give target legendary creature fear until end of turn for {B}, helping Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, or Raffine, Scheming Seer connect through nonartifact nonblack blockers.
- Timing: Play when black mana is needed or Yoshimaru wants a legendary counter; activate only when fear changes combat damage, Silas recursion, or lethal pressure.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {B}; {B}, tap gives target legendary creature fear until end of turn.
- Partners / packages: Best attackers include Silas Renn, Seeker Adept for artifact recursion, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful as a large commander, and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse as a deathtouch finisher.
- Role peers: Pippin, Guard of the Citadel can grant protection from a card type; Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom is naturally unblockable; Minamo, School at Water's Edge untaps legendary permanents.
- Failure modes: Fear does not bypass artifact creatures or black creatures; activation consumes black mana and the land tap.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against green-white or nonblack creature boards; weak against artifact creature decks or black creature decks.

#### Minamo, School at Water's Edge
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary blue utility land and legendary-untap resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; role glue; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Provide blue mana and untap target legendary permanent, enabling extra use of Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, Eiganjo Castle-protected combat, a surprise blocker, or a second activation from a tapped legendary permanent when legal.
- Timing: Play when blue is needed or Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful wants a legendary counter; hold activation until the untap changes combat, protection, or ability access.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {U}; {U}, tap untaps target legendary permanent.
- Partners / packages: Can untap Pippin, Guard of the Citadel after protection use, Shizo, Death's Storehouse if it is a legendary permanent target but lands are permanents, or legendary creatures such as Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, and Svyelun of Sea and Sky for blocking after attacks.
- Role peers: Eiganjo Castle prevents damage; Plaza of Heroes protects legendary creatures; Oboro, Palace in the Clouds is blue utility without untap.
- Failure modes: Needs a legal tapped legendary permanent where untapping matters; do not spend {U} if holding up Spell Pierce or Wash Away is more important.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in creature combat and protection sequences; less relevant against spell combo.

#### Eiganjo Castle
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary white utility land and damage-prevention resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Provide white mana and prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target legendary creature this turn.
- Timing: Play when white is needed or Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful needs legendary triggers; activate in combat or damage windows where preventing 2 damage saves a central legendary creature or wins combat.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {W}; {W}, tap prevents next 2 damage to target legendary creature this turn.
- Partners / packages: Protects Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, and Vendilion Clique.
- Role peers: Plaza of Heroes gives hexproof and indestructible to a legendary creature; Pippin gives another creature protection from a card type; Spectacular Spider-Man protects all your creatures with sacrifice.
- Failure modes: It prevents damage only; it does not stop exile, bounce, -X/-X, sacrifice, destroy effects without damage, or nonlegendary creature removal.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in creature combat and burn-to-creature exchanges; low impact against edicts and hard removal.

#### Stifle
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, one-mana ability counter core interaction.
- Role type: interaction-stack; hate piece.
- Deck-specific job: Counter target activated or triggered ability, except mana abilities cannot be targeted, to stop fetches, commanders, planeswalkers, death triggers, enters triggers, or combo abilities when the ability is decisive.
- Timing: Hold for a high-impact ability rather than spending on minor value; use early on a fetch-like ability only if denying mana/color materially advances your pressure plan.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {U}; outputs a countered activated or triggered ability.
- Partners / packages: Tale's End and Tishana's Tidebinder overlap on ability interaction; Opposition Agent punishes searches rather than countering the ability; Pithing Needle after sideboard shuts off named activated abilities.
- Role peers: Tale's End also counters legendary spells; Tishana's Tidebinder adds a body and can blank source permanents.
- Failure modes: Cannot target mana abilities or spells on the stack; do not call it removal for resolved permanents unless their key ability is on the stack.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against fetch-reliant tempo, commander abilities, planeswalkers, and combo triggers; weaker against vanilla creature curves.

#### Underground River
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, untapped blue-black pain-land mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provide blue or black early for Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Psychic Frog, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Mana Leak, and Tainted Pact while also offering painless {C}.
- Timing: Use colored pain early when tempo matters; switch to {C} or other sources when life total is pressured.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {C}; taps for {U} or {B} and deals 1 damage to you.
- Partners / packages: Supports blue stack interaction and black removal/discard in the same opener; helps cast Kaito, Bane of Nightmares with white covered elsewhere.
- Role peers: Adarkar Wastes covers white-blue; Caves of Koilos covers white-black; Underground Sea is painless blue-black.
- Failure modes: Colorless mode cannot cast colored interaction; repeated pain combines poorly with Thoughtseize, Dismember, City of Brass, and Mana Confluence.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in tempo and combo matchups requiring untapped colors; dangerous against burn.

#### Caves of Koilos
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, untapped white-black pain-land mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provide white or black early for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Requiting Hex, and Sheoldred's Edict while offering painless {C}.
- Timing: Use colored activation when it enables an important spell; favor {C} or painless alternatives when life total is under attack.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for {C}; taps for {W} or {B} and deals 1 damage to you.
- Partners / packages: Supports white-black removal/discard starts and can cast Prismatic Ending with white plus a second color from another land.
- Role peers: Adarkar Wastes covers white-blue; Underground River covers blue-black; Scrubland is painless white-black.
- Failure modes: Does not produce blue, and paying life for every colored activation can make Gitaxian Probe, Thoughtseize, and Dismember unsafe.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Good against combo and creature decks when early removal matters; manage life tightly against burn.

#### Force Spike
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, one-mana soft counter tempo role player.
- Role type: interaction-stack.
- Deck-specific job: Counter target spell unless its controller pays {1}, punishing tap-out plays and protecting early pressure while mana is tight.
- Timing: Use in the first turns or when the opponent spends all mana; do not hold into the late game if the current spell matters and the tax is live now.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {U}; outputs a countered spell unless its controller pays {1}.
- Partners / packages: Pairs with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Psychic Frog, and Orcish Bowmasters pressure; Thoughtseize and Gitaxian Probe reveal whether the opponent can pay.
- Role peers: Mana Tithe is the white version; Daze can be free by returning an Island; Mana Leak taxes {3}.
- Failure modes: Becomes weak once the opponent has spare mana; cannot answer resolved permanents.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong on the play and against curve-out decks; weak in long attrition games.

#### Swords to Plowshares
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, one-mana premium creature exile core interaction.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Exile target creature at instant speed, giving its controller life equal to its power, to answer commanders, recursive creatures, large threats, or lethal attackers cleanly.
- Timing: Use before combat damage or before a creature’s activated/combat role matters; preserve for high-value threats unless a small creature will snowball or deal too much damage.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}; outputs exile of target creature and life gain for that creature’s controller equal to its power.
- Partners / packages: Thoughtseize, Gitaxian Probe, and Vendilion Clique show whether to save it; Sheoldred's Edict, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Dismember, Solitude, and Prismatic Ending share removal coverage.
- Role peers: Solitude also exiles with life gain but costs more or a white pitch; Fatal Push and Cut Down are cheaper-color black but narrower.
- Failure modes: Giving life can matter when you are racing; cannot target noncreature permanents or spells on the stack.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against creature commanders, reanimation threats, and single large attackers; still good in aggro when preserving life matters more than opponent life total.

#### Dennick, Pious Apprentice
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap legendary lifelink graveyard-disruption creature and disturb value role player.
- Role type: lifegain/stabilization; hate piece; recursion; modal utility.
- Deck-specific job: As Dennick, Pious Apprentice, block and gain life while preventing cards in graveyards from being targets of spells or abilities; from graveyard, disturb for {2}{W}{U} into Dennick, Pious Apparition, a flying Clue engine.
- Timing: Cast early against graveyard targeting, aggro, or when Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful wants a legendary follow-up; disturb when a flying body and investigate triggers matter more than keeping graveyard targets available.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}{U}; disturb consumes {2}{W}{U} from graveyard; outputs lifelink, graveyard target prevention, flying on back face, Clue tokens from creature cards going to graveyards once each turn, and exile if back face would go to graveyard.
- Mode map: Front face is a 2/3 lifelink legendary creature with graveyard target prevention; disturbed back face is a 3/2 flying Spirit that investigates once each turn when creature cards enter graveyards and exiles instead of going to graveyard.
- Partners / packages: Conflicts with Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Unearth, Pre-War Formalwear, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, and Emperor of Bones because those target graveyard cards; Skullclamp can use Clue-adjacent artifact count only if Clues are created and artifact abilities are legal.
- Role peers: Rest in Peace after sideboard is broader graveyard hate; Barrowgoyf and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse are other stabilizing creatures.
- Failure modes: Card Reference lacks a consolidated Oracle line but supplies face text; do not target graveyard cards while front Dennick stops that legality.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against graveyard targeting and aggro races; self-conflicting when your own recursion is the best plan.

#### Svyelun of Sea and Sky
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary card-draw attacker and Merfolk protection role player.
- Role type: threat/clock; card selection; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Attack to draw a card while presenting a 3/4 legendary body; give other Merfolk ward {1}, and potentially gain indestructible if you control at least two other Merfolk.
- Timing: Cast when a 3/4 attacker can safely attack or block; value the ward text if Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom or Tishana's Tidebinder is also on battlefield.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{U}{U}; outputs attack-triggered card draw, a legendary body, and Merfolk-specific protection.
- Partners / packages: Other Merfolk in the registered deck are Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom and Tishana's Tidebinder; Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful grows from Svyelun entering; Minamo, School at Water's Edge can untap Svyelun after attacking.
- Role peers: Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel and Psychic Frog also turn combat into cards; Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is the larger four-mana stabilizer.
- Failure modes: Indestructible needs at least two other Merfolk, which is rare in this deck; ward applies to other Merfolk, not Svyelun itself.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against midrange if it can attack; vulnerable to exile, bounce, and edicts.

#### Prismatic Ending
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, sorcery-speed converge permanent exile core interaction.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Exile target nonland permanent if its mana value is less than or equal to the number of colors of mana spent to cast Prismatic Ending, using Esper mana to answer cheap creatures, artifacts, enchantments, or planeswalkers.
- Timing: Cast in main phase when the permanent must be removed before combat or before its next activation; plan colors before tapping lands.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {X}{W} and colored mana count for converge; outputs exile of target nonland permanent with mana value at most the number of colors spent.
- Partners / packages: City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Command Tower, Plaza of Heroes, Scrubland, Tundra, Underground Sea, and shock/fetch duals help spend multiple colors; Teferi, Time Raveler can let sorceries be cast as though they had flash until your next turn.
- Role peers: Skyclave Apparition exiles nonland nontoken permanents with mana value 4 or less; Disenchant after sideboard hits artifacts or enchantments at instant speed.
- Failure modes: Generic mana alone does not increase converge; with only white spent it hits mana value 1 or less, and it cannot target lands.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against one- to three-mana nonland permanent engines and hate pieces; weaker against expensive threats and stack-based combo.

#### Mana Tithe
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, one-mana white soft counter tempo role player.
- Role type: interaction-stack.
- Deck-specific job: Counter target spell unless its controller pays {1}, using unexpected white mana to protect early pressure or disrupt tap-out turns.
- Timing: Use while the opponent is constrained; if a meaningful spell is on the stack and they cannot pay, spending Mana Tithe now is often better than waiting for a perfect target.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}; outputs a countered spell unless its controller pays {1}.
- Partners / packages: Supports Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, and other white-led openings while blue is not available.
- Role peers: Force Spike is blue equivalent; Daze is a free Island-return tax; Spell Pierce taxes noncreature spells by {2}.
- Failure modes: Loses value as mana grows; cannot answer resolved permanents.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong on early turns and against tap-out decks; weak in late games with spare mana.

#### Tainted Pact
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, instant singleton selection tutor and high-risk card-finding core piece.
- Role type: tutor/search; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Exile cards from the top of your library one at a time until you put one into hand or exile two with the same name, using singleton construction to find the first card that satisfies the current role.
- Timing: Cast only when you know the needed category before resolution, such as untapped land, removal, permission, graveyard hate after sideboard, or a finisher; do not fire for vague value.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{B}; outputs one chosen exiled card to hand and exiles every skipped card.
- Partners / packages: Information from Gitaxian Probe, Thoughtseize, Vendilion Clique, and Duress after sideboard improves stopping decisions; Demonic Tutor is safer when any exact card is required.
- Role peers: Demonic Tutor finds an exact card without exile risk but is sorcery speed; Rivendell and surveil lands provide lower-commitment selection.
- Failure modes: Exiling unique cards can remove future answers, threats, or lands; stop on the first card that solves the visible problem unless the current board demands narrower text.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in emergencies and combo/control stack planning; dangerous in grindy games if used without a clear target map.

#### Command Tower
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, painless WUB commander-color fixing mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provide one mana of any color in Silas Renn, Seeker Adept and Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful’s commander color identity, covering white, blue, or black needs without life loss.
- Timing: Play early whenever the hand has mixed-color one- and two-mana spells; use to preserve life compared to City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Adarkar Wastes, Underground River, or Caves of Koilos.
- Inputs / outputs: Taps for one mana of any color in your commanders’ color identity.
- Partners / packages: Casts early Thoughtseize, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Spell Pierce, Fatal Push, Psychic Frog, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, and Raffine, Scheming Seer.
- Role peers: City of Brass and Mana Confluence fix any color with life cost; Plaza of Heroes fixes legendary spells and legendary-permanent colors with restrictions.
- Failure modes: Does not have basic land types and cannot be fetched by Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Marsh Flats, or other fetch lands.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent in all matchups, especially races where painless fixing preserves life.

#### Skyclave Apparition
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, creature-based permanent exile removal role player.
- Role type: interaction-removal; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Exile up to one target nonland, nontoken permanent you don’t control with mana value 4 or less, leaving behind an X/X blue Illusion token for the owner when Skyclave leaves.
- Timing: Cast when the permanent’s text matters more than the risk of a future Illusion; prioritize engines, hate pieces, low-cost planeswalkers, commanders with mana value 4 or less, and blockers that stop your clock.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}{W}; outputs a 2/2 body and temporary-to-permanent exile tied to Skyclave’s battlefield presence, with a token drawback on leave.
- Partners / packages: Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd can blink Skyclave but may give the opponent an Illusion and reset targets; Unearth and Pre-War Formalwear can return Skyclave for another exile trigger.
- Role peers: Prismatic Ending exiles at sorcery speed by converge; Solitude and Swords to Plowshares hit creatures; Disenchant after sideboard hits artifacts/enchantments.
- Failure modes: Cannot target lands, tokens, your permanents, or mana value 5-plus permanents; if Skyclave leaves, the exiled card’s owner creates an Illusion.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against low-mana nonland permanent engines and hate; medium against large threats and token boards.

#### Brazen Borrower
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, adventure bounce spell plus flash flying threat role player.
- Role type: modal utility; interaction-removal; threat/clock.
- Deck-specific job: Use Petty Theft to return target nonland permanent an opponent controls to its owner’s hand, then later cast Brazen Borrower as a 3/1 flash flying creature that can block only creatures with flying.
- Timing: Petty Theft when bouncing a blocker, token, expensive permanent, Aura/equipment carrier, or hate piece creates tempo; cast the creature end step or as an evasive clock after the adventure is used or when bounce is unnecessary.
- Inputs / outputs: Petty Theft consumes {1}{U}; creature consumes {1}{U}{U}; outputs temporary bounce and/or a flash flying attacker.
- Mode map: Petty Theft is the Instant Adventure side and targets a nonland permanent an opponent controls; Brazen Borrower is the creature side with flash, flying, and blocking restriction.
- Partners / packages: Clears blockers for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Psychic Frog, and Raffine, Scheming Seer; Kaito, Bane of Nightmares can use Borrower as an evasive attacker.
- Role peers: Otawara, Soaring City bounces artifact, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker; Teferi, Time Raveler bounces artifact, creature, or enchantment and draws.
- Failure modes: Creature side can block only flying creatures; bounce is temporary and can replay opposing enters triggers.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against tokens, tempo races, and expensive permanents; weaker against cheap recast threats.

#### Tale's End
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary-spell and ability counter role player.
- Role type: interaction-stack; hate piece.
- Deck-specific job: Counter target activated ability, triggered ability, or legendary spell, giving the deck a clean answer to commander casts, planeswalkers on the stack if legendary, and decisive abilities.
- Timing: Hold for commanders, legendary haymakers, planeswalker loyalty-adjacent triggered/activated abilities, fetch/tutor abilities when denial matters, or combo abilities; use as a normal counter only if the spell is legendary.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{U}; outputs a countered activated ability, triggered ability, or legendary spell.
- Partners / packages: Stifle counters activated or triggered abilities for {U}; Tishana's Tidebinder adds a body and can blank source permanents; Wash Away counters non-hand casts such as commanders for {U}.
- Role peers: Stifle is cheaper but cannot counter legendary spells; Mana Leak counters any spell with tax; Dovin's Veto after sideboard counters noncreature spells.
- Failure modes: Cannot counter nonlegendary spells unless they are activated or triggered abilities; mana abilities cannot be targeted by normal ability-counter rules.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent in Commander, planeswalker, and ability-combo matchups; weaker against nonlegendary creature curves.

#### Teferi, Time Raveler
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary planeswalker timing lock and tempo engine core piece.
- Role type: engine piece; interaction-removal; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Restrict opponents to sorcery-speed casting, give your sorceries flash timing until your next turn with +1, and use -3 to return up to one target artifact, creature, or enchantment to its owner’s hand and draw a card.
- Timing: Cast when shutting off instant-speed interaction protects a key turn or when -3 bounces a relevant permanent immediately; avoid exposing Teferi to easy attacks if the bounce is low value.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}{U}; outputs static timing restriction, +1 sorcery flash permission, or -3 bounce plus card draw.
- Mode map: Static ability limits opponent casting; +1 changes your sorcery timing; -3 targets artifact, creature, or enchantment, not planeswalker, and draws.
- Partners / packages: Prismatic Ending, Thoughtseize, Duress after sideboard, and Supreme Verdict after sideboard benefit from sorcery timing flexibility; Raffine, Scheming Seer and Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful pressure opponents locked to sorcery timing.
- Role peers: Voice of Victory stops opponents casting during your turn; Brazen Borrower and Otawara, Soaring City offer bounce.
- Failure modes: -3 cannot target lands or planeswalkers; static ability does not stop abilities.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against control, tempo, and stack combo; medium against creature swarms that can attack it down.

#### Unearth
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, cheap creature recursion with cycling fallback role player.
- Role type: recursion; modal utility; card selection.
- Deck-specific job: Return target creature card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield, or cycle for {2} to draw when no target is useful.
- Timing: Cast when the returned creature affects the current turn; cycle when graveyard targets are absent, hate is active, or a new card is worth more than saving Unearth.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {B} and a graveyard target for recursion; cycling consumes {2}, discards Unearth, and draws a card.
- Mode map: Sorcery mode reanimates mana-value-3-or-less creature cards; cycling mode is an activated ability from hand that draws a card and does not reanimate.
- Partners / packages: High-value targets include Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Orcish Bowmasters, Psychic Frog, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Opposition Agent, Skyclave Apparition, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, Vendilion Clique, and Tishana's Tidebinder.
- Role peers: Pre-War Formalwear reanimates mana-value-3-or-less creatures and equips; Takenuma, Abandoned Mire returns creature or planeswalker to hand.
- Failure modes: Sorcery speed; cannot return mana value 4-plus creatures or noncreatures, and Dennick, Pious Apprentice can prevent graveyard targeting.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against removal-heavy decks; weak into Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, and Dauthi Voidwalker effects.

#### Fatal Push
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, one-mana creature removal core interaction.
- Role type: interaction-removal.
- Deck-specific job: Destroy target creature with mana value 2 or less, or mana value 4 or less if revolt is enabled by a permanent leaving your battlefield this turn.
- Timing: Use early on creatures that snowball or attack life; sequence fetch lands, Skullclamp deaths, Phelia blink, or other permanent-leaving events before Fatal Push when mana value 3 or 4 must die.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {B}; outputs destruction based on mana value and revolt condition.
- Partners / packages: Fetch lands such as Polluted Delta, Flooded Strand, Marsh Flats, Verdant Catacombs, Misty Rainforest, Scalding Tarn, Arid Mesa, Windswept Heath, and Bloodstained Mire naturally enable revolt; Prismatic Ending and Cut Down cover different restrictions.
- Role peers: Cut Down uses total power/toughness 5 or less; Requiting Hex destroys mana value 2 or less; Swords to Plowshares exiles any target creature.
- Failure modes: Without revolt it cannot hit mana value 3-plus creatures; it destroys rather than exiles, so recursion and indestructible may matter.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against aggro and cheap commanders; lower value against big creatures and noncreature combo.

#### Marsh Flats
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, fetch land for Plains or Swamp fixing mana resource.
- Role type: tutor/search; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Search for a Plains or Swamp card, mapping to Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, Undercity Sewers, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Scrubland, Underground Sea, and Tundra where types match.
- Timing: Fetch based on the next two turns: white for Yoshimaru/Swords, black for Thoughtseize/Fatal Push, or dual access for mixed hands.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes tap, 1 life, and Marsh Flats; outputs a Plains or Swamp card onto battlefield and shuffle.
- Partners / packages: Enables revolt for Fatal Push; fixes for Kaya's Guile after sideboard and Esper three-color spells.
- Role peers: Flooded Strand covers Plains/Island; Polluted Delta covers Island/Swamp; Windswept Heath covers Plains with no Forest targets.
- Failure modes: Fetching a tapped surveil land can lose a needed interaction window; does not find Command Tower, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, or Plaza of Heroes.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong flexible fetch; against burn, avoid unnecessary shock targets.

#### Concealed Courtyard
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, early untapped white-black fast-land mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provide painless early {W} or {B} for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Cut Down, and Sheoldred's Edict.
- Timing: Best before you control three or more other lands; sequence early if the hand needs white-black tempo.
- Inputs / outputs: Enters tapped unless you control two or fewer other lands; taps for {W} or {B}.
- Partners / packages: Supports turn-one interaction and turn-two Psychic Frog only if blue is supplied elsewhere; enables early Prismatic Ending with another color source.
- Role peers: Seachrome Coast is the white-blue fast-land; Caves of Koilos gives white-black untapped at life cost.
- Failure modes: Enters tapped later and does not produce blue; do not rely on it for late surprise interaction if it will be your fourth land.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against aggro because it saves life; less flexible against blue-heavy stack matchups.

#### Memory Lapse
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, two-mana tempo counter core interaction.
- Role type: interaction-stack.
- Deck-specific job: Counter target spell and put it on top of its owner’s library instead of the graveyard, buying a draw step while preserving pressure.
- Timing: Use when delaying the spell for a turn is nearly as good as answering it permanently, especially with an active clock or when the opponent’s next draw being locked matters.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{U}; outputs a countered spell placed on top of owner’s library.
- Partners / packages: Pairs with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Psychic Frog, Brazen Borrower, and Raffine, Scheming Seer pressure; Vendilion Clique can later bottom a known card if timing permits.
- Role peers: Mana Leak can permanently counter if tax unpaid; Force of Negation exiles noncreature spells; Daze and Force Spike tax {1}.
- Failure modes: The opponent redraws the spell; weak if they can shuffle, draw extra cards, or replay it immediately next turn.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against expensive haymakers and tempo races; lower value against cheap spells, extra draw, or fetch-heavy hands.

#### Daze
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, free Island-return soft counter core tempo interaction.
- Role type: interaction-stack.
- Deck-specific job: Counter target spell unless its controller pays {1}, either for {1}{U} or by returning an Island you control to hand instead of paying mana.
- Timing: Use while the opponent is tapped low and the tempo gained outweighs setting back a land; plan fetch targets so an Island is available when Daze is part of the line.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{U} or returns an Island you control to hand; outputs a countered spell unless its controller pays {1}.
- Partners / packages: Returnable Island lands include Meticulous Archive, Undercity Sewers, Watery Grave, Hallowed Fountain, Underground Sea, Tundra, and Oboro, Palace in the Clouds; early pressure from Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful makes the tempo exchange stronger.
- Role peers: Force Spike and Mana Tithe tax {1} without land return; Mana Leak taxes {3}.
- Failure modes: Returning a land can break color sequencing or commander recasts; not free without an Island you control.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent on the play and against tap-out turns; weak when the opponent can pay or your mana development is fragile.

#### Skullclamp
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, artifact Equipment card-draw engine core piece.
- Role type: engine piece; engine payoff; engine fuel/material.
- Deck-specific job: Equip small or expendable creatures to turn deaths into two cards while also giving +1/-1, enabling grind plans with tokens, small bodies, and Silas Renn artifact recursion.
- Timing: Cast early when you have bodies that can die profitably; equip only if the creature dying or becoming easier to trade improves the current board.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1} to cast and {1} to equip; equipped creature gets +1/-1; when equipped creature dies, draw two cards.
- Partners / packages: Good carriers/material include Orcish Bowmasters, Voice of Victory Warrior tokens, Skyclave Apparition after its exile mattered, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector if no longer key, and expendable low-toughness creatures; Silas Renn, Seeker Adept can recast Skullclamp from graveyard after combat damage.
- Role peers: Minas Tirith draws after two attackers; Kaito, Bane of Nightmares and Raffine, Scheming Seer provide selection without killing creatures.
- Failure modes: Equipping one-toughness key creatures can kill them; Stony Silence after sideboard stops activated abilities of artifacts, including equip and Clue-like activations.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against removal-heavy midrange; slower against combo and risky when artifact hate is visible.

#### Polluted Delta
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, fetch land for Island or Swamp fixing mana resource.
- Role type: tutor/search; mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Search for an Island or Swamp card, mapping to Meticulous Archive, Undercity Sewers, Shadowy Backstreet, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Scrubland, Underground Sea, and Tundra where types match.
- Timing: Fetch early for blue interaction or black discard/removal; prioritize untapped Island sources when Daze is relevant.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes tap, 1 life, and Polluted Delta; outputs an Island or Swamp card onto battlefield and shuffle.
- Partners / packages: Enables Fatal Push revolt, Daze Island access, and Silas Renn, Seeker Adept color fixing.
- Role peers: Flooded Strand covers Plains/Island; Marsh Flats covers Plains/Swamp; Scalding Tarn covers Island with no Mountain targets.
- Failure modes: Fetch-shock sequencing can cost 3 life; does not find white-only utility lands like Eiganjo Castle or Flagstones of Trokair unless they have Plains type, which they do not.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: One of the best flexible fetches for Esper starts; manage life in burn and aggro.

#### Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, legendary black-fixing utility land resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp; role glue.
- Deck-specific job: Make each land a Swamp in addition to its other land types, improving black access for Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Sheoldred's Edict, Dismember mana payment, Tainted Pact, and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.
- Timing: Play when black access is constrained or Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful wants a legendary counter; account for the opponent also gaining Swamp typing on lands.
- Inputs / outputs: Static ability changes all lands into Swamps in addition to other types; as a Swamp, Urborg can tap for {B}.
- Partners / packages: Helps utility lands such as Plaza of Heroes, Minas Tirith, Rivendell, Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Eiganjo Castle, and Flagstones of Trokair produce black through Swamp typing.
- Role peers: Command Tower provides flexible commander-color mana; Underground Sea and Scrubland provide black dual access without helping opponents.
- Failure modes: Opponents also benefit; does not fix white or blue unless the land already produces them.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong when black-heavy hands need stability; risky against opponents that benefit from black mana or Swamp type.

#### Underground Sea
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, Island Swamp painless dual mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provide untapped blue-black mana for Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Psychic Frog, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Mana Leak, and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares.
- Timing: Fetch or play early when both blue and black are needed; pair with white source for full Esper access.
- Inputs / outputs: Has Island and Swamp types and taps for {U} or {B}.
- Partners / packages: Fetchable by Flooded Strand, Bloodstained Mire, Verdant Catacombs, Scalding Tarn, Misty Rainforest, Marsh Flats, and Polluted Delta through Island or Swamp; supports Daze as an Island.
- Role peers: Watery Grave is shock Island Swamp; Undercity Sewers is tapped surveil Island Swamp.
- Failure modes: Does not produce white; hands relying only on Underground Sea can strand Yoshimaru, Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, and Solitude.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against tempo and combo because it is painless and untapped.

#### Tundra
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, Plains Island painless dual mana resource.
- Role type: mana/fixing/ramp.
- Deck-specific job: Provide untapped white-blue mana for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Swords to Plowshares, Mana Tithe, Spell Pierce, Wash Away, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Aang, Swift Savior.
- Timing: Fetch or play early when white-blue tempo is required; pair with black source for discard and removal.
- Inputs / outputs: Has Plains and Island types and taps for {W} or {U}.
- Partners / packages: Fetchable by Windswept Heath, Flooded Strand, Scalding Tarn, Arid Mesa, Misty Rainforest, Marsh Flats, and Polluted Delta through Plains or Island; supports Daze as an Island.
- Role peers: Hallowed Fountain is shock Plains Island; Meticulous Archive is tapped surveil Plains Island.
- Failure modes: Does not produce black; can strand Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Cut Down, and Sheoldred's Edict.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent for protecting early white pressure with blue counters; prioritize black elsewhere when removal is needed.

#### Demonic Tutor
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, exact-card sorcery tutor core piece.
- Role type: tutor/search.
- Deck-specific job: Search your library for any card, put it into your hand, then shuffle, choosing the exact card that solves the visible problem or closes the game.
- Timing: Cast when you can also use or protect the tutored card soon; avoid spending turn two tutoring if the opponent’s board requires immediate removal.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{B} and a main-phase sorcery window; outputs any card from library to hand.
- Partners / packages: Target map includes Swords to Plowshares, Fatal Push, Solitude, or Supreme Verdict after sideboard for survival; Force of Negation, Dovin's Veto after sideboard, or Teferi, Time Raveler for stack fights; Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Parallax Wave, or Flowering of the White Tree as closers; Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, Pithing Needle, Stony Silence, or Disenchant after sideboard for hate.
- Role peers: Tainted Pact is instant but exiles skipped cards; Cloud, Midgar Mercenary only finds Skullclamp or Pre-War Formalwear.
- Failure modes: Sorcery speed exposes the chosen plan to discard or counters; tutoring without a precise target wastes tempo.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong in every matchup if target selection follows visible pressure; risky against fast aggro if it delays removal.

#### Parallax Wave
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, temporary creature exile enchantment and battlefield swing core piece.
- Role type: interaction-removal; engine piece; protection/evasion.
- Deck-specific job: Use five fade counters to exile target creatures temporarily, clearing attackers, removing blockers, or protecting your own creatures until Parallax Wave leaves.
- Timing: Cast when immediate creature exile changes combat or stabilizes; avoid using counters on low-impact creatures if a lethal attacker or key blocker is coming.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {2}{W}{W}; enters with five fade counters; upkeep removes a fade counter and sacrifice occurs when unable; each removed counter exiles target creature; when it leaves, all cards exiled with it return under owners’ control.
- Partners / packages: Clears blockers for Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Psychic Frog, and Barrowgoyf; protects your creatures from removal if timing and return trigger are favorable.
- Role peers: Aang, Swift Savior airbends one other creature or spell temporarily; Solitude and Swords to Plowshares are permanent creature exile.
- Failure modes: Exiled creatures all return when Parallax Wave leaves; enchantment removal can undo your plan at bad timing.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Excellent against creature boards and go-wide attacks; weak against noncreature combo and enchantment removal.

#### Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
- Deck role: Main, 1 copy, command-zone pressure core piece and legends-matter payoff.
- Role type: threat/clock; mechanic payoff.
- Deck-specific job: Start as a one-mana legendary commander that grows whenever another legendary permanent enters under your control, turning the deck’s dense legendary creatures, planeswalkers, and lands into a fast clock.
- Timing: Cast early when white mana and follow-up legends are available; delay only when known removal makes a different threat or discard-first line better.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}; outputs a 1/1 legendary body that accumulates +1/+1 counters from other legendary permanents entering.
- Partners / packages: Legendary permanents that trigger Yoshimaru include Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Teferi, Time Raveler, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Vendilion Clique, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, and legendary lands such as Plaza of Heroes, Rivendell, Minas Tirith, Barad-dur, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Otawara, Soaring City, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Flagstones of Trokair, Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Eiganjo Castle, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
- Role peers: No direct peer; closest role overlap is Basim Ibn Ishaq as a cheap legendary scaling attacker and Flowering of the White Tree as a legendary payoff.
- Failure modes: Do not overcommit legends into a sweeper just to grow Yoshimaru; counters do not protect from exile, bounce, or edicts.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Best against slow, combo, and control starts; against aggro, attack only when blocks do not trade away the primary clock for too little.

#### Rest in Peace
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, broad graveyard shutdown sideboard bullet.
- Role type: hate piece; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Exile all graveyards when it enters, then replace any future card or token going to a graveyard with exile, shutting down graveyard recursion, escape, delve fuel, reanimation, and death-based graveyard buildup.
- Timing: Bring in and cast early only when the opponent’s graveyard is central enough to outweigh your own conflicts; delay if you need one graveyard recursion turn first and the opponent is not immediately threatening.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}; outputs immediate graveyard exile and a replacement effect that exiles future graveyard-bound cards and tokens.
- Partners / packages: Conflicts with Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Unearth, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Pre-War Formalwear, Emperor of Bones, Barrowgoyf, Psychic Frog graveyard exile fuel, and Dauthi Voidwalker’s replacement texture if both are considered.
- Role peers: Grafdigger's Cage blocks graveyard/library casting and creature entry without exiling all graveyards; Kaya's Guile can exile opponents’ graveyards at instant speed; Dauthi Voidwalker exiles opponent cards only.
- Failure modes: It weakens your own graveyard plan substantially; do not board it for incidental graveyard value when your recursion is the better route.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against reanimator, escape, flashback, dredge-like recursion, and graveyard combo; poor against creature-only aggro or artifact engines.

#### Dovin's Veto
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, uncounterable noncreature stack interaction sideboard bullet.
- Role type: interaction-stack; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Counter target noncreature spell and ignore opposing counterspells because Dovin's Veto cannot be countered.
- Timing: Bring in against control, combo, planeswalkers, sweepers, and noncreature engines; hold for the spell that beats your board rather than low-impact selection.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {W}{U}; outputs an uncounterable counter effect for a noncreature spell on the stack.
- Partners / packages: Duress and Thoughtseize clear the way or reveal targets; Teferi, Time Raveler and Voice of Victory also pressure opponent stack timing.
- Role peers: Force of Negation can be free on opponent turns and exiles noncreature spells; Spell Pierce taxes noncreature spells; Mana Leak and Memory Lapse can hit creatures too but are softer.
- Failure modes: Cannot counter creature spells or resolved permanents; holding two mana can slow pressure if the opponent’s threats are creatures.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against control, combo, sweepers, planeswalkers, and big noncreature payoffs; weak against low-curve creature decks.

#### Grafdigger's Cage
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, graveyard/library casting and creature-entry hate artifact bullet.
- Role type: hate piece; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Stop creature cards in graveyards and libraries from entering the battlefield and stop players from casting spells from graveyards or libraries.
- Timing: Bring in when the opponent showed reanimation, creature-from-library engines, flashback-like graveyard casting, or library casting; deploy before the engine turn when possible.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}; outputs a static artifact hate effect.
- Partners / packages: Conflicts with Unearth and Pre-War Formalwear if they would return creature cards from your graveyard to battlefield; Silas Renn, Seeker Adept can recast Grafdigger's Cage from graveyard if Cage itself went there and graveyard casting is still legal under current effects.
- Role peers: Rest in Peace broadly exiles graveyards; Dauthi Voidwalker exiles opponent cards and can play one; Kaya's Guile exiles opponents’ graveyards as a mode.
- Failure modes: Does not exile existing graveyards and does not stop cards being put into hand from graveyard, so Takenuma-like return-to-hand effects may still matter if legal.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against reanimator and graveyard/library-cast engines; weak against decks using graveyards only for size or incidental value.

#### Pithing Needle
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, named activated-ability suppression artifact bullet.
- Role type: hate piece; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: As it enters, choose a card name, then activated abilities of sources with that name cannot be activated unless they are mana abilities.
- Timing: Bring in when the opponent has known commanders, planeswalkers, equipment, artifacts, lands, or combo permanents with activated abilities; cast when you have a reliable name from public zones, revealed hand, or commander identity.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}; outputs a chosen-name static restriction on non-mana activated abilities.
- Partners / packages: Thoughtseize, Gitaxian Probe, Vendilion Clique, and Duress reveal names; Disenchant and Stony Silence handle artifact/enchantment axes differently.
- Role peers: Stifle and Tale's End answer a single ability on the stack; Tishana's Tidebinder can counter and blank certain source permanents.
- Failure modes: Does not stop triggered abilities, static abilities, mana abilities, or spells being cast; naming blindly is low value.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against activated-ability commanders, planeswalkers, equipment, and combo artifacts; weak against spell-based or triggered-ability decks.

#### Disenchant
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, artifact/enchantment removal sideboard bullet.
- Role type: interaction-removal; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Destroy target artifact or enchantment at instant speed, answering hate pieces, equipment, artifact engines, enchantment engines, and prison effects.
- Timing: Bring in when the opponent has visible or expected artifacts/enchantments that convert into cards, mana, combat dominance, or lock pieces; hold if destroying a later engine is more important than a small current permanent.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}; outputs destruction of target artifact or enchantment.
- Partners / packages: Protects Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Unearth, Pre-War Formalwear, and Takenuma plans from opposing graveyard hate artifacts/enchantments; pairs with Prismatic Ending, Skyclave Apparition, Brazen Borrower, Otawara, Soaring City, and Teferi, Time Raveler as permanent interaction.
- Role peers: Stony Silence suppresses activated artifact abilities without destroying; Pithing Needle names one source’s activated abilities; Prismatic Ending exiles cheap nonland permanents.
- Failure modes: Cannot hit creatures unless they are artifacts or enchantments; cannot destroy planeswalkers or lands.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against equipment, artifact engines, enchantment locks, and hate permanents; poor against creature-only aggro and spell combo without targets.

#### Kaya's Guile
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, flexible instant stabilization and graveyard hate sideboard bullet.
- Role type: modal utility; hate piece; lifegain/stabilization; interaction-removal; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Choose two modes, or all four with entwine {3}, to force each opponent to sacrifice a creature, exile all opponents’ graveyards, create a 1/1 white and black flying Spirit, and/or gain 4 life.
- Timing: Bring in against graveyard decks, creature pressure, burn, and midrange where multiple modes matter; cast at instant speed when two modes swing combat, graveyard timing, or life total.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}{B}, plus optional entwine {3}; outputs two selected effects or all four if entwined.
- Mode map: Sacrifice mode makes each opponent sacrifice a creature of their choice; graveyard mode exiles all opponents’ graveyards only; token mode creates one 1/1 flying Spirit; life mode gains you 4 life; entwine chooses all modes.
- Partners / packages: Spirit token can carry Skullclamp later if legal; graveyard mode complements Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, and Dauthi Voidwalker without exiling your graveyard.
- Role peers: Sheoldred's Edict is cheaper sacrifice interaction; Rest in Peace is broader graveyard shutdown; Solitude and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse stabilize life differently.
- Failure modes: Opponent chooses sacrificed creature; three mana can be slow against very fast starts.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against graveyard aggro, burn, and midrange; weaker against creatureless control unless graveyard mode matters.

#### Supreme Verdict
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, uncounterable creature sweeper sideboard bullet.
- Role type: interaction-sweeper; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Destroy each creature with a spell that cannot be countered, resetting boards that overload one-for-one removal.
- Timing: Bring in against go-wide creature decks, protection-backed boards, and creature commanders; cast when the reset improves your position more than preserving your own creatures.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}{W}{U}; outputs destruction of each creature and cannot be countered.
- Partners / packages: Follow-up pressure can come from Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Teferi, Time Raveler, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful recast, or creature lands are absent; Kaya's Guile can stabilize before or after Verdict.
- Role peers: Parallax Wave temporarily exiles selected creatures; Solitude and Swords to Plowshares answer single creatures; Sheoldred's Edict handles protected single threats.
- Failure modes: Destroys your creatures too and does not hit planeswalkers, artifacts, enchantments, or indestructible creatures.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Premium against swarms and hexproof-like boards where spot removal fails; poor when you are the clear board leader.

#### Duress
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, one-mana noncreature hand disruption sideboard bullet.
- Role type: interaction-discard; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Target opponent reveals their hand, you choose a noncreature nonland card, and that player discards it, protecting threats from sweepers, removal, planeswalkers, combo spells, or artifact/enchantment engines.
- Timing: Bring in against control, combo, burn reach, planeswalkers, and spell-heavy decks; cast before committing Teferi, Time Raveler, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Parallax Wave, Demonic Tutor, or a protected commander attack.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {B}; outputs revealed-hand information and discard of a noncreature nonland card.
- Partners / packages: Complements Thoughtseize without life loss; Dovin's Veto and Force of Negation protect against noncreature topdecks.
- Role peers: Thoughtseize can take creatures but costs 2 life; Vendilion Clique can disrupt any nonland but gives a replacement draw.
- Failure modes: Cannot take creatures or lands, so it is poor against creature-heavy hands.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against combo/control and burn reach; weak against low-curve creature aggro.

#### Dauthi Voidwalker
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, graveyard-denial evasive threat and swing-play bullet.
- Role type: hate piece; threat/clock; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Exile opponent cards that would go to graveyard with void counters, attack with shadow, and sacrifice Dauthi Voidwalker to choose an exiled card an opponent owns with a void counter and play it this turn without paying its mana cost.
- Timing: Bring in when opponent graveyard use or spell quality makes the exile replacement valuable; deploy early enough to catch key cards before they reach graveyard.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {B}{B}; outputs a 3/2 shadow body, opponent graveyard replacement exile, and a tap-sacrifice free-play ability.
- Partners / packages: Thoughtseize, Duress, Force of Negation, and removal can put opponent cards toward exile under Dauthi’s replacement; Rest in Peace may overlap and reduce Dauthi-specific void-counter play opportunities depending on replacement effects.
- Role peers: Rest in Peace is broader but not a clock; Kaya's Guile is instant graveyard exile; Grafdigger's Cage stops casting/entry from graveyards or libraries.
- Failure modes: Double black can be hard; fragile creature removal can kill it before the tap ability; shadow does not help block non-shadow creatures.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against graveyard, attrition, and spell-heavy decks; weaker against fast creature combat where blocking matters.

#### Stony Silence
- Deck role: Sideboard, 1 copy, activated-artifact suppression sideboard bullet.
- Role type: hate piece; sideboard bullet.
- Deck-specific job: Stop activated abilities of artifacts from being activated, shutting off artifact mana, Equipment equip abilities, Clue activations, and artifact combo engines.
- Timing: Bring in only when the opponent’s artifact activated abilities matter more than your own Skullclamp, Pre-War Formalwear, Grafdigger's Cage, Pithing Needle, and Silas Renn artifact-value texture.
- Inputs / outputs: Consumes {1}{W}; outputs a static enchantment effect preventing activated artifact abilities.
- Partners / packages: Disenchant can answer specific artifacts or enchantments without self-shutting Skullclamp; Pithing Needle can name a single activated source; Prismatic Ending and Skyclave Apparition can remove cheap artifacts.
- Role peers: Pithing Needle is narrower and name-based; Disenchant destroys one artifact or enchantment; Force of Negation and Dovin's Veto can stop artifact spells on the stack if noncreature.
- Failure modes: Does not stop static or triggered artifact abilities, and it shuts off your own Skullclamp equip/draw setup if the draw depends on equip activation plus any artifact activated abilities you control.
- Matchup / visibility hooks: Strong against artifact mana, equipment, and activated artifact combo; poor against artifact creatures with static stats or decks with few artifact activations.

## Interaction Priorities

- Removal priority: spend Swords to Plowshares, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Dismember, Sheoldred's Edict, Solitude, Prismatic Ending, Skyclave Apparition, Parallax Wave, Swift Reconfiguration, Requiting Hex, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire on threats that change the next combat, shut off your engines, or invalidate commander pressure. Do not burn premium removal on small bodies that Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Barrowgoyf, Orcish Bowmasters, or Dennick, Pious Apprentice can contain in combat unless life total or planeswalker defense demands it. Card text check required for Requiting Hex before relying on exact target or effect type.

- Counter priority: use Force of Negation, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Daze, Spell Pierce, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Wash Away, Mental Misstep, Tale's End, Stifle, Subtlety, Tishana's Tidebinder, and Ertai Resurrected on cards that beat the current board rather than on generic value. Counter sweepers when you are ahead, haymakers when you are behind, tutors or commander-centric actions when Opposition Agent, Vendilion Clique, Thoughtseize, or Gitaxian Probe has shown the opponent is assembling something specific, and removal only when the protected threat is carrying the game.

- Disruption priority: fire Thoughtseize, Vendilion Clique, and Gitaxian Probe before committing Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Teferi, Time Raveler, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, or Parallax Wave when legal. Take the card that breaks your current line first: sweeper against board advantage, cheap removal against Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful pressure, graveyard hate against Silas Renn, Seeker Adept or Unearth plans, and combo payoff against fast linear decks.

- Bounce and exile priority: use Brazen Borrower and Otawara, Soaring City to reset expensive permanents, clear a lethal blocker, answer tokens cleanly, or create a tempo window for commander damage and planeswalker pressure. Use Parallax Wave as a commitment spell only when its targets are visible and the tempo swing is immediate; do not expose it into open interaction merely to delay a board you can already block.

- Ignore priority: decline to fight low-impact card selection, redundant small attackers, and nonlethal value permanents when your hand contains only one hard answer or a free pitch spell with a painful card cost. This deck wins many games by making the opponent's decisive turn fail, so passing with Force of Negation, Solitude, Subtlety, Daze, Spell Pierce, or Mana Leak available is often stronger than tapping out for a medium threat.

- Bait priority: lead with resilient or lower-commitment threats such as Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Orcish Bowmasters, Psychic Frog, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, or Skullclamp before exposing Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Teferi, Time Raveler, or Kaito, Bane of Nightmares into unknown interaction. Against reactive decks, force them to answer cheap pressure; against creature decks, save the clean answer for the creature that makes blocking impossible.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Attack priority: pressure early with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful whenever the visible blocks do not trade it down for less than a major tempo gain. Legendary follow-ups such as Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Teferi, Time Raveler, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, and Flowering of the White Tree can turn Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful from chip damage into a must-answer clock, but do not attack it into a board where losing it removes your only pressure.

- Trade priority: trade small creatures aggressively against faster creature decks when the exchange preserves life and buys time for Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Parallax Wave, Supreme Verdict after sideboarding, or planeswalker stabilization. Preserve Psychic Frog, Orcish Bowmasters, Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Raffine, Scheming Seer, and Skullclamp carriers when they are actively producing cards or filtering decisions; trade them only to stop a lethal clock or protect a more important permanent.

- Silas combat priority: attack with Silas Renn, Seeker Adept when deathtouch makes blocks bad for the opponent or when connecting enables a visible artifact line involving Skullclamp, Pre-War Formalwear, or another legal artifact action. Do not risk Silas Renn, Seeker Adept into first-strike, exile, bounce, or unfavorable double blocks unless the resulting trade unlocks a decisive graveyard or tempo sequence. Card text check required for Pre-War Formalwear before valuing exact recursion or equip lines.

- Protection priority: use Plaza of Heroes, Eiganjo Castle, Reverent Mantra, Force of Negation, Daze, and other stack interaction to protect a threat only when that threat is central to the current plan. Protect Sheoldred, the Apocalypse when its life swing stabilizes the race, protect Raffine, Scheming Seer or Kaito, Bane of Nightmares when they will snowball cards, and protect Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful only when it represents the real clock rather than replaceable damage.

- Life threshold priority: above roughly 14 life, prefer tempo-positive attacks and card engines over defensive trades unless facing visible burst damage. From 8 to 13 life, block to preserve the ability to use pain lands, fetch-shock sequencing, Thoughtseize, Dismember, Mana Confluence, and City of Brass. At 7 or less, assume every unblocked attacker matters and convert free spells, removal, and flash creatures into survival unless a counterlethal attack is visible.

- Archetype adjustment: against aggro, become the removal-and-blocking deck and let Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Solitude, Parallax Wave, Orcish Bowmasters, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, and Kaya's Guile after sideboarding stabilize before attacking widely. Against control, attack patiently with cheap legends and flash threats while holding counters for sweepers and finishers. Against combo or engine decks, shorten the clock with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful and evasive or disruptive bodies while preserving Thoughtseize, Opposition Agent, Vendilion Clique, Stifle, Tale's End, and hard counters for the turn that matters.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Demonic Tutor priority: find the card that changes the current game, not the abstract strongest card. Search for Swords to Plowshares, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Sheoldred's Edict, Solitude, or Prismatic Ending when a visible threat is winning; find Force of Negation, Mana Leak, Dovin's Veto after sideboarding, or Teferi, Time Raveler when the next stack fight decides the game; find Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Parallax Wave, or Flowering of the White Tree when you already have time and need a closing engine.

- Tainted Pact priority: treat Tainted Pact as a commitment spell because passing a unique singleton card can remove it from the game. Cast it when you know the category you need before resolution, such as untapped colored land, free interaction, one-mana removal, graveyard hate after sideboarding, or a win-condition permanent; stop on the first card that satisfies the visible requirement unless the current board clearly demands a narrower answer.

- Information priority: use Gitaxian Probe, Thoughtseize, and Vendilion Clique before high-commitment selection whenever legal and tactically relevant. Probe or discard first when deciding whether to tap out for Demonic Tutor, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Teferi, Time Raveler, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Parallax Wave, or Raffine, Scheming Seer; preserve Thoughtseize if life pressure makes the two life cost dangerous or if the opponent is empty-handed.

- Filter priority: use Raffine, Scheming Seer, Psychic Frog, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Skullclamp, Minas Tirith, Rivendell, and Wan Shi Tong, Librarian as visible-card-quality engines only when their legal actions are exposed by the rules engine. Card text check required for Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, and Psychic Frog before assuming exact draw, loot, discard, or attack-trigger conditions.

- Surveil-land priority: sequence Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, and Undercity Sewers when an entering-tapped land is acceptable or when a top-card decision is worth the tempo cost. Keep interaction, pressure, or missing colors on top; bin redundant tapped lands, late discard, or slow engines when the visible game demands immediate defense.

- Land-drop timing: delay fetch lands such as Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Marsh Flats, Windswept Heath, Scalding Tarn, Misty Rainforest, Verdant Catacombs, Bloodstained Mire, and Arid Mesa only when you need to preserve shuffle equity for a known top card or conceal colors. Make the land drop before casting Daze-sensitive, Spell Pierce-sensitive, or Mana Tithe-sensitive spells if the extra mana changes legal protection or payment options.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Default priority rule: pass priority when no legal action improves the visible board, protects a key permanent, or stops a decisive opponent action. Do not cast interaction just because mana is open; this deck gains edge by making Force of Negation, Daze, Spell Pierce, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Wash Away, Stifle, Tale's End, Tishana's Tidebinder, Subtlety, and Ertai Resurrected line up with the opponent's actual pivot spell.

- Fight commitment rule: initiate stack fights over sweepers, combo pieces, planeswalker answers, commander removal, graveyard hate against Silas Renn, Seeker Adept or Unearth, and threats that invalidate combat. Let low-impact cantrips, medium creatures, and redundant setup resolve when your answer density is low or your board already pressures them.

- Free-spell rule: use Force of Negation, Solitude, Subtlety, Daze, Mental Misstep, Reverent Mantra, and potentially Requiting Hex only after checking card cost, life total, and follow-up mana. Card text check required for Requiting Hex and Reverent Mantra before relying on exact alternate-cost or protection behavior.

- Trigger and ability rule: use Stifle, Tale's End, Tishana's Tidebinder, and Pithing Needle after sideboarding on activated or triggered abilities that the engine exposes as legal targets and that materially change the game. Prioritize fetch-land or tutor disruption only when it denies a critical color, stops a known combo line, or strands the opponent under pressure; otherwise save these cards for commanders, planeswalkers, cascade-like effects, sacrifice triggers, or game-winning abilities.

- Combat-window rule: hold instant-speed interaction through attackers and blockers when blocks, removal, bounce, or protection can change damage. Use Swords to Plowshares, Fatal Push, Cut Down, Dismember, Sheoldred's Edict, Swift Reconfiguration, Brazen Borrower, Otawara, Soaring City, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Solitude, Subtlety, and Parallax Wave at the last legal window that preserves the intended outcome.

- Optional-payment rule: decline optional costs, protection, or ability activations when they consume mana needed for visible counters, removal, commander recast, or a known tax. Pay only when the rules engine shows the payment is legal and the resulting action protects the central threat, advances lethal pressure, or prevents a decisive opposing resolution.

- Graveyard timing rule: activate or cast Unearth, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept lines, Pre-War Formalwear lines, and post-board Kaya's Guile or Dauthi Voidwalker actions only with legal targets visible. Card text check required for Pre-War Formalwear and Dauthi Voidwalker before assuming exact graveyard, artifact, or exile timing.

## Sideboard Map

- Sideboard principle: use the ten-card sideboard as targeted role compression, not as a new deck. Keep the command-zone pressure plan intact with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, cheap legends, and stack interaction; add narrow cards only when the opponent's visible archetype makes that narrow text more valuable than flexible main-deck interaction.

- Rest in Peace role: bring Rest in Peace against graveyard combo, recursive midrange, escape, reanimator, dredge-like engines, and decks where the graveyard is a primary resource. Rest in Peace is bad when your own graveyard recursion from Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Unearth, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Emperor of Bones, Pre-War Formalwear, and Barrowgoyf matters more than the opponent's graveyard; do not add it against generic creature decks just because a graveyard is present. Its role changes from hard hate to emergency stabilizer only when the opponent already showed graveyard inevitability and your hand can win through your own graveyard being constrained.

- Dovin's Veto role: bring Dovin's Veto against control, combo, planeswalker-heavy decks, sweeper-heavy midrange, and spell-based engines where one resolved noncreature spell decides the game. Dovin's Veto is weak against creature-density decks that win through battlefield deployment before you can hold two mana. Treat it as a commitment gate: preserve it for the spell that beats your board, not for low-impact selection.

- Grafdigger's Cage role: bring Grafdigger's Cage against graveyard casting, reanimation, library-to-battlefield creature engines, and commander-adjacent engines if the rules text visibly matters. Grafdigger's Cage is bad when the opponent uses the graveyard only as incidental value or when your own Silas Renn, Seeker Adept and Unearth lines are essential to recover from removal. Card text check required at runtime before assuming it stops a specific visible action.

- Pithing Needle role: bring Pithing Needle against commanders, planeswalkers, equipment engines, artifact engines, lands, or combo permanents with activated abilities that are known from public information. Pithing Needle is bad when the opponent presents mostly triggered abilities, static abilities, combat stats, or spells from hand. Name only a card actually known or strongly implied by public information; if the engine asks for a name with no reliable object to constrain, prefer a different sideboard role.

- Disenchant role: bring Disenchant against artifact or enchantment engines, prison pieces, equipment, graveyard hate that blocks Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, and permanent-based combo pieces. Disenchant is bad against creature-only aggression and spell combo with few legal permanent objects to answer. Its role changes from answer to tempo play when removing a blocker-enabler, equipment, or hate permanent opens a protected attack from Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful or an evasive legend.

- Kaya's Guile role: bring Kaya's Guile against graveyard decks, sacrifice-sensitive creature decks, go-wide creature decks, burn pressure, and midrange mirrors where flexible instant-speed modes can stabilize life, material, or graveyard pressure. Kaya's Guile is bad when the opponent ignores creatures and graveyards or when holding three mana prevents you from using cheaper interaction. Card text check required for exact mode availability and any additional payment; choose modes only from visible legal options.

- Supreme Verdict role: bring Supreme Verdict against creature swarms, hexproof-like board states, creature commanders backed by protection, and opponents that can overload one-for-one removal. Supreme Verdict is bad when you are the board-advantage player with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful plus multiple legends, or when the opponent's threats are mostly planeswalkers, artifacts, graveyard loops, or single protected finishers. Treat Supreme Verdict as a reset button, not a routine answer.

- Duress role: bring Duress against combo, control, sweepers, planeswalkers, and decks where removing a noncreature spell clears the path for a threat. Duress is bad against low-curve creature decks with few noncreature cards and against topdeck races where immediate board impact matters more than information. Use it before committing Teferi, Time Raveler, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Parallax Wave, or Demonic Tutor when the opponent's hand is unknown.

- Dauthi Voidwalker role: bring Dauthi Voidwalker against graveyard decks, attrition mirrors, spell-heavy decks where exiled cards can become a swing, and opponents that struggle to block shadow-like pressure if that text is confirmed. Dauthi Voidwalker is bad when a fragile creature body is too slow, when Rest in Peace is the cleaner hate plan, or when your curve needs more instant interaction. Card text check required before assuming exact exile replacement, casting permission, or evasion behavior.

- Stony Silence role: bring Stony Silence against artifact mana, equipment, artifact combo, and activated artifact engines. Stony Silence is bad when your own Skullclamp, artifact recursion from Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, or Pre-War Formalwear lines are more important than the opponent's artifacts, or when the opponent's artifacts are mostly static hate that Disenchant can answer more cleanly. Card text check required before assuming it stops a specific artifact ability.

Balanced anti-combo/control plan
Side in: Dovin's Veto; Duress; Pithing Needle; Dauthi Voidwalker
Cut: Cut Down; Fatal Push; Swift Reconfiguration; Parallax Wave

- Plan use: apply the anti-combo/control plan when the opponent's primary wins are noncreature spells, planeswalker or commander abilities, graveyard value, or a compact engine rather than creature combat. Keep cheap pressure and permission; reduce creature-only answers that lack targets. If the opponent showed artifact engines instead of graveyard pressure, use Stony Silence or Disenchant as role cards and reassess Dauthi Voidwalker.

Balanced anti-graveyard plan
Side in: Rest in Peace; Grafdigger's Cage; Kaya's Guile; Dauthi Voidwalker
Cut: Unearth; Pre-War Formalwear; Barrowgoyf; Takenuma, Abandoned Mire

- Plan use: apply the anti-graveyard plan only when graveyard access is central enough to justify weakening your own graveyard package. Add broad shutdown, library-or-graveyard constraints, flexible instant interaction, and pressure plus disruption. Reduce main-deck emphasis on cards whose best lines depend on your own graveyard or artifact-recursion value.

Balanced artifact/enchantment plan
Side in: Disenchant; Stony Silence; Pithing Needle
Cut: Requiting Hex; Swift Reconfiguration; Memory Lapse

- Plan use: apply the artifact/enchantment plan against decks whose public permanents are more dangerous than their creatures on rate. Add specific permanent answers, activated-artifact suppression, and known activated-ability coverage. Reduce main-deck emphasis on narrow tempo interaction and uncertain-text cards when permanent answers are required. Card text check required for Requiting Hex before assigning it a lower role.

Balanced creature-swarm plan
Side in: Supreme Verdict; Kaya's Guile; Disenchant
Cut: Gitaxian Probe; Spell Pierce; Force Spike

- Plan use: apply the creature-swarm plan against decks that overload one-for-one removal with multiple creatures, tokens, or protection-backed boards. Add a true reset and flexible stabilization; include Disenchant only when equipment, anthem, enchantment, or artifact support is part of the creature plan. Reduce main-deck emphasis on soft permission and life-cost information when the game is decided on battlefield containment.

Balanced big-mana/artifact ramp plan
Side in: Stony Silence; Pithing Needle; Duress; Dovin's Veto
Cut: Cut Down; Fatal Push; Swift Reconfiguration; Dismember

- Plan use: apply the big-mana/artifact ramp plan when mana rocks, activated lands, planeswalkers, commanders, or expensive noncreature payoffs are the opponent's route to inevitability. Keep pressure, tax the decisive turn, and remove creature-only answers when the opponent is not trying to win through small attackers.

Balanced removal-heavy attrition plan
Side in: Duress; Dovin's Veto; Dauthi Voidwalker; Kaya's Guile
Cut: Cut Down; Fatal Push; Force Spike; Dismember

- Plan use: apply the removal-heavy attrition plan against decks with sweepers, removal density, graveyard value, or planeswalker follow-up. Protect high-value threats, preserve recursive resources when graveyard hate is not required, and avoid overloading on narrow hate if the opponent's plan is simply trading cards.

Balanced burn/race stabilization plan
Side in: Kaya's Guile; Duress; Dovin's Veto
Cut: Gitaxian Probe; Dismember; Force Spike

- Plan use: apply the burn/race stabilization plan when life total is the bottleneck and the opponent uses burn, reach, or noncreature finishers alongside pressure. Reduce voluntary life payments and soft permission that expires quickly; add flexible lifegain, hand disruption for reach, and uncounterable protection against decisive noncreature spells.

- Archetype rule against fast aggro: add Supreme Verdict and Kaya's Guile first, then Disenchant if the opponent showed equipment or enchantment pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Gitaxian Probe, slow selection, and permission that fails once threats are already on the battlefield.

- Archetype rule against midrange: add only sideboard cards that answer a confirmed axis. Dauthi Voidwalker, Kaya's Guile, Pithing Needle, Disenchant, Rest in Peace, or Supreme Verdict can be correct, but overboarding into narrow hate makes the deck lose its efficient legend-plus-interaction identity.

- Archetype rule against control: add Dovin's Veto, Duress, and Pithing Needle before graveyard hate unless their public plan uses the graveyard. Keep threats that generate value through attack, flash, or planeswalkers; reduce dead removal rather than pressure.

- Archetype rule against combo: add Duress, Dovin's Veto, Pithing Needle, Grafdigger's Cage, Rest in Peace, Stony Silence, or Dauthi Voidwalker according to the combo's visible resource. Do not add hate by card type alone; match the sideboard card to the actual engine the rules engine and public information expose.

## Matchup Guidance
- Aggro: stabilize first, then turn the corner with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Raffine, Scheming Seer, or equipped pressure from Skullclamp and Pre-War Formalwear only when the board is contained. Prioritize cheap removal such as Fatal Push, Cut Down, Swords to Plowshares, Dismember, Solitude, Prismatic Ending, and Sheoldred's Edict over holding soft permission for later turns. Add role cards: Supreme Verdict and Kaya's Guile when the opponent presents multiple creatures, with Disenchant only for visible equipment, anthem, artifact, or enchantment pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Gitaxian Probe, Force Spike, Spell Pierce, and slow reactive cards when the game is already about board presence.

- Control: lead with resilient, low-commitment pressure and make the opponent answer one meaningful threat at a time. Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful backed by legends, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept backed by artifact value, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Vendilion Clique, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse are strong pressure points if protected from sweepers and hard counters. Add role cards: Duress, Dovin's Veto, Pithing Needle, and Dauthi Voidwalker when the opponent relies on noncreature spells, planeswalkers, graveyard value, or activated abilities. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Cut Down, Fatal Push, Swift Reconfiguration, and Parallax Wave if they lack creature targets or do not answer the opponent's actual win condition.

- Combo: treat every turn cycle as a resource-denial test, not a race by default. Use Thoughtseize, Gitaxian Probe, Vendilion Clique, Opposition Agent, Orcish Bowmasters, Tishana's Tidebinder, Ertai Resurrected, Tale's End, Stifle, Wash Away, Mental Misstep, Spell Pierce, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Daze, Force of Negation, Mana Tithe, and Force Spike to break the decisive setup turn rather than to trade for low-impact selection unless mana efficiency or known hand contents justify it. Add role cards: Duress, Dovin's Veto, Pithing Needle, Grafdigger's Cage, Rest in Peace, Dauthi Voidwalker, or Stony Silence according to the engine the visible game state exposes. Do not name a hate piece as correct just because the opponent is combo; match the answer to graveyard, artifact, activated ability, library, or spell-stack dependency.

- Tempo: value mana efficiency above raw card advantage until the first stable board is achieved. Keep one-mana interaction live, play around Daze-like exchanges only when visible mana and public information support it, and prefer threats that also disrupt or generate value: Orcish Bowmasters, Psychic Frog, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Brazen Borrower, Vendilion Clique, Tishana's Tidebinder, and Ertai Resurrected. Use Teferi, Time Raveler as a commitment gate: deploy it when it protects a follow-up, breaks a stack fight, or bounces a meaningful permanent, not merely because it is castable. Add sideboard cards sparingly; Duress or Dovin's Veto can matter against spell-heavy tempo, while Supreme Verdict is only for boards that truly overload spot removal.

- Midrange: win the exchange economy by turning each card into pressure, information, or a two-for-one. Preserve Demonic Tutor and Tainted Pact for the missing piece in the current board texture: removal when behind, a finisher when stable, graveyard disruption when the opponent's recursion is public, or protection when a key threat is already winning. Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful grows from legendary sequencing, so choose legend deployment order with combat math and removal exposure in mind. Silas Renn, Seeker Adept matters more when Skullclamp, Pre-War Formalwear, or other artifact lines are available and less when graveyard hate is expected. Add role cards narrowly: Kaya's Guile, Dauthi Voidwalker, Pithing Needle, Disenchant, Rest in Peace, or Supreme Verdict only when the opponent's axis is visible.

- Big mana: attack mana development and payoff timing rather than trying to answer every permanent after it resolves. Use Thoughtseize, Vendilion Clique, Opposition Agent, Stifle, Tale's End, Tishana's Tidebinder, Wash Away, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Force of Negation, and Dovin's Veto to interrupt search, activated abilities, commanders, or expensive noncreature payoffs when those actions are legal and visible. Pressure must be real: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Psychic Frog, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, and evasive or disruptive creatures should close before the opponent's mana advantage invalidates soft permission. Add role cards: Pithing Needle for known activated engines, Stony Silence for artifact-mana clusters, Disenchant for key permanents, and Duress for noncreature payoffs.

- Graveyard: identify whether the opponent needs the graveyard to win, to grind, or only as incidental value before committing hate that weakens your own recursion. Rest in Peace and Grafdigger's Cage are strongest when they stop the opponent's core engine; Dauthi Voidwalker is better when pressure plus disruption matters; Kaya's Guile is better when flexible instant-speed interaction is needed. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Unearth, Pre-War Formalwear, Barrowgoyf, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, and Silas Renn, Seeker Adept artifact-recursion plans when broad graveyard hate is deployed. Do not assume a graveyard card is locked out unless the rules engine shows the hate permanent and legal actions confirm the restriction.

- Artifact/enchantment: answer the permanent that actually converts into a win, not the first permanent with a scary card type. Disenchant is for specific engines, hate pieces, equipment, or enchantments that invalidate combat or recursion; Stony Silence is for activated artifact clusters; Pithing Needle is for a named activated ability visible from public information or known from revealed cards. Skyclave Apparition, Prismatic Ending, Brazen Borrower, Otawara, Soaring City, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Tishana's Tidebinder can provide temporary or permanent interaction depending on legal action text. Reduce main-deck emphasis on narrow creature removal when the threat is a noncreature permanent engine.

- Go-wide: preserve life total and board parity until Supreme Verdict, Parallax Wave, Solitude, Sheoldred's Edict, Kaya's Guile, or efficient removal can reset the attack math. Do not trade Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful or a high-value legend into a token unless that trade prevents lethal, protects a planeswalker that will stabilize, or unlocks Skullclamp value that the board can support. Flowering of the White Tree may change combat math if its text and static effects are confirmed by the engine; card text check required before relying on exact bonuses. Add role cards: Supreme Verdict, Kaya's Guile, and Disenchant for token engines or anthem permanents.

- Single-threat: force the opponent to commit protection before spending the cleanest answer when possible. Sheoldred's Edict, Swords to Plowshares, Solitude, Dismember, Prismatic Ending, Skyclave Apparition, Swift Reconfiguration, Brazen Borrower, Otawara, Soaring City, and Parallax Wave should be sequenced around ward, counters, sacrifice protection, and combat timing shown by legal actions. Pithing Needle is excellent when the single threat is a commander, planeswalker, equipment, or activated engine with a known ability. Keep pressure active so the opponent cannot spend every turn protecting one permanent.

- Burn: treat life as a scarce resource and avoid unnecessary pain from City of Brass, Mana Confluence, shock lands, Gitaxian Probe, Dismember, and fetch sequencing unless the tempo gained prevents more damage. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Dennick, Pious Apprentice, Kaya's Guile, Solitude, Swords to Plowshares on your own creature only when legal and necessary, and early blockers can swing the race. Counter the spell that changes the clock, not always the first spell. Reduce main-deck emphasis on slow card advantage that costs life or mana without affecting the race.

- Removal-heavy decks: diversify threat types and avoid putting all pressure into one creature unless protection or recursion is available. Sequence Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful with other legends to demand answers, then reload with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept artifact value, Unearth, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, or Pre-War Formalwear when legal and tactically sound. Do not expose Skullclamp or Pre-War Formalwear lines into graveyard hate or artifact hate without a payoff. Add role cards: Duress and Dovin's Veto against sweepers and removal-heavy control, Dauthi Voidwalker for attrition, and Pithing Needle when the removal engine is ability-based.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- General/archetype-only: exact opponents are absent, so revealed cards, legal actions, and public zones override every assumption here. Use Gitaxian Probe, Thoughtseize, Duress, Vendilion Clique, and Opposition Agent information to update the plan immediately; do not spend a counter, removal spell, tutor, or sideboard card on a guessed axis when the board shows a different one.

- Fast creature decks: preserve life before preserving long-game engines. Prioritize Cut Down, Fatal Push, Swords to Plowshares, Solitude, Dismember, Sheoldred's Edict, Prismatic Ending, Skyclave Apparition, Parallax Wave, and Supreme Verdict for creatures that change the next combat step or make blocking impossible. Add role cards: Supreme Verdict and Kaya's Guile, with Disenchant only for a visible artifact or enchantment engine. Reduce main-deck emphasis on slow tutors, expensive tap-out threats, and life-costing lines from City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Gitaxian Probe, or Dismember when the tempo gain is not decisive.

- Control and permission decks: force action on their turn when possible, then resolve a protected threat or planeswalker. Prioritize Thoughtseize, Duress, Vendilion Clique, Dovin's Veto, Spell Pierce, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Force of Negation, Daze, Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Voice of Victory around visible shields and open mana. Add role cards: Dovin's Veto, Duress, Dauthi Voidwalker, and Pithing Needle for known planeswalker or activated engines. Reduce main-deck emphasis on narrow creature removal unless the opponent has committed a real threat.

- Graveyard decks: decide whether hate is worth weakening your own Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Unearth, Pre-War Formalwear, Barrowgoyf, Emperor of Bones, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, and Tainted Pact lines. Add role cards: Rest in Peace for broad shutdown, Grafdigger's Cage for cast-from-graveyard or library-style engines when confirmed, Dauthi Voidwalker for pressure plus denial, and Kaya's Guile for instant-speed flexibility. Priority targets are the public graveyard card or enabled action that creates the win, not incidental value.

- Artifact or enchantment engines: answer the permanent that converts into cards, mana, combat inevitability, or a lock. Add role cards: Disenchant, Stony Silence, Pithing Needle, and sometimes Dovin's Veto. Main-deck answers include Prismatic Ending, Skyclave Apparition, Brazen Borrower, Otawara, Soaring City, Teferi, Time Raveler, Tishana's Tidebinder, and Ertai Resurrected. Reduce main-deck emphasis on creature-only removal when the opponent's visible engine is noncreature.

- Combo or big-mana decks: use pressure plus interruption rather than trying to answer every payoff after resolution. Prioritize Thoughtseize, Duress, Vendilion Clique, Opposition Agent, Stifle, Tale's End, Tishana's Tidebinder, Wash Away, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Force of Negation, Dovin's Veto, and Spell Pierce for search, commander, activated ability, or noncreature payoff windows shown by legal actions. Add role cards: Pithing Needle, Stony Silence, Grafdigger's Cage, Rest in Peace, Dauthi Voidwalker, or Disenchant only when the revealed plan uses that axis.

- Tempo mirrors and low-curve disruption decks: trade mana efficiently and avoid sideboarding into clunky answers. Keep Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful pressure active, respect opposing soft permission, and use cheap interaction to protect the threat that is already winning. Duress is better when their disruptive density is spell-heavy; Supreme Verdict is only for boards that actually go wide; Rest in Peace is not a default answer unless graveyard recursion is central.

- Midrange mirrors: keep the deck's pressure-plus-interaction identity intact. Kaya's Guile and Dauthi Voidwalker are the most natural role cards when the opponent trades resources and uses graveyards; Pithing Needle or Disenchant should answer a confirmed engine; Rest in Peace is reserved for graveyard inevitability strong enough to justify suppressing your own recursion. Do not cut all cheap removal just because the opponent has late-game cards, since Commander-family games still hinge on early legendary pressure and combat pivots.

- Go-wide boards: preserve parity until a reset or life-stabilizing spell can shift the race. Supreme Verdict is the cleanest reset, Kaya's Guile can buy a combat step or drain graveyard value, and Disenchant is for anthem, equipment, or token-engine permanents. Avoid overcommitting legends into a board wipe if Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful plus one protected follow-up already forces the opponent to react.

- Single-threat commanders or protected engines: answer the enabling ability or protection layer before spending the cleanest removal if possible. Pithing Needle is a high-priority role card when the threat is activated-ability dependent; Dovin's Veto and Duress matter when protection or payoff comes from noncreature spells; Disenchant matters when the threat is carried by equipment or enchantment support. Keep pressure active so the opponent cannot spend every turn holding up protection.

## Risk Summary

- Mana risk: the deck is powerful but color-hungry, and several lands or spells ask for painful sequencing. Avoid unnecessary damage from City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Underground River, Caves of Koilos, Gitaxian Probe, and Dismember when the opponent is pressuring life. Fetch decisions with Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Marsh Flats, Verdant Catacombs, Misty Rainforest, Scalding Tarn, Arid Mesa, Windswept Heath, and Bloodstained Mire must preserve access to white removal, blue interaction, and black discard.

- Matchup risk: the guide is archetype-only unless an opponent is known. Revealed cards and engine legal actions override broad labels; do not keep a hand, tutor with Demonic Tutor, or exile for Force of Negation based only on a guessed archetype.

- Draw risk: singleton midrange draws can contain the wrong half. Mulligan hands that cannot cast early interaction or pressure, and use Demonic Tutor, Tainted Pact, Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Psychic Frog, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Minas Tirith, Rivendell, and Skullclamp only when the legal line improves the current texture rather than chasing generic value.

- Over-sideboarding risk: broad hate can shut off your own recursion, artifact, and graveyard value. Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, Stony Silence, and Dauthi Voidwalker should enter only for visible or strongly indicated axes; avoid diluting Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful pressure and interaction density with hate that does not affect legal opposing actions.

- Graveyard risk: relying on Unearth, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Pre-War Formalwear, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Emperor of Bones, or Barrowgoyf into known graveyard hate can strand resources. Treat graveyard plans as conditional unless the hate is absent, answered, or outweighed by immediate board impact.

- Sweeper/removal risk: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful can invite overcommitment. Sequence Flowering of the White Tree, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, and other legends so one removal spell or sweeper does not erase all pressure unless the clock demands it.

- Closer risk: the deck can stabilize without ending the game. Once ahead, identify the cleanest closer among Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Psychic Frog, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, or evasive pressure, then spend interaction to protect that clock.

- Interaction risk: soft counters lose value as mana grows. Spend Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Spell Pierce, Daze, Mana Leak, and Memory Lapse on turns where they deny a meaningful spell, tempo swing, or engine start; preserve Dovin's Veto, Force of Negation, Tale's End, Stifle, Tishana's Tidebinder, and Ertai Resurrected for higher-leverage windows when visible.

- Sequencing risk: legendary and utility lands create tactical traps. Plaza of Heroes, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Eiganjo Castle, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Otawara, Soaring City, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, Barad-dur, Starting Town, and Flagstones of Trokair should be played or held according to current legal actions, commander tax, interaction needs, and channel/utility value; card text check required for unfamiliar or newly printed cards before relying on exact effects.

## Test Feedback Checklist

- Deciding factor: identify whether the game turned on early Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful pressure, a protected Silas Renn, Seeker Adept recursion line, a planeswalker or legend sticking, a single interaction window, mana failure, or inability to close after stabilization.

- Mulligan review: record whether the opener had castable pressure, at least two usable mana sources, and interaction aligned to the opponent. Flag hands that kept only cantripping or speculative cards such as Gitaxian Probe, Tainted Pact, Demonic Tutor, Rivendell, or Minas Tirith without a clear first-three-turn plan.

- Mana review: note every game where City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Watery Grave, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Underground River, Caves of Koilos, Dismember, or Gitaxian Probe materially changed life totals. Check whether fetch sequencing with Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Marsh Flats, Verdant Catacombs, Misty Rainforest, Scalding Tarn, Arid Mesa, Windswept Heath, or Bloodstained Mire preserved white removal, blue permission, and black discard.

- Velocity review: ask whether Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Psychic Frog, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Skullclamp, Minas Tirith, Rivendell, or Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom converted into decisions that improved the current board texture. Card text check required for unfamiliar draw or filtering details before blaming a card for low output.

- Engine review: track whether Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Unearth, Pre-War Formalwear, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Emperor of Bones, Barrowgoyf, and Tainted Pact were enabled or stranded by graveyard pressure, sideboard hate, or sequencing.

- Removal review: record whether Cut Down, Fatal Push, Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Sheoldred's Edict, Dismember, Solitude, Skyclave Apparition, Swift Reconfiguration, Parallax Wave, Otawara, Soaring City, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire answered the threat that mattered before combat or only cleaned up after the game was already slipping.

- Stack review: identify missed or overused windows for Force Spike, Mana Tithe, Spell Pierce, Daze, Mana Leak, Memory Lapse, Force of Negation, Wash Away, Tale's End, Stifle, Subtlety, Tishana's Tidebinder, Ertai Resurrected, Dovin's Veto, and Mental Misstep. Mark whether the soft counters were spent while they still constrained mana.

- Sideboard review: ask whether Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, Dauthi Voidwalker, Kaya's Guile, Stony Silence, Pithing Needle, Disenchant, Supreme Verdict, Duress, or Dovin's Veto affected visible opposing actions. Flag any sideboard card that entered without a public target, matchup reason, or clear pressure plan.

- Closing review: record whether wins came from Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Psychic Frog, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, Svyelun of Sea and Sky, Cloud, Midgar Mercenary, evasive legends, or attrition. Ask whether the deck stabilized but gave the opponent too many draw steps.

- Role review: compare the chosen role against the revealed game. Note when the pilot acted as control despite having the only clock, or raced despite holding better interaction.

- Mistake review: log every action where Veles selected a legal line but ignored visible board pressure, a stack window, a commander tax constraint, a sideboard hate conflict, or a known card from Thoughtseize, Gitaxian Probe, Vendilion Clique, or reveal effects.

## First Tuning Questions

- Mana question: do color failures cluster around double-colored interaction, early Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful plus blue permission, or black discard starts? If yes, reassess utility land pressure from Barad-dur, Rivendell, Minas Tirith, Shizo, Death's Storehouse, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Oboro, Palace in the Clouds, Starting Town, and Flagstones of Trokair against colored source needs.

- Aggro question: does the deck lose before Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Parallax Wave, Supreme Verdict, or Kaya's Guile can stabilize? If yes, test whether more cheap interaction density is needed over slow card selection, high-pain lines, or conditional legends with card text check required.

- Control question: does the deck fail to resolve a durable threat through removal and permission? If yes, evaluate whether Thoughtseize, Duress, Voice of Victory, Teferi, Time Raveler, Vendilion Clique, Force of Negation, Dovin's Veto, and resilient commander deployment are being prioritized correctly before changing slots.

- Closer question: does the deck trade resources well but fail to end games? If yes, examine whether Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful is protected enough, whether Flowering of the White Tree overperforms, and whether Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Psychic Frog, Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, or Svyelun of Sea and Sky should be treated as primary closers more often.

- Graveyard question: does Rest in Peace or Grafdigger's Cage solve matchups while weakening Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Unearth, Pre-War Formalwear, Emperor of Bones, Barrowgoyf, and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire too much? If yes, prefer matchup-specific hate selection over automatic broad hate.

- Artifact question: does Stony Silence conflict with Skullclamp, Pre-War Formalwear, or Silas Renn, Seeker Adept lines more than it disrupts the opponent? If yes, reserve it for visible artifact-engine matchups and lean on Disenchant, Pithing Needle, Prismatic Ending, Skyclave Apparition, or Otawara, Soaring City elsewhere.

- Role-conflict question: are legendary pressure cards, reactive counters, graveyard recursion, and planeswalker value pulling the pilot into incompatible turns? If yes, tune the decision guide first by tightening mulligan and commitment gates before changing the registered 100.

- Stranded-card question: which cards are repeatedly uncastable, text-uncertain, or low impact in logs: Aang, Swift Savior, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, Spectacular Spider-Man, Requiting Hex, Starting Town, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, Pippin, Guard of the Citadel, or Cloud, Midgar Mercenary? Card text check required before downgrading any unfamiliar card.

- Sideboard-slot question: which sideboard card has the fewest real targets across tested opponents? If a slot is inactive, compare its role against the observed need for graveyard hate, stack protection, artifact or enchantment answers, sweepers, discard, and activated-ability suppression.

- Tutor question: does Demonic Tutor or Tainted Pact find decisive cards or merely patch poor keeps? If the latter, update mulligan policy and target-selection policy before treating tutor performance as a card-quality issue.

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Opening-Hand Keep Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan
Cards: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful; Thoughtseize; Mental Misstep; Fatal Push; Cut Down; Swords to Plowshares; Force Spike; Mana Tithe; Spell Pierce
Phase windows: mulligan
Runtime cues: opening hand; mulligan decision
Use when: deciding keep or mulligan from a visible opening hand.
Avoid when: runtime hand data is incomplete.
Instructions: Keep hands that cast early pressure or disruption with stable colors; reject hands with only slow lands, no cheap interaction, and no credible first two turns. Value one-mana interaction highly against unknown fast opponents, but do not keep a hand that cannot cast its spells.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: First Threat Setup
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana; priority
Cards: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful; Flowering of the White Tree; Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel; Psychic Frog; Dennick, Pious Apprentice; Orcish Bowmasters; Voice of Victory
Phase windows: turns 1-3 main phases
Runtime cues: action:cast; visible hand; available mana
Use when: choosing the first proactive permanent in the opening turns.
Avoid when: holding up interaction is required by a visible stack threat or known card.
Instructions: Start pressure with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful when mana allows and removal exposure is acceptable. Prefer a cheap disruptive or card-advantage creature when it uses mana efficiently and keeps interaction available. Card text check required for unfamiliar legends before treating them as engines.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Fetch And Color Discipline
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana
Cards: Flooded Strand; Polluted Delta; Marsh Flats; Verdant Catacombs; Misty Rainforest; Scalding Tarn; Arid Mesa; Windswept Heath; Bloodstained Mire; Watery Grave; Godless Shrine; Hallowed Fountain; Scrubland; Underground Sea; Tundra
Phase windows: land decisions; upkeep; main phases; opponent end step
Runtime cues: action:activate; action:play land; available mana
Use when: choosing land sequencing or fetch targets.
Avoid when: the rules engine offers only one legal mana action.
Instructions: Prioritize untapped white for removal and Yoshimaru, blue for permission, and black for discard or edicts. Preserve life against aggressive boards by avoiding unnecessary shock or pain lines. Fetch before selection effects only when shuffle value is concrete and legal.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Exact Mana Payment Execution
Priority: Low
Decision families: mana
Cards: City of Brass; Mana Confluence; Command Tower; Plaza of Heroes; Underground River; Caves of Koilos; Adarkar Wastes
Phase windows: payment prompts
Runtime cues: action:pay; action:choose mana
Use when: exactly one legal payment action pays the announced spell or ability cost and leaves no alternative source choice in the legal action list.
Avoid when: multiple lands or pain sources can pay the same cost.
Instructions: Submit the exact payment action exposed by the engine. Do not infer alternate payments, damage prevention, or color restrictions beyond legal action text.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Permission Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Force Spike; Mana Tithe; Spell Pierce; Daze; Mana Leak; Memory Lapse; Force of Negation; Wash Away; Tale's End; Stifle; Subtlety; Tishana's Tidebinder; Ertai Resurrected; Mental Misstep
Phase windows: opponent cast/ability windows; combat trick windows; end step
Runtime cues: stack; action:counter; action:cast
Use when: deciding whether to spend permission or pass priority.
Avoid when: the stack object, available mana, or known opposing follow-up is missing.
Instructions: Spend soft permission while it taxes current mana, not after it expires. Protect a winning board, stop sweepers or engines, and counter must-answer threats over replaceable value spells. Preserve free interaction when tapping out creates lethal or planeswalker vulnerability.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Target Opponent For Information Spells
Priority: Low
Decision families: interaction; selection
Cards: Thoughtseize; Gitaxian Probe; Duress
Phase windows: main phase; target-selection prompt
Runtime cues: action:target opponent Thoughtseize; action:target opponent Gitaxian Probe; action:target opponent Duress
Use when: the legal action text names target opponent for Thoughtseize, Gitaxian Probe, or Duress in a two-player game.
Avoid when: multiple opponent-like targets appear or the prompt is choosing a card from hand.
Instructions: Choose target opponent. Route the revealed-card selection that follows through light-model reasoning using the visible hand.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Hand Disruption Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; selection
Cards: Thoughtseize; Duress; Vendilion Clique; Gitaxian Probe
Phase windows: main phase; draw step flash windows; revealed-hand prompts
Runtime cues: revealed hand; action:choose card; action:put
Use when: choosing what card to take, bottom, or plan around after legal reveal information.
Avoid when: no revealed hand data is available.
Instructions: Take the card that beats the current role: removal for protected pressure, combo piece for fast opponents, sweeper against creature pressure, or permission before a decisive spell. Do not invent hidden cards after the reveal window closes.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Removal And Bounce Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Fatal Push; Cut Down; Swords to Plowshares; Prismatic Ending; Dismember; Sheoldred's Edict; Solitude; Skyclave Apparition; Swift Reconfiguration; Parallax Wave; Otawara, Soaring City; Brazen Borrower; Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
Phase windows: main phases; combat; end step; stack windows
Runtime cues: action:target; action:cast; visible attackers; visible blockers
Use when: selecting whether and where to use removal or bounce.
Avoid when: legal targets are hidden or card text check is required for the effect.
Instructions: Answer threats that change the clock, disable commanders, or protect an opposing engine before spending removal on small replaceable attackers. Prefer exile or edict effects against recursion when visible text supports it. Respect ward, taxes, and protection shown by the engine.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Pressure And Blocks
Priority: Medium
Decision families: combat
Cards: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful; Raffine, Scheming Seer; Sheoldred, the Apocalypse; Svyelun of Sea and Sky; Barrowgoyf; Orcish Bowmasters; Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd; Skyclave Apparition; Solitude
Phase windows: declare attackers; declare blockers; combat damage
Runtime cues: action:attack; action:block; visible power; visible toughness; life totals
Use when: choosing attacks, blocks, or trades from legal combat actions.
Avoid when: combat math requires card text that is not present in visible state.
Instructions: Attack when pressure advances the clock without exposing the only stabilizer. Block to preserve life against short clocks, but avoid trading a key engine for a replaceable attacker unless survival or planeswalker protection demands it.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Trick And Protection Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: combat; interaction; priority
Cards: Reverent Mantra; Solitude; Subtlety; Daze; Force of Negation; Spell Pierce; Mana Tithe; Stifle; Tale's End; Tishana's Tidebinder; Ertai Resurrected
Phase windows: after attackers; after blockers; before damage; end of combat
Runtime cues: stack; action:cast; action:target; combat state
Use when: deciding whether to intervene during combat or protect a threat.
Avoid when: no visible combat swing, lethal risk, or protected permanent is at stake.
Instructions: Use interaction in combat when it preserves lethal pressure, prevents lethal damage, or converts a block into a major tempo swing. Do not spend protection on a creature that is no longer central to the current clock or engine.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Card-Advantage Engine Commitment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; selection
Cards: Skullclamp; Kaito, Bane of Nightmares; Raffine, Scheming Seer; Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel; Psychic Frog; Minas Tirith; Rivendell; Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom; Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
Phase windows: main phase; combat; end step; selection prompts
Runtime cues: action:activate; action:cast; action:choose; hand size
Use when: choosing whether to spend mana or material on card flow.
Avoid when: immediate board pressure requires removal, blocking, or permission.
Instructions: Convert resources into cards when stable or when digging for interaction is the only route back. Card text check required for unfamiliar engines before discarding, sacrificing, or tapping a key permanent.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Tap-Out Finisher Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: mana; priority
Cards: Sheoldred, the Apocalypse; Teferi, Time Raveler; Kaito, Bane of Nightmares; Parallax Wave; Flowering of the White Tree; Cloud, Midgar Mercenary; Requiting Hex
Phase windows: main phase; post-combat main phase
Runtime cues: action:cast; available mana; opponent untapped mana; known hand
Use when: considering a high-impact permanent or expensive spell that reduces interaction availability.
Avoid when: opponent has a visible lethal attack or known answer that must be covered first.
Instructions: Tap out only when the spell stabilizes, threatens a fast close, or the alternative line loses tempo. Keep up permission or removal when passing with mana is stronger against the visible stack or board.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Pass On Empty Stack
Priority: Low
Decision families: priority
Cards: none
Phase windows: opponent end step; own upkeep; low-impact priority windows
Runtime cues: action:pass priority
Use when: the stack is empty, no legal non-pass action is listed, and the only legal action text is pass priority.
Avoid when: any legal action besides pass priority is present.
Instructions: Submit pass priority. Do not infer strategic passing when other legal actions exist.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Role Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Rest in Peace; Dovin's Veto; Grafdigger's Cage; Pithing Needle; Disenchant; Kaya's Guile; Supreme Verdict; Duress; Dauthi Voidwalker; Stony Silence
Phase windows: between games
Runtime cues: sideboard prompt; revealed opponent archetype; Game 1 log; Game 2 log; public zones; opponent commander identity
Use when: choosing sideboard configuration after a completed game.
Avoid when: the prior game did not reveal the opponent's primary resource axis and the main deck already has flexible answers.
Instructions: Select the smallest role package that answers the opponent's proven axis while preserving Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful pressure, Silas Renn, Seeker Adept artifact value, cheap interaction, and the Commander-family singleton texture. Prioritize Supreme Verdict and Kaya's Guile against battlefield pressure, Duress and Dovin's Veto against noncreature engines, Rest in Peace or Grafdigger's Cage against graveyard reliance, Stony Silence against activated artifact clusters, Disenchant against specific artifact or enchantment permanents, Pithing Needle against known activated abilities, and Dauthi Voidwalker when pressure plus denial is better than a pure hate permanent.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Lock Submission
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard; validation
Cards: Rest in Peace; Dovin's Veto; Grafdigger's Cage; Pithing Needle; Disenchant; Kaya's Guile; Supreme Verdict; Duress; Dauthi Voidwalker; Stony Silence; Silas Renn, Seeker Adept; Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
Phase windows: between games; sideboard lock
Runtime cues: sideboard lock prompt; registered deck validation; selected swaps; post-board game number
Use when: submitting the final sideboard configuration to Veles after plan selection.
Avoid when: any proposed incoming card is absent from the registered sideboard or any proposed outgoing card is absent from the registered main deck.
Instructions: Submit only exact registered card names and preserve the 100-card main-deck plus 10-card sideboard contract. If generated swaps fail validation, fall back to the closest concrete Sideboard Map plan that matches the opponent's revealed axis. Do not replace core command-zone pressure or cheap interaction without a matchup reason tied to public information.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Narrow Hate Deployment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; naming; permanent deployment
Cards: Rest in Peace; Grafdigger's Cage; Pithing Needle; Stony Silence; Disenchant; Dauthi Voidwalker
Phase windows: main phase; opponent end step; stack interaction window; naming prompt
Runtime cues: action:cast Rest in Peace; action:cast Grafdigger's Cage; action:cast Pithing Needle; action:cast Stony Silence; action:cast Disenchant; action:cast Dauthi Voidwalker; action:choose card name; visible activated ability; public graveyard; artifact count
Use when: a narrow sideboard card has a clear public target or blocks a demonstrated engine.
Avoid when: the hate card mostly damages your own Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Unearth, Skullclamp, Pre-War Formalwear, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Emperor of Bones, or Barrowgoyf plan and the opponent's matching resource is only incidental.
Instructions: Deploy narrow hate only when its text changes legal actions or likely next-turn outcomes. For Pithing Needle, choose a name that is known from public zones, revealed information, commander identity, or a strongly implied engine; otherwise prefer a flexible action. For Rest in Peace and Grafdigger's Cage, verify the opponent depends on graveyard or library access enough to outweigh self-conflict. For Stony Silence, confirm activated artifact reliance rather than static artifact presence. Use Disenchant on the permanent that converts into cards, mana, combat inevitability, or a lock.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Post-Board Self-Conflict Check
Priority: Medium
Decision families: sideboard; priority; sequencing
Cards: Rest in Peace; Grafdigger's Cage; Stony Silence; Silas Renn, Seeker Adept; Unearth; Pre-War Formalwear; Skullclamp; Takenuma, Abandoned Mire; Emperor of Bones; Barrowgoyf; Kaya's Guile
Phase windows: between games; opening hand; main phase
Runtime cues: sideboarded hate in hand; graveyard plan available; artifact recursion line available; opponent graveyard engine; opponent artifact engine
Use when: deciding whether to keep, deploy, tutor for, or delay a sideboard hate card that conflicts with your own engine.
Avoid when: the opponent's engine is immediately lethal or decisive and the self-conflict is secondary.
Instructions: Before locking sideboard swaps or casting hate, compare the opponent's resource dependence to your own active plan. Broad graveyard hate can be correct even through self-conflict against graveyard combo or recursive inevitability, but it should be delayed or omitted against incidental graveyard value when Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, Unearth, Pre-War Formalwear, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Emperor of Bones, or Barrowgoyf is your best recovery path. Stony Silence should be reserved for artifact engines strong enough to outweigh Skullclamp and Silas Renn, Seeker Adept artifact value.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
