# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
- Identity: Grixis Reanimator is a Modern graveyard combo-midrange deck built around putting oversized threats into the graveyard and converting them into battlefield pressure with Persist, Unearth, Emperor of Bones, and normal casting pressure from Psychic Frog or Abhorrent Oculus when the game slows down.

- Deck registration: Main deck count validates to 60 cards and sideboard count validates to 15 cards. The main deck is 18 lands, 16 large or engine creatures, 8 reanimation effects, 8 discard or permission spells, 8 graveyard setup spells, and 4 Fatal Push. The sideboard is 4 Consign to Memory, 2 Damping Sphere, 2 Meltdown, 2 Mystical Dispute, 2 Pyroclasm, 1 Surgical Extraction, and 2 Vexing Bauble.

- Format validation: The requested format is Modern, and no registered card name appears on the current Wizards Modern banned list checked for this guide. Source for banned-list verification: https://magic.wizards.com/en/banned-restricted-list. Runtime deck registration should still re-check legality from the active rules source before sanctioned-style testing because Modern legality and bans can change.

- Archetype tags: Use combo, midrange, reanimator, and graveyard as the active tags. The deck is not a pure all-in graveyard deck because Psychic Frog, Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Spell Pierce, and sideboard interaction let it play a tempo-midrange game while waiting for a protected reanimation window.

- Stock status: Treat this as a hybrid or custom Veles list rather than a fully stock archetype. Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, Persist, Archon of Cruelty, and large graveyard threats form a recognizable reanimation plan, while Abhorrent Oculus, Emperor of Bones, Psychic Frog, and Unearth create a deck-specific pressure package that must be piloted from visible resources instead of copied from generic Modern Reanimator heuristics.

- Core role concern: The deck must decide every game whether it is a fast graveyard combo deck, a discard-protected midrange deck, or a removal-backed tempo deck. Veles should not force reanimation if the visible game favors casting Psychic Frog, protecting Abhorrent Oculus, trading with Fatal Push, or using Thoughtseize before committing Persist.

- Mana concern: The registered mana base is fetch-shock Grixis with Blood Crypt, Steam Vents, Watery Grave, Raucous Theater, Thundering Falls, Undercity Sewers, Island, Swamp, Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, and Scalding Tarn. Early black is critical for Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Persist, Emperor of Bones, and Unearth; red is critical for Faithless Looting and sideboard Meltdown or Pyroclasm; blue is critical for Thought Scour, Psychic Frog, Spell Pierce, Consign to Memory, and Mystical Dispute.

- Life-total concern: Fetch-shock sequencing is tactical, not automatic. The agent should pay life aggressively only when the legal hand needs same-turn black-red or blue-black action, when Thoughtseize must clear interaction before Persist, or when Spell Pierce must be held up; against visible pressure, tapped surveil lands and basics matter more.

- Graveyard concern: The strategy depends on the graveyard but should not assume the graveyard is safe. The agent must respect visible graveyard hate, opponent open mana, exile effects shown by public information, and rules-engine legal actions before discarding Archon of Cruelty or committing a reanimation spell.

- Opponent info status: No opponent decklist, matchup label, play/draw context, or metagame target was supplied for this batch. Matchup guidance must therefore start from public board state, known revealed cards, visible mana, and action legality; any opponent card named later as an example must be prefixed as opponent: unless it is in this registered list.

## Thesis
- Core assembly: Grixis Reanimator assembles a graveyard, a reanimation spell, and a protected threat window. The cleanest line is to put Archon of Cruelty or Abhorrent Oculus into the graveyard with Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, Psychic Frog, or discard pressure, then convert that card into the battlefield with Persist, Unearth, or Emperor of Bones while Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, and Spell Pierce reduce the opponent's ability to punish the commitment.

- Primary win pattern: Win by forcing the opponent to answer repeated oversized threats before they can stabilize. Archon of Cruelty is the highest-impact payoff because each legal attack or entry trigger can swing life, cards, and board at once; Abhorrent Oculus is the pressure engine that closes while adding material over time; Psychic Frog can become a standalone threat when the graveyard plan is slowed or hate is visible.

- Strategic posture: Play as combo when the opening hand already contains setup plus Persist or Unearth, but play as midrange when the hand contains Psychic Frog, Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, and fetchable interactive mana. The deck should not spend early turns sculpting forever if a legal protected reanimation turn exists, and it should not jam Persist into obvious public interaction when a discard spell, Spell Pierce shield, or alternate threat would improve the same turn cycle.

- What the deck is not doing: Do not treat this list as a pure control deck, a fair creature-curve deck, or an all-in graveyard deck. It has interaction, but it is not trying to trade one-for-one indefinitely; it has creatures, but it is not trying to win by normal combat with small bodies; it uses the graveyard, but it must pivot when visible hate or open mana makes a reanimation spell low-certainty.

- Priority order: First protect mana development and graveyard access, second force or preserve a high-impact reanimation window, third use Psychic Frog or Abhorrent Oculus to pressure through disruption, and fourth conserve life total only when the visible board makes fetch-shock damage a real clock. If legal actions conflict, prefer the line that creates a threat plus protects it over the line that merely fills the graveyard without a payoff.

## Role Package
- Threats: Archon of Cruelty is the premier battlefield payoff and should be prioritized when the opponent is vulnerable to sacrifice, discard, life drain, or flying pressure. Abhorrent Oculus is both a reanimation target and a castable graveyard payoff when enough cards can be exiled without starving Persist, Unearth, Psychic Frog, or future graveyard lines. Psychic Frog is the flexible early threat that turns cards and graveyard pressure into combat relevance, but its discard or exile choices must respect known reanimation needs. Emperor of Bones is a creature-based graveyard engine and threat bridge; Card text check required, so use its tactical role conditionally from legal actions and visible prompts rather than assumed wording.

- Payoffs: Archon of Cruelty is the highest-value target for Persist and any legal Emperor of Bones line because it can immediately alter board, hand, and life totals. Abhorrent Oculus is the preferred payoff when sustained pressure and repeated material matter more than a single swing. Psychic Frog becomes a payoff when the opponent has graveyard hate, when reanimation is not legal, or when holding up Spell Pierce while attacking is stronger than tapping out.

- Engines: Faithless Looting is the cleanest card-selection and discard engine because it can put Archon of Cruelty or Abhorrent Oculus into the graveyard while finding Persist, Unearth, or protection. Thought Scour is the instant-speed graveyard filler that can enable Abhorrent Oculus, fuel Psychic Frog, and create surprise graveyard density, but it should not be aimed or sequenced as though the milled cards are known before the rules engine reveals them. Psychic Frog and Emperor of Bones are ongoing engines when the game becomes resource-based instead of a one-shot reanimation race.

- Velocity: Faithless Looting and Thought Scour are the main velocity cards, with fetchlands improving color access and graveyard count while not guaranteeing specific draws. Use Thoughtseize as velocity in disguise when it clears the exact answer that would stop Persist or protects a Psychic Frog attack from visible interaction.

- Interaction and protection: Thoughtseize is proactive protection for the commitment turn and should usually precede Persist when the opponent has unknown interaction and the mana allows it. Spell Pierce is reactive protection for stack fights and tempo turns, especially when a reanimation spell, Psychic Frog, or Abhorrent Oculus must survive the opponent's next legal response. Fatal Push is the efficient removal valve that buys time against visible creature pressure or clears blockers when a threat can race.

- Recursion: Persist is the main reanimation spell for large nonlegendary threats and should normally point at Archon of Cruelty unless visible context makes Abhorrent Oculus better. Unearth is the cheap recursion tool for eligible low-mana threats and engines, especially Psychic Frog, Abhorrent Oculus, and Emperor of Bones when the rules engine presents them as legal targets. Do not assume a card is a legal target; obey the action list exactly.

- Mana: Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, and Scalding Tarn find the colors that make the current hand function, with Blood Crypt, Steam Vents, Watery Grave, Raucous Theater, Thundering Falls, Undercity Sewers, Island, and Swamp determining whether the deck can sequence black discard, red Faithless Looting, blue Thought Scour or Spell Pierce, and black recursion without unnecessary life loss.

- Sideboard modules: Consign to Memory and Mystical Dispute are stack-interaction upgrades for blue, colorless, trigger, or spell-fight matchups as legal text confirms. Damping Sphere attacks fast mana or spell-chain opponents. Meltdown pressures artifact boards. Pyroclasm covers small-creature pressure. Surgical Extraction fights graveyard, combo, or known-card dependency. Vexing Bauble taxes or blocks free-spell patterns; Card text check required, so apply only from visible legal text and matchup context.

## Primary Win Conditions
- Archon of Cruelty reanimation is the default fastest kill because Persist turns one graveyard setup card plus black mana into a battlefield swing. Set up by placing Archon of Cruelty in the graveyard with Faithless Looting, Psychic Frog discard, or revealed self-mill from Thought Scour, then execute only when Persist is legal and the opponent's visible mana, stack, and known cards do not make waiting clearly better. Prioritize this line when the opponent is low on sacrifice fodder, when Thoughtseize can clear a known answer, when Spell Pierce can protect the stack, or when the game will become worse if you spend another turn sculpting.

- Archon of Cruelty should remain the first target for Persist unless the action list or board state makes another target materially safer. Its attack or entry trigger can pressure life total, hand, and board at once, so the deck should not downgrade to a smaller threat just to conserve the best card if the current window is likely the cleanest window. Disruption to respect includes graveyard hate already on the battlefield, open interaction after sideboarding, exile removal, sacrifice insulation from expendable creatures, and stack interaction that Thoughtseize or Spell Pierce cannot cover.

- Abhorrent Oculus pressure is the primary resilient win path when Archon of Cruelty is unavailable, overexposed, or unnecessary. Set up by filling the graveyard with Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, fetchlands, traded creatures, and normal spell exchanges, then use Persist, Unearth, or a legal cast when the graveyard count and mana support it without consuming resources needed for a higher-impact immediate line. Prioritize Abhorrent Oculus when repeated pressure matters more than one trigger, when the opponent has few clean answers to a large evasive threat, or when Archon of Cruelty is not in the graveyard.

- Psychic Frog is the fair-plan win condition when graveyard reliance is punished or the hand contains interaction instead of a reanimation package. Deploy Psychic Frog early when it can attack through the visible board or force the opponent to spend removal before the reanimation turn, and use Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, and Spell Pierce to keep combat damage flowing. Do not discard essential Persist, Unearth, or payoff cards to Psychic Frog unless the legal action advances a concrete reanimation setup or a lethal/near-lethal combat line visible to the engine.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Unearth creates tempo wins by recurring Psychic Frog, Abhorrent Oculus, or Emperor of Bones when those are legal targets. Use Unearth aggressively when one mana creates a threat while leaving interaction available, especially after the opponent trades removal for the first copy. Treat Unearth as a pressure spell rather than a value spell when the opponent is tapped low, behind on board, or forced to answer multiple threats in sequence.

- Emperor of Bones is a secondary engine and bridge threat, but Card text check required before assuming exact trigger timing or reanimation details. Use it when legal actions show it can develop pressure, interact with graveyard resources, or convert a visible graveyard card into battlefield advantage. Prioritize it in games where the opponent is trading one-for-one, where Unearth can rebuy it, or where committing a spell-based Persist into visible stack interaction is worse than deploying a creature.

- Hard-cast threats win games when the graveyard is locked or the opponent has spent resources fighting the first plan. Cast Abhorrent Oculus when legal and when exiling graveyard cards will not strand a better active line with Persist, Unearth, Psychic Frog, or Emperor of Bones. Hard-casting Archon of Cruelty is a late-game fallback only when mana development, life total, and battlefield timing make it legal and realistic.

- Interaction-backed chip damage matters when no single reanimation spell is safe. Attack with Psychic Frog, Emperor of Bones, and any legal Abhorrent Oculus while using Fatal Push to remove blockers, Thoughtseize to break up stabilizing answers, and Spell Pierce to punish tap-out recovery. This line is slow, so shift back to a reanimation commitment as soon as a payoff reaches the graveyard and the visible stack window improves.

## Emergency Lines
- When behind on life, preserve survival before maximizing graveyard velocity. Use Fatal Push on visible attackers that shorten the clock, fetch basics or tapped surveil lands only when the life and tempo math allow it, and avoid shockland damage unless the needed spell changes the current turn. A protected Archon of Cruelty line can reverse a race, but an unprotected setup spell that leaves lethal damage on board is not a stabilizing play.

- When behind on board, prioritize the line that produces an immediate blocker, removal spell, or Archon of Cruelty swing over a speculative self-mill action. Unearth on a legal creature can buy a turn, Fatal Push can break a lethal attack, and Persist on Archon of Cruelty can force a sacrifice while gaining life if it resolves. Do not assume a future graveyard card will appear before Thought Scour or Faithless Looting resolves.

- When behind on cards, use threats that generate forced exchanges instead of spending every spell on setup. Psychic Frog can rebuild if it connects, Archon of Cruelty can recover resources through attacks or entry, and Faithless Looting should be used to convert dead or redundant cards into a real line rather than to chase an unspecified perfect hand.

- When behind on mana, choose cheap functional turns over ambitious sequences. Unearth plus Spell Pierce, Thoughtseize plus Fatal Push, or Psychic Frog plus held interaction can keep the game alive while land drops arrive. Do not keep paying life for color perfection if Swamp, Island, or an already available shockland covers the visible legal action.

- When graveyard recursion is blocked, pivot to castable pressure and hand disruption. Psychic Frog and hard-cast Abhorrent Oculus are the main ways to keep winning through visible graveyard hate, while Thoughtseize should target the card that stops the pivot or protects the hate. If all main payoffs are exiled or illegal, win by stacking small combat advantages and forcing the opponent to answer every recursive creature the action list still permits.

## Resource Model
- Life is a spendable resource only when it unlocks a decisive spell window. Fetch-shock lines for Blood Crypt, Steam Vents, or Watery Grave are correct when they enable Thoughtseize, Faithless Looting, Persist, Unearth, Fatal Push, Thought Scour, Spell Pierce, Psychic Frog, or Emperor of Bones on schedule, but life loss becomes a hard constraint against fast visible pressure. Prefer basic Swamp or Island when the current hand already casts its next two relevant spells.

- Hand cards are fuel, protection, and threat density at the same time. Faithless Looting converts Archon of Cruelty and Abhorrent Oculus from stranded hand cards into graveyard payoffs, but do not discard the only reanimation spell, the only land that supports next turn, or the only interaction protecting a known commitment. Thoughtseize spends a card and life to buy certainty; use it before a key Persist or Unearth turn when the opponent can plausibly interact.

- Mana is the deck's main timing bottleneck because most strong turns need two colors or spell-plus-protection sequencing. One black mana enables Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Unearth, and the core Persist turn; one red mana enables Faithless Looting and later flashback; one blue mana enables Thought Scour and Spell Pierce; blue-black enables Psychic Frog. Preserve untapped mana when Spell Pierce can protect a reanimation spell or punish a tap-out recovery.

- Board presence is mostly a bridge to the graveyard plan, not a reason to abandon it. Psychic Frog and Emperor of Bones pressure life totals, trade for removal, and create Unearth targets, while Abhorrent Oculus can become the resilient pressure plan when the graveyard count and legal actions support it. Do not overvalue small attacks if the same turn can safely create Archon of Cruelty.

- Graveyard cards are a managed resource, not a discard pile. Archon of Cruelty is the premium Persist target, Abhorrent Oculus is a pressure and recursion target, and Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones can make Unearth a one-mana tempo swing. Count graveyard quantity before choosing any action that exiles or consumes graveyard cards; Card text check required for exact Abhorrent Oculus graveyard-cost decisions.

- Exile is usually a warning zone for lost resources. If payoffs, recursive creatures, or key spells are exiled by rules actions or opponent effects, shift toward hard-cast threats, Psychic Frog pressure, and discard-backed interaction. Surgical Extraction after sideboarding uses exile proactively, but only target a visible graveyard card whose removal changes the opponent's active plan.

- Lands are color fixing, life management, and graveyard setup. Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, and Scalding Tarn put cards into graveyard while finding the correct shockland, basic, or surveil land. Raucous Theater, Thundering Falls, and Undercity Sewers may enter tapped or provide selection value; use them when tempo loss is acceptable or when they improve the next graveyard/reanimation turn.

- Sacrifice fodder is not a primary resource in this list. If a legal action asks for sacrifice, use the rules-engine output and visible board to protect the highest-impact threat; do not assume Emperor of Bones, Psychic Frog, or Abhorrent Oculus is expendable without checking the current win line.

- Tempo is created by one-mana actions that still advance the graveyard plan. Unearth plus held Spell Pierce, Thoughtseize before Persist, Fatal Push clearing a blocker, or Thought Scour at the opponent's end step can compress development. Spend tempo aggressively when the opponent is tapped low or when waiting gives them graveyard hate or larger board pressure.

- Information is worth mana and life when it changes the commitment decision. Thoughtseize before reanimation, visible stack checks before Spell Pierce, and public graveyard counts before Surgical Extraction should determine whether to go now or hold. Do not infer hidden answers beyond archetype-level risk unless the engine has revealed them.

- Sideboard bullets trade flexibility for narrow power. Consign to Memory and Mystical Dispute protect or contest stack-based fights, Damping Sphere attacks mana or spell-chain engines, Meltdown and Pyroclasm reset specific permanent classes, Surgical Extraction converts public graveyard information into denial, and Vexing Bauble pressures free-spell or alternate-cost interaction. Use sideboard cards only when their visible text and matchup role justify lowering main-deck graveyard speed.

## Mana Guide
- Fetch/shock sequencing matrix: `Bloodstained Mire` is the cleanest route to `Blood Crypt` for turn-one `Thoughtseize`, `Fatal Push`, or `Faithless Looting`, while `Polluted Delta` most often finds `Watery Grave`, `Undercity Sewers`, `Island`, or `Swamp` for black-blue starts. `Scalding Tarn` should usually find `Steam Vents` or `Thundering Falls` when the hand needs red-blue setup, but it can also support black access only through the registered shock/surveil choices the rules engine exposes. Name the current turn's spell first, then fetch the land that casts both that spell and the next critical action.

- Two-land keeps are strongest when one land or fetch already supplies black and the second land covers the missing setup color. `Blood Crypt` plus `Watery Grave`, `Blood Crypt` plus `Steam Vents`, or a fetch plus `Swamp`/`Island` can support discard plus loot/scour plans. One-land keeps require a fetchland or an untapped shockland plus a legal one-mana spell; a one-land tapped `Raucous Theater`, `Thundering Falls`, or `Undercity Sewers` hand is keepable only when no turn-one action is required and the surveil/tapped setup materially improves the reanimation line.

- Land-before-draw rule: play the land first when the current turn must cast `Faithless Looting`, `Thoughtseize`, `Fatal Push`, `Persist`, `Unearth`, or hold `Spell Pierce`. Draw-before-land is correct when `Faithless Looting`, `Thought Scour`, or surveil from `Raucous Theater`, `Thundering Falls`, or `Undercity Sewers` could change whether the land drop should be `Blood Crypt`, `Steam Vents`, `Watery Grave`, `Island`, or `Swamp`, and no legal spell depends on mana before that information arrives.

- Keep mana hands that cast a turn-one enabler or disruption spell and a turn-two payoff setup. Strong starts usually contain black for Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Unearth, Persist, or Emperor of Bones plus red or blue for Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, Spell Pierce, or Psychic Frog. Mulligan or distrust hands that need multiple draws to find the first black source.

- Sequence black first unless the hand specifically requires Faithless Looting or Thought Scour before discard. Swamp, Blood Crypt, Watery Grave, and Undercity Sewers support the deck's most important early actions, while Steam Vents, Thundering Falls, and Island support blue-red setup and protection. Fetch for the land that lets the current and next turn use all visible legal actions, not the land with the broadest theoretical colors.

- Fetch basics when life total matters and colors remain functional. Swamp is preferred for Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Unearth, Persist, and black-heavy hands; Island is preferred when the hand already has black and needs Thought Scour or Spell Pierce without shock damage. Do not fetch a basic that strands Faithless Looting, Psychic Frog, or sideboard cards needed this turn.

- Shock untapped when the spell changes the current turn's outcome. Blood Crypt enables black-red starts, Watery Grave enables black-blue starts, and Steam Vents enables blue-red starts; pay 2 life for them when the action list contains a meaningful immediate spell or when holding up Spell Pierce is part of the selected line. Let shocklands enter tapped when no same-turn spell or protection window matters.

- Use tapped surveil or utility lands on low-pressure turns. Raucous Theater, Thundering Falls, and Undercity Sewers are best when the hand has another untapped source for the turn or when the selection can set up Faithless Looting, Persist, Unearth, Abhorrent Oculus, or Archon of Cruelty without exposing lethal tempo loss. Against visible pressure, prioritize untapped interaction over land selection.

- Play lands before draw or selection when you need a specific mana count this turn. If Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, or Psychic Frog combat could reveal or draw options but the current line already requires land mana, make the land drop first to unlock legal actions. Hold the land until after Faithless Looting or Thought Scour only when extra information could change which land is best and no current legal action depends on playing it first.

- Preserve blue mana when interaction timing matters. Spell Pierce is strongest when protecting Persist, Unearth, Psychic Frog, or a sideboard counter fight, so avoid spending the only blue source on Thought Scour if the opponent can respond meaningfully this turn. Mystical Dispute and Consign to Memory after sideboarding increase the value of leaving blue open.

- Preserve red mana when graveyard velocity or sideboard sweepers matter. Faithless Looting is the cleanest way to place Archon of Cruelty or Abhorrent Oculus into the graveyard, and flashback can rebuild after discard-heavy games. Meltdown and Pyroclasm require red access after sideboarding, so do not fetch only blue-black sources in matchups where those cards are part of the plan.

- Count double-spell turns before choosing lands. Thoughtseize plus Faithless Looting, Fatal Push plus Unearth, Persist plus Spell Pierce, and Psychic Frog plus protection all ask for exact color sequencing. If a fetchland can find only one side of the double-spell turn, choose the color that enables the higher-impact legal action and leaves the fewest cards stranded.

- Treat sideboard mana as a real cost. Damping Sphere, Vexing Bauble, and Surgical Extraction are easier to cast around the main plan, while Consign to Memory, Mystical Dispute, Meltdown, and Pyroclasm require specific colored access. When sideboard cards are in hand, fetch to cast them on the turn they are likely to matter, not after the opponent has already used the window they answer.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keep: Two lands with black access, Faithless Looting or Thought Scour, Archon of Cruelty or Abhorrent Oculus, and Persist or Unearth is the cleanest combo hand; keep when it can put a threat in the graveyard and attempt reanimation by turn two or three.

- Strong keep: Fetchland plus Thoughtseize, Faithless Looting, Persist, Archon of Cruelty, and any second land is high quality because Thoughtseize can clear visible disruption before the reanimation turn.

- Strong keep: Two to three lands, Psychic Frog, Thought Scour or Faithless Looting, Fatal Push, and either Persist, Unearth, or Emperor of Bones is a flexible midrange hand that can play through graveyard pressure.

- Medium keep: One land with Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, and multiple one-mana spells is acceptable on the draw when the land casts the first spell and the hand has a real payoff; on the play, keep only if the matchup is slower or a mulligan risks losing both enabler and payoff.

- Medium keep: Three lands with Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Psychic Frog, and Persist is acceptable if the graveyard setup is already present or likely from draw steps, but it is slower without Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, Archon of Cruelty, or Abhorrent Oculus.

- Risky keep: Archon of Cruelty plus Persist without a discard or mill outlet is not a combo hand yet; keep only with Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, or Psychic Frog to buy time, or when the opponent is unlikely to punish a slow start.

- Risky keep: Multiple Abhorrent Oculus with no graveyard volume can be stranded; keep only if Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, fetchlands, or Psychic Frog can stock the graveyard quickly enough.

- Automatic ship: Zero-land hands, one-land hands with no castable Faithless Looting or Thought Scour, and hands with only Archon of Cruelty plus Persist but no way to put a creature into the graveyard should be mulliganed.

- Automatic ship: Hands with no black source and no immediate way to find black are too unstable because Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Persist, Unearth, and Emperor of Bones all depend on black mana.

- Matchup-dependent keep: Thoughtseize plus Spell Pierce is stronger against combo, control, and graveyard hate starts than against creature swarms; against fast board pressure, prefer Fatal Push, Pyroclasm after sideboard, or an immediate reanimation line.

- Play/draw adjustment: On the play, value Thoughtseize and Faithless Looting starts because they shape the game before the opponent develops; on the draw, value Fatal Push, Spell Pierce, and resilient Psychic Frog hands more because the opponent may already have a threat or stack window.

- Trap hand: Four lands, Thoughtseize, Spell Pierce, and Persist looks interactive but lacks a graveyard target or pressure; ship unless the matchup makes discard plus permission uniquely important and the hand has enough draw steps to recover.

- Trap hand: Blood Crypt, Bloodstained Mire, Faithless Looting, Faithless Looting, Archon of Cruelty, Archon of Cruelty, Persist is explosive but vulnerable to graveyard hate and card disadvantage; keep when speed is required, but consider mulliganing if the opponent is known to have early graveyard interaction and no Thoughtseize or Spell Pierce is present.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1: Lead with Thoughtseize when the hand already has a graveyard setup and payoff, especially before exposing Persist or Unearth to interaction. Lead with Faithless Looting when the hand needs to discard Archon of Cruelty or Abhorrent Oculus immediately. Lead with Thought Scour when holding Spell Pierce or when waiting until the opponent's end step preserves interaction. Lead with Fatal Push only when a visible creature threatens tempo or survival.

- Turn 1 deviation: Use a tapped Raucous Theater, Thundering Falls, or Undercity Sewers only when no one-mana spell matters this turn or when the selection is more valuable than tempo. Fetch untapped shocklands when the action list contains a meaningful same-turn spell; fetch basics when life pressure is visible and colors remain functional.

- Turn 2: Attempt Persist or Unearth if a legal target is already in the graveyard and Thoughtseize or Spell Pierce has reduced the risk of disruption. Cast Psychic Frog when the graveyard line is not ready or when a threat that loots, blocks, and pressures life totals is better than forcing an exposed reanimation spell.

- Turn 2 deviation: Cast Emperor of Bones when the visible board supports a slower graveyard or exile-resource plan; Card text check required for exact target and timing decisions, so follow legal action text and avoid assuming a deterministic reanimation line unless the engine exposes it.

- Turn 3: Prioritize the first high-impact permanent or reanimation attempt. Persist on Archon of Cruelty is the premier stabilizing and closing line when legal. Unearth is best when returning Psychic Frog, Emperor of Bones, or Abhorrent Oculus is legal and advances the current board more than cycling or waiting.

- Turn 3 deviation: Hold up Spell Pierce instead of tapping out when the opponent is representing a stack fight, graveyard hate, or a payoff spell that beats a single creature. Use Fatal Push before combat or before committing Psychic Frog if removing a blocker or attacker changes the race.

- Turns 4-5: Convert graveyard setup into pressure while protecting the best threat. Flashback Faithless Looting when the hand is flooded, missing a payoff, or needs to discard Archon of Cruelty or Abhorrent Oculus. Use Thought Scour to add graveyard volume, find action, or enable later Abhorrent Oculus turns.

- Turns 4-5 deviation: Shift into midrange when graveyard access is contested. Psychic Frog, Emperor of Bones, Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, and Spell Pierce can buy time until Persist or Unearth becomes safe again. Do not spend the last protection spell on a low-impact exchange if a reanimation commitment is likely next turn.

- Late game: Treat every draw step as a commitment check between reanimation, threat deployment, protection, and stabilization. Archon of Cruelty is the highest-impact graveyard target when legal, Abhorrent Oculus is a durable pressure plan when its casting or reanimation conditions are met, and Psychic Frog remains important when card flow matters.

- Late-game deviation: Preserve life total and cards over speed when already ahead on board. Use Fatal Push on threats that change lethal math, Thoughtseize only when the life payment and information matter, and Spell Pierce only on spells whose visible impact beats the current board or stops the chosen closing line.

## Card Roles
- Abhorrent Oculus is the compact threat that turns graveyard volume into a battlefield engine. Prefer putting it into the graveyard for Unearth or Persist when the hand can do so cheaply, because returning it avoids paying any cast-time graveyard cost that Veles may show on a normal cast. Hard-cast it only when the graveyard is deep enough and spending those cards does not strand Psychic Frog, Emperor of Bones, or a later reanimation line. Against removal-heavy decks, Abhorrent Oculus is a strong follow-up after they answer Archon of Cruelty; against fast creature decks, value it as a large blocker only when it arrives before lethal pressure. Card text check required for exact current Oracle trigger handling, so trust Forge-visible triggers and legal actions over assumed upkeep value.

- Archon of Cruelty is the premier reanimation target and the deck's highest-impact stabilizer. Put it into the graveyard with Faithless Looting, Psychic Frog discard actions, or self-targeted Thought Scour when Persist is available or likely. Use Thoughtseize or Spell Pierce before committing if the opponent has visible cards, open mana, or known graveyard hate that can beat the first attempt. Against creature decks, Archon of Cruelty is often worth forcing because the trigger swings life, cards, and board; against combo or control, do not assume one trigger is enough if the opponent can ignore combat or answer the body.

- Emperor of Bones is the flexible two-drop that bridges pressure, graveyard interaction, and delayed payoff lines. Cast it when the hand lacks an immediate reanimation attempt or when a visible graveyard target makes its legal actions valuable. Treat any choice to exile your own Archon of Cruelty, Abhorrent Oculus, Psychic Frog, or Emperor of Bones as a commitment, because those cards may stop being available for Persist or Unearth. Against graveyard decks, use its opponent-graveyard targeting only when Veles shows the target and the exile matters now. Card text check required for exact adapt, attack, and return timing; do not invent a reanimation shortcut unless the rules engine exposes it.

- Faithless Looting is the best setup spell because it finds action while placing Archon of Cruelty or Abhorrent Oculus where reanimation can use them. Cast it early when the hand needs a discard outlet, but hold it when Thoughtseize must clear disruption first or when Spell Pierce needs to stay available. Discard excess legendary? none in this deck; instead discard redundant lands, extra Archon of Cruelty, Abhorrent Oculus, or dead removal based on matchup pressure. Flashback Faithless Looting when flooding, missing a payoff, or needing to reload after graveyard hate, but avoid spending the turn on flashback if a legal reanimation spell or survival removal is already better.

- Fatal Push is the tempo stabilizer that buys the turns required for the graveyard plan. Prioritize creatures that accelerate the opponent, threaten lethal, shut off combat, or pressure Psychic Frog before it can generate cards. Use Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, or Scalding Tarn to enable revolt when the legal target requires it; do not crack a fetch only for revolt if mana colors or life total become worse and the target is not important. Against low-creature combo and control, Fatal Push is expendable to Faithless Looting unless the opponent presents a visible must-kill creature.

- Persist is the main cheat spell and should be treated as a commitment gate, not a routine value play. The preferred target is Archon of Cruelty when legal, especially when the opponent has a creature, planeswalker, cards in hand, or a life total that makes the trigger decisive. Abhorrent Oculus is the next major target when board presence and continuing pressure matter more than an immediate Archon trigger. Use Persist on Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones only when the game is attrition-based, the larger threats are unavailable, or the returned body blocks or attacks meaningfully. Do not cast Persist into obvious open disruption without checking whether Thoughtseize or Spell Pierce can improve the window.

- Psychic Frog is the midrange engine that attacks hands, graveyards, and combat math at once. Cast it on turn two when no clean reanimation line is ready, when the deck needs a discard outlet for Archon of Cruelty, or when card flow matters more than speed. Use discard-to-pump actions conditionally: discard a reanimation target or excess land when it advances the plan, but do not empty the hand just to deal extra damage unless the race or lethal math demands it. Use any graveyard-exile ability cautiously because those cards may be needed for Abhorrent Oculus, Emperor of Bones, or future recursion. Against control, Psychic Frog is a must-answer threat; against aggro, it is first a blocker and only later a card engine.

- Spell Pierce is the cheap protection spell for the turn the deck commits to Persist, Unearth, or a key threat. Hold it when the opponent can present graveyard hate, removal, counterspells, sweepers, or combo payoffs; spend it early when the taxed spell would otherwise erase the graveyard line or win the game. It gets worse as opponents accumulate mana, so do not preserve it for perfect value while a real legal counter window is present. Against fast creature decks, Spell Pierce is weaker than Fatal Push unless it stops a noncreature payoff or hate card; against control and combo, it is often the reason to wait one turn before committing.

- Thought Scour is the instant-speed glue that fills the graveyard while replacing itself. Target yourself by default when the deck needs Archon of Cruelty, Abhorrent Oculus, or enough graveyard volume for later actions. Cast it on the opponent's end step when holding Spell Pierce or Fatal Push, but cast it main phase when the drawn card or milled target could unlock immediate Persist or Unearth. Target the opponent only when the legal action text and visible context make that clearly valuable, because filling opposing graveyards can help some strategies.

- Thoughtseize is the information and disruption spell that makes fragile graveyard commitments safer. Lead with it when the hand already has setup plus payoff, and take the card that stops the chosen line rather than the most expensive card by default. Against combo, prioritize the engine or payoff that wins before Archon of Cruelty matters. Against control, prioritize counterspells, graveyard hate, or clean answers to the first threat. Against aggro, use the life total as a real cost; do not cast Thoughtseize when Fatal Push or a fast reanimation action is required to survive.

- Unearth is both a one-mana reanimation spell for small threats and a late-game cycling valve. Returning Abhorrent Oculus is a major tempo play when it is legal, because the body is far above the mana rate. Returning Psychic Frog is best when card flow, discard synergy, or a blocker matters; returning Emperor of Bones is best when its visible graveyard or combat actions matter. Cycle Unearth only when there is no legal target worth returning, when graveyard hate makes the target unreliable, or when digging for Persist, Faithless Looting, Fatal Push, or mana is more important than a small creature.

- The fetchlands Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, and Scalding Tarn are color fixing, graveyard fuel, shuffle effects, and Fatal Push revolt enablers. Fetch black first unless the hand already casts Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Persist, Unearth, and Emperor of Bones. Fetch blue when Thought Scour, Psychic Frog, Spell Pierce, or Abhorrent Oculus is the next action. Fetch red when Faithless Looting or its flashback matters. Avoid unnecessary shock damage against creature pressure unless the untapped land changes the current legal action.

- The shocklands and surveil lands define sequencing more than raw land count. Blood Crypt supports black-red openings, Watery Grave supports black-blue openings, and Steam Vents supports blue-red turns that still need a black source elsewhere. Raucous Theater, Thundering Falls, and Undercity Sewers are best when their tapped timing or selection does not cost a spell this turn; Card text check required for exact land-type and surveil handling, so use Forge's tapped and mana-source output. Island and Swamp preserve life and insulate against nonbasic pressure, but hands relying on Island alone often fail to cast the black core.

## Interaction Priorities

- Protect the graveyard commitment first when Persist, Unearth, Archon of Cruelty, or Abhorrent Oculus is already assembled. Use Thoughtseize before committing if the opponent has unknown interaction and the life loss is survivable; take the card that stops the immediate line, such as graveyard hate, a counterspell, exile removal, or a faster combo payoff. Use Spell Pierce on the same axis: counter the visible spell that would break the chosen turn, not the spell that is merely expensive.

- Remove the threat that changes the clock before removing generic damage. Fatal Push should answer mana creatures, hate creatures, snowball engines, and attackers that force Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones into bad blocks. Enable revolt with Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, or Scalding Tarn when the target matters this turn, but do not spend life or lose color access for revolt against a creature that can be ignored for one turn.

- Discard the opponent's enabler against combo and the opponent's answer against control. Thoughtseize should take the card that wins before Archon of Cruelty matters when facing combo, and it should take counterspells, graveyard hate, clean exile answers, or sweepers when facing control. Against creature pressure, Thoughtseize becomes conditional; prefer Fatal Push or a fast reanimation action when the two life would move the game into burn or attack range.

- Counter noncreature hate and payoff spells before routine card selection. Spell Pierce should be saved for graveyard hate, opposing counterspells, sweepers, planeswalkers, and combo pieces when those cards are visible on the stack. Spend Spell Pierce early if the opponent can pay later and the current spell is materially harmful; do not hold it for perfect value while the opponent resolves the card that invalidates Persist or Unearth.

- Ignore low-impact creatures when Archon of Cruelty is about to resolve. If a legal Persist on Archon of Cruelty will force sacrifice, discard, life swing, and a draw, conserve Fatal Push unless the creature prevents the spell, threatens lethal first, or removes the Archon before its attack step. If the reanimation target is Abhorrent Oculus or Psychic Frog instead, be more willing to clear blockers and attackers because combat matters more.

- Bait interaction with redundant setup when the payoff is fragile. Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, Unearth for Psychic Frog, or a lower-impact Emperor of Bones line can draw out counters or removal before Persist on Archon of Cruelty. Do not bait with the only enabler if the hand cannot recover; a failed Faithless Looting or Thought Scour can strand Archon of Cruelty in hand or leave Persist without a target.

- Exile opposing graveyards only when the benefit is visible and the cost is acceptable. Psychic Frog and Emperor of Bones may create graveyard-related choices, but this deck also uses its own graveyard as mana, threat access, and recursion material. Preserve your graveyard for Abhorrent Oculus, Persist, Unearth, and flashback Faithless Looting unless the engine output shows a legal graveyard action that stops an opposing line or creates a decisive attack.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Treat Archon of Cruelty attacks as high-priority pressure when the attack is legal and not visibly catastrophic. The attack trigger is often worth more than the combat damage, so attack into ordinary boards unless the visible block or removal sequence would waste the only winning permanent. If the opponent has one expendable creature, the trigger may clear it before blocks; rely on the rules engine's legal sequence rather than assuming the creature will still block.

- Preserve Psychic Frog when it is the active card-flow engine. Block with Psychic Frog early against creature decks when it prevents a major life swing, but avoid trading it for a small attacker if the hand needs discard outlets, cards, or a recursive threat. Use discard-to-pump only when the discarded card is strategically useful in the graveyard, the counter changes combat, or the damage creates a real clock; do not convert key interaction into damage by default.

- Use Abhorrent Oculus as a stabilizer or finisher according to the board. If it is the largest legal blocker, keep it back when life total is under immediate pressure or when one attack would open lethal. If the opponent is low on answers and the clock matters, attack aggressively and make the opponent answer it. Card text check required for exact triggered or token-making behavior, so let visible Forge actions determine any upkeep or combat-adjacent choices.

- Trade Emperor of Bones more freely than Psychic Frog when the visible graveyard role is complete. Emperor of Bones can pressure, block, and enable graveyard play, but it is often less important than keeping Psychic Frog or a reanimated threat. Preserve it when it is the only way to convert graveyard resources into board presence; trade it when the deck needs time to reach Persist, Unearth, or Faithless Looting flashback.

- Race combo and control, stabilize against aggro. Against combo, turn creatures sideways unless a block is needed to survive a visible attack, because the opponent's life total and hand pressure matter. Against control, attack with Psychic Frog, Emperor of Bones, Abhorrent Oculus, and Archon of Cruelty while holding Spell Pierce or Thoughtseize for the answer window. Against aggro, leave back the body that blocks best and spend Fatal Push before accepting a trade that loses the engine.

- Respect life-total thresholds before shocklands and attacks. Below roughly six life, avoid unnecessary Blood Crypt, Steam Vents, or Watery Grave untapped choices unless the spell cast this turn changes survival. Below roughly four life, an unblocked small attacker, burn-like effect, or fetch-shock sequence may be lethal, so prioritize blockers, Fatal Push, and reanimation that gains life or removes pressure through Archon of Cruelty.

- Do not chump block with a reanimated payoff unless it prevents lethal or preserves a stronger deterministic line. Archon of Cruelty and Abhorrent Oculus are win conditions, not disposable shields. Chump with smaller creatures first when legal and when the board state says the larger threat will win on the next attack. If all blocks are bad, choose the block that preserves access to the highest-impact next-turn legal action.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Treat this deck as pseudo-selection, not true tutoring. There are no main-deck cards that search for a specific card, so Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, Psychic Frog, fetchlands, and surveil lands must assemble the graveyard and hand by probability, visible needs, and legal timing rather than by guaranteed access.

- Use Faithless Looting to convert stranded payoff creatures into live graveyard threats. When Archon of Cruelty or Abhorrent Oculus is in hand with Persist, Unearth, or another setup piece nearby, prioritize Faithless Looting before low-impact interaction unless the opponent's visible board or stack requires immediate Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, or Spell Pierce. Discard Archon of Cruelty first when Persist is available or likely; discard Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones only when Unearth is already a clear line or the extra card is redundant.

- Preserve flashback Faithless Looting as a second selection burst when the first hand lacks a clean kill. Do not spend the graveyard or red mana casually if a later flashback can dig for Persist, Unearth, Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, or Spell Pierce. Flashback becomes urgent when the hand is flooded, the opponent has answered the first threat, or the graveyard already contains a reanimation target but lacks the matching reanimation spell.

- Aim Thought Scour at yourself when graveyard volume or reanimation access matters. Self-targeting can put Archon of Cruelty, Abhorrent Oculus, Psychic Frog, Emperor of Bones, or Faithless Looting into the graveyard and can fuel Abhorrent Oculus or Psychic Frog-related graveyard costs. Target the opponent only when the rules engine exposes a legal reason, the opponent's top-card information is known and harmful, or an opposing graveyard plan makes milling them unacceptable.

- Sequence fetchlands before draw spells when colors are already stable and deck thinning or shuffle effects matter only marginally. Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, and Scalding Tarn should usually find the shockland or surveil land that casts the current hand, then Faithless Looting or Thought Scour can see a slightly cleaner library. Delay cracking a fetchland when revolt for Fatal Push may be needed this turn, when life total makes a tapped land preferable, or when the exact land choice depends on a draw spell resolving.

- Use surveil lands as slow selection when tempo permits. Raucous Theater, Thundering Falls, and Undercity Sewers can help bin Archon of Cruelty, Faithless Looting, redundant lands, or matchup-dead interaction, but entering tapped can cost the turn-two Psychic Frog, Emperor of Bones, Spell Pierce, or Fatal Push window. Keep a surveilled Persist, Unearth, Thoughtseize, or needed land on top when it completes the next-turn line; move redundant payoffs or excess lands to the graveyard when hand texture already supports action.

- Bottom or bin redundant reanimation pieces only after confirming target access. Persist without Archon of Cruelty or Abhorrent Oculus in the graveyard may be worse than a setup card, while extra Archon of Cruelty without an enabler may be dead weight. Keep one payoff plus one enabler before optimizing for protection.

- Choose Psychic Frog discard and graveyard-exile actions as selection-adjacent resource decisions. Discard cards that improve the graveyard, such as Archon of Cruelty for Persist or Faithless Looting for flashback, before discarding live interaction. Exile graveyard cards for Psychic Frog only when the resulting action changes combat, pressure, or survival; protect Archon of Cruelty, Persist targets, Unearth targets, and flashback Faithless Looting from unnecessary exile.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Spend priority around the reanimation turn as a commitment gate. Before casting Persist or Unearth, check visible mana, known cards from Thoughtseize, graveyard hate, opposing stack interaction, and whether waiting improves protection. If the opponent is tapped low or a Thoughtseize has cleared the answer, commit; if a visible hate piece or open counter window is likely to beat the only threat, use discard, Spell Pierce backup, or more setup first when legal.

- Protect Persist on Archon of Cruelty as the highest-value stack fight. Use Spell Pierce on the visible spell or ability that counters, exiles the graveyard, removes the target before resolution, or otherwise stops the reanimation line. Do not spend Spell Pierce on a routine cantrip or medium threat if the same opponent can then resolve the card that invalidates Archon of Cruelty.

- Let harmless spells resolve when holding interaction for a decisive window. Spell Pierce is strongest against noncreature hate, counterspells, planeswalkers, sweepers, and combo pieces; Fatal Push is strongest against creatures that change the immediate clock or block the current plan. Passing priority is correct when the stack item does not affect the graveyard, the battlefield clock, the reanimation spell, or lethal math.

- Cast Thought Scour at instant speed when information or mana efficiency improves the turn. End-step Thought Scour is preferred when holding Spell Pierce or Fatal Push matters during the opponent's turn. Main-phase Thought Scour is preferred when the draw or mill can unlock a same-turn land drop, Faithless Looting discard decision, Persist target, Unearth target, or Abhorrent Oculus casting line.

- Use Fatal Push before combat damage when the target changes attacks, blocks, or survival. Trigger revolt with Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, or Scalding Tarn only when the upgraded target matters now. Hold Fatal Push through the opponent's precombat main phase when the opponent may commit a better target, but fire it before attackers or blockers if waiting would remove the legal chance to prevent damage or preserve Psychic Frog.

- Treat Psychic Frog activations as stack and combat commitments, not free value. Discard-to-grow should happen only when it wins combat, preserves Psychic Frog, converts a graveyard card into value, or creates a meaningful clock. Graveyard-exile actions should respect Persist, Unearth, Abhorrent Oculus, and Faithless Looting needs; do not consume the graveyard just because the action is legal.

- Resolve optional Emperor of Bones graveyard actions only when the visible target advances the turn. Card text check required for exact Emperor of Bones behavior, so follow the rules-engine prompt exactly. Prefer targets that enable pressure, deny an opposing graveyard card, or convert into a visible legal advantage; decline or choose lower-risk lines when exiling your own graveyard would break Persist, Unearth, Faithless Looting flashback, Abhorrent Oculus, or Psychic Frog resources.

- Fight graveyard hate on the stack before it becomes a static problem. If Spell Pierce can counter the hate card and the graveyard already contains Archon of Cruelty or another key target, counter it. If Thoughtseize can proactively take a hate card before committing, do that before casting Faithless Looting or Persist into an exposed answer.

- Time Unearth according to the target's role. Use Unearth on Psychic Frog when card flow, combat pressure, or a discard outlet matters immediately. Use Unearth on Emperor of Bones when its visible battlefield role is better than cycling. Cycle Unearth only when no legal graveyard target matters, the hand lacks lands or action, or the current game is about finding Persist plus Archon of Cruelty rather than rebuilding a small threat.

## Sideboard Map

- Use sideboarding to change the failure mode, not the core plan. Grixis Reanimator should preserve enough Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, Persist, Unearth, Archon of Cruelty, Abhorrent Oculus, Psychic Frog, and Emperor of Bones density to present graveyard pressure while adding narrow cards only where they answer a visible matchup axis. Do not dilute the deck into a fair removal pile unless the opponent's graveyard hate makes repeated small threats the more reliable plan.

- Bring Consign to Memory against colorless spells, triggered abilities that decide the game, artifact-combo turns, Eldrazi-style threats, and fast-mana decks where one cheap answer must cover a decisive stack object. Its role is protection and stack denial: counter the hate or payoff that invalidates Persist, Archon of Cruelty, Psychic Frog, or a reanimation turn. It is bad against low-curve creature decks with mostly colored spells, and it loses value when the opponent attacks through combat without important triggered abilities.

- Bring Damping Sphere against spell-chain combo, big-mana engines, and decks whose lands or rituals create more mana than normal land drops. Its role is time-buying prison support for Thoughtseize, Spell Pierce, Psychic Frog, and the reanimation package. It is bad when the opponent is a normal one-spell-per-turn creature deck, when your own ability to double-spell Faithless Looting plus Persist is more important than slowing them, or when the artifact is likely to be too slow on the draw.

- Bring Meltdown against artifact boards, artifact mana, artifact creatures, and low-cost hate artifacts. Its role is a reset button that clears multiple permanents before committing Persist or before Psychic Frog combat becomes impossible. It is bad against creature decks without artifacts, counterspell decks where a sorcery-speed sweeper is easy to answer, and board states where your own tempo cannot support spending mana on X before deploying pressure.

- Bring Mystical Dispute against blue decks, counterspell mirrors, tempo decks, and stack fights over Persist, Unearth, Thoughtseize, Faithless Looting, or Archon of Cruelty. Its role changes from generic permission early to reanimation protection later: counter the opposing counterspell, cantrip engine, blue threat, or bounce spell that prevents the key turn. It is bad against nonblue creature decks and against artifact/big-mana decks where Consign to Memory or Damping Sphere covers the important axis more directly.

- Bring Pyroclasm against small-creature pressure, token boards, low-toughness tempo starts, and creature-combo decks that need multiple bodies. Its role is survival: reset the battlefield so Thoughtseize and Faithless Looting life loss does not turn into a lethal race before Archon of Cruelty stabilizes. It is bad when your own Psychic Frog and Emperor of Bones are the main way to contest the game, when the opponent's creatures are too large, or when holding Fatal Push already covers the relevant creature count.

- Bring Surgical Extraction when a specific graveyard card, combo card, recursive threat, or opposing reanimation target matters more than raw card economy. Its role is precision disruption after Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, combat, mill, or a spell resolving places the target in a graveyard. It is bad as a blind zero-mana play, against decks with redundant threats and no single choke point, and when spending a card without affecting the battlefield makes the opponent's clock too fast.

- Bring Vexing Bauble against free-spell engines, pitch-spell protection, cascade-style plans, and opponents relying on spells cast without mana payment. Its role is protection for the commitment turn: make the opponent pay normal costs or expose them to Thoughtseize and permission before Persist resolves. It is bad against fair decks paying mana normally, against creature pressure where Pyroclasm or Fatal Push matters more, and when drawing a non-graveyard artifact lowers your ability to assemble payoff plus enabler.

Blue Counterspell Or Tempo Opponent
Side in: 2 Mystical Dispute; 2 Vexing Bauble
Cut: 2 Fatal Push; 1 Thought Scour; 1 Unearth

- Add role cards: Mystical Dispute, Vexing Bauble, and sometimes Consign to Memory when the blue deck also presents colorless threats or important triggered abilities. Reduce main-deck emphasis: excess Fatal Push when creature density is low, the fourth Thought Scour when graveyard hate is expected, or a low-impact Unearth when Psychic Frog and Emperor of Bones are exposed to exile effects. Keep Thoughtseize high because known information is the cleanest way to choose the Persist turn.

Small-Creature Aggro Or Token Pressure
Side in: 2 Pyroclasm; 2 Consign to Memory
Cut: 2 Spell Pierce; 1 Thought Scour; 1 Unearth

- Add role cards: Pyroclasm first, then Consign to Memory only if the opponent has decisive colorless cards or triggered abilities. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Spell Pierce when the opponent presents mostly creatures, extra setup cantrips when life total is under immediate pressure, and Unearth copies when a sweeper plan would also damage your small-creature battlefield. Keep Fatal Push because it protects the early turns and enables a stable reanimation window.

Artifact Or Colorless Engine Opponent
Side in: 4 Consign to Memory; 2 Meltdown; 2 Damping Sphere
Cut: 2 Spell Pierce; 2 Fatal Push; 2 Unearth; 2 Thought Scour

- Add role cards: Consign to Memory for the decisive stack object, Meltdown for artifact boards, and Damping Sphere for mana or spell-volume engines. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push when their threats are artifact permanents better answered by Meltdown or colorless spells better answered by Consign to Memory, and some Unearth or Thought Scour when the matchup is about stopping their engine before grinding small creatures. Preserve the Archon of Cruelty plus Persist path because one resolved Archon often buys the time these sideboard cards are designed to create.

Graveyard Combo Or Recursive Graveyard Opponent
Side in: 1 Surgical Extraction; 2 Mystical Dispute; 2 Vexing Bauble
Cut: 2 Fatal Push; 1 Thought Scour; 1 Unearth; 1 Emperor of Bones

- Add role cards: Surgical Extraction when Thoughtseize or visible graveyard movement exposes the card that actually matters, Mystical Dispute when blue stack interaction or blue combo pieces are present, and Vexing Bauble when free spells or no-mana casting are part of their engine. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal against noncreature combo, excess graveyard self-mill if opposing hate punishes overfilling the graveyard, and a slower Emperor of Bones when battlefield pressure is less important than stack and graveyard control. Do not fire Surgical Extraction just because a legal target exists; use it when the chosen card is a public chokepoint or when delaying gives the opponent a clear recursive line.

Big-Mana Or Spell-Chain Combo Opponent
Side in: 2 Damping Sphere; 4 Consign to Memory; 2 Vexing Bauble
Cut: 4 Fatal Push; 2 Unearth; 1 Emperor of Bones; 1 Thought Scour

- Add role cards: Damping Sphere to slow mana or spell volume, Consign to Memory for colorless payoffs and triggered abilities, and Vexing Bauble for free-cast or cascade pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push when there are few creature targets, some Unearth when small threats are not the primary battlefield axis, and a setup piece when the matchup demands early disruption plus a fast Archon of Cruelty. Keep Thoughtseize and Spell Pierce aligned with the same turn plan: Thoughtseize clears the known answer, Spell Pierce or Consign to Memory covers the next visible stack object, then Persist commits when waiting no longer improves the position.

- Keep sideboard plans flexible under rules-engine information. If the opponent reveals unexpected creatures, restore Fatal Push priority and lower narrow artifact or spell-chain cards. If the opponent reveals graveyard hate, value Thoughtseize, Spell Pierce, Mystical Dispute, Consign to Memory, and Vexing Bauble more highly than extra self-mill. If the opponent shows no relevant targets for a narrow sideboard card, prefer maintaining the main-deck engine over adding a card that only cycles through dead draws.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: Stabilize before racing because Thoughtseize, fetch lands, shock lands, and Faithless Looting can convert a playable hand into a burn range hand. Prioritize Fatal Push on the creature that creates the shortest visible clock, then use Pyroclasm when the opponent commits multiple low-toughness creatures and your own Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones is not more important than resetting pressure. Add role cards: Pyroclasm when creature size allows it, Consign to Memory only when the aggro deck has decisive colorless spells or triggered abilities, and Meltdown only when the pressure is artifact-based. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Spell Pierce against mostly creature hands, some Thought Scour when life total and board pressure make pure setup too slow, and some Unearth when sweepers or exile-heavy removal make small-creature recursion less central.

- Burn: Protect life total as a resource rather than treating discard as automatic. Keep Thoughtseize only when the visible hand or matchup texture makes taking a lethal spell, graveyard hate card, or anti-Persist interaction worth the life loss; otherwise lean on Fatal Push, fast Archon of Cruelty, and careful land sequencing to avoid avoidable shock damage. Add role cards: Mystical Dispute only if the burn shell is blue, Consign to Memory only for known colorless or triggered chokepoints, and Vexing Bauble only if free spells are part of the observed plan. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow Thought Scour lines and extra Thoughtseize decisions when life is already pressured.

- Control: Force the opponent to answer different axes instead of walking Persist into open mana without information. Use Thoughtseize to identify the safe commitment window, protect that window with Spell Pierce, Mystical Dispute, Consign to Memory, or Vexing Bauble depending on the visible interaction, and keep Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones as pressure that can draw removal before Archon of Cruelty matters. Add role cards: Mystical Dispute against blue stack fights, Vexing Bauble against free interaction, and Consign to Memory when colorless payoffs or decisive triggered abilities are shown. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push when creature count is low and some Unearth if graveyard exile makes small-creature recursion unreliable.

- Tempo: Trade resources early because a single protected threat plus soft permission can punish slow Faithless Looting and Thought Scour turns. Prioritize Fatal Push on the clock, Thoughtseize on the protection or counterspell that blocks Persist, and Spell Pierce when the opponent taps low or fights over your graveyard setup. Add role cards: Mystical Dispute for blue interaction, Pyroclasm if the tempo deck presents multiple small creatures, and Vexing Bauble if free protection is visible or expected from public information. Reduce main-deck emphasis: the slowest graveyard setup piece when pressure is high, or excess Fatal Push only if the opponent has shifted away from creature threats.

- Midrange: Preserve card quality because the opponent is trying to turn every graveyard setup spell into a taxed exchange. Use Faithless Looting to put Archon of Cruelty where Persist can convert it into a board swing, but avoid discarding redundant action when the opponent has already shown graveyard hate or removal-heavy play patterns. Use Unearth to rebuy Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones when that creates pressure without overcommitting into sweepers or exile. Add role cards: Surgical Extraction only when a public graveyard card is a real chokepoint, Pyroclasm only against small-creature variants, and Mystical Dispute only against blue versions. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow Spell Pierce when the opponent plays mostly permanents on curve.

- Removal-heavy decks: Make the first creature trade useful and the second threat decisive. Lead with Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones when it pressures removal before committing Persist, use Unearth after the opponent spends removal on a creature that still matters, and do not assume Abhorrent Oculus or Archon of Cruelty survives just because it resolved. Add role cards: Mystical Dispute for blue removal or counter-heavy shells, Vexing Bauble for free interaction, and Consign to Memory for colorless removal or triggered hate if seen. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push when the opponent has few creatures and some Thought Scour if the opponent is attacking the graveyard more than the battlefield.

- Combo: Race with disruption, not just speed. Use Thoughtseize to take the card that enables the earliest visible kill or stops your own Persist turn, then decide whether Spell Pierce, Consign to Memory, Mystical Dispute, Damping Sphere, Vexing Bauble, or Surgical Extraction covers the public axis the opponent is using. Add role cards: Damping Sphere against mana or spell-chain engines, Vexing Bauble against no-mana casting, Mystical Dispute against blue combo, Consign to Memory for colorless or triggered chokepoints, and Surgical Extraction after a real target reaches a graveyard. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push against noncreature combo and slow Unearth lines when the game will be decided on stack timing.

- Big mana: Delay the payoff long enough for Archon of Cruelty to become the closing engine. Use Thoughtseize on the payoff, enabler, or answer that changes the next two turns, then use Damping Sphere and Consign to Memory to pressure the opponent's mana and decisive colorless stack objects. Spell Pierce is strongest when it catches an early enabler before the opponent has excess mana; it gets worse once they can pay. Add role cards: Damping Sphere, Consign to Memory, and sometimes Vexing Bauble if free-cast effects are visible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push, some Unearth, and slower creature recursion plans when creature combat is not the axis.

- Graveyard decks: Treat both graveyards as tactical resources and avoid helping the opponent without a payoff. Thought Scour and Faithless Looting are strong when they set up Persist or Abhorrent Oculus, but they become risky if the opponent benefits from graveyard volume faster than you do. Use Surgical Extraction only on a public card that matters to the opponent's engine or on a card exposed by Thoughtseize, removal, combat, or resolution. Add role cards: Surgical Extraction, Mystical Dispute for blue graveyard decks, Vexing Bauble for free-spell protection, and Consign to Memory only for known colorless or triggered graveyard infrastructure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: excess self-mill and Fatal Push against noncreature graveyard combo.

- Artifact/enchantment decks: Identify whether the opponent is an artifact board, a colorless engine, or an enchantment prison before spending narrow cards. Use Meltdown to punish artifact density, Consign to Memory for colorless or triggered chokepoints, and Damping Sphere when the engine depends on mana bursts or spell volume. Enchantment-heavy boards require Thoughtseize, Spell Pierce, or a fast reanimation plan unless the relevant object is covered by Consign to Memory from visible legal text; do not assume Meltdown answers nonartifact permanents. Add role cards: Meltdown, Consign to Memory, Damping Sphere, and Vexing Bauble only for no-mana casting. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push when creatures are incidental.

- Go-wide decks: Value Pyroclasm and timing over single-threat removal. Fatal Push should buy the turn that lets Pyroclasm, Archon of Cruelty, or a large blocker stabilize, not just remove the first small creature by default. If the opponent can rebuild quickly, keep Faithless Looting decisions focused on finding a decisive reanimation line rather than incremental value. Add role cards: Pyroclasm first, Meltdown if the go-wide board is artifact-based, and Consign to Memory if the wide board depends on a triggered or colorless payoff. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Spell Pierce against creature-heavy boards and slow Thought Scour lines under a short clock.

- Single-threat decks: Answer or overpower the one threat while preserving your own commitment turn. Fatal Push is premium when it cleanly handles the threat; Thoughtseize is premium when the threat is still in hand or when protection makes removal unreliable. Persist into Archon of Cruelty can force sacrifice, discard, and life swing pressure, but do not claim a rules outcome until Forge shows the trigger and legal choices. Add role cards: Mystical Dispute against blue protection, Consign to Memory against colorless or triggered threats, and Surgical Extraction only if removing all copies of a graveyard-exposed threat is materially better than normal development. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Pyroclasm-style plans unless the deck also goes wide.

## Specific Matchup Notes

These notes are general/archetype-only because exact opponents are absent; revealed cards, legal actions, public zones, and Forge prompts override every matchup assumption.

- Fast creature decks: Prioritize survival turns over perfect graveyard setup. Keep Fatal Push and Pyroclasm high after sideboarding, use Thoughtseize only when the life and tempo cost does not expose you to a shorter clock, and prefer Archon of Cruelty via Persist when it is the fastest stabilizing closer. Likely sideboarding emphasizes Pyroclasm and sometimes Meltdown if the board is artifact-heavy; reduce Spell Pierce when the opponent mostly commits creatures. Priority targets are early attackers, snowball permanents shown by public actions, and any hate card that stops Persist or Unearth from functioning.

- Blue interaction decks: Make the reanimation turn happen with hand knowledge or protection. Use Thoughtseize before committing Persist when possible, preserve Spell Pierce for the exchange that decides whether Archon of Cruelty resolves, and board toward Mystical Dispute or Vexing Bauble when public information shows blue stack fights or no-mana interaction. Priority targets are counterplay that stops Persist, removal that cleanly answers Abhorrent Oculus or Archon of Cruelty, and graveyard hate before it becomes active.

- Graveyard hate decks: Do not self-mill blindly into public hate. Faithless Looting and Thought Scour remain setup tools, but once a hate piece is visible, favor Psychic Frog, Emperor of Bones, hard interaction, and discard until a legal window appears to answer or play around it. Likely sideboarding includes Consign to Memory only when the visible hate or engine matches its legal coverage, Vexing Bauble for no-mana interaction, and Surgical Extraction only when a public graveyard target is decisive. Priority targets are hate permanents, exile effects, and cards that punish graveyard volume.

- Big mana and colorless decks: Slow the payoff, then close before their top end matters. Thoughtseize should take the next-turn enabler, payoff, or answer that beats Persist; Damping Sphere and Consign to Memory are the likely sideboard pillars when public actions confirm mana scaling, colorless objects, or triggered chokepoints. Fatal Push is lower priority unless creatures are actually pressuring life total. Priority targets are mana accelerants, payoffs that invalidate one Archon of Cruelty, and answers to reanimated threats.

- Artifact board decks: Separate artifact density from generic permanent pressure. Meltdown is the key sideboard card when the opponent presents multiple artifacts; Consign to Memory covers only its actual legal text, and Pyroclasm is for small creatures rather than noncreature artifacts. Keep Fatal Push if creatures carry the clock. Priority targets are artifact mana, artifact threats, and public hate pieces that block Persist, Unearth, or graveyard setup.

- Combo decks: Disrupt the kill turn before racing with a graveyard line. Thoughtseize should identify whether the opponent is weak to Spell Pierce, Damping Sphere, Mystical Dispute, Vexing Bauble, Consign to Memory, or Surgical Extraction. Fatal Push stays only when creatures are part of the engine or clock. Priority targets are the card that enables the earliest visible kill, the card that stops your reanimation turn, and any public graveyard card that makes Surgical Extraction high impact.

## Risk Summary

- Mana risk: The manabase is fetch-and-shock heavy with few basics, so every Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, and Scalding Tarn choice must balance color access, life total, and future Spell Pierce or Fatal Push timing. Fetching Blood Crypt, Steam Vents, Watery Grave, Raucous Theater, Thundering Falls, or Undercity Sewers without a near-term color need can strand Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, Thoughtseize, Persist, or Unearth.

- Matchup risk: Grixis Reanimator can look like combo or midrange, and choosing the wrong role loses games. Against speed, life and blockers matter; against control, hand knowledge and timing matter; against big mana, Damping Sphere and clock speed matter; against graveyard hate, Psychic Frog and Emperor of Bones become more important.

- Draw risk: Hands with Archon of Cruelty but no discard outlet, hands with Persist but no graveyard threat, and hands with only cantrips under pressure are fragile. Faithless Looting and Thought Scour improve texture, but they do not guarantee the exact missing half before the opponent advances.

- Over-sideboarding risk: Removing too many Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, Persist, or Unearth copies can turn the deck into underpowered creatures plus disruption. Sideboard cards should answer a visible axis; do not overload on Meltdown, Pyroclasm, Damping Sphere, or Surgical Extraction when the opponent has not shown the matching vulnerability.

- Graveyard risk: The deck depends on the graveyard but cannot assume it will stay usable. Sequence Thoughtseize before major graveyard commitment when legal, keep non-graveyard pressure in mind, and avoid Thought Scour lines that help an opposing graveyard engine more than they help Persist or Abhorrent Oculus.

- Sweeper/removal risk: A resolved threat is not a won game. Psychic Frog, Emperor of Bones, Abhorrent Oculus, and Archon of Cruelty can still be answered, so avoid discarding all backup threats or exposing every creature to the same public removal pattern.

- Closer risk: Archon of Cruelty is the cleanest closing plan, but redundant copies in hand can be clunky without Faithless Looting or a discard line. Abhorrent Oculus, Psychic Frog, and Emperor of Bones must carry games where Persist is delayed or graveyard hate is active.

- Interaction risk: Spell Pierce, Consign to Memory, Mystical Dispute, Vexing Bauble, and Surgical Extraction are timing-sensitive. Passing with the wrong mana, firing them at low-impact objects, or holding them after the decisive window has passed can be worse than using them imperfectly on the key turn.

- Sequencing risk: The deck loses equity when it acts before gathering information. Prefer Thoughtseize before commitment, use Faithless Looting when discard has a purpose, keep Fatal Push mana available against creature clocks, and let Forge legal actions determine whether Persist, Unearth, or a sideboard answer is currently executable.

## Test Feedback Checklist

- Deciding factor: Identify whether the game was decided by fast Archon of Cruelty reanimation, sustained Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones pressure, Abhorrent Oculus closing power, discard plus interaction, opposing graveyard hate, mana trouble, or failure to find the correct half of the deck.

- Mulligans: Record whether opening hands had a coherent first three turns: mana, setup through Faithless Looting or Thought Scour, a threat such as Archon of Cruelty or Abhorrent Oculus, and a payoff such as Persist or Unearth. Flag keeps that needed too many draw steps to become functional.

- Mana: Note every game where Bloodstained Mire, Polluted Delta, Scalding Tarn, Blood Crypt, Steam Vents, Watery Grave, Raucous Theater, Thundering Falls, Undercity Sewers, Island, or Swamp sequencing stranded Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, Persist, Unearth, Spell Pierce, or sideboard interaction.

- Velocity: Check whether Faithless Looting and Thought Scour advanced a real plan or merely spent mana while the opponent developed. Mark games where milling or discarding made Persist, Unearth, Abhorrent Oculus, or Psychic Frog better, and games where it exposed the deck to graveyard pressure without payoff.

- Engine pressure: Track whether Psychic Frog and Emperor of Bones forced action from the opponent or sat behind better lines. Ask whether they were protected, traded, or used as backup plans when the graveyard plan was disrupted.

- Removal and discard: Review whether Thoughtseize took the card that mattered for the next turn cycle, whether Fatal Push answered the creature that changed the clock, and whether Spell Pierce was held for the decisive stack exchange or spent too early.

- Sideboard impact: For each post-board game, record which of Consign to Memory, Damping Sphere, Meltdown, Mystical Dispute, Pyroclasm, Surgical Extraction, and Vexing Bauble was drawn, cast, stranded, or unnecessary. Separate correct sideboard plan from failure to draw the card.

- Closing: Mark whether Archon of Cruelty actually ended the game, whether Abhorrent Oculus stabilized or raced, and whether Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones carried games where Persist was unavailable.

- Role choice: Ask whether the pilot correctly chose combo, midrange, or defensive-control posture from visible information. Flag games where the deck raced into disruption, played too slowly against a short clock, or overprotected a line that was no longer necessary.

- Mistakes: List illegal assumptions avoided by the rules engine, missed legal actions, poor target choices, premature passes, bad fetches, needless shock damage, and action selections that ignored public stack, graveyard, battlefield, or hand information.

- Stranded cards: Record every stranded Archon of Cruelty, Persist, Unearth, Spell Pierce, Fatal Push, sideboard card, or color-specific spell, and name whether the cause was mana, missing graveyard setup, opponent pressure, public hate, or sideboard mismatch.

- Overperformers and underperformers: Name the exact cards that exceeded or failed expectations in context, especially Abhorrent Oculus, Archon of Cruelty, Emperor of Bones, Faithless Looting, Fatal Push, Persist, Psychic Frog, Thought Scour, Thoughtseize, Unearth, and each sideboard card.

## First Tuning Questions

- Reanimation density: Does the deck need all 4 Persist and 4 Unearth, or are some Unearth copies low impact when the best targets are not legal for it? Compare games where Unearth returns Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones to games where it sits beside Archon of Cruelty.

- Threat mix: Are 4 Abhorrent Oculus and 4 Archon of Cruelty producing enough closers, or are excess expensive threats clogging hands without Faithless Looting? Track whether Abhorrent Oculus is castable often enough to justify its full count.

- Setup balance: Are 4 Faithless Looting and 4 Thought Scour enough velocity, or does the deck lose because it finds only threats or only payoffs? Also ask whether Thought Scour helps opposing graveyard plans often enough to change sequencing or quantity.

- Disruption count: Are 4 Thoughtseize, 4 Fatal Push, and 2 Spell Pierce the right main-deck split for the field? If creature clocks decide losses, test more removal emphasis; if stack fights and graveyard hate decide losses, test more protection or discard emphasis.

- Mana base: Does the fetch-shock-surveil land package support early black, red, and blue without too much life loss? Review whether Blood Crypt, Steam Vents, Watery Grave, Raucous Theater, Thundering Falls, Undercity Sewers, Island, and Swamp counts cause avoidable color or tempo failures.

- Aggro plan: Are Pyroclasm and Fatal Push enough against wide or fast creature boards, and does the deck still close after boarding into defense? If stabilizing succeeds but closing fails, preserve more Persist, Unearth, or Archon of Cruelty density.

- Control plan: Are Mystical Dispute, Vexing Bauble, Spell Pierce, and Thoughtseize enough to force through Persist or protect threats? If games stall with answers but no pressure, reduce reactive sideboarding and keep more proactive engine cards.

- Big mana plan: Do Damping Sphere and Consign to Memory buy enough time, or does the deck still need faster Archon of Cruelty pressure? If Damping Sphere slows both players awkwardly, measure whether the lost velocity is worth the opponent delay.

- Artifact plan: Are 2 Meltdown enough when artifact boards are common, or are they too narrow when opponents present mixed threats? Keep Meltdown only when public artifact density makes it materially stronger than Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, or the core combo.

- Graveyard mirror and hate plan: Is 1 Surgical Extraction a meaningful precision tool, or does it appear too rarely to matter? Ask whether Vexing Bauble, Consign to Memory, discard, and non-graveyard threats cover the same games more reliably.

- Role conflict: Does sideboarding create hands that are half combo and half answer pile? Tune plans so each matchup has a clear post-board identity: fast reanimation, protected threat, defensive midrange, or specific hate plus clock.

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Opening Hand Functional Core
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan
Cards: Faithless Looting; Thought Scour; Persist; Unearth; Archon of Cruelty; Abhorrent Oculus; Psychic Frog; Emperor of Bones; Thoughtseize; Fatal Push
Phase windows: pregame, opening hand, mulligan bottom
Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; prompt:bottom
Use when: Veles asks keep, mulligan, or bottom decisions.
Avoid when: hand contents are hidden from the acting player or rules output does not expose the current hand.
Instructions: Keep hands with mana plus a setup card and either a payoff, disruption, or pressure. Mulligan hands that only contain expensive creatures and no Faithless Looting, Thought Scour, Psychic Frog, Emperor of Bones, Persist, or Unearth. Prefer bottoming redundant Archon of Cruelty or excess lands after the hand already has colored mana and a coherent first three turns.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: First Graveyard Enabler
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority, selection
Cards: Faithless Looting; Thought Scour; Archon of Cruelty; Abhorrent Oculus; Persist; Unearth
Phase windows: turns 1-3 main phases, opponent end step
Runtime cues: action:cast Faithless Looting; action:cast Thought Scour
Use when: legal actions include early graveyard setup and the hand has graveyard payoffs or large creatures.
Avoid when: public graveyard hate, lethal pressure, or required interaction makes setup unsafe this turn.
Instructions: Use Faithless Looting to place Archon of Cruelty or excess expensive threats into the graveyard when a reanimation path is visible. Use Thought Scour when self-mill advances Abhorrent Oculus, Persist, Unearth, or delve-style resource needs from visible card text. Prefer instant-speed Thought Scour when holding Spell Pierce or Fatal Push matters.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Reanimation Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority, interaction
Cards: Persist; Unearth; Archon of Cruelty; Abhorrent Oculus; Emperor of Bones; Psychic Frog; Thoughtseize; Spell Pierce
Phase windows: main phase before combat, post-discard windows, post-opponent tapout windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Persist; action:cast Unearth
Use when: legal actions include a reanimation spell and graveyard targets are visible.
Avoid when: the opponent has visible stack interaction, graveyard hate, or open mana that makes waiting with Thoughtseize or Spell Pierce available and materially safer.
Instructions: Commit Persist when Archon of Cruelty or Abhorrent Oculus is the highest-impact visible target and waiting risks losing the window. Use Unearth for Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones pressure when the graveyard plan is disrupted or a low-cost threat keeps tempo. Check whether Thoughtseize should clear the way before spending the payoff.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Persist Target Archon
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection
Cards: Persist; Archon of Cruelty
Phase windows: target-selection prompt for Persist
Runtime cues: action:target Archon of Cruelty Persist
Use when: one legal target action names Archon of Cruelty and the pending source action names Persist.
Avoid when: more than one Archon of Cruelty target action is present or another visible target was selected by a higher-priority policy.
Instructions: Choose the legal action that targets Archon of Cruelty with Persist when the reanimation line has already been committed.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Unearth Target Two-Drop
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection
Cards: Unearth; Psychic Frog; Emperor of Bones
Phase windows: target-selection prompt for Unearth
Runtime cues: action:target Psychic Frog Unearth; action:target Emperor of Bones Unearth
Use when: exactly one legal target action names Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones and the pending source action names Unearth.
Avoid when: both Psychic Frog and Emperor of Bones are legal targets or the board state requires choosing between pressure, blocking, or engine utility.
Instructions: Choose the single visible Unearth target action for Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones after the Unearth line has already been committed.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Threat Deployment Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority, mana
Cards: Abhorrent Oculus; Psychic Frog; Emperor of Bones; Archon of Cruelty
Phase windows: main phases
Runtime cues: action:cast Abhorrent Oculus; action:cast Psychic Frog; action:cast Emperor of Bones; action:cast Archon of Cruelty
Use when: legal actions include deploying a threat from hand.
Avoid when: casting the threat prevents holding necessary Fatal Push, Spell Pierce, Thought Scour, or sideboard interaction against a visible threat or stack window.
Instructions: Deploy Psychic Frog or Emperor of Bones early when they create pressure while preserving graveyard plans. Cast Abhorrent Oculus only when its visible cost and graveyard requirements are satisfied without destroying a better Persist or Unearth line. Hard-cast Archon of Cruelty only when the mana output is visible and the game has reached that stage.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Fetch And Shock Discipline
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana
Cards: Bloodstained Mire; Polluted Delta; Scalding Tarn; Blood Crypt; Steam Vents; Watery Grave; Raucous Theater; Thundering Falls; Undercity Sewers; Island; Swamp
Phase windows: land play, fetch activation, spell payment
Runtime cues: action:play; action:activate Bloodstained Mire; action:activate Polluted Delta; action:activate Scalding Tarn
Use when: land sequencing or fetch choice affects available colors this turn or next turn.
Avoid when: rules output does not expose legal land or fetch choices.
Instructions: Prioritize black for Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Persist, and Unearth; red for Faithless Looting and Meltdown; blue for Thought Scour, Spell Pierce, Consign to Memory, and Mystical Dispute. Avoid avoidable shock damage against visible creature pressure unless the untapped source enables immediate interaction or combo progress.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Thoughtseize Before Commitment
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction, priority
Cards: Thoughtseize; Persist; Unearth; Archon of Cruelty; Abhorrent Oculus
Phase windows: pre-combo main phase, turn 1 on the play or draw
Runtime cues: action:cast Thoughtseize
Use when: Thoughtseize is legal and the hand contains a near-term reanimation or threat plan.
Avoid when: life total pressure makes Thoughtseize unsafe and immediate Fatal Push or Pyroclasm is needed to survive.
Instructions: Use Thoughtseize to remove the card that stops the next planned Persist, Unearth, Abhorrent Oculus, or Archon of Cruelty line. Against unknown hands, prefer taking the visible card that interacts on the stack, attacks the graveyard, or creates a faster clock than the current hand can beat.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Fatal Push Survival And Tempo
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction
Cards: Fatal Push
Phase windows: opponent combat, end step, own main phase when clearing blockers
Runtime cues: action:cast Fatal Push
Use when: legal actions include Fatal Push and an opposing creature is targetable.
Avoid when: the target does not affect the next combat, combo race, or survival math.
Instructions: Save Fatal Push for creatures that shorten the clock, disrupt graveyard setup, or block a decisive Psychic Frog, Emperor of Bones, Abhorrent Oculus, or Archon of Cruelty attack. Use it before damage when life total or a key creature requires protection.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Spell Pierce Commitment
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction, priority
Cards: Spell Pierce; Persist; Archon of Cruelty; Abhorrent Oculus
Phase windows: opponent noncreature spell on stack, own combo turn protection window
Runtime cues: action:cast Spell Pierce
Use when: Spell Pierce is legal and the stack contains a noncreature spell.
Avoid when: the spell is low impact, the opponent can visibly pay, or preserving Spell Pierce protects a higher-impact Persist or threat window.
Instructions: Spend Spell Pierce on graveyard hate, counterplay, removal that breaks the committed threat line, or a noncreature spell that changes the race immediately. Do not fire it only because mana is available.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Psychic Frog Combat And Cards
Priority: Medium
Decision families: combat, selection
Cards: Psychic Frog
Phase windows: combat, damage, activated or triggered selection prompts
Runtime cues: action:attack with Psychic Frog; action:block with Psychic Frog; action:activate Psychic Frog
Use when: Psychic Frog is on the battlefield and legal combat or selection actions are exposed.
Avoid when: the visible board makes Psychic Frog the only stabilizing blocker or its ability would discard a card needed for a committed Persist, Unearth, or interaction line.
Instructions: Treat Psychic Frog as pressure plus card-flow, not a disposable body. Attack when it advances a real clock without losing the only blocker. Use discard or exile choices only after checking whether the card is needed as reanimation material, interaction, or mana development.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Archon Trigger Choices
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection, interaction
Cards: Archon of Cruelty
Phase windows: Archon of Cruelty attack or enter-the-battlefield triggers
Runtime cues: action:choose opponent Archon of Cruelty; action:target opponent Archon of Cruelty
Use when: a legal Archon of Cruelty trigger choice identifies the opponent as the only opponent choice.
Avoid when: multiple opponent-affecting choices have different visible consequences.
Instructions: Choose the opponent-facing legal action for Archon of Cruelty triggers when the rules engine asks for the affected opponent and only one opponent choice is present.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Abhorrent Oculus Closing Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority, combat
Cards: Abhorrent Oculus; Thought Scour; Faithless Looting; Persist
Phase windows: main phase, combat declare attackers
Runtime cues: action:cast Abhorrent Oculus; action:attack with Abhorrent Oculus
Use when: Abhorrent Oculus is legal to cast or attack and the graveyard/resource condition is visible.
Avoid when: committing it consumes graveyard resources required for a stronger visible Persist line or walks into known removal without pressure benefit.
Instructions: Use Abhorrent Oculus as the backup closer when Archon of Cruelty is unavailable or too slow. Attack when racing or stabilizing is favored by visible board state; hold back only when blocking is required to survive the next combat.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Role Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Consign to Memory; Damping Sphere; Meltdown; Mystical Dispute; Pyroclasm; Surgical Extraction; Vexing Bauble; Fatal Push; Thoughtseize; Spell Pierce; Persist; Unearth
Phase windows: sideboard between games
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard
Use when: Veles asks for sideboarding choices and opponent archetype or revealed cards are known from public match history.
Avoid when: no completed game information or matchup label is available; use balanced default plan from Sideboard Map instead.
Instructions: Add Consign to Memory or Mystical Dispute for stack and color-specific fights, Damping Sphere for big-mana or spell-chain pressure, Meltdown for artifact boards, Pyroclasm for wide creature pressure, Surgical Extraction for graveyard or single-card dependency fights, and Vexing Bauble for free-spell interaction. Preserve enough threats and graveyard enablers to keep a closing plan.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sweeper Timing
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction, priority
Cards: Pyroclasm; Meltdown; Fatal Push
Phase windows: own main phase, precombat, emergency post-combat if legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Pyroclasm; action:cast Meltdown
Use when: legal actions include Pyroclasm or Meltdown and public battlefield permanents match the spell’s affected class.
Avoid when: the sweeper destroys your only necessary pressure or misses the visible threats that determine the next turn.
Instructions: Cast Pyroclasm to reset wide creature boards before life total collapses. Cast Meltdown when artifact density makes it a real board swing. Use Fatal Push instead when one creature matters more than the board class.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Permission And Hate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction, priority
Cards: Consign to Memory; Mystical Dispute; Vexing Bauble; Damping Sphere; Surgical Extraction
Phase windows: opponent stack windows, own main phase for permanents, graveyard response windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Consign to Memory; action:cast Mystical Dispute; action:cast Vexing Bauble; action:cast Damping Sphere; action:cast Surgical Extraction
Use when: sideboard cards are legal and public information shows the relevant spell, engine, graveyard card, or mana pattern.
Avoid when: casting the hate card delays a faster visible kill or does not line up with the opponent’s exposed plan.
Instructions: Use Consign to Memory and Mystical Dispute for decisive stack exchanges. Deploy Damping Sphere or Vexing Bauble before the opponent’s engine turn when it does not strand your own line. Use Surgical Extraction only on a revealed graveyard card whose removal changes the opponent’s next turns.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
