# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Orzhov Greasefang is a 60-card Explorer deck with a 15-card sideboard, registered as a black-white graveyard combo-midrange strategy. The active validation contract reports the list as format-aware legal for Explorer with 60 main-deck cards and 15 sideboard cards; no companion, commander, or extra-deck zone is declared. Runtime decisions must still defer to the rules engine for legality, timing, target availability, replacement effects, and whether any graveyard, Vehicle, token, or copy interaction actually works as expected.

- Name: Orzhov Greasefang.
- Format: Explorer.
- Main deck count: 60.
- Sideboard count: 15.
- Tags: combo; midrange; graveyard.
- Color identity in practice: Orzhov, using black disruption and removal with white support, graveyard setup, and a Vehicle payoff plan.
- Core registered engine: Greasefang, Okiba Boss plus Parhelion II, supported by discard, graveyard access, protection pressure, and backup permanent-based play patterns.
- Stock status: hybrid. The list is recognizably a Greasefang-Parhelion II deck, but the exact build is not a pure stock reference shell because it registers Monument to Endurance, Iron-Shield Elf, Fleeting Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, Sheltered by Ghosts, Lively Dirge, and The Mycosynth Gardens as meaningful structure rather than only standard graveyard-combo staples.
- Rogue-risk status: moderate. The deck should be piloted as a real combo-midrange deck, but card-specific assumptions about newer or less familiar pieces require live rules output or card-text confirmation before treating an interaction as deterministic.

The primary archetype label is combo-midrange, not all-in combo. Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Monument to Endurance, and Iron-Shield Elf indicate the deck expects to interact, survive, and pressure while assembling Greasefang, Okiba Boss and Parhelion II. The agent should not spend every early action blindly racing toward the graveyard line if visible pressure, available removal, known disruption, or mana development makes a stabilizing midrange line stronger.

The central legality concern is that the pilot must never assume a combo line is available just because Greasefang, Okiba Boss or Parhelion II appears in a zone. The engine must show a legal action before committing to reanimation, attack, crew, copy, target, or return-trigger decisions. The guide can rank the Greasefang, Okiba Boss plus Parhelion II plan highly, but runtime action selection must stay constrained to legal action IDs, visible zones, public information, and current prompt text.

The main mana concern is that the deck has a low basic-land count and many lands with specific tactical costs or timing implications. Concealed Courtyard, Godless Shrine, Brightclimb Pathway, Shadowy Backstreet, Bleachbone Verge, The Mycosynth Gardens, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Plains, and Swamp should be treated as distinct resources, not interchangeable black-white sources. The pilot should value early black for Thoughtseize and Fatal Push, white access for white interaction and permanents, and enough stable mana to cast Greasefang, Okiba Boss on time when the graveyard plan is live.

The role concern is that the deck can pivot between fast graveyard combo, protected combo, attrition, and creature combat, but it should not blur those roles mid-turn. When Parhelion II is already in the graveyard and Greasefang, Okiba Boss is legal or close to legal, the agent should prioritize clearing disruption, preserving the key creature, and sequencing mana for the combo turn. When the graveyard plan is unavailable or visibly contested, the agent should lean on Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Sheltered by Ghosts, Monument to Endurance, Iron-Shield Elf, and land abilities as a slower pressure-and-resource plan.

Opponent information status: no opponent decklist, metagame target, or specific matchup package was supplied with this batch. Sideboard and matchup sections must therefore separate exact plans from broad archetype assumptions, avoid naming absent opposing staples in policy card fields, and prefix any opponent-only example with `opponent:` if it later appears in a policy context. Until an opponent archetype is known from public match data, Veles should classify the opposing deck from visible lands, revealed cards, graveyard contents, battlefield, stack, and logged decisions rather than hidden-information guesses.

## Thesis
Orzhov Greasefang assembles a graveyard Vehicle kill while retaining enough discard, removal, and resilient creatures to play a real midrange game. The cleanest win is to put Parhelion II into the graveyard, resolve Greasefang, Okiba Boss, receive the legal beginning-of-combat return action, attack, and convert the Parhelion II combat step into overwhelming flying damage and token pressure. The pilot should prioritize early black mana, a discard outlet or graveyard path, protection against known disruption, and board survival over speculative lines that are not currently legal in the rules engine.

- Primary assembly: Put Parhelion II in the graveyard, keep or find Greasefang, Okiba Boss, and time the combo turn around visible removal, graveyard hate, blockers, and mana constraints.
- Primary pressure: Use Greasefang, Okiba Boss plus Parhelion II to create a sudden combat swing; treat the attack and any return-to-hand or token outcomes as rules-engine-confirmed events, not assumptions.
- Backup pressure: Use Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Iron-Shield Elf, Sheltered by Ghosts, Monument to Endurance, creature-lands or utility lands only as the engine exposes legal actions; several exact card-text interactions need runtime confirmation.
- Disruption priority: Use Thoughtseize to clear graveyard hate, instant-speed removal, sweepers, combo races, or cards that stop Greasefang, Okiba Boss before committing.
- Survival priority: Use Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, and sideboard removal to buy the turns needed to assemble the graveyard line.
- Not the plan: Do not play as a pure control deck, a fair creature-only deck, or an all-in graveyard deck that ignores visible pressure and interaction. The deck wins by making the opponent answer both the combo and the board.

## Role Package
- Threats: Greasefang, Okiba Boss is both combo creature and must-answer attacker, so protect it when Parhelion II is available and deploy it more carefully into open interaction. Guardian of New Benalia and Fleeting Spirit provide pressure and discard utility; Card text check required for exact activated and combat modes, so choose their abilities only when the engine shows the legal action text. Iron-Shield Elf is registered as a four-copy support creature; Card text check required, so treat it as a tactical permanent whose exact role comes from visible legal actions.

- Payoffs: Parhelion II is the defining payoff and should be routed toward the graveyard rather than stranded in hand unless hard-cast or battlefield lines are explicitly legal and materially better. Monument to Endurance is a four-copy engine/payoff tied to the deck's discard and endurance plan; Card text check required, so value it when legal actions show concrete card flow, damage, mana, counters, or other selectable benefits rather than assuming a mode.

- Engines: Greasefang, Okiba Boss plus Parhelion II is the core engine, while Monument to Endurance, Fleeting Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, and Lively Dirge appear to support graveyard setup, card selection, or recursion. Do not start an engine line unless the visible zone state and legal action list show the required card movement, target, or cast action.

- Velocity: Thoughtseize gives information and clears the path, Geier Reach Sanitarium can enable draw-discard play when legal, Guardian of New Benalia may filter through enlist-related actions, and Lively Dirge may find or return key pieces depending on actual modes. Card text check required for Lively Dirge mode details, so route it through light-model reasoning when targets or modes matter.

- Interaction: Fatal Push handles early creatures and tempo threats, Vanishing Verse answers eligible permanents, Sheltered by Ghosts can remove or stabilize if the engine confirms targets and attachment rules, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire can function as land or interaction when channel is legal. Thoughtseize is interaction before commitment, not just turn-one automation.

- Protection: Thoughtseize is the cleanest proactive protection for Greasefang, Okiba Boss. Guardian of New Benalia and Fleeting Spirit may protect themselves through discard or exile-style abilities if legal; Card text check required before relying on them to save a threat or enable Parhelion II discard.

- Recursion: Takenuma, Abandoned Mire and Lively Dirge are the named recursion or recovery tools, with Greasefang, Okiba Boss providing the Vehicle-specific graveyard payoff. Use recursion first for missing combo pieces or post-interaction recovery, then for fair pressure.

- Mana: Concealed Courtyard, Godless Shrine, Brightclimb Pathway, Bleachbone Verge, Shadowy Backstreet, Plains, Swamp, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, The Mycosynth Gardens, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire are not interchangeable. Prioritize black on turn one, white and black by turn three, and utility-land activation only after preserving the combo turn.

- Sideboard modules: Duress increases proactive protection and anti-combo pressure; Damping Sphere attacks mana or spell-chain decks; Soul-Guide Lantern covers graveyards; Vanishing Verse and Bitter Triumph add removal; Doorkeeper Thrull disrupts triggered or enter-the-battlefield plans if text applies; Seam Rip and Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer require card text check before exact tactical assignment.

## Primary Win Conditions
- Combo kill: Put Parhelion II into the graveyard, resolve Greasefang, Okiba Boss, and take the engine-confirmed beginning-of-combat return action when Veles exposes it. Prioritize this line when Parhelion II is already in the graveyard, Greasefang, Okiba Boss is castable, and Thoughtseize or visible information indicates the opponent cannot immediately stop the creature, exile the graveyard target, or survive the attack profitably.

- Setup path: Use Fleeting Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Lively Dirge, and Monument to Endurance only through legal actions that visibly move Parhelion II, find Greasefang, Okiba Boss, recur a missing piece, or improve the next combo window. Card text check required for Fleeting Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, Lively Dirge, Monument to Endurance, and Iron-Shield Elf, so do not assume a discard, tutor, recursion, or payoff mode unless the rules engine presents that exact action.

- Protection path: Lead with Thoughtseize when the combo is close but exposed, especially before casting Greasefang, Okiba Boss into untapped mana or known interaction. Take the card that most directly stops the legal combo turn, such as instant-speed creature removal, graveyard hate, a counterspell, a sweeper that beats the follow-up tokens, or a faster opposing combo piece; do not spend Thoughtseize on low-pressure cards if the opponent has a clear answer to Greasefang, Okiba Boss.

- Execution priority: Commit to Greasefang, Okiba Boss plus Parhelion II when waiting risks losing to board pressure, discard, graveyard exile, or missed mana, even if the attack is not guaranteed lethal. Delay the combo when the visible battlefield or revealed hand shows a clean answer and the deck has a realistic alternative action such as Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, or a setup activation that improves the next turn.

- Post-combat pressure: Treat the Parhelion II attack as a conversion point, not always the end of the game. If Forge leaves tokens, damage, returned cards, or other aftermath visible, pivot immediately into protecting the remaining board, removing blockers, and sequencing Greasefang, Okiba Boss or recursion for a second attack only when the legal state supports it.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Fair creature pressure: Win with Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Iron-Shield Elf, and Greasefang, Okiba Boss attacks when graveyard access is blocked or Parhelion II is unavailable. Favor this plan when the opponent spends resources on graveyard hate, when hand disruption clears removal, or when Monument to Endurance and creature actions create visible pressure without requiring the graveyard.

- Midrange attrition: Use Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire to trade resources until a single threat can dominate combat. Prioritize attrition when life total is stable, the opponent is threat-light, and the combo pieces are missing or stranded.

- Monument plan: Use Monument to Endurance as a backup engine only when legal action text shows concrete value from discarding, selecting, damaging, producing mana, drawing, or otherwise advancing the board. Do not route the game around Monument to Endurance on assumed text; use it as a tactical enhancer for visible discard and grind lines.

- Removal-backed race: Use Fatal Push and Vanishing Verse to clear blockers or stop opposing pressure when a fair attack shortens the clock. Sheltered by Ghosts can support a race or removal line if its legal target and attachment consequences are clear; Card text check required before relying on life gain, protection, or exile timing.

- Recursion recovery: Use Takenuma, Abandoned Mire and Lively Dirge to recover Greasefang, Okiba Boss or another decisive threat after removal, or to rebuild a graveyard setup after disruption. If the legal choices include both a combo piece and a fair creature, choose the card that produces the fastest rules-confirmed path to damage or survival.

## Emergency Lines
- Behind on life: Spend interaction before setup if the visible board threatens a short clock. Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire should buy time for Greasefang, Okiba Boss only when they reduce current or next-turn damage; otherwise prioritize the combo if it is the only route to stabilize.

- Behind on board: Preserve blockers and avoid attacks that expose the pilot to lethal unless the attack creates a legal Parhelion II swing or forces a decisive race. Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Iron-Shield Elf, and Greasefang, Okiba Boss should trade only when the exchange prevents lethal, protects a future combo turn, or the creature is redundant.

- Behind on cards: Shift toward high-impact actions rather than small exchanges. Thoughtseize loses value when both players are low on resources unless it clears the one visible answer to Greasefang, Okiba Boss; recursion, Monument to Endurance, Geier Reach Sanitarium, and legal selection actions become more important if they produce concrete card access.

- Behind on mana: Choose land drops that preserve black on turn one and both black and white by turn three before activating utility lands. Do not sacrifice, channel, or tap The Mycosynth Gardens, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, or Takenuma, Abandoned Mire for marginal value if doing so prevents casting Greasefang, Okiba Boss or interaction on the next critical turn.

- Graveyard locked: Play as Orzhov midrange until the hate can be removed or ignored. Use Thoughtseize to prevent additional hate, Vanishing Verse or sideboard interaction if legal against the hate permanent, and fair pressure from Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Iron-Shield Elf, and Greasefang, Okiba Boss while waiting for a legal opening.

- Combo pieces removed: Rebuild with Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Lively Dirge, draw-discard actions, and fair threats. If all visible Parhelion II access is gone, stop holding resources for a nonexistent combo and convert removal plus creatures into the fastest legal damage plan.

## Resource Model
- Life is a spendable buffer for speed and information, not a resource to preserve blindly. Use Thoughtseize life loss when it clears the card that stops Greasefang, Okiba Boss, protects a near-term Parhelion II attack, or slows a faster opponent; avoid unnecessary Thoughtseize when the visible board already presents a short clock and the hand does not need perfect information to act.

- Hand cards convert into graveyard access, protection, and threat density. Parhelion II is usually more valuable in the graveyard than stranded in hand, while Greasefang, Okiba Boss is more valuable protected in hand until the turn it can legally act; treat duplicate Greasefang, Okiba Boss, extra Parhelion II, and slow backup pieces as discard or selection candidates when the engine offers a legal filtering action.

- Mana converts the deck from setup to threat only when black and white are both available by the Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn. Prioritize casting Thoughtseize and Fatal Push early, then preserve white-black access for Greasefang, Okiba Boss, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, Guardian of New Benalia, Lively Dirge, and sideboard cards; do not spend a utility activation if it makes the next decisive spell uncastable.

- Board presence converts time into combo safety. Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Iron-Shield Elf, and Greasefang, Okiba Boss can block, pressure planeswalkers, and force removal away from the combo; Card text check required for Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Iron-Shield Elf, Sheltered by Ghosts, Lively Dirge, and Monument to Endurance, so value their board roles only through visible legal actions and current stats.

- Graveyard content is a primary engine zone, but it is not automatically safe. A visible Parhelion II in the graveyard plus castable Greasefang, Okiba Boss is the deck's highest-conversion resource state; protect it with Thoughtseize when possible and downgrade the plan when opponent graveyard hate, exile effects, or revealed instant-speed answers are visible.

- Exile is mostly a denied-resource zone for this deck. If Parhelion II, Greasefang, Okiba Boss, or key recursion targets are exiled, stop planning around those exact cards unless the engine presents a legal way to access them; use exile information to shift toward fair creatures, removal, and sideboard bullets.

- Lands are both mana and tactical tools. Concealed Courtyard, Godless Shrine, Brightclimb Pathway, Bleachbone Verge, Shadowy Backstreet, Plains, Swamp, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth support color development; Geier Reach Sanitarium, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, and The Mycosynth Gardens are utility only after the required colors and next-turn spells are protected.

- Sacrifice fodder is not a default resource unless a legal action explicitly asks for it. Do not assume any card is expendable for Bitter Triumph, Seam Rip, Sheltered by Ghosts, Monument to Endurance, or another effect without reading the current prompt; when a cost is legal, prefer sacrificing or discarding redundant pieces only if the resulting action advances survival, combo assembly, or a protected kill.

- Tempo comes from forcing the opponent to answer a compact threat window. Spend Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire to buy the turn needed for Greasefang, Okiba Boss, but avoid removal on low-impact creatures when the opponent's visible clock is slow and the combo needs protection or setup instead.

- Information is strongest immediately before commitment. Thoughtseize, Duress, Geier Reach Sanitarium, and any revealed-card state should guide whether to cast Greasefang, Okiba Boss now, wait behind interaction, or pivot to midrange pressure; never infer hidden answers beyond archetype-level risk.

- Sideboard bullets convert narrow resources into matchup leverage. Duress increases information and noncreature disruption, Damping Sphere pressures spell-chain or big-mana plans, Soul-Guide Lantern contests graveyards, Vanishing Verse and Bitter Triumph expand removal, Doorkeeper Thrull and Seam Rip answer specific permanent or trigger axes if legal, and Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer is conditional on card text check required.

## Mana Guide
- Keep hands that produce black early and both black and white by turn three. A functional opener usually needs Thoughtseize or Fatal Push mana on turn one or two plus a credible path to Greasefang, Okiba Boss; hands with Parhelion II but no discard, no selection, and no white-black access should be treated as high-risk.

- Sequence untapped black first when the hand contains Thoughtseize or Fatal Push. Concealed Courtyard and Godless Shrine are premium early lands because they can support black interaction while preserving white for Greasefang, Okiba Boss; use Swamp when life matters and the hand already has white covered.

- Sequence white-black access before utility lands when the hand is close to comboing. Do not lead Geier Reach Sanitarium, The Mycosynth Gardens, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, or Takenuma, Abandoned Mire if that line delays Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Guardian of New Benalia, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, Lively Dirge, or Greasefang, Okiba Boss without a visible payoff.

- Use Godless Shrine life payment according to clock and curve. Pay life when the untapped mana casts Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, or a setup piece on time; let it enter tapped only when no current legal action needs the mana and the next turn still preserves both colors.

- Treat Brightclimb Pathway as a commitment land. Choose the side that fixes the hand's missing color for the next two turns, prioritizing black for early disruption and white-black access for Greasefang, Okiba Boss; do not choose based on speculative future cards over visible hand requirements.

- Treat Shadowy Backstreet and Bleachbone Verge as color-fixing with timing costs until card text is verified by the engine. Card text check required for exact land behavior, so follow the current legal mana output and tapped status rather than assuming fetch, surveil, pain, or fast-land behavior.

- Use Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to stabilize black-heavy draws without forgetting white requirements. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth can make awkward utility-land hands better for black spells if the engine shows black mana, but it does not replace the need for white sources for Greasefang, Okiba Boss and white interaction.

- Activate Geier Reach Sanitarium only when the discard materially improves the hand or graveyard. It is strong when Parhelion II must move from hand to graveyard, when flooding, or when digging for Greasefang, Okiba Boss; avoid activating before combat or priority windows if the mana is needed for Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, or sideboard interaction.

- Channel or use Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire only after checking next-turn colored mana. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire can be interaction if the engine presents a legal action, and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire can be recursion or setup if legal, but spending either land is costly when it breaks Greasefang, Okiba Boss mana.

- Use The Mycosynth Gardens as mana first and synergy later. Card text check required for exact utility modes; if the engine presents a copy or artifact-related action, choose it only when it improves a visible Monument to Endurance, Parhelion II, or other board state without delaying the combo turn.

- Play lands before draw or discard actions when the legal action depends on current mana or when missing a land drop would constrain the turn. Hold a land before Geier Reach Sanitarium or other draw-discard effects only when the hand has enough mana, the discard choice matters, and an extra unknown draw could change which land should be played.

- Mulligan mana-light or color-broken hands aggressively when they lack action. One-land hands need an early legal setup action and a plausible second land path; hands with only colorless or utility lands should be rejected unless the engine-visible hand already contains the exact cheap actions needed to assemble and protect Greasefang, Okiba Boss.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keep: keep two or three lands with early black, white by turn three, and two independent combo roles such as Thoughtseize plus Greasefang, Okiba Boss, or Parhelion II plus Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Geier Reach Sanitarium, or Monument to Endurance. This deck rewards hands that can both place Parhelion II in the graveyard and force through Greasefang, Okiba Boss.

- Strong keep: keep Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Greasefang, Okiba Boss, Parhelion II, Concealed Courtyard, Godless Shrine, and any third land unless the matchup demands a specific answer. Thoughtseize protects the turn-three commitment, Fatal Push buys time, and Parhelion II already gives the discard outlets a premium target.

- Medium keep: keep Greasefang, Okiba Boss with no Parhelion II only when the hand has Thoughtseize or removal plus a setup source such as Geier Reach Sanitarium, Monument to Endurance, Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, or Lively Dirge. The hand must have enough interaction to survive while finding a Vehicle.

- Medium keep: keep Parhelion II without Greasefang, Okiba Boss when the hand has a reliable discard outlet and meaningful interaction. Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Geier Reach Sanitarium, or Monument to Endurance must convert Parhelion II into graveyard pressure before the opponent can punish the slow draw.

- Risky keep: keep one-land hands only with Concealed Courtyard or Godless Shrine, a one-mana play such as Thoughtseize or Fatal Push, and multiple cheap ways to continue if the second land appears. Ship one-land hands with Parhelion II, Greasefang, Okiba Boss, and no selection or discard outlet.

- Automatic ship: ship hands with no black source, no early legal spell, or only utility lands that delay the first two turns. Geier Reach Sanitarium, The Mycosynth Gardens, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth cannot rescue a hand that never casts Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, or Greasefang, Okiba Boss on time.

- Automatic ship: ship hands with multiple Parhelion II and no discard outlet, no Greasefang, Okiba Boss, and no interaction. The deck can mulligan to a functional six better than it can keep seven cards that only contain expensive Vehicles.

- Matchup-dependent keep: keep interaction-heavy hands with Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, or Sheltered by Ghosts against fast creature decks even if Greasefang, Okiba Boss is missing. Keep combo-dense hands with Thoughtseize against slower decks because the best hand often presents a protected turn-three or turn-four Parhelion II attack.

- Play/draw rule: on the play, value Thoughtseize plus fast Greasefang, Okiba Boss access more highly because the opponent has fewer draw steps to find removal. On the draw, value Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, and stable mana more highly because falling behind before the combo turn is the most common failure.

- Trap hand: do not keep Parhelion II, Parhelion II, Greasefang, Okiba Boss, The Mycosynth Gardens, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire unless the engine shows castable colored mana and a legal discard path. The visible names look synergistic, but the hand is color-broken and slow.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1: prefer Concealed Courtyard or untapped Godless Shrine into Thoughtseize when the opponent can disrupt Greasefang, Okiba Boss or race quickly. Take the visible card that stops the combo, creates lethal pressure, or invalidates the current hand; do not spend Thoughtseize on a low-impact card when Fatal Push already answers the board.

- Turn 1: prefer Fatal Push over Thoughtseize when a visible creature threatens to make the combo turn too slow. If no one-mana spell is useful, play the land that best preserves turn-two discard outlet or interaction and turn-three Greasefang, Okiba Boss.

- Turn 2: prefer Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Monument to Endurance, or Geier Reach Sanitarium setup when Parhelion II is in hand and the opponent is not presenting an urgent threat. Use the exact legal discard action only when discarding Parhelion II, redundant Greasefang, Okiba Boss, extra lands, or matchup-dead interaction improves the next turn.

- Turn 2: prefer Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, or Sheltered by Ghosts when the visible battlefield threatens a fast clock or a hate permanent must be removed before committing. Card text check required for Sheltered by Ghosts details, so follow engine legality and target text instead of assuming a specific removal mode.

- Turn 3: commit Greasefang, Okiba Boss when Parhelion II is in the graveyard, combat is reachable, and visible information does not show an answer that must be stripped or played around first. If Thoughtseize is available before Greasefang, Okiba Boss, cast it first when mana allows and the opponent may hold removal or graveyard interaction.

- Turn 3: delay Greasefang, Okiba Boss when the graveyard lacks Parhelion II, the opponent has visible instant-speed interaction, or using removal first prevents a lethal counterattack. Deploy Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Monument to Endurance, Lively Dirge, or a utility land action only if it advances the next real commitment.

- Turns 4-5: convert the first Parhelion II attack into a winning board, not a celebration pause. Protect Greasefang, Okiba Boss if legal, clear blockers or hate with Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, or Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, and use Thoughtseize before a second commitment when the opponent has had time to reload.

- Turns 4-5: pivot to midrange pressure when graveyard access is blocked or Greasefang, Okiba Boss is unavailable. Attack with Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Iron-Shield Elf, and tokens only when combat math is favorable; Card text check required for Iron-Shield Elf if the engine presents activated or triggered choices.

- Late game: use Geier Reach Sanitarium, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Lively Dirge, and Monument to Endurance to rebuild specific missing pieces instead of cycling resources casually. Prioritize the line that produces Greasefang, Okiba Boss plus Parhelion II, removes the hate piece, or stabilizes the board for one more combat.

- Late game: hard-casting Parhelion II is a backup plan only when the mana and board state make it legal and relevant. Do not chase it while a lower-cost Greasefang, Okiba Boss line, removal sequence, or sideboard card can win earlier.

## Card Roles
- Greasefang, Okiba Boss is the central commitment card and should be treated as a payoff, not a disposable three-drop. Cast it when Parhelion II is already in the graveyard, when Thoughtseize can clear visible disruption first, or when waiting lets the opponent's board or graveyard hate become more dangerous; do not run it into known removal unless the game state forces a low-equity jam.

- Parhelion II is the primary graveyard payload and should usually be discarded, milled, or otherwise placed into the graveyard rather than held for hard-cast dreams. Keep it in hand only until Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Monument to Endurance, or another legal engine action can convert it into a Greasefang, Okiba Boss attack; avoid discarding extra copies if one graveyard copy already wins and the opponent has exile effects.

- Thoughtseize is the cleanest protection spell for the combo turn and the best early information tool. Use it before committing Greasefang, Okiba Boss when possible, take the card that stops the current line rather than the generically strongest card, and remember that against fast creature decks the correct target may be the threat that makes Fatal Push too late.

- Fatal Push is the main tempo stabilizer and should buy the turn needed to assemble Greasefang, Okiba Boss plus Parhelion II. Use it early on mana creatures, snowball attackers, and hate creatures that block or pressure the combo plan; hold it only when the visible board is harmless and the opponent is likely to expose a more important creature before combat.

- Vanishing Verse is premium interaction for permanents Fatal Push cannot handle, especially graveyard hate, larger creatures, planeswalkers, or enchantments when the engine offers legal targets. Preserve Vanishing Verse for a card that invalidates the combo or wins the race; do not spend it on a low-pressure permanent if Fatal Push, Sheltered by Ghosts, or combat can handle the same problem.

- Sheltered by Ghosts is removal or protection-adjacent interaction, but Card text check required before assuming any exact mode, buff, ward, lifelink, or exile condition. Use it according to the engine's legal target text, with priority on hate permanents, lethal attackers, and blockers that prevent Parhelion II damage; avoid lines that expose a key creature to a visible two-for-one unless the payoff is immediate.

- Fleeting Spirit is an early discard outlet, pressure source, and resilience piece when its legal abilities are available. Use it to discard Parhelion II or redundant resources when that enables the next Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn; do not discard interaction or lands merely to grow pressure if the combo is not yet protected or the mana curve is incomplete.

- Guardian of New Benalia is a setup creature that turns combat or shield-style pressure into graveyard progress. Prioritize Guardian of New Benalia when Parhelion II is stranded in hand and the opponent is not forcing immediate removal; use discard opportunities deliberately, because throwing away Thoughtseize, Vanishing Verse, or land drops can make the eventual Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn weaker.

- Monument to Endurance is a four-copy engine card, but Card text check required before assuming its trigger, activation, timing, or graveyard interaction. Treat every legal Monument to Endurance action as a setup or resource-conversion decision: favor lines that place Parhelion II where Greasefang, Okiba Boss can use it, recover missing combo pieces, or generate pressure without spending the actual Greasefang commitment.

- Iron-Shield Elf is a four-copy role-player, but Card text check required before assuming mana production, combat stats, keywords, or activated abilities. When the engine exposes legal actions for Iron-Shield Elf, value it by what the visible text accomplishes in the current game: acceleration toward interaction plus Greasefang, Okiba Boss, body-based blocking, or pressure that supports the midrange fallback.

- Lively Dirge is a singleton search or recursion-adjacent tool, but Card text check required before assuming modes, spree costs, graveyard access, or tutor ranges. Use it when the legal action text clearly advances the missing half of the combo, recovers Greasefang, Okiba Boss, or finds a stabilizing creature; avoid spending it as generic value if a specific future target is likely to matter.

- Geier Reach Sanitarium is a land-slot discard outlet and late-game filter, not just colorless mana. Activate it when discarding Parhelion II, excess lands, redundant Greasefang, Okiba Boss, or dead interaction improves the immediate plan; avoid giving the opponent a fresh card when they are hellbent, holding up graveyard hate, or benefiting more from filtering than Veles does.

- Takenuma, Abandoned Mire is a black source with a late-game recovery mode, and its channel-style use should be reserved for meaningful recursion or graveyard setup. Use it to find or return Greasefang, Okiba Boss when the board demands another commitment; do not spend it early as a color source only if another untapped black land can preserve the same curve.

- Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire is a white source with interactive utility, and its nonland action should answer a visible combat problem or protect a key turn. Use it when the engine presents a legal damage or removal line that clears lethal pressure, removes a blocker, or wins a race; otherwise keep its land function for casting Greasefang, Okiba Boss and white interaction.

- The Mycosynth Gardens is a high-upside utility land whose artifact-copy or mana role must be selected from visible legal actions. It can matter after Parhelion II is temporarily on the battlefield, but do not assume a copy line is legal unless the engine offers it; prioritize colored consistency from other lands before leaning on The Mycosynth Gardens in opening hands.

- Concealed Courtyard and Godless Shrine are the best early colored sources because they cast Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Fleeting Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, and Greasefang, Okiba Boss on curve. Prefer untapped access over small life preservation when the hand needs turn-one interaction or turn-three Greasefang; against burn or very fast pressure, account for life loss before shocking Godless Shrine.

- Brightclimb Pathway, Bleachbone Verge, Shadowy Backstreet, Plains, Swamp, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth support color smoothing but should not be overvalued above functional sequencing. Choose the face or land drop that preserves black on turn one, white on turn two, and both colors by turn three; treat tapland timing as a real cost when Greasefang, Okiba Boss is already lined up.

- Redundant combo pieces should become resources only when the next turn remains functional. Extra Greasefang, Okiba Boss can be discarded to Fleeting Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, Geier Reach Sanitarium, or Monument to Endurance when one copy is already castable or recoverable; extra Parhelion II is the preferred discard unless graveyard exile is visible and hand retention is safer.

- Midrange bodies are fallback pressure, not the default win plan. Attack with Fleeting Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, Iron-Shield Elf, and Parhelion II-created tokens when the board makes damage safe, but keep enough blockers and interaction to survive if the opponent answers Greasefang, Okiba Boss or removes the graveyard.

## Interaction Priorities

- Priority: Use Thoughtseize before committing Greasefang, Okiba Boss when the opponent has untapped mana, unknown hand contents, or visible graveyard hate pressure. Take the card that stops the next combo turn first: instant-speed removal for Greasefang, Okiba Boss, graveyard exile, sweepers that reset fallback pressure, or the opponent's fastest lethal setup if disruption is already clear.

- Discard target rule: Strip interaction before threats when Parhelion II is already in the graveyard and Greasefang, Okiba Boss is castable. Strip the opponent's clock before interaction only when life total or battlefield pressure makes waiting impossible and no protected combo turn is available.

- Removal target rule: Spend Fatal Push on creatures that either kill Veles before the combo resolves, block profitable fallback attacks, or enable the opponent's engine. Do not fire Fatal Push at a low-impact creature if Greasefang, Okiba Boss plus Parhelion II is ready and the creature does not stop the attack, crew, or lethal race.

- Exile target rule: Preserve Vanishing Verse for non-Fatal Push targets that invalidate the plan, including large attackers, planeswalkers, enchantments, artifact-adjacent hate if legally targetable, or a permanent whose removal opens the Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn. Do not downgrade Vanishing Verse into tempo removal when Sheltered by Ghosts, Fatal Push, or combat can answer the same visible permanent.

- Protection-adjacent rule: Use Sheltered by Ghosts only according to visible legal text, because Card text check required for exact modes and restrictions. Favor lines that remove a blocker, remove lethal pressure, or keep the Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn alive; avoid exposing Greasefang, Okiba Boss, Fleeting Spirit, or Guardian of New Benalia to a visible two-for-one unless the payoff is immediate.

- Bait rule: Lead with Fleeting Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, Monument to Endurance, or Iron-Shield Elf when the hand can still assemble combo and the opponent is likely holding removal. Do not bait with Greasefang, Okiba Boss unless Parhelion II is ready and forcing the answer is worth spending the creature.

- Ignore rule: Ignore permanents that neither race, disrupt the graveyard, stop attacking, tax spell timing, nor threaten a near-term engine kill. The deck wins by converting one protected window into Parhelion II damage; spending removal on decorative pressure often loses the window.

- Counter and bounce rule: The registered deck has no counterspell or bounce card. Never pass priority hoping to represent an absent effect; use Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Bitter Triumph, Seam Rip, Duress, Soul-Guide Lantern, Damping Sphere, Doorkeeper Thrull, or Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer only when those exact legal actions appear.

- Archetype adjustment: Against fast creature decks, removal protects life total before hand disruption unless Thoughtseize prevents a lethal or anti-combo card. Against control, discard is premium and Fatal Push can be conserved or discarded. Against graveyard or combo decks, prioritize Duress, Thoughtseize, Soul-Guide Lantern, Damping Sphere, and fast Greasefang, Okiba Boss pressure over small combat exchanges.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Attack rule: Attack aggressively only when the attack advances lethal pressure, enables a discard or combat trigger, or keeps the opponent from safely holding interaction. Fleeting Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, Iron-Shield Elf, and Parhelion II-created tokens should not attack into obvious trades if those bodies are needed to buy the next Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn.

- Combo combat rule: When Greasefang, Okiba Boss returns Parhelion II and the engine presents a legal attack, treat Parhelion II damage as the main plan unless visible blockers, removal, or life-total math makes a different legal action necessary. Do not assume vigilance, token creation, lifelink, or end-step handling beyond the rules-engine state and visible card text.

- Engine preservation rule: Preserve Greasefang, Okiba Boss over incidental damage unless the attack is part of a deterministic lethal line or forces through Parhelion II. If Greasefang, Okiba Boss is exposed to a block or combat trick and another combo attempt is not available, keep it back when legal.

- Trade rule: Trade Fleeting Spirit or Guardian of New Benalia for a creature only when the trade protects life total, clears a blocker for Parhelion II, or converts a redundant body into time. Avoid trading Iron-Shield Elf before confirming whether its visible legal actions are needed for mana, blocking, or setup.

- Blocking rule: Block early against creature decks when life total falls below roughly 10 or the opponent threatens a two-turn clock. Above that threshold, prefer preserving discard outlets, mana development, and combo bodies if a near-term Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn is visible.

- Life-total rule: Treat life as a combo resource until it becomes the bottleneck. Shock Godless Shrine or take Thoughtseize damage to protect a turn-three or turn-four combo line, but against burn-like pressure or wide attackers, stop paying life when the same sequence can be preserved by a tapped land, removal spell, or blocker.

- Token pressure rule: After Parhelion II creates a dominant board, shift from fragile combo assembly to closing the game while protecting against sweepers and exile effects. Attack with the largest safe team, keep a blocker only when the opponent can crack back for lethal or remove lifelink-style stabilization shown by the engine.

- Archetype adjustment: Against control, chip damage from Fleeting Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, and Iron-Shield Elf matters because the opponent may stop the first Greasefang, Okiba Boss. Against aggro, those creatures are life-total tools first. Against graveyard hate decks, combat damage becomes the backup plan, so preserve bodies and do not discard all non-combo pressure.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Selection rule: Use every draw, discard, mill, or search action to build a visible Greasefang, Okiba Boss plus Parhelion II turn before taking generic card-quality lines. A hand or board that already has one half of the combo should bias selection toward the missing half, protection, or the mana needed to cast Greasefang, Okiba Boss.

- Lively Dirge rule: Treat Lively Dirge as the deck's clearest tutor-like setup card only when the rules engine exposes a legal search or graveyard-placement mode. Card text check required for exact modes and costs; if the visible legal action can put Parhelion II into the graveyard, prefer that line when Greasefang, Okiba Boss is castable soon and graveyard hate is absent or already answered.

- Graveyard setup rule: Put Parhelion II into the graveyard over almost every other card when a selection action offers that exact choice and Greasefang, Okiba Boss is available, findable, or already on the battlefield. Do not put Parhelion II into the graveyard into visible one-shot graveyard exile unless the same turn can force the combo or the opponent must spend the hate before developing lethal pressure.

- Backup selection rule: Choose Greasefang, Okiba Boss over redundant pressure when Parhelion II is already in the graveyard and the hand lacks the creature. Choose Thoughtseize or Duress over Greasefang, Okiba Boss only when visible or known interaction will stop the next combo turn and waiting one turn is not lethal.

- Geier Reach Sanitarium rule: Activate Geier Reach Sanitarium when the discard improves Veles more than the opponent, especially to discard Parhelion II, excess lands, redundant legendary copies, or dead removal. Avoid activating it when the opponent benefits from rummaging, when hidden-card parity favors the opponent, or when holding up Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, or Bitter Triumph matters more.

- Channel and utility-land rule: Use Takenuma, Abandoned Mire as a late-game recovery or setup action only when visible legal text supports returning or milling relevant cards. Use Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire as interaction rather than selection; preserve it as a land drop unless the legal action removes a creature that blocks the combo, creates lethal pressure, or protects Greasefang, Okiba Boss.

- Monument rule: Use Monument to Endurance selection, discard, or triggered actions only according to visible legal text because Card text check required. Favor choices that discard Parhelion II, convert redundant lands into action, or maintain a protected combo turn; do not discard the only Greasefang, Okiba Boss unless another route to the creature is visible.

- Land-drop timing rule: Delay the land drop when a visible selection action might reveal whether Veles needs untapped white, untapped black, The Mycosynth Gardens, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, or Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire. Make the land drop first only when mana is required to cast Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Lively Dirge, Monument to Endurance, Greasefang, Okiba Boss, or another current legal action.

- Bottom and discard rule: Bottom or discard excess Parhelion II only after one copy is already accessible in the graveyard, or when keeping multiple copies blocks casting interaction. Bottom redundant legendary lands and extra Greasefang, Okiba Boss copies before bottoming Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, or the first functional combo piece.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Priority rule: Pass priority when no legal action improves the current turn cycle, but pause for light reasoning whenever the opponent has a spell on the stack, Greasefang, Okiba Boss is exposed, Parhelion II is in the graveyard, or combat damage will decide the race. Do not spend interaction just because it is legal.

- Combo stack rule: Before casting Greasefang, Okiba Boss into open mana, prefer Thoughtseize or Duress if legally available and the opponent's hand is unknown. If Greasefang, Okiba Boss resolves and the rules engine presents a trigger or vehicle-return choice, choose Parhelion II from the graveyard when visible and legal unless a higher-priority survival action is required.

- Removal window rule: Use Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, or Bitter Triumph at the latest safe window that preserves mana and information. Fire removal earlier when the target enables lethal, protects a planeswalker or engine, prevents a Greasefang, Okiba Boss attack, or threatens to remove graveyard access before the combo turn.

- Stack response rule: Let low-impact spells resolve when they do not change lethal math, graveyard access, Greasefang, Okiba Boss survival, or the opponent's ability to answer Parhelion II. Respond to graveyard hate, instant-speed removal, sacrifice effects, bounce, counter-like effects, and lethal burn-like actions when a registered legal answer is visible.

- Optional payment rule: Make optional payments only when the visible payoff advances combo, survival, or lethal pressure more than conserving mana. Card text check required for Monument to Endurance, Sheltered by Ghosts, Seam Rip, Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer, and Iron-Shield Elf; use their optional or activated choices only from rules-engine legal actions.

- Combat priority rule: After attackers and blockers, hold interaction for the point where it changes combat most: remove a blocker before Parhelion II damage, remove a lethal attacker before damage, or clear a creature that would trade with Greasefang, Okiba Boss. Avoid post-combat interaction when pre-damage action would prevent life loss or preserve a combo creature.

- Graveyard timing rule: Against visible graveyard hate, force the opponent to act before committing extra resources when possible. If Soul-Guide Lantern is under Veles control after sideboarding, use it according to legal text to disrupt opponent graveyard plans, but avoid exiling Veles's own Parhelion II unless the engine action clearly targets only the opponent or survival requires it.

- Mycosynth timing rule: Treat The Mycosynth Gardens as a high-information utility land, not automatic mana. Card text check required for exact activation and copy restrictions; use its activated abilities only when the legal action text clearly advances Parhelion II, Monument to Endurance, mana fixing, or another visible permanent plan without stranding Greasefang, Okiba Boss mana.

## Sideboard Map

- Sideboard rule: Preserve the Greasefang, Okiba Boss plus Parhelion II kill unless the matchup visibly punishes graveyard reliance so heavily that Veles must become a discard-removal midrange deck. Sideboard plans should change role density, not erase the core engine without a clear matchup reason.

- Duress role: Bring Duress against control, combo, graveyard hate, sweepers, planeswalkers, and spell-heavy decks where clearing the way for Greasefang, Okiba Boss matters more than removing creatures. Duress is weaker against creature-dense aggro, battlefield engines already in play, and topdeck races where Thoughtseize plus removal already covers the first exchange.

- Damping Sphere role: Bring Damping Sphere against spell-chain combo, big-mana decks, and opponents whose mana or multiple-spell turns are central to winning. Damping Sphere is bad when Veles needs to curve discard into Monument to Endurance into Greasefang, Okiba Boss without spending turn two on a non-combo permanent, or when the opponent is simply attacking with efficient creatures.

- Soul-Guide Lantern role: Bring Soul-Guide Lantern against graveyard decks, recursive threats, escape-style engines, or combo decks that require graveyard material. Soul-Guide Lantern is bad when the opponent has no graveyard dependency and Veles would rather use early mana to set up Parhelion II, cast Thoughtseize, or protect a Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn.

- Vanishing Verse role: Bring the sideboard Vanishing Verse when the opponent presents important legal targets that Fatal Push does not cleanly answer, especially larger creatures, enchantment-like permanents, or multistage threats exposed by public information. Vanishing Verse is weaker when most threats are colorless, mono-artifact, tokens, or cheap creatures already covered by Fatal Push.

- Bitter Triumph role: Bring Bitter Triumph when unconditional instant-speed removal is needed, when planeswalkers or large creatures matter, or when discarding Parhelion II is a tactical upside. Bitter Triumph is bad when life total is under immediate pressure, when every card in hand is needed to assemble the combo, or when the opponent mostly fights on the stack rather than the battlefield.

- Doorkeeper Thrull role: Bring Doorkeeper Thrull against enter-the-battlefield engines, creature-combo decks, and value decks where stopping triggered permanent value buys time for Greasefang, Okiba Boss. Card text check required for exact scope; it is bad when its static text harms Veles more than the opponent, when the matchup is removal-heavy control, or when a small creature body will not affect the race.

- Seam Rip role: Bring Seam Rip against decks where artifacts or enchantments are central and visible legal targets are likely to appear. Card text check required for exact timing, cost, and target class; it is bad against low-permanent spell decks, creature-only aggro, or matchups where holding narrow interaction delays the combo.

- Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer role: Bring Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer when the matchup rewards a non-graveyard threat, repeatable card advantage, or a planeswalker-style angle against removal and graveyard hate. Card text check required; it is bad when the opponent is faster than a four-mana plan, when Veles cannot protect it on board, or when tapping out gives up a clean Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn.

Control Or Spell-Heavy Interaction
Side in: 3 Duress; 2 Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer
Cut: 4 Fatal Push; 1 Sheltered by Ghosts

- Plan rule: Add hand pressure and a non-graveyard threat while reducing creature-removal density. Keep Thoughtseize because it finds counterplay, graveyard hate, and removal before Greasefang, Okiba Boss; keep at least some Vanishing Verse or Sheltered by Ghosts only if the opponent has visible permanents that must be answered.

Graveyard Combo Or Recursive Graveyard Engine
Side in: 2 Soul-Guide Lantern; 3 Duress
Cut: 2 Sheltered by Ghosts; 1 Lively Dirge; 2 Iron-Shield Elf

- Plan rule: Add graveyard interaction plus discard to fight the opponent while protecting Veles's own combo timing. Use Soul-Guide Lantern carefully because Veles also depends on Parhelion II in the graveyard; prefer actions that target opponent graveyard resources when legal, and do not exile Veles's graveyard unless survival or rules text forces that line.

Creature Aggro With Large Or Must-Kill Threats
Side in: 2 Bitter Triumph; 1 Vanishing Verse
Cut: 1 Lively Dirge; 1 Monument to Endurance; 1 Parhelion II

- Plan rule: Add instant-speed answers without abandoning the combo. Keep Fatal Push, keep enough Parhelion II copies to threaten the fast kill, and reduce slower setup only when life total pressure makes turn-by-turn survival the gating resource.

Big Mana Or Spell-Chain Combo
Side in: 1 Damping Sphere; 3 Duress
Cut: 2 Sheltered by Ghosts; 1 Fatal Push; 1 Iron-Shield Elf

- Plan rule: Add a taxing permanent and discard when the opponent's strongest turns depend on mana volume or casting several spells. Keep the combo compact because Damping Sphere alone does not win; use Thoughtseize and Duress to identify whether the next priority should be Greasefang, Okiba Boss, Parhelion II setup, or holding interaction.

Artifact Or Enchantment Permanent Engine
Side in: 1 Seam Rip; 1 Vanishing Verse; 2 Bitter Triumph
Cut: 1 Lively Dirge; 1 Monument to Endurance; 1 Iron-Shield Elf; 1 Sheltered by Ghosts

- Plan rule: Add flexible answers only when visible or expected permanent engines matter. Seam Rip is narrow until the rules engine exposes legal targets, so avoid overvaluing it in blind games unless the opponent's archetype is clearly built around artifacts or enchantments.

Enter-The-Battlefield Value Or Creature Combo
Side in: 3 Doorkeeper Thrull; 2 Bitter Triumph
Cut: 1 Lively Dirge; 2 Sheltered by Ghosts; 2 Iron-Shield Elf

- Plan rule: Add Doorkeeper Thrull when its text constrains the opponent's battlefield plan more than Veles's. Card text check required; if Doorkeeper Thrull suppresses a Veles trigger or permanent line in the current rules output, deprioritize it and lean on discard plus removal instead.

- Role-change rule: Against heavy graveyard hate, Veles becomes discard-removal midrange with a compact combo finish. Add role cards: Duress; Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer; Bitter Triumph; Vanishing Verse. Reduce main-deck emphasis: extra slow setup, narrow creature removal, and redundant engine pieces that do not function through visible hate.

- Role-change rule: Against fast creature pressure, Veles remains a combo deck but must trade resources before the combo turn. Add role cards: Bitter Triumph; Vanishing Verse; Doorkeeper Thrull when relevant. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slower selection, fragile nonblocking setup, and excess copies of expensive combo material only when the hand still contains a functional Parhelion II route.

- Role-change rule: Against control, Veles should sequence discard before commitment and diversify threats. Add role cards: Duress; Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer. Reduce main-deck emphasis: dead creature removal and enchantment removal with no visible target class.

- Role-change rule: Against unknown opponents, make small changes only after Game 1 reveals the opponent's axis. Prefer no change when the matchup is unclear, because the maindeck already has discard, removal, graveyard setup, and the fastest Parhelion II plan.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: Preserve life total first, then assemble Greasefang, Okiba Boss plus Parhelion II when a single attack stabilizes or ends the race. Keep Fatal Push high because it buys the turns needed to loot, discard, or develop Monument to Endurance; use Vanishing Verse and Bitter Triumph for threats that survive Fatal Push or invalidate blocking. Add role cards: Bitter Triumph; Vanishing Verse; Doorkeeper Thrull only when its text interacts with the opponent's creature engine. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Lively Dirge, slow excess Monument to Endurance lines, and redundant Parhelion II copies when the hand already has a graveyard route.

- Burn: Treat life total as the bottleneck and avoid Thoughtseize or Bitter Triumph costs when the visible clock makes the life payment worse than the card taken or killed. Sheltered by Ghosts may matter when the rules engine exposes a legal target and its resulting life swing or board swing is relevant; Card text check required for exact tactical value. Greasefang, Okiba Boss should be committed only when the immediate Parhelion II attack races visible damage or when waiting gives the opponent more draw steps than Veles can afford. Add role cards: Duress when burn is spell-heavy; Vanishing Verse if key permanents are legal targets. Reduce main-deck emphasis: painful optional lines and slow card-selection actions under lethal pressure.

- Go-wide: Prioritize preventing early snowball damage over protecting a perfect combo hand. Fatal Push should remove creatures that enable the widest attacks or make blocks impossible, while Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, and Iron-Shield Elf can absorb combat only when blocking does not expose the Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn to failure. Parhelion II is the best stabilizer when it attacks, but a hand that cannot place Parhelion II in the graveyard before dying should mulligan more aggressively. Add role cards: Bitter Triumph; Vanishing Verse; Doorkeeper Thrull if opposing enter-the-battlefield triggers create the board width. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow setup that does not affect the current combat step.

- Single-threat decks: Save unconditional answers for the threat that actually ends the game, not the first creature that appears. Fatal Push handles cheap pressure, while Vanishing Verse and Bitter Triumph should be reserved for larger, protected, or non-Fatal Push targets when the legal action list confirms targetability. Thoughtseize should take the next threat or the interaction that stops Greasefang, Okiba Boss, depending on whether the visible board already demands removal. Add role cards: Bitter Triumph; Vanishing Verse; Duress against spell-backed single threats. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow creature setup that cannot block or pressure through the opponent's main threat.

- Tempo: Sequence lands and discard so Veles can pay through soft pressure and still present a compact combo. Thoughtseize is strongest before the Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn if it can clear counterplay, bounce, or removal; do not spend it on low-impact cards when the visible legal actions show a near-term Parhelion II setup. Fatal Push should answer the threat that makes the clock short, because tempo decks punish slow Monument to Endurance turns. Add role cards: Duress; Bitter Triumph; Vanishing Verse. Reduce main-deck emphasis: tap-out value plans that do not immediately force action.

- Control: Make discard precede commitment, then force the opponent to answer multiple axes. Thoughtseize and Duress should identify counterspells, removal, graveyard hate, and sweepers before Greasefang, Okiba Boss enters the battlefield; Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer is the non-graveyard pressure plan when Card text check required has been satisfied for the current game. Avoid firing Lively Dirge or Takenuma, Abandoned Mire into open interaction unless waiting risks losing the only window. Add role cards: Duress; Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer; Vanishing Verse for legal hate permanents. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push when few creatures are visible and Sheltered by Ghosts when targets are sparse.

- Removal-heavy decks: Assume Greasefang, Okiba Boss may die and plan for redundancy rather than all-in timing. Use Thoughtseize and Duress to clear removal before committing, but if the opponent is tapped low or shields are known down, prioritize the fastest legal combo action. Monument to Endurance, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Lively Dirge, and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire are important because they turn later draws into additional attempts. Add role cards: Duress; Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer; Bitter Triumph when opposing threats must be killed. Reduce main-deck emphasis: removal with no targets and fragile creature pressure that trades down.

- Midrange: Trade resources until one Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn or Parhelion II attack breaks parity. Thoughtseize should take graveyard hate, the cleanest removal spell, or a card-advantage engine according to visible hand information; Fatal Push and Vanishing Verse should prevent the opponent from converting a fair board into lethal pressure. Guardian of New Benalia and Fleeting Spirit matter as bodies that pressure planeswalkers, block, and help bridge to the combo, but they should not distract from setting up Parhelion II. Add role cards: Bitter Triumph; Vanishing Verse; Duress if the opponent leans spell-heavy; Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer for grind. Reduce main-deck emphasis: excess all-in pieces only when hate makes graveyard kills unreliable.

- Combo: Disrupt first if the opponent is faster, race first if Veles already has a protected Greasefang, Okiba Boss line. Thoughtseize and Duress should take the card that enables the opponent's next deterministic kill, unless a removal spell or hate permanent is the only thing stopping Veles from winning first. Damping Sphere is for mana-volume or spell-chain combo, but it does not replace the need to apply pressure. Add role cards: Duress; Damping Sphere; Soul-Guide Lantern for graveyard combo; Bitter Triumph only if a creature or planeswalker is the combo hinge. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push and Sheltered by Ghosts when they lack relevant legal targets.

- Big mana: Attack setup speed and mana payoff timing rather than trying to answer everything later. Thoughtseize and Duress should take the payoff, sweeper, graveyard hate, or acceleration piece that most changes the next two turns; Damping Sphere matters when the opponent's public game plan uses large mana or multiple spells. The Mycosynth Gardens and normal land sequencing should support an early Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn before the opponent reaches overwhelming mana. Add role cards: Damping Sphere; Duress; Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer if games slow down. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push against low-creature builds and slow removal that misses payoffs.

- Graveyard decks: Fight the opponent's graveyard without accidentally disabling Veles's own Parhelion II line. Soul-Guide Lantern should target opponent resources when legal and should only pressure Veles's own graveyard if survival, rules text, or immediate game state demands it. Thoughtseize and Duress should take recursion payoffs, enablers, or protection before the opponent's graveyard becomes insulated. Add role cards: Soul-Guide Lantern; Duress; Vanishing Verse for legal permanent engines. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Lively Dirge when opposing graveyard pressure makes slow recursion risky, and excess Iron-Shield Elf if blocking is not relevant.

- Artifact or enchantment engines: Identify whether the permanent itself or the surrounding creature pressure is the real problem. Seam Rip is for matchups where artifacts or enchantments are central and visible legal targets are likely; Card text check required for timing and exact target class. Vanishing Verse handles legal colored permanents, while Bitter Triumph handles creatures or planeswalkers that the engine protects. Add role cards: Seam Rip; Vanishing Verse; Bitter Triumph; Duress if the engine is spell-supported. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push when the engine is noncreature and slow combo setup only when hate must be answered first.

- Unknown opponents: Keep Veles proactive and make Game 1 decisions from legal actions and public information, not guessed archetype labels. Thoughtseize should gather information while disrupting the most immediate threat to a Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn; Monument to Endurance and Geier Reach Sanitarium should set up Parhelion II without overcommitting into unknown interaction. Add role cards only after revealed cards establish the axis. Reduce main-deck emphasis only after a clear target class, speed profile, or hate pattern is known.

## Specific Matchup Notes
- General/archetype-only: Treat these notes as assumptions until revealed cards, legal actions, and public zones identify the opponent's axis. Revealed cards override archetype labels; do not keep a Game 1 plan if Thoughtseize, combat, graveyard contents, or visible permanents show a different role.

- Fast creature decks: Preserve life while setting up the fastest Parhelion II line. Fatal Push and Vanishing Verse should answer the creature that shortens Veles's clock most; Sheltered by Ghosts is conditional on legal targets and card text verification. Likely sideboarding emphasizes Bitter Triumph and the extra Vanishing Verse, with Duress only if noncreature interaction or burn is visibly important. Priority targets are haste threats, evasive threats, and removal that breaks up Greasefang, Okiba Boss.

- Spell-heavy control or tempo: Lead with Thoughtseize when it can clear the Greasefang, Okiba Boss turn or protect a recovery engine. Likely sideboarding emphasizes Duress, Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer after card text check, and the extra Vanishing Verse if hate permanents are visible; reduce Fatal Push emphasis when creatures are scarce. Priority targets are counterspells, exile removal, graveyard hate, sweepers, and cards that punish tapping out.

- Midrange removal piles: Trade until a protected combo window appears, then commit before the opponent rebuilds resources. Likely sideboarding emphasizes Duress for removal and planeswalker-heavy hands, Bitter Triumph for large threats, and Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer for grind after card text check. Priority targets are clean answers to Greasefang, Okiba Boss, graveyard hate, and threats that force Veles to spend combo turns defending.

- Graveyard mirrors or recursion decks: Use Soul-Guide Lantern against the opponent's graveyard without casually erasing Veles's Parhelion II setup. Likely sideboarding emphasizes Soul-Guide Lantern, Duress, and Vanishing Verse for legal permanent engines. Priority targets are graveyard payoffs, recursion engines, and enablers that make the opponent faster than a protected Greasefang, Okiba Boss attack.

- Artifact, enchantment, or hate-permanent decks: Identify the exact permanent that stops the combo before spending removal. Likely sideboarding emphasizes Seam Rip after card text check, Vanishing Verse for legal colored permanents, Duress for spell-based hate, and Bitter Triumph only when the pressure or engine is creature or planeswalker based. Priority targets are graveyard hate, vehicle blockers that matter in combat, and permanents that prevent Greasefang, Okiba Boss from converting Parhelion II into damage.

- Big mana or spell-chain combo: Race when the Veles hand has discard plus combo, disrupt first when the opponent can win before Greasefang, Okiba Boss attacks. Likely sideboarding emphasizes Damping Sphere, Duress, and sometimes Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer if the matchup slows. Priority targets are acceleration, deterministic payoff cards, sweepers, and hate that blocks the first Parhelion II attempt.

## Risk Summary
- Mana risk: The deck needs black early for Thoughtseize and Fatal Push, white for Greasefang, Okiba Boss and Vanishing Verse, and enough untapped sequencing to act before fast decks punish tapped lands. The Mycosynth Gardens, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Shadowy Backstreet, Brightclimb Pathway, Bleachbone Verge, Godless Shrine, Concealed Courtyard, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Plains, and Swamp all require runtime attention to color, tapped status, life payment, and land-drop timing.

- Matchup risk: Overvaluing the combo against open interaction loses to removal-heavy or graveyard-hate draws. Thoughtseize and Duress should verify the window before Greasefang, Okiba Boss commits when the opponent has cards and mana available.

- Draw risk: Hands with Parhelion II but no discard outlet, no Greasefang, Okiba Boss, and no Monument to Endurance, Fleeting Spirit, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Lively Dirge, or Takenuma, Abandoned Mire path can stall. Hands with only enablers and no payoff also need pressure from Guardian of New Benalia, Iron-Shield Elf, or sideboard threats to avoid doing nothing.

- Over-sideboarding risk: Cutting too many proactive pieces makes Veles a weak fair deck. Keep enough Greasefang, Okiba Boss, Parhelion II, discard access, and graveyard setup after adding Duress, Bitter Triumph, Soul-Guide Lantern, Damping Sphere, Doorkeeper Thrull, Seam Rip, Vanishing Verse, or Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer.

- Graveyard risk: Soul-Guide Lantern and opponent graveyard hate can disrupt both players, so Veles must track whose graveyard is being affected before choosing an activation. Do not assume Parhelion II remains available if public actions or resolved effects changed graveyard contents.

- Sweeper/removal risk: Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Iron-Shield Elf, and Greasefang, Okiba Boss can all become poor commitments into known sweepers or removal. Use discard first when possible, and hold redundancy when one threat already forces action.

- Closer risk: Parhelion II attacks are the primary close, but failed first attempts can leave Veles needing fair damage, Monument to Endurance value, or sideboard pressure. Do not spend all interaction on low-impact targets if the opponent's life total still requires multiple turns.

- Interaction risk: Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Bitter Triumph, Sheltered by Ghosts, Seam Rip, and Doorkeeper Thrull are conditional on legal targets and exact text. Card text check required for Sheltered by Ghosts, Doorkeeper Thrull, Seam Rip, Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer, Monument to Endurance, Iron-Shield Elf, and Bleachbone Verge before relying on specific non-obvious modes.

- Sequencing risk: Casting discard too early can miss the card that matters on the combo turn, but waiting too long can let the opponent deploy hate. Sequence Thoughtseize and Duress around the turn Veles can legally put Parhelion II into the graveyard and return it with Greasefang, Okiba Boss.

## Test Feedback Checklist
- Deciding factor: Record whether the game was decided by a clean Parhelion II plus Greasefang, Okiba Boss attack, a fair creature plan, opponent disruption, mana friction, missed velocity, or failure to close after the first combo attempt.

- Mulligans: Note whether the opener had a credible path to both place Parhelion II in the graveyard and find or protect Greasefang, Okiba Boss. Track hands kept because of Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Monument to Endurance, Fleeting Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, Iron-Shield Elf, Lively Dirge, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, or Geier Reach Sanitarium, and mark whether that reason actually mattered.

- Mana: Log every game where color, tapped status, or life payment changed the line. Identify whether Concealed Courtyard, Godless Shrine, Brightclimb Pathway, Bleachbone Verge, Shadowy Backstreet, The Mycosynth Gardens, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Plains, Swamp, or Geier Reach Sanitarium enabled the correct turn or delayed it.

- Velocity: Check whether the deck found enough graveyard setup before the opponent presented lethal pressure or hard disruption. Flag Parhelion II stranded in hand, Greasefang, Okiba Boss stranded without a vehicle, or Monument to Endurance and Fleeting Spirit failing to convert cards into a live graveyard plan.

- Engines: Record whether Monument to Endurance was cast early enough to matter, whether Fleeting Spirit or Guardian of New Benalia provided useful selection or pressure, and whether The Mycosynth Gardens created meaningful redundancy or was only a colorless/tapped liability. Card text check required before assigning detailed credit to Monument to Endurance, Iron-Shield Elf, and Bleachbone Verge.

- Removal: Identify the spell that answered the decisive permanent, or the spell held too long. Track Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, Bitter Triumph, Seam Rip, Doorkeeper Thrull, and Soul-Guide Lantern only against legal visible targets; card text check required for Sheltered by Ghosts, Seam Rip, and Doorkeeper Thrull.

- Sideboard: After each post-board game, record which sideboard cards changed the outcome: Duress, Damping Sphere, Soul-Guide Lantern, Vanishing Verse, Bitter Triumph, Doorkeeper Thrull, Seam Rip, or Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer. Card text check required before treating Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer as a confirmed engine or finisher.

- Closing: Record whether one Parhelion II attack was enough, whether tokens or fair attackers closed afterward, and whether failed follow-up pressure let the opponent stabilize. Note when Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Iron-Shield Elf, or sideboard cards carried damage after the combo was disrupted.

- Role: Ask whether Veles correctly played as combo, midrange, removal deck, or discard-protected threat deck after public information appeared. Flag games where Thoughtseize or Duress revealed a role mismatch and the pilot did not adjust.

- Mistakes: Mark each likely pilot error with the exact visible action context: wrong discard target, premature Greasefang, Okiba Boss, unnecessary life payment, missed legal setup action, poor removal target, bad attack, bad block, or sideboard overcorrection.

- Stranded cards: Track recurring cards that stayed in hand without legal or useful deployment, especially Parhelion II, Greasefang, Okiba Boss, Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, Damping Sphere, Soul-Guide Lantern, Doorkeeper Thrull, Seam Rip, and Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer.

- Overperformers and underperformers: Record card names only after log evidence supports the claim. Separate cards that were powerful when drawn from cards that merely appeared in winning games.

## First Tuning Questions
- Card quantity: Is four Parhelion II correct, or do repeated stranded copies imply the deck needs more discard/selection density rather than more payoff? Preserve enough payoff for Greasefang, Okiba Boss before lowering the count.

- Greasefang access: Did games fail because Greasefang, Okiba Boss was absent, removed, or unprotected? If absence is the issue, evaluate whether Lively Dirge, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, Monument to Endurance, and current creature density supply enough access.

- Graveyard setup: Did Monument to Endurance, Fleeting Spirit, Guardian of New Benalia, Geier Reach Sanitarium, and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire reliably put Parhelion II into the graveyard on time? If setup lagged, decide whether the deck needs more velocity or fewer fair-only cards.

- Mana base: Did The Mycosynth Gardens and utility lands improve combo redundancy more often than they delayed Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Greasefang, Okiba Boss, or Vanishing Verse? If colors were the failure point, question the balance of The Mycosynth Gardens, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, and basics.

- Aggro plan: Are Fatal Push, Vanishing Verse, Sheltered by Ghosts, Bitter Triumph, and the extra Vanishing Verse enough against fast creature decks, or does the deck need more early stabilizing interaction? Check whether life loss from Godless Shrine and Thoughtseize changed races.

- Control plan: Are Thoughtseize plus Duress enough to force through Greasefang, Okiba Boss, or does the deck need a stronger post-board threat plan? Evaluate Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer only after card text check confirms its role.

- Graveyard-hate plan: Did Soul-Guide Lantern, opponent graveyard pressure, or hate permanents create role conflicts with Veles's own Parhelion II plan? If yes, tune toward discard, removal, or alternate threats without weakening the primary combo too much.

- Sideboard slots: Did Damping Sphere, Doorkeeper Thrull, Seam Rip, Soul-Guide Lantern, Duress, Bitter Triumph, Vanishing Verse, and Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer each have real matchups where they were wanted? Move slots only after logs show repeated absence or repeated impact.

- Closer package: When the first Parhelion II attack failed, did Guardian of New Benalia, Fleeting Spirit, Iron-Shield Elf, and sideboard threats end the game quickly enough? If not, identify whether the issue was threat quality, protection, or poor attack discipline.

- Role conflict: Did fair midrange cards make combo hands slower, or did combo pieces make interactive hands clunky? Tune only after separating mana failures, matchup pressure, and pilot sequencing mistakes from structural deck problems.

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Mulligan For A Real Combo Or Interactive Hand
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan
Cards: Greasefang, Okiba Boss; Parhelion II; Thoughtseize; Fatal Push; Monument to Endurance; Fleeting Spirit; Guardian of New Benalia
Phase windows: pregame mulligan decisions
Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; hand contains visible opening seven or post-mulligan hand
Use when: opening hand must choose keep or mulligan.
Avoid when: rules engine has already locked the keep decision.
Instructions: Keep hands that have lands plus either Greasefang, Okiba Boss access and Parhelion II setup, or strong discard/removal plus setup velocity. Mulligan hands with no functional mana, no path to graveyard Parhelion II, and no meaningful early interaction.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: First Three Turns Graveyard Setup
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; selection
Cards: Parhelion II; Monument to Endurance; Fleeting Spirit; Guardian of New Benalia; Geier Reach Sanitarium; Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
Phase windows: turns 1-3 main phases and discard/selection prompts
Runtime cues: action:cast Monument to Endurance; action:activate Fleeting Spirit; action:activate Geier Reach Sanitarium; action:channel Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
Use when: Parhelion II is visible in hand or graveyard is empty and a setup action is legal.
Avoid when: spending the action prevents casting Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, or Greasefang, Okiba Boss on a decisive turn.
Instructions: Prioritize putting Parhelion II into your graveyard while preserving enough mana and cards to deploy Greasefang, Okiba Boss. Card text check required for Monument to Endurance before treating its modes as confirmed selection.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Commit The Greasefang Combo
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; interaction
Cards: Greasefang, Okiba Boss; Parhelion II; Thoughtseize; Duress
Phase windows: precombat main phase, priority before combat
Runtime cues: action:cast Greasefang, Okiba Boss; zone:Parhelion II in your graveyard
Use when: casting Greasefang, Okiba Boss can produce a Parhelion II attack this turn or force the opponent to answer it.
Avoid when: visible public information shows lethal crackback, known instant-speed answer from Thoughtseize or Duress, or a better protection/discard line is legal first.
Instructions: Treat this as the deck's defining commitment gate. Use discard first when it can clear a known answer without losing the combo window.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Greasefang Target
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection
Cards: Greasefang, Okiba Boss; Parhelion II
Phase windows: beginning of combat trigger target prompt
Runtime cues: action:target Parhelion II Greasefang, Okiba Boss
Use when: exactly one legal action targets Parhelion II in your graveyard for Greasefang, Okiba Boss.
Avoid when: multiple vehicle targets are legal or visible replacement effects change the target outcome.
Instructions: Select Parhelion II as the Greasefang, Okiba Boss trigger target when it is the only visible Parhelion II target action.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Parhelion Combat After Combo
Priority: High
Decision families: combat
Cards: Parhelion II; Greasefang, Okiba Boss
Phase windows: declare attackers and combat damage steps
Runtime cues: action:attack with Parhelion II; action:attack
Use when: Parhelion II is on your battlefield and legal to attack after Greasefang, Okiba Boss returned it.
Avoid when: rules engine exposes a legal attack choice that would lose to a visible mandatory restriction or lethal counterattack requiring a different assignment.
Instructions: Attack with Parhelion II unless visible board state makes survival impossible without holding it back. Use light reasoning for additional attackers and post-combat sequencing.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Mana For Combo Turn
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana
Cards: Concealed Courtyard; Godless Shrine; Brightclimb Pathway; Bleachbone Verge; Shadowy Backstreet; Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth; The Mycosynth Gardens; Plains; Swamp
Phase windows: land play, mana payment, precombat main phase
Runtime cues: action:play land; prompt:pay mana; action:cast Greasefang, Okiba Boss
Use when: a legal mana or land choice affects casting Greasefang, Okiba Boss, Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, or Vanishing Verse this turn.
Avoid when: the payment prompt has only one legal payment.
Instructions: Preserve black-white access for Greasefang, Okiba Boss and interaction. Avoid unnecessary Godless Shrine life loss when the same spell remains castable and life total matters.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Exact Single Legal Mana Payment
Priority: Low
Decision families: mana
Cards: none
Phase windows: mana payment prompts
Runtime cues: action:pay mana
Use when: the rules engine presents exactly one legal action whose text begins with pay mana.
Avoid when: two or more legal mana payment actions are visible.
Instructions: Submit the single legal mana payment action exactly as offered by the engine.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Discard Before Commitment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Thoughtseize; Duress
Phase windows: precombat main phase, early turns, combo turn
Runtime cues: action:cast Thoughtseize; action:cast Duress; revealed hand choices
Use when: discard is legal before committing Greasefang, Okiba Boss or when opponent's revealed hand can stop the combo or race.
Avoid when: life loss, mana use, or timing would make the current combo attack unavailable and no known answer is present.
Instructions: Take visible cards that answer Greasefang, Okiba Boss, exile the graveyard, stop Parhelion II, or create immediate lethal pressure. Do not infer hidden cards beyond archetype-level risk.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Removal Triage
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction
Cards: Fatal Push; Vanishing Verse; Sheltered by Ghosts; Bitter Triumph; Seam Rip
Phase windows: opponent combat, end step, main phase before combo, stack where legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Fatal Push; action:cast Vanishing Verse; action:cast Bitter Triumph; action:cast Sheltered by Ghosts; action:cast Seam Rip
Use when: a visible permanent threatens lethal, blocks the combo kill, disables graveyard use, or invalidates Greasefang, Okiba Boss.
Avoid when: target legality or card text is uncertain and a pass keeps survival stable.
Instructions: Spend the cheapest legal answer on the most immediate visible threat. Card text check required for Sheltered by Ghosts and Seam Rip before assuming exact removal or protection behavior.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Protect Graveyard-Combo Resources
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Soul-Guide Lantern; Thoughtseize; Duress; Parhelion II; Greasefang, Okiba Boss
Phase windows: precombat main phase, opponent end step, graveyard interaction windows
Runtime cues: opponent:visible graveyard hate; action:cast Thoughtseize; action:cast Duress; action:activate Soul-Guide Lantern
Use when: visible public information shows graveyard hate, opposing graveyard combo, or a discard line that clears hate.
Avoid when: using Soul-Guide Lantern would damage your own active Parhelion II plan without stopping an opposing engine.
Instructions: Clear or answer hate before exposing Greasefang, Okiba Boss. Use Soul-Guide Lantern as interaction, not as automatic setup.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Mycosynth Gardens Copy Commitment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana; priority; selection
Cards: The Mycosynth Gardens; Parhelion II; Greasefang, Okiba Boss
Phase windows: main phase and activated-ability windows
Runtime cues: action:activate The Mycosynth Gardens; action:copy
Use when: The Mycosynth Gardens has a legal visible activated ability that can advance a selected combo or threat line.
Avoid when: activating it consumes mana needed for Greasefang, Okiba Boss, discard, or removal this turn.
Instructions: Route copy or utility decisions through light reasoning because the correct object depends on visible permanents, mana, and whether a combo turn is already committed.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Fair Threat Deployment
Priority: Low
Decision families: priority; combat
Cards: Fleeting Spirit; Guardian of New Benalia; Iron-Shield Elf; Monument to Endurance
Phase windows: main phases and combat
Runtime cues: action:cast Fleeting Spirit; action:cast Guardian of New Benalia; action:cast Iron-Shield Elf; action:cast Monument to Endurance
Use when: no immediate Greasefang, Okiba Boss combo is available and a legal permanent improves pressure, filtering, or defense.
Avoid when: casting the permanent prevents interaction needed against a visible lethal or graveyard-hate threat.
Instructions: Build a fair board when combo pieces are missing. Card text check required for Iron-Shield Elf and Monument to Endurance before relying on exact abilities.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Blocking Under Pressure
Priority: High
Decision families: combat
Cards: Fleeting Spirit; Guardian of New Benalia; Iron-Shield Elf; Greasefang, Okiba Boss
Phase windows: declare blockers and combat trick windows
Runtime cues: action:block; prompt:declare blockers
Use when: opponent attacks and visible damage threatens lethal or a short clock.
Avoid when: exactly no legal block actions exist.
Instructions: Preserve Greasefang, Okiba Boss when it enables a next-turn Parhelion II attack, but block to survive when visible damage is lethal. Use light reasoning for trades and multi-blocks.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Pass Priority With Interaction Up
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; interaction
Cards: Fatal Push; Vanishing Verse; Bitter Triumph; Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire; Sheltered by Ghosts
Phase windows: opponent main phase, combat, end step, stack priority
Runtime cues: action:pass; legal actions include instant-speed interaction
Use when: passing may preserve interaction for a more important visible target or combat step.
Avoid when: passing lets a visible lethal threat resolve or misses the last legal window to answer it.
Instructions: Do not auto-pass with removal available. Compare immediate target, future combat risk, mana, and combo timing before passing.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Role Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Duress; Damping Sphere; Soul-Guide Lantern; Vanishing Verse; Bitter Triumph; Doorkeeper Thrull; Seam Rip; Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer
Phase windows: between games sideboard prompt
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; match stage post-board
Use when: Veles must choose a legal post-board configuration.
Avoid when: no registered sideboard plan or generated swap set validates against the registered 75.
Instructions: Add Duress against spell interaction and control, Damping Sphere against spell-chain or mana-engine decks, Soul-Guide Lantern against graveyard decks, Bitter Triumph and Vanishing Verse against creature/permanent pressure, Doorkeeper Thrull or Seam Rip only after card text check confirms matchup role, and Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer only after card text check confirms its role.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Exact Sideboard Submission
Priority: Low
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: none
Phase windows: validated sideboard submission
Runtime cues: action:submit sideboard plan
Use when: exactly one sideboard action is produced from a prevalidated plan preserving the registered 75.
Avoid when: multiple legal sideboard plans are visible or validation status is absent.
Instructions: Submit the single validated sideboard action without changing card counts.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes
