# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
- Identity: Oath of Druids is a Vintage combo-control graveyard deck built around resolving `Oath of Druids`, giving the opponent a creature through `Forbidden Orchard`, and converting the trigger into a game-ending battlefield position with `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers`, or post-board `Serra's Emissary` when that plan is registered for the matchup.

- Format validation: Active format is Vintage, the registered main deck is 60 cards, the registered sideboard is 15 cards, and the provided format-aware validation result passes. Veles should still treat rules-engine output as authoritative for legality, timing, replacement effects, triggered abilities, and any card-text detail not explicitly visible in the current decision frame.

- Registered count check: Main deck contains 60 cards with the core density of 4 `Oath of Druids`, 4 `Forbidden Orchard`, 4 `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, 4 `Show and Tell`, 4 `Stock Up`, 4 `Force of Will`, 3 `Force of Negation`, and singleton restricted or utility acceleration/interaction pieces including `Ancestral Recall`, `Black Lotus`, `Time Walk`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Lotus Petal`, `Mox Emerald`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Pearl`, `Mox Ruby`, and `Mox Sapphire`.

- Sideboard count check: Sideboard contains exactly 15 cards: 2 `Serra's Emissary`, 1 `Mindbreak Trap`, 4 `Dismember`, 2 `Flusterstorm`, 2 `Null Rod`, 1 `Veil of Summer`, and 3 `Ravenous Trap`. Exact sideboard plans must only move these sideboard cards in and must only cut registered main-deck cards.

- Archetype tags: The validated tags are combo, control, and graveyard. The deck is a combo-control shell first, a graveyard-enabled Oath deck second, and a hard-control deck only when the opening hand or matchup forces it to delay commitment behind `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or `Boseiju, Who Endures`.

- Stock/rogue/hybrid status: Treat this as a hybrid Vintage Oath shell rather than a pure stock list. The recognizable stock core is `Oath of Druids`, `Forbidden Orchard`, blue free permission, artifact acceleration, and restricted draw; the more deck-specific features are 4 `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, 4 `Show and Tell`, 4 `Stock Up`, 2 `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers`, and the sideboard split of `Serra's Emissary`, `Dismember`, `Null Rod`, `Ravenous Trap`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Flusterstorm`, and `Veil of Summer`.

- Mana identity concern: The deck is primarily blue-green with splash pressures from pitch costs, artifact mana, `Ancient Tomb`, and fetchable lands. Veles should prioritize hands that can cast or protect `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Stock Up`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or interaction, and should be cautious with hands whose only fast mana produces colorless or temporary mana without a concrete legal payoff.

- Role concern: The deck should not behave like a generic draw-go deck when it has a protected `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell` line, because many Vintage opponents can out-scale an uncommitted hand. It should also not jam a fragile payoff into open information when waiting one turn preserves `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, or `Veil of Summer` coverage and the opponent clock is not forcing action.

- Rules and text uncertainty: Use exact card names from the registered list, but do not assume hidden card text, hidden zones, or unshown mode/target details. Card text check required for `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` before any deterministic policy treats it as a specific combo kill or graveyard payoff.

- Opponent information status: No specific opponent deck, play/draw status, revealed hand, battlefield, graveyard, stack, or sideboarded configuration is supplied for this batch. Runtime decisions must therefore defer matchup assumptions until Veles receives visible state, public history, known revealed information, legal action text, and the matchup label from the engine or manifest.

## Thesis
- Assemble a protected `Oath of Druids` trigger or a protected `Show and Tell` deployment before the opponent converts Vintage speed into an unbeatable stack or board position. The cleanest line is `Oath of Druids` plus `Forbidden Orchard`, then let the rules engine produce the trigger and convert the library into a battlefield threat while `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, `Vexing Bauble`, or post-board `Veil of Summer` defends the commitment.

- Win by putting `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` onto the battlefield early and using the resulting body plus card access to dominate the next exchanges. `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` is a registered Oath hit, but Card text check required before treating it as deterministic lethal, protection, recursion, or a specific graveyard payoff.

- Use `Show and Tell` as the second main cheat plan, not as a desperation spell when the opponent visibly benefits more from the same effect. Prefer `Show and Tell` when hand contains `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` or a post-board `Serra's Emissary`, when permission can cover the spell, or when waiting exposes the hand to discard, pressure, or stack development.

- Prioritize the engine over generic control when a credible protected commitment exists. This deck is not trying to answer every permanent, trade one-for-one forever, or win a fair planeswalker game unless `Oath of Druids` and `Show and Tell` are delayed, answered, or unsafe.

- Preserve blue card density and mana access when choosing between velocity and protection. `Stock Up`, `Ancestral Recall`, `Gitaxian Probe`, and `Time Walk` should improve commitment timing; they should not strand a hand that needed a blue pitch card, green mana for `Oath of Druids`, or a clean answer to a visible hate permanent.

## Role Package
- Threats: `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` is the primary creature payoff for both `Oath of Druids` and `Show and Tell`; `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` is a secondary Oath hit with Card text check required; post-board `Serra's Emissary` is the matchup-specific threat for board or damage axes where its legal choice matters.

- Payoffs: `Oath of Druids` is the defining payoff because it turns an opponent-controlled creature into a free threat, usually enabled by `Forbidden Orchard`. `Show and Tell` is the hand-based payoff that bypasses the graveyard plan and makes opening hands with `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` materially stronger.

- Engines: `Forbidden Orchard` is both mana and the creature-enabling engine for `Oath of Druids`; avoid spending Orchard activations casually if the opponent has no creature and the Oath trigger is the planned route. `Oko, Thief of Crowns` is the fair-board engine that pressures artifacts or creatures and buys time when the combo is not ready.

- Velocity: `Stock Up` is the main repeatable selection-density card, while `Ancestral Recall`, `Gitaxian Probe`, and `Time Walk` are restricted accelerants for information, cards, or tempo. Use velocity to find a missing half, protection, or land, not to drift away from a ready protected engine.

- Interaction: `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, `Boseiju, Who Endures`, `Vexing Bauble`, and `Oko, Thief of Crowns` form the maindeck disruption spread. Rank stack interaction highest around opposing wins, opposing hate that stops `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell`, and the turn this deck commits.

- Protection: `Force of Will` is the broadest shield for commitment turns; `Force of Negation` is strongest against noncreature interaction on opposing or protected setup turns; `Flusterstorm` and `Mental Misstep` are efficient stack tools when their legal targets appear. Post-board `Veil of Summer`, extra `Flusterstorm`, and `Mindbreak Trap` increase stack protection against blue, black, or storm-like exchanges.

- Recursion and graveyard safety: `Gaea's Blessing` is the registered graveyard reset card for Oath lines, but Veles must let the rules engine confirm triggers, zone movement, and replacement or shuffle outcomes. Do not assume the library is safe if `Gaea's Blessing` is exiled, countered by a visible effect, or otherwise unavailable by public state.

- Mana: `Black Lotus`, the five Moxen, `Lotus Petal`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Ancient Tomb`, `Tropical Island`, fetchlands, `Hedge Maze`, `Island`, `Forbidden Orchard`, and `Boseiju, Who Endures` support explosive starts with uneven colors. Green-blue access matters most for `Oath of Druids`, `Stock Up`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, and protection sequencing.

- Sideboard modules: `Dismember` answers creature pressure or disruptive creatures; `Ravenous Trap` fights graveyard turns; `Null Rod` attacks artifact-mana or artifact-engine opponents while weakening this deck's own artifacts; `Serra's Emissary` changes the cheat target package; `Flusterstorm`, `Mindbreak Trap`, and `Veil of Summer` tune stack fights.

## Primary Win Conditions
- `Oath of Druids` plus `Forbidden Orchard` is the primary win path when Veles shows the opponent controls more creatures than you and the next upkeep or priority sequence can produce a legal trigger. Set up by resolving `Oath of Druids`, preserving or creating the opponent creature with `Forbidden Orchard`, keeping your own battlefield creature count low when possible, and holding `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, or `Vexing Bauble` for hate, stack fights, or opposing win attempts.

- Execute the `Oath of Druids` line by letting the rules engine expose the trigger and by accepting legal resolution choices that advance toward `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` unless public information makes another legal hit unavoidable or superior. `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` is the preferred battlefield payoff because it supplies a large body and card access; use the gained cards to protect the next turn cycle, chain into more interaction, or close combat before the opponent rebuilds.

- Prioritize `Oath of Druids` when the hand has `Oath of Druids`, green mana, a plausible `Forbidden Orchard` or existing opponent creature, and at least one relevant protection piece. Delay only when visible stack pressure, graveyard disruption, an exposed answer to `Oath of Druids`, or your own creature count makes the commitment likely to fail without improving the position.

- `Show and Tell` plus `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` is the second main win path when the payoff is already in hand and the opponent's visible or revealed resources do not make the symmetric effect clearly worse for you. Set up by using `Gitaxian Probe`, `Ancestral Recall`, `Stock Up`, fast mana, and fetchland sequencing to assemble blue protection plus the payoff; execute by resolving `Show and Tell`, putting `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` onto the battlefield, and defending the first post-resolution exchange.

- Prioritize `Show and Tell` over `Oath of Druids` when `Forbidden Orchard` is missing, the opponent has no creature and no safe Orchard setup is available, the hand already contains `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, or speed matters more than waiting for upkeep. Avoid `Show and Tell` when the opponent has a known or visible permanent that can beat `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` immediately through the same effect.

- `Gaea's Blessing` supports the graveyard-heavy Oath plan, but Veles must rely on Forge for trigger, shuffle, and zone outcomes. Treat `Gaea's Blessing` as a resiliency card, not as permission to ignore exile effects, visible graveyard hate, or an already-depleted library state.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- `Oko, Thief of Crowns` is the fair-game pressure and stabilization plan when the cheat paths are delayed or unsafe. Use `Oko, Thief of Crowns` to convert problematic artifacts or creatures, create material, and pressure life totals while conserving stack interaction for spells that actually stop your eventual `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell` plan.

- `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` can win as a hard-cast or repeated-value threat only when the rules engine shows legal mana and the game has slowed enough that spending a turn on a seven-mana creature is safer than forcing a cheat line. Do not assume hard-cast access from artifact mana alone; check current colors, restrictions, tapped sources, and taxes before choosing this path.

- `Time Walk` is a conversion card after a resolved threat, not just a cantrip-like tempo play. Prefer it when an extra turn produces an `Oath of Druids` upkeep, another `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` attack, a protected `Oko, Thief of Crowns` activation cycle, or enough draw from `Stock Up` or `Ancestral Recall` to lock the opponent out of the next fight.

- `Vexing Bauble` can function as a soft lock or commitment shield against free-spell exchanges when its visible text and legal actions matter. Deploy it when it improves your protected setup more than it interferes with your own `Force of Will` or `Force of Negation` plans; do not autopilot it into play if your current hand depends on free interaction.

- Post-board `Serra's Emissary` is a matchup-specific cheat payoff for `Show and Tell` or Oath configurations when its protection choice is legal and tactically relevant. Card text and legal choice check required at runtime; choose only from options the engine exposes, and prefer it when the opponent's route is concentrated through one visible damage, combat, or spell axis.

- `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` is a registered creature hit, but Card text check required before treating it as a deterministic win, protection piece, recursion engine, or combo payoff. If it enters from `Oath of Druids`, reassess only from visible battlefield, graveyard, stack, and legal actions.

## Emergency Lines
- When behind on board, use `Oath of Druids` as the comeback engine if the opponent already controls creatures or `Forbidden Orchard` can enable the trigger without giving lethal pressure. Protect the enchantment over low-impact card draw when the next upkeep is your best route to `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`.

- When behind on life, prioritize survival interaction before greed. Use `Dismember` post-board only when a visible creature materially changes the clock or blocks the route to resolving a payoff; use `Oko, Thief of Crowns` to blunt one large visible threat when legal; avoid paying unnecessary life or `Mana Crypt` risk lines if a slower protected line is available.

- When behind on cards, lean on `Stock Up`, `Ancestral Recall`, and `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` to rebuild, but keep at least one protective blue card or stack answer if the opponent is near a win. Do not spend the last protection spell on marginal velocity while a known hate piece, counterspell fight, or lethal stack action is likely.

- When behind on mana, favor artifact acceleration, fetchland stability, and `Forbidden Orchard` color access while preserving green-blue sources for `Oath of Druids`, `Stock Up`, and protection. Use `Boseiju, Who Endures` as interaction only when the visible target is worth losing a mana source or when mana is otherwise secure.

- When graveyard recursion or library safety is threatened, stop assuming the Oath loop is clean. If `Gaea's Blessing` is unavailable by public state or graveyard hate is visible, prefer `Show and Tell`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or a protected single `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` attack plan over milling deeper without a clear legal payoff.

- When primary win conditions are removed or unsafe, pivot to fair pressure with `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, hard-cast legal threats, and protected combat from whatever creature the engine has produced. The emergency goal is to shorten the game while using `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, and sideboard stack tools only on actions that change the outcome.

## Resource Model
- Life is a spendable buffer only when it protects a faster protected payoff. Treat `Gitaxian Probe`, `Ancient Tomb`, `Mana Crypt`, fetchlands, and post-board `Dismember` as tempo purchases, but stop paying life when the visible clock makes one more attack, `Mana Crypt` trigger, or Orchard token swing relevant.

- Hand size is the deck's primary shield. Convert cards into a protected `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, or `Oko, Thief of Crowns` only when the remaining hand still answers the opponent's most likely public route; do not pitch the only blue protection to `Force of Will` or `Force of Negation` for a low-impact fight while a payoff is still pending.

- Mana turns broken starts into wins, but excess mana without a payoff is not the plan. `Black Lotus`, `Mox Sapphire`, `Mox Emerald`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Pearl`, `Mox Ruby`, `Lotus Petal`, `Sol Ring`, `Mana Crypt`, and `Ancient Tomb` should accelerate a protected engine, `Stock Up`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or `Show and Tell`; avoid exposing artifact mana into known artifact punishment unless speed is required.

- Board resources revolve around asymmetric creature count. `Forbidden Orchard` is both fixing and the cleanest `Oath of Druids` enabler, so giving the opponent a Spirit is correct when it enables your next upkeep or fixes a decisive spell, and dangerous when it creates lethal pressure, turns off a clean race, or gives the opponent sacrifice/combat material.

- Graveyard resources matter because `Oath of Druids` mills into threats and `Gaea's Blessing` may reshape library outcomes. Let Forge determine triggers and shuffles; if public graveyard or exile information shows `Gaea's Blessing` is unavailable or a payoff is exiled, shift toward `Show and Tell`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or hard-cast legal threats.

- Exile is a real cost for free interaction. Pitching `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, `Gaea's Blessing`, or scarce blue cards to `Force of Will` or `Force of Negation` can close off future lines; accept that cost only for opposing actions that stop your engine, win immediately, or make your resolved payoff irrelevant.

- Lands are functional pieces, not just mana. `Tropical Island`, `Hedge Maze`, `Island`, fetchlands, and `Forbidden Orchard` support blue-green setup; `Boseiju, Who Endures` is a land until a visible artifact, enchantment, or land must be answered; `Ancient Tomb` is acceleration when life loss is acceptable.

- Sacrifice fodder is not a normal resource in this list. Do not invent sacrifice lines from Orchard tokens or creatures unless Forge presents a legal action from `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` or another visible permanent; Card text check required for any `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` sacrifice or recursion assumption.

- Tempo is won by forcing the opponent to answer a compact threat through stack pressure. `Time Walk` is strongest after a permanent payoff, `Stock Up` is a setup refill when protected, and `Ancestral Recall` converts one mana into the hand density needed to win the next stack exchange.

- Information changes commitment thresholds. Use `Gitaxian Probe`, revealed hands, public stack choices, and visible mana to decide whether to jam `Show and Tell`, protect `Oath of Druids`, hold `Flusterstorm`, or wait; never assume hidden counters, removal, or hate without evidence.

- Sideboard bullets are narrow resources. `Ravenous Trap`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Flusterstorm`, `Veil of Summer`, `Null Rod`, `Dismember`, and `Serra's Emissary` should trade for the axis they were boarded for, not for generic convenience.

## Mana Guide
- Prioritize blue and green access in opening hands. A keep normally needs a path to blue interaction or draw plus green for `Oath of Druids`, unless it has fast mana into a protected `Show and Tell` with `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` or a compelling `Oko, Thief of Crowns` line.

- Use `Tropical Island` as the default stable land when neither `Boseiju, Who Endures` nor basic `Island` is specifically required. Fetch `Tropical Island` or `Hedge Maze` from `Flooded Strand`, `Misty Rainforest`, `Scalding Tarn`, or `Polluted Delta` according to legal options and visible needs; fetch `Island` when protecting against land disruption or when green is already covered.

- Sequence `Forbidden Orchard` around `Oath of Druids`, not around generic fixing. Play or activate it before the opponent's end step or your upkeep only when the Spirit token is needed for `Oath of Druids`; otherwise delay giving a creature if another land or artifact can cast the same spell.

- Spend artifact mana first when the payoff turn needs maximum mana and the opponent cannot punish the artifacts immediately. Preserve colored lands when future turns need blue for `Force of Will` support, `Flusterstorm`, `Ancestral Recall`, `Stock Up`, or green for `Oath of Druids`.

- Treat `Boseiju, Who Endures` as a mana source until a visible target justifies channeling it. Channeling it too early can strand `Oath of Druids`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or protected blue interaction; use it when the target stops the plan or when land count remains sufficient.

- Play land before draw when the current turn already has a known spell sequence that needs mana now, such as `Oath of Druids` plus protection, `Show and Tell`, or `Stock Up`. Delay land until after `Ancestral Recall`, `Gitaxian Probe`, or `Stock Up` when the choice between fetchland, `Forbidden Orchard`, `Boseiju, Who Endures`, or `Ancient Tomb` depends on new cards.

- Keep fast-mana hands only when they produce action. `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Lotus Petal`, and Moxen without `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Stock Up`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, `Ancestral Recall`, or meaningful interaction are acceleration without direction and should pressure mulligan decisions.

- Respect colorless limits from `Ancient Tomb`, `Mana Crypt`, and `Sol Ring`. These cards help cast `Show and Tell`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, `Stock Up`, hard-cast threats, and taxes, but they do not replace blue and green requirements unless legal actions show colored costs are already covered.

- Post-board mana must account for bullets. Hold black-capable or generic-plus-life access for `Dismember`, preserve free-spell conditions for `Ravenous Trap` and `Mindbreak Trap` when their trap text is live, keep green or blue-green stability for `Veil of Summer` and `Flusterstorm`, and remember `Null Rod` can reduce your own artifact-mana value after it resolves.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keep: `Forbidden Orchard`, `Oath of Druids`, blue interaction, and any stable mana is the premium opener. Keep hands like `Forbidden Orchard`, `Tropical Island`, `Oath of Druids`, `Force of Will`, blue pitch card, `Stock Up`, and any accelerator because they create the engine, enable the trigger, and defend the first fight.

- Strong keep: `Show and Tell` plus `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` with fast mana and protection is a second clean plan. Keep `Mox Sapphire`, `Black Lotus`, `Show and Tell`, `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, `Force of Will`, and another blue card unless visible matchup context makes putting an opponent permanent onto the battlefield unusually dangerous.

- Medium keep: cantrip or draw-heavy control hands are acceptable when they cast early spells and contain interaction. `Ancestral Recall`, `Stock Up`, `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, `Tropical Island`, and a fetchland can keep if they find `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell` before the opponent's clock becomes decisive.

- Risky keep: `Oath of Druids` without `Forbidden Orchard` is matchup- and hand-dependent. Keep it only with enough draw, fetchable green-blue mana, and stack defense to survive until the opponent presents a creature or you find `Forbidden Orchard`; ship it when the hand otherwise does nothing.

- Risky keep: `Forbidden Orchard` without `Oath of Druids` is not an engine. Keep it only when the rest of the hand already has `Show and Tell`, `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, `Stock Up`, or `Oko, Thief of Crowns`; do not keep a hand whose main action is giving the opponent a Spirit.

- Automatic ship: hands with payoff creatures and no enabler are not functional. Multiple `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, `Gaea's Blessing`, or `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` without `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Flash`, strong draw, or castable mana should mulligan; Card text check required for `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` before treating it as a standalone plan.

- Automatic ship: mana-only hands fail the deck's role. `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Lotus Petal`, and Moxen without `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Ancestral Recall`, `Stock Up`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or meaningful interaction should go back even if they look explosive.

- Matchup-dependent keep: against fast spell-combo, prioritize `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, `Gitaxian Probe`, and a fast clock or engine. Against creature pressure, prioritize `Oath of Druids`, `Forbidden Orchard`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, and mana that does not force excessive `Ancient Tomb` or `Mana Crypt` damage.

- Play/draw rule: on the play, accept faster unprotected engines more often when they act before opposing mana develops. On the draw, demand either free interaction, `Mental Misstep`, `Flusterstorm`, `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, or an information spell such as `Gitaxian Probe` before jamming into open resources.

- Trap hand: `Show and Tell` plus `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` with no blue card, no protection, and no information can lose to the opponent's legal permanent. Keep only when speed is required or `Gitaxian Probe` or public context lowers that risk.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1 priority: deploy a protected `Oath of Druids` or assemble the mana to cast it next turn. If `Forbidden Orchard` is not needed for mana immediately, delay giving the Spirit until the last legal point before your upkeep where Forge still preserves the `Oath of Druids` trigger.

- Turn 1 deviation: cast `Gitaxian Probe`, `Ancestral Recall`, or `Stock Up` before committing when the hand has multiple possible engines. Use the new information to choose between `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, holding interaction, or developing `Oko, Thief of Crowns`.

- Turn 1 fast line: use `Black Lotus`, `Mox Sapphire`, `Mox Emerald`, `Lotus Petal`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, or `Ancient Tomb` to cast `Show and Tell` only when `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` is available and the stack can be defended or waiting is worse. Do not spend the acceleration just to empty artifacts into a low-action board.

- Turn 2 priority: protect the first engine resolution or first `Oath of Druids` trigger. Fight over removal, counterspells, graveyard interruption, or effects that stop the payoff; ignore low-impact spells when protecting the trigger or `Show and Tell` matters more.

- Turn 2 deviation: cast `Oko, Thief of Crowns` when the board needs a stabilizing permanent or when visible artifacts and creatures make Oko's legal abilities immediately relevant. Prefer `Stock Up` when the hand lacks a payoff or enough blue cards to win the next stack fight.

- Turn 3 priority: convert a resolved payoff into a clock and cards. After `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` enters, use the gained resources to hold up `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, or `Mental Misstep`; use `Time Walk` most aggressively when it adds an attack, planeswalker activation, or another protected engine step.

- Turn 3 deviation: use `Boseiju, Who Endures` only when a visible artifact, enchantment, or land blocks the plan. Keep it as a land if channeling it strands `Show and Tell`, `Oath of Druids`, `Stock Up`, or protection.

- Turns 4-5 priority: stop switching plans unless the first plan is answered. A live `Oath of Druids` should keep producing pressure; a resolved `Oko, Thief of Crowns` should stabilize or pressure through legal abilities; a hand with `Show and Tell` should wait only when interaction or opponent permanents make the current window bad.

- Turns 4-5 deviation: hard-casting `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` becomes plausible with `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, Moxen, `Ancient Tomb`, and lands, but only follow Forge-legal mana actions and protect the cast if the opponent can interact.

- Late-game priority: preserve live win routes instead of fighting every spell. Track public exile and graveyard information for `Gaea's Blessing`, spent `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, and used free counters; shift toward `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, hard-cast threats, or remaining `Show and Tell` when `Oath of Druids` is no longer reliable.

- Late-game trap: repeated `Forbidden Orchard` activations can create a lethal opposing board. Give tokens only for fixing, `Oath of Druids` enabling, or a decisive line, and let the visible combat math decide whether the Spirit is still safe.

## Card Roles
- `Oath of Druids` is the deck's defining engine and the highest-value permanent to protect. Cast it when you can either give the opponent a creature with `Forbidden Orchard`, expect the opponent to control a creature naturally, or can defend it long enough for a trigger; avoid deploying it into a board where the opponent can remove it before upkeep unless waiting is worse. The main mistake is treating `Oath of Druids` as a generic two-mana enchantment instead of a commitment gate: once it resolves, prioritize preserving the trigger, maintaining a legal creature imbalance, and not diluting the plan with unnecessary token gifts.

- `Forbidden Orchard` is both fixing and the controlled enabler for `Oath of Druids`. Use it for colored mana when required, but give the Spirit token deliberately: the clean line is often casting `Oath of Druids`, then making the opponent control a creature at the latest legal point before your upkeep. Do not create extra Spirits just because mana is available; every token changes combat math and can make `Oko, Thief of Crowns` or a delayed engine worse.

- `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` is the primary payoff for `Oath of Druids` and `Show and Tell`. Put it onto the battlefield when the engine line is protected or when the draw from entering can rebuild a hand that is running out of counters. Hard-cast lines are possible with `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, Moxen, `Ancient Tomb`, and lands, but only follow Forge-legal mana actions and avoid spending the last protection unless the visible board demands a threat now.

- `Show and Tell` is the fast alternate engine and the riskiest proactive spell. Cast it when `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` is in hand and you can defend the stack, when `Gitaxian Probe` or public information reduces the risk of the opponent's permanent, or when the opponent's clock makes waiting worse. The common punt is firing `Show and Tell` into unknown resources with no protection when an `Oath of Druids` or `Stock Up` line could improve the window.

- `Force of Will` is the broadest protection spell and should usually guard `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, or survival against lethal/combo turns. Pitch decisions matter: preserve blue cards that are your only action spell when possible, but spend the card when the opposed spell stops the engine or wins the game. Against fair pressure, do not counter low-impact creatures if they incidentally enable `Oath of Druids` and are not part of a lethal clock.

- `Force of Negation` is the second free shield and is strongest in opponent-turn fights over noncreature engines, disruption, graveyard interaction, and opposing combo. Use it more freely when defending a resolved or imminent `Oath of Druids` trigger, and be more conservative on your own turn if Forge's legality or timing makes it unavailable. Do not assume it answers every permanent or creature problem; choose it only from legal actions shown by the engine.

- `Flusterstorm` is efficient stack defense for counter wars and fast spell-combo. Hold it for opposing interaction on `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Ancestral Recall`, or a decisive combo spell rather than spending it on a minor cantrip. Its value changes with storm count, so prefer it after the opponent has committed spells in the same turn when the legal copies make the fight favorable.

- `Mental Misstep` is a narrow tempo and protection card. Use it to stop visible one-mana interaction or opposing acceleration only when that spell materially affects your engine, your protection, or the opponent's ability to win before your payoff. Do not fire it automatically at the first legal target; in Vintage, a later one-mana answer to `Oath of Druids` or a fight over `Ancestral Recall` may be more important.

- `Ancestral Recall` is the best raw card injection and should usually be cast when you can protect it or when you need to hit an engine, blue card, or mana before committing. Target yourself unless the rules engine exposes a deterministic lethal or deck-specific reason to target otherwise; no such plan should be assumed from hidden information. In counter wars, defending `Ancestral Recall` can be correct if the hand lacks an engine, but defending `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell` usually outranks it once a payoff line is ready.

- `Stock Up` is a setup and refuel spell, but Card text check required before relying on exact selection depth or timing. Treat it as a way to find `Oath of Druids`, `Forbidden Orchard`, `Show and Tell`, `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, or interaction when Forge exposes the legal cast and selection choices. Prefer it before a commitment when the hand has mana but lacks either a payoff or protection; avoid tapping out for it when a known opposing combo turn or lethal attack is imminent.

- `Oko, Thief of Crowns` is the stabilizing secondary threat and utility permanent. Cast it when the game needs a board object that can neutralize visible artifacts or creatures, create pressure, or buy time for `Oath of Druids` and `Show and Tell`. Do not overvalue it against spell-combo when it does not affect the stack; against creature decks, it can be the bridge that makes extra `Forbidden Orchard` tokens survivable.

- `Gaea's Blessing` is part of the graveyard-resilience package and should not be treated as a normal spell unless Forge presents a clearly legal and useful action. Its main role is protecting the library plan around `Oath of Druids`; avoid side effects that strand it in hand or exile if the engine needs it. If it appears in hand, reassess whether `Show and Tell`, hard-cast `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, or `Oko, Thief of Crowns` is the cleaner route.

- `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` is a registered payoff or utility creature whose exact tactical role requires confirmation. Card text check required before assigning it as removal, protection, combo payoff, or standalone threat. Until text is known from Forge-visible details, use it only according to legal actions and visible card text; do not assume it replaces `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` as the preferred `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell` hit.

- `Flash` is a volatile one-of tactical enabler, but Card text check required for this registered list's intended creature interactions before treating it as a deterministic combo card. Use it only when Forge shows a legal creature choice and the resulting line advances the plan from visible information. Do not spend protection on `Flash` unless the selected creature and board state make the commitment better than waiting for `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell`.

- `Time Walk` is a conversion spell, not just an early cantrip. Cast it when the extra turn adds an `Oath of Druids` trigger, an `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` attack, an `Oko, Thief of Crowns` activation, a land drop into protected mana, or a decisive draw step. Avoid using it as a low-impact explore when the hand cannot exploit the extra turn and protection mana is more important.

- `Gitaxian Probe` is information for commitment gates. Cast it before `Show and Tell`, before fighting over a stack, or before deciding whether an unprotected `Oath of Druids` is safe. The life payment is usually acceptable when it changes a major decision, but do not spend life casually against visible pressure, `Mana Crypt` damage, or `Ancient Tomb` lines.

- `Vexing Bauble` is a disruptive one-of whose exact tactical use depends on visible legal actions and current card text. Card text check required for detailed stack rules. Treat it as a metagame/control piece that can protect a proactive turn or constrain opposing free interaction, but avoid playing it into your own planned free-counter sequence if Forge-visible effects would tax or stop `Force of Will` or `Force of Negation`.

- `Boseiju, Who Endures` is both a land and an answer to visible artifacts, enchantments, or lands. Keep it as mana when the hand needs green sources for `Oath of Druids`, blue-green development through `Tropical Island` or `Hedge Maze`, or enough mana for `Show and Tell` plus protection. Channel it only when the target directly blocks your engine, threatens a decisive lock, or answers a permanent that your stack interaction cannot handle.

- `Black Lotus`, `Lotus Petal`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Mox Sapphire`, `Mox Emerald`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Pearl`, and `Mox Ruby` are acceleration for protected commitment turns. Spend them to land `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, `Stock Up`, or hard-cast threats ahead of schedule, not merely to empty artifacts. Sequence colored Moxen so blue interaction remains castable and `Forbidden Orchard` activations are minimized.

- `Ancient Tomb` is explosive but costly. Use it to accelerate `Show and Tell`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, `Stock Up`, or artifact-heavy lines when the life loss does not put you inside the opponent's visible clock. Against creature pressure, prefer safer colored lands when possible; against combo, speed often matters more than life.

- `Tropical Island`, `Island`, `Hedge Maze`, `Flooded Strand`, `Misty Rainforest`, `Scalding Tarn`, and `Polluted Delta` form the stable colored-mana base. Fetch to support blue interaction first and green `Oath of Druids` second, unless the current hand already has one color covered by Moxen. Preserve fetchlands when shuffle information matters after selection effects, but do not delay a needed land drop just to create theoretical future value.

## Interaction Priorities

- Counter decisive stack actions before generic value spells. Use `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, and sideboard `Mindbreak Trap` first on opposing combo commitments, counterplay that stops `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell`, and effects that remove or neutralize a resolved payoff before it stabilizes the game. Let low-impact cantrips, redundant artifacts, or creature deployment resolve when they do not change the current engine race.

- Protect the commitment spell over the setup spell once the hand has a real line. Defend `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, or a decisive `Ancestral Recall` more aggressively than `Stock Up`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or artifact acceleration. Bait with `Stock Up`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, `Vexing Bauble`, or a nonessential fast-mana line when the hand can still commit afterward; do not bait with the only `Oath of Druids` or the only `Show and Tell` unless waiting is worse.

- Remove or neutralize permanents that stop the engine before permanents that merely pressure life. Use `Boseiju, Who Endures`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, and sideboard `Dismember` on visible hate pieces, must-answer utility creatures, or artifact/enchantment/land locks before using them on ordinary attackers. Against creature decks, prioritize creatures that produce a lethal clock through `Forbidden Orchard` tokens; against combo, ignore combat-only creatures unless they create a two-turn-or-faster clock.

- Exile graveyards only when the graveyard is a visible resource for the opponent. Use sideboard `Ravenous Trap` on a graveyard-based commitment or a turn where multiple cards entered the opposing graveyard and the legal action text supports the trap timing. Do not spend `Ravenous Trap` on incidental graveyard cards if the opponent is winning through battlefield, hand, or stack pressure instead.

- Discard decisions should preserve engine plus protection. If forced to discard, protect `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, blue cards needed for `Force of Will` or `Force of Negation`, and mana that casts the next engine step. Discard surplus payoff creatures before losing the only engine, and discard extra acceleration before losing the only counterspell when the opponent's route is stack-based.

- Bounce is not a registered maindeck interaction axis. If Forge exposes a bounce-like action from a copied, stolen, or transformed object, treat it as board-state-specific and prefer targets that directly block `Oath of Druids`, stop `Show and Tell`, or create imminent lethal pressure. Do not assume a bounce line exists from this decklist.

- Ignore cards that do not affect the next decisive exchange. Do not counter small creatures given by your own `Forbidden Orchard` plan unless they become lethal, do not use `Boseiju, Who Endures` on mana artifacts when the real threat is a stack combo already protected, and do not spend `Force of Negation` on a value permanent when `Oath of Druids` is about to create a payoff.

- Change interaction posture by archetype. Against fast combo, conserve free counters and accept life loss from `Gitaxian Probe`, `Ancient Tomb`, or `Mana Crypt` when it enables a protected commitment. Against artifact-prison or permanent-heavy control, value `Boseiju, Who Endures`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, `Null Rod`, and `Vexing Bauble` higher. Against creature pressure, sideboarded `Dismember`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, and careful `Forbidden Orchard` timing matter more than winning every stack fight.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Treat combat as a conversion step after the engine resolves. Attack with `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, `Serra's Emissary`, or another large resolved threat when the attack advances lethal pressure without exposing the only stabilizer to a visible bad trade. Do not attack with a necessary blocker if the opponent's next attack plus `Mana Crypt` or `Ancient Tomb` damage can kill you.

- Manage `Forbidden Orchard` tokens as a cost of enabling `Oath of Druids`. Give the opponent a creature when it turns on an `Oath of Druids` trigger, fixes a decisive color, or enables a protected commitment; avoid creating extra attackers when `Oath of Druids` is absent, already active, or not needed. If multiple Orchard activations are legal, prefer the minimum token count that supports the current plan.

- Block to preserve engine time, not to win small trades. Absorb damage with expendable tokens or sideboard creatures when it buys an `Oath of Druids` trigger, a `Show and Tell` turn, or an `Oko, Thief of Crowns` stabilization turn. Do not trade away the only payoff creature into visible combat tricks unless the alternative is lethal or loses the engine anyway.

- Protect life total more tightly below effective two-turn range. At 10 or less with `Ancient Tomb`, `Mana Crypt`, or multiple opposing attackers visible, prefer blocks and removal that reduce immediate damage even if they slow card advantage. At high life, accept some damage to keep free counters, blue cards, and engine mana intact.

- `Oko, Thief of Crowns` changes combat math by shrinking, neutralizing, or producing board material according to Forge-visible text. Use it defensively against creatures that make `Forbidden Orchard` tokens unsafe, and offensively when a stabilized board needs a clock. Card text and loyalty choices must come from runtime legal actions.

- `Show and Tell` combat risk must be evaluated before committing. If the opponent may put in a permanent that changes combat or races the selected `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, use visible information from `Gitaxian Probe`, public zones, and current battlefield before choosing the line. Do not assume the opponent's hidden card is harmless.

- Sideboard creature combat roles are conditional on text. `Serra's Emissary` can be a stabilizing or lock-style payoff only when Forge-visible card text and the chosen protection mode support that role; Card text check required for exact naming and combat restrictions. Use `Dismember` to clear lethal attackers or blockers preventing a decisive swing, not as a default early tempo play against low-impact creatures.

- Against creature archetypes, shift from pure combo protection to survival sequencing. Avoid unnecessary `Forbidden Orchard` activations, preserve `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, value `Dismember`, and block earlier when each turn cycle matters. Against control or combo, combat is secondary until a payoff resolves; protect the stack exchange first, then use attacks to close before the opponent rebuilds.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Use `Gitaxian Probe` before commitment when legal information changes the line. Cast it before `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Flash`, or a large counter fight if the life payment or mana payment is acceptable, then use the revealed hand to decide whether to wait, bait, protect, or jam. Do not assume unrevealed cards after `Gitaxian Probe`; treat only the shown hand and public zones as known.

- Spend `Ancestral Recall` for decisive velocity, not decorative value. Target yourself when the legal action is available unless a rare Forge-visible rule effect makes another target mandatory or immediately winning. Prefer casting it while you can still protect or use the cards this turn, but delay if tapping mana would expose the only engine commitment to a visible stack fight.

- Use `Stock Up` as the main pseudo-selection spell for assembling engine plus protection. Card text check required for exact selection mechanics; choose packages that preserve one engine card, enough mana, and at least one relevant protection spell. When already holding `Oath of Druids`, bias selections toward `Forbidden Orchard`, free counters, or payoff protection; when holding `Show and Tell`, bias toward `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, mana, and protection.

- Treat fetchlands as color and shuffle selection, not as automatic thinning. Use `Flooded Strand`, `Misty Rainforest`, `Polluted Delta`, and `Scalding Tarn` to fix the colors required for `Oath of Druids`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, blue interaction, or hard-cast backup lines. Delay cracking when top-of-library information matters, but crack before draw spells if a shuffle is needed after known weak cards.

- Sequence land drops around `Forbidden Orchard` only when the token matters. Play `Forbidden Orchard` early if it enables a protected `Oath of Druids` trigger or fixes missing mana; hold it when the opponent already has enough creatures, when the token worsens lethal pressure, or when another land casts the same spells without adding attackers.

- Use `Boseiju, Who Endures` as a land until its channel mode solves a visible permanent problem. Do not treat it as a tutor. If the runtime legal action offers a channel-like effect, use it on a permanent that blocks `Oath of Druids`, stops `Show and Tell`, shuts off artifact mana, or creates a losing lock; otherwise keep the land drop and mana stability.

- Resolve `Oath of Druids` triggers according to the engine, then choose only exposed legal follow-up actions. `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` is the primary hit, while `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` has Card text check required for exact role. `Gaea's Blessing` exists to protect against decking and graveyard churn when Forge exposes its trigger; do not rely on a reshuffle unless the rules engine produces it.

- Choose `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` for `Show and Tell` when the legal prompt asks for a permanent and the battlefield or hand context does not demand a different visible permanent. Avoid putting in `Oath of Druids` via `Show and Tell` unless that action is legal and tactically better than deploying a payoff immediately.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Fight stack battles over engine commitment and opposing wins. Use `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, sideboard `Mindbreak Trap`, and sideboard `Veil of Summer` only when the visible spell or ability stops your engine, wins for the opponent, strips the last protection, or answers a resolved payoff. Let low-impact spells resolve when your next action is a protected `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell`.

- Preserve blue cards for free counters unless the selected spell wins the exchange. Pitch surplus `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, extra selection, or redundant engine pieces before pitching the only `Oath of Druids`, only `Show and Tell`, or only meaningful protection. With `Force of Negation`, respect any Forge-visible timing and card-type restrictions instead of assuming it can answer every spell.

- Use `Vexing Bauble` only when its legal action text improves the current stack texture. Card text check required for exact restrictions. If it constrains free spells, sequence it before a commitment against opponents relying on free interaction, but do not strand your own `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Mindbreak Trap`, or fast-mana line without evaluating the visible legal actions.

- Cast `Flash` only through a commitment gate. Card text check required for exact creature and sacrifice handling in this rules environment. Prefer using it when the hand, mana, and protection indicate that putting a payoff creature into play or the graveyard advances a deterministic engine plan; do not fire it as a bluff if it consumes the only payoff.

- Let your own `Oath of Druids` trigger resolve before spending priority on marginal actions. Respond only if the opponent presents a visible way to remove `Oath of Druids`, change creature counts against the trigger, exile relevant zones, or win before the trigger matters. After resolution, reassess using the new public battlefield and graveyard.

- Use `Oko, Thief of Crowns` loyalty abilities only from Forge-listed actions. Choose a defensive mode against visible lethal pressure or hate creatures, and choose a proactive mode when the engine is protected and a clock is needed. Do not assume a specific loyalty ability is available without the action list.

- Time graveyard interaction at the last safe visible window. Use sideboard `Ravenous Trap` when the opponent commits to a graveyard line or when the action text confirms its trap timing; hold it through incidental graveyard movement if the opponent is not using the graveyard to win. Protect `Gaea's Blessing` triggers when they matter for survival or library integrity.

- Pass priority deliberately when the stack is harmless or your protection must cover the next exchange. Passing with mana open is correct when the opponent must act first into your counters, but unsafe when a visible battlefield clock makes waiting worse. In combat windows, use `Dismember`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or counters only if the legal action changes lethal damage, protects a payoff, or preserves the next engine turn.

## Sideboard Map

- Use sideboarding to preserve the same core engine: `Oath of Druids`, `Forbidden Orchard`, `Show and Tell`, `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, and free blue interaction remain the default plan unless a matchup directly punishes one axis. Sideboard cards should either buy a turn, win a stack fight, stop a graveyard kill, answer hate creatures, or change the payoff texture when the opponent’s answers make normal `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` combat unreliable.

- Add `Ravenous Trap` against graveyard-first decks, graveyard combo, dredge-style engines, and any opponent whose public zones show graveyard conversion as the primary kill. Its role is a zero-mana interruption that lets you keep mana for `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Flusterstorm`, or `Force of Will`. It is weaker against fair blue decks where the graveyard is incidental, against creature decks that pressure through combat without recursion, and in games where `Null Rod` or `Dismember` answers the visible threat more directly. Keep `Gaea's Blessing` in mind as self-protection, but do not treat it as opponent graveyard hate.

- Add `Dismember` against creature pressure, hate creatures, initiative-style attackers, artifact creatures, and creature-based disruption that blocks the engine. Its role changes by matchup: against aggro it preserves life and planeswalker stability; against hate-bear shells it clears a permanent that prevents `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell` from mattering; against creature-light combo it is low impact unless the opponent has a visible creature that must die. The life payment is real in Vintage races, so prefer `Dismember` when it changes a lethal clock, protects `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or clears a hate creature before committing an engine card.

- Add `Flusterstorm` against blue mirrors, storm combo, spell chains, and stack fights where one-mana interaction wins the decisive turn. It is best when protecting `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell` from opposing counters, fighting discard-plus-combo turns, or answering a visible stack chain. It is weaker against permanent-heavy artifact decks, creature combat decks, and opposing threats that resolve through abilities rather than instants or sorceries. After sideboarding, `Flusterstorm` should make the pilot more willing to wait one turn for protected commitment when the board clock allows it.

- Add `Mindbreak Trap` against storm, free-spell combo turns, and stack sequences where countering a single spell is not enough. Its role is highest when the opponent can build a stack that ignores normal counter density or when visible public actions indicate multiple spells in one turn. It is weaker against fair blue control, single-threat creature decks, and games where `Vexing Bauble` plus normal counters already constrain free interaction. Do not bring it in as generic permission unless the opponent’s plan visibly involves spell volume or uncounterable-like stack patterns.

- Add `Null Rod` against artifact mana, artifact engines, Shops-like boards, and opponents whose visible permanents convert artifacts into mana or pressure. Its role is disruptive prison support while `Oath of Druids` and lands carry the engine. It is dangerous because this deck uses `Mox Ruby`, `Mox Sapphire`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Pearl`, `Mox Emerald`, `Black Lotus`, `Lotus Petal`, `Mana Crypt`, and `Sol Ring`; after adding `Null Rod`, value land-heavy hands more and treat artifact-heavy keeps as riskier. It is bad when your own artifact acceleration is needed to race and the opponent is not relying on artifacts.

- Add `Veil of Summer` against black discard, blue permission, and stack fights where protecting a resolved commitment matters more than adding a broad counter. Its role is protection for the turn you commit `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or a key draw spell. It is weak against creature-only decks, artifact prison without blue or black interaction, and graveyard combo where `Ravenous Trap` or `Mindbreak Trap` better addresses the kill. Treat it as a commitment shield, not as a reason to jam through visible lethal pressure.

- Add `Serra's Emissary` when the opponent’s primary kill is a narrow damage type, combat class, or card-type lane that a single `Show and Tell` or `Oath of Druids` payoff can blank. Card text check required for exact naming and protection behavior. Its role is a sideboard payoff that changes the creature package when `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` drawing cards is not enough to survive. It is worse against exile effects, bounce, broad stack interaction, sacrifice effects, and opponents that can win through multiple card types. Use it only when the expected protection choice is clear from public matchup texture or visible battlefield pressure.

Graveyard combo balanced plan
Role cards: 3 Ravenous Trap; 1 Mindbreak Trap; 2 Flusterstorm
Trim roles: 2 Oko, Thief of Crowns; 1 Flash; 1 Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers; 1 Vexing Bauble; 1 Stock Up

- Graveyard combo plan: keep the engine fast while adding free graveyard stops and stack resistance. `Oko, Thief of Crowns` is slow here, `Flash` and `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` are uncertain auxiliary pieces, and one `Stock Up` can give space because the matchup rewards immediate interaction more than extra sculpting. Do not reduce `Oath of Druids`, `Forbidden Orchard`, `Show and Tell`, or the primary `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` count in the baseline plan.

Blue control / mirror balanced plan
Role cards: 2 Flusterstorm; 1 Veil of Summer; 1 Mindbreak Trap
Trim roles: 1 Mental Misstep; 1 Flash; 1 Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers; 1 Gaea's Blessing

- Blue control plan: increase cheap stack density and protect decisive engine turns. `Mental Misstep` is matchup-dependent but can be lower impact when the visible fight centers on larger counters and haymakers; `Gaea's Blessing` is least important when library/graveyard recursion is not contested. Keep `Vexing Bauble` only when the opponent visibly leans on free spells and its restriction does not damage your own commitment turn more than theirs.

Creature pressure / hate creatures balanced plan
Role cards: 4 Dismember; 2 Serra's Emissary
Trim roles: 1 Flusterstorm; 1 Mental Misstep; 1 Flash; 1 Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers; 1 Vexing Bauble; 1 Stock Up

- Creature pressure plan: buy time and make the payoff stabilize immediately. `Dismember` answers the creatures that race, disrupt, or punish `Forbidden Orchard`; `Serra's Emissary` can become the preferred `Show and Tell` or `Oath of Druids` creature when its protection mode is confirmed useful. Reduce main-deck emphasis on narrow stack tools when the opponent’s pressure is already on the battlefield.

Artifact prison / artifact engine balanced plan
Role cards: 2 Null Rod; 4 Dismember
Trim roles: 1 Flusterstorm; 1 Mental Misstep; 1 Flash; 1 Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers; 1 Gaea's Blessing; 1 Stock Up

- Artifact prison plan: use `Null Rod` to slow opposing artifact mana and use `Dismember` to clear creature pressure or lock creatures. Mulligan and sequencing change after this plan: prioritize lands, `Forbidden Orchard`, `Tropical Island`, fetchlands, and `Boseiju, Who Endures` over artifact-only acceleration. Avoid hands where `Null Rod` disables most of your mana before an engine card is deployed.

- Against fast spell combo, Add role cards: `Mindbreak Trap`, `Flusterstorm`, and sometimes `Veil of Summer`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow planeswalker pressure, uncertain auxiliary creature lines, and engine cards that do not interact before the opponent’s first kill turn. Keep the free-counter count high, and prefer hands with a clock plus interaction over sculpting-only hands.

- Against fair blue midrange, Add role cards: `Flusterstorm`, `Veil of Summer`, and matchup-dependent `Serra's Emissary`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: graveyard reshuffle insurance and any auxiliary line whose text is not currently verified. Fight over the turn that resolves `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, or `Oko, Thief of Crowns`; do not spend sideboard counters on low-pressure cantrips unless the hand cannot beat the follow-up.

- Against creature-light prison, Add role cards: `Null Rod` when artifacts matter and `Veil of Summer` only when blue or black stack interaction is visible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal if no relevant creatures are shown, and graveyard hate unless the opponent’s public zones prove recursion. `Boseiju, Who Endures` becomes more important as a land that can answer a visible permanent problem.

- Against unknown opponents, keep the main deck coherent for Game 1-style execution and sideboard only after public information identifies a pressure axis. The default engine is powerful but fragile; sideboarding too many narrow answers can create hands with interaction and no fast `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell`. Prefer the smallest package that addresses the opponent’s proven route to winning.

Explicit Sideboard Repair Plans

These balanced plans are legal Veles candidates built from the registered sideboard and main deck. Use them as baseline sideboarding options only when the matchup role fits; keep the role guidance above as the strategic source of truth.

Legal repair plan 1
Side in: 2 Serra's Emissary; Mindbreak Trap; Dismember
Cut: 4 Force of Will

Legal repair plan 2
Side in: Serra's Emissary; Mindbreak Trap; 2 Dismember
Cut: 3 Force of Will; Oath of Druids

Legal repair plan 3
Side in: Mindbreak Trap; 3 Dismember
Cut: 2 Force of Will; 2 Oath of Druids

Legal repair plan 4
Side in: 4 Dismember
Cut: Force of Will; 3 Oath of Druids

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: prioritize a fast stabilizing engine over perfect card volume. Keep hands that can put `Oath of Druids` onto the battlefield early with `Forbidden Orchard`, or that can resolve `Show and Tell` into `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` before combat damage becomes decisive. Use `Force of Will` and `Force of Negation` mainly on hate permanents, burn-like reach that closes the game immediately, or effects that stop the engine; do not trade free counters for low-impact creatures if `Oath of Druids` will convert their board into your payoff. Add role cards: `Dismember` and sometimes `Serra's Emissary`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow sculpting and narrow stack-only interaction when the opponent is winning through visible creatures.

- Control: make the game about one protected commitment rather than many medium threats. Use `Stock Up`, `Ancestral Recall`, and `Gitaxian Probe` to time `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, or `Oko, Thief of Crowns` around open mana and known interaction. Protect the decisive spell with `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, and `Veil of Summer` when available. `Vexing Bauble` can be strong when the opponent relies on free interaction, but check your own ability to fight through it before deploying it. Add role cards: `Flusterstorm`, `Veil of Summer`, and sometimes `Mindbreak Trap`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal and graveyard-specific cards unless public information shows those axes matter.

- Combo: identify whether the opposing combo is stack-based, graveyard-based, permanent-based, or combat-based before spending interaction. Against fast spell chains, hold `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, and `Mindbreak Trap` for the first spell that materially enables the kill rather than for harmless setup. Against graveyard combo, value `Ravenous Trap` highly and do not tap out for slow `Oko, Thief of Crowns` if the opponent can win before your next decision. Against permanent combo, `Boseiju, Who Endures` and `Force of Will` are often more important than incremental card draw. Add role cards: `Mindbreak Trap`, `Flusterstorm`, `Ravenous Trap`, and matchup-dependent `Veil of Summer`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow planeswalker pressure and uncertain auxiliary creature lines.

- Tempo: protect mana development and do not let early pressure force a reckless `Show and Tell`. Fetch or play lands so `Tropical Island`, `Island`, `Hedge Maze`, `Forbidden Orchard`, and `Boseiju, Who Endures` can keep casting through soft pressure if artifacts are checked. `Oath of Druids` is especially strong when the opponent has a small creature clock, but `Forbidden Orchard` tokens can become a liability if the engine is not present. Use `Dismember` on the creature that turns their permission into a short clock. Add role cards: `Dismember`, `Flusterstorm`, and `Veil of Summer`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: fragile artifact acceleration in post-board games where `Null Rod` or opposing artifact hate is likely.

- Midrange: force them to answer a card type they are least prepared for. If they lean on creatures, `Oath of Druids` plus `Forbidden Orchard` punishes the battlefield; if they lean on removal and discard, `Show and Tell` into `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` can refuel; if they lean on permanents, `Oko, Thief of Crowns` and `Boseiju, Who Endures` can contest the board. Do not overuse free counters on one-for-one disruption unless the protected card will immediately stabilize. Add role cards: `Dismember`, `Veil of Summer`, and sometimes `Serra's Emissary`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow stack interaction when the opponent’s decisive resources are already on board.

- Big mana: commit before the opponent’s expensive permanents dominate, but keep interaction for the card that changes inevitability. Fast artifact starts with `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Lotus Petal`, or the Moxen can justify early `Show and Tell` if the payoff is `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` and the opponent’s visible hand or battlefield does not imply a better permanent from them. `Oath of Druids` is slower if the opponent is creature-light, so avoid hands that require them to supply a creature unless `Forbidden Orchard` is present. Add role cards: `Null Rod` when artifact mana is central, `Flusterstorm` when the matchup is spell-driven, and `Boseiju, Who Endures` remains a key main-deck answer to visible permanent engines. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature-only answers when no relevant creatures are shown.

- Graveyard: separate your own graveyard reliance from the opponent’s graveyard reliance. `Gaea's Blessing` can matter for self-mill or long-library texture, but do not assume it stops the opponent unless the rules engine presents a legal effect. `Ravenous Trap` should be saved for the opponent’s commitment turn or for a public graveyard threshold that enables a kill. `Oath of Druids` into `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` remains the cleanest plan if graveyard hate would dilute the opponent’s pressure. Add role cards: `Ravenous Trap`, `Mindbreak Trap`, and `Flusterstorm`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Oko, Thief of Crowns` and other slow value pieces when the opponent can win from the graveyard quickly.

- Artifact/enchantment: answer the permanent that blocks your engine, not the permanent that is merely annoying. Use `Boseiju, Who Endures` for visible lock pieces, engine artifacts, or enchantments that stop `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, or combat survival. `Null Rod` is powerful against artifact mana and artifact engines, but it also shuts down `Mox Ruby`, `Mox Sapphire`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Pearl`, `Mox Emerald`, `Black Lotus`, `Lotus Petal`, `Mana Crypt`, and `Sol Ring`; after adding it, favor land-heavy hands and cast key artifact acceleration before deploying it when legal and strategically sound. Add role cards: `Null Rod`, `Dismember` for artifact creatures or hate creatures, and matchup-dependent `Veil of Summer`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: artifact-heavy keeps and narrow counters that do not answer resolved permanents.

- Go-wide: do not feed the board with `Forbidden Orchard` unless `Oath of Druids` is already active, immediately protected, or necessary to force a payoff. `Oath of Druids` can still dominate go-wide boards by finding `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, but extra tokens matter if the opponent can kill before the trigger or attack around one blocker. `Oko, Thief of Crowns` can stabilize some boards but should not be treated as a sweeper. Add role cards: `Dismember` for key lords, hate creatures, or the creature that makes combat lethal, and `Serra's Emissary` when its protection mode is confirmed relevant. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow draw spells when survival before the next combat step is the bottleneck.

- Single-threat: conserve removal and counters for the one permanent that actually ends the game. `Dismember` is best when it cleanly answers the visible threat or removes a hate creature blocking the engine. `Oko, Thief of Crowns` can neutralize a single opposing permanent if the rules engine offers the legal action, but do not assume protection from abilities or static text without checking the visible action and card text. `Show and Tell` is risky if the opponent’s single threat deck can put in a better permanent, so prefer `Oath of Druids` when time permits. Add role cards: `Dismember`, `Veil of Summer`, and matchup-dependent `Serra's Emissary`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: broad graveyard hate unless the single threat is graveyard-enabled.

- Burn: treat life total as a hard resource cap and avoid paying life casually. `Dismember` is conditional because its life payment can matter; use it only when the removed creature or threat prevents more damage than the payment risks. `Mana Crypt`, `Ancient Tomb`, fetchlands, and painful lines must be evaluated against visible damage on board and known burn-like pressure. `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` is the preferred stabilizer when it can enter quickly through `Show and Tell` or `Oath of Druids`. Add role cards: `Serra's Emissary` if its protection mode is verified to blank the opponent’s main damage lane, plus `Flusterstorm` for spell-heavy versions. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow value and unnecessary life-payment lines.

- Removal-heavy: make opposing removal awkward by presenting noncreature engines and immediate card advantage. `Oath of Druids` can win without casting a creature, `Show and Tell` can put `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` directly onto the battlefield, and `Oko, Thief of Crowns` pressures from a different permanent type. Do not overprotect a creature if the better fight is over resolving the engine that produced it. `Veil of Summer` is strongest when visible black or blue interaction threatens the commitment turn. Add role cards: `Veil of Summer`, `Flusterstorm`, and sometimes `Serra's Emissary` if its protection mode matches public removal texture. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal and graveyard hate unless the opponent’s threats require them.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- General/archetype-only note: revealed cards, legal actions, and public board state override every matchup assumption. Use these notes as priority scaffolding for an unknown Vintage opponent, then let the rules engine decide what can actually be cast, targeted, countered, protected, or attacked.

- Fast blue combo: protect the first decisive engine turn rather than fighting over every setup spell. Prioritize `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, and post-board `Mindbreak Trap` for the opponent’s commitment spell or protection spell. Add role cards: `Flusterstorm`, `Mindbreak Trap`, and sometimes `Veil of Summer`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow `Oko, Thief of Crowns` lines and creature-removal effects unless a visible creature is the combo engine.

- Artifact mana or prison: treat `Null Rod` as both a weapon and a self-tax. Add role cards: `Null Rod`, `Dismember` for visible hate creatures, and keep `Boseiju, Who Endures` as the clean answer to resolved artifact or enchantment pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: artifact-heavy hands after `Null Rod` is involved; prioritize `Forbidden Orchard`, `Tropical Island`, `Island`, `Hedge Maze`, and fetchlands for post-board mana.

- Graveyard combo: hold graveyard hate for the commitment point that matters, not the first card entering a graveyard. `Ravenous Trap` is for public graveyard bursts or a visible engine turn; `Mindbreak Trap` and `Flusterstorm` cover spell-chain kills; `Force of Will` and `Force of Negation` cover the payoff when hate is absent. Add role cards: `Ravenous Trap`, `Mindbreak Trap`, and `Flusterstorm`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow planeswalker value and low-impact draw if the opponent can win before `Oath of Druids` resolves.

- Creature pressure: stabilize through `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, or a removal-protected `Oko, Thief of Crowns`. Use `Forbidden Orchard` only when enabling `Oath of Druids` is worth the extra attacker or when a token is tactically irrelevant. Add role cards: `Dismember` and matchup-dependent `Serra's Emissary`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: stack-only interaction when the opponent’s lethal pressure is already on the battlefield.

- Fair blue or discard: make the commitment turn dense enough that one answer is not enough. `Gitaxian Probe` can justify going now if public hand information shows a clear opening; `Ancestral Recall`, `Stock Up`, and `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` are the best refill tools after an exchange. Add role cards: `Veil of Summer`, `Flusterstorm`, and sometimes `Serra's Emissary`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow graveyard hate unless revealed cards require it.

## Risk Summary

- Mana risk: `Null Rod` weakens `Black Lotus`, `Lotus Petal`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, and every Mox, so post-board keeps must rely more on lands. `Ancient Tomb`, fetchlands, `Gitaxian Probe`, `Mana Crypt`, and `Dismember` can convert life into tempo, but that exchange is unsafe against visible pressure or burn-like spell density.

- Matchup risk: `Show and Tell` can give the opponent a stronger permanent than `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` if their public texture suggests large permanents. Prefer `Oath of Druids` when the opponent is creature-based and `Forbidden Orchard` is available; prefer protected speed only when waiting exposes the game to a faster kill.

- Draw risk: hands with interaction but no engine can lose to topdeck pressure, and hands with engines but no protection can lose to a single answer. `Stock Up`, `Ancestral Recall`, and `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` should be valued as recovery tools, but do not spend the turn drawing if a legal protected engine wins or prevents lethal.

- Over-sideboarding risk: adding too many `Dismember`, `Null Rod`, `Ravenous Trap`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Veil of Summer`, or `Serra's Emissary` can dilute `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, and protection density. Keep the deck’s core commitment plan intact unless revealed cards prove a narrow axis is decisive.

- Graveyard risk: `Oath of Druids` milling and `Gaea's Blessing` interactions should be followed from engine output, not assumed. If graveyard hate is present, plan around resolving or hard-putting `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` through `Show and Tell` rather than relying on uncertain library or graveyard loops.

- Sweeper/removal risk: `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, `Serra's Emissary`, and `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` can still be answered by legal effects the opponent presents. Card text check required for `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers`; do not treat it as a deterministic closer unless Veles exposes exact legal text and board impact.

- Closer risk: `Oko, Thief of Crowns` stabilizes and pressures slowly, but it is not a guaranteed finisher against combo or big mana. If a fast protected `Show and Tell` or `Oath of Druids` line is legal, do not choose incremental planeswalker value purely because it is safer-looking.

- Interaction risk: free counters require blue cards and exact legality. Pitching `Stock Up`, `Show and Tell`, or `Oath of Druids` can strand a hand; pitching extra `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` is often cleaner when one payoff is enough, but only visible hand context can decide.

- Sequencing risk: casting `Vexing Bauble` or `Null Rod` before using your own zero-mana resources may lock away your strongest tempo. Use artifact mana first when legal and useful, then commit hate permanents if the opponent’s axis demands them.

## Test Feedback Checklist

- Deciding factor: Identify the turn and legal action that most changed the game: resolving `Oath of Druids`, resolving `Show and Tell`, resolving `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, protecting a commitment with `Force of Will` or `Force of Negation`, failing to stop an opposing engine, or losing to battlefield pressure before the deck stabilized.
- Mulligans: Record whether each keep had a real engine path, sufficient mana, and at least one interaction or velocity tool. Flag hands that kept only artifact mana plus cantrips, hands that kept `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` without `Show and Tell` or `Oath of Druids`, and hands that had protection but no proactive plan.
- Mana: Check whether `Forbidden Orchard`, `Tropical Island`, `Island`, `Hedge Maze`, fetchlands, `Ancient Tomb`, `Black Lotus`, `Lotus Petal`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, and the Moxen produced the needed colors on the commitment turn. Note any game where `Null Rod` or `Vexing Bauble` interfered with our own tempo.
- Velocity: Track whether `Ancestral Recall`, `Stock Up`, `Gitaxian Probe`, `Time Walk`, and `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` turned resources into a protected engine or merely delayed action. Note spots where drawing was chosen while a legal engine commitment was available.
- Engine: For each `Oath of Druids` game, confirm whether `Forbidden Orchard` was used only when the extra creature was worth enabling Oath. Record whether `Gaea's Blessing` mattered through actual engine output rather than assumed loops.
- Show plan: For each `Show and Tell`, record what permanent the opponent put onto the battlefield and whether public information suggested waiting, protecting, or choosing another line.
- Interaction: Audit whether `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Veil of Summer`, and `Vexing Bauble` were held for decisive actions or spent on low-impact spells.
- Removal and board control: Record whether `Dismember`, `Boseiju, Who Endures`, and `Oko, Thief of Crowns` answered the permanent that actually threatened the plan. Flag losses where stack interaction was held while visible battlefield pressure was lethal or near lethal.
- Sideboard: Check whether `Dismember`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Null Rod`, `Ravenous Trap`, `Veil of Summer`, and `Serra's Emissary` affected the axis they were brought to address. Note overloading on narrow cards when the deck failed to present `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell`.
- Closing: Record how wins ended: `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` attacks, `Serra's Emissary` protection, `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or opponent concession through locked resources. Card text check required for `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` before assigning cause.
- Role: After each match, label whether the pilot correctly played control, combo, or stabilizing midgame. Flag games where the role changed after revealed information but the decisions stayed on the old plan.
- Mistakes: Mark every pass with strong legal interaction available, every commitment into known resistance, every unnecessary life payment under pressure, and every action that stranded a key card.
- Stranded cards: List cards stuck in hand at game end, especially `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, `Show and Tell`, `Oath of Druids`, duplicate payoffs, free counters without blue cards, `Null Rod`, and graveyard hate with no graveyard pressure.
- Overperformers and underperformers: Track which exact cards repeatedly created wins, saved losing positions, or failed to matter after being drawn, cast, or boarded.

## First Tuning Questions

- Engine density: If losses often involve no `Oath of Druids` or `Show and Tell` by the first meaningful decision window, should the deck change velocity, payoff count, or acceptance criteria for mulligans rather than increasing reactive cards?
- Payoff mix: If extra `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` copies are stranded, is four copies still correct with `Show and Tell`, or does the deck need a different balance with `Serra's Emissary` or `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` after card text verification?
- Mana base: If `Forbidden Orchard` tokens create too much pressure, does the pilot need stricter Orchard timing, or does the list need more stable colored sources around `Tropical Island`, `Island`, `Hedge Maze`, and fetchlands?
- Artifact tension: If `Null Rod` is powerful but repeatedly weakens `Black Lotus`, `Lotus Petal`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, and the Moxen, should post-board plans reduce artifact dependence more aggressively or reserve `Null Rod` for narrower matchups?
- Interaction balance: If combo losses happen with counters stranded, are `Force of Will`, `Force of Negation`, `Flusterstorm`, `Mental Misstep`, `Mindbreak Trap`, and `Veil of Summer` being aimed at the wrong stack points, or are the quantities mismatched to the expected field?
- Creature-pressure plan: If aggressive boards win before the engine stabilizes, should `Dismember`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, `Serra's Emissary`, or faster `Show and Tell` commitment receive higher priority in sideboard and mulligan policy?
- Graveyard plan: If `Ravenous Trap` is drawn but irrelevant, is the sideboard overcommitted to graveyard interaction, or did the pilot fire it before the opponent’s actual commitment turn?
- Closing speed: If `Oko, Thief of Crowns` stabilizes but does not close, should the pilot favor `Show and Tell` and protected Oath lines sooner, or should the list improve noncreature pressure?
- Role conflict: If hands contain both hate permanents and fast combo resources, which matchups require the control posture, and which require immediate protected commitment despite possible disruption?
- Sideboard slots: If a sideboard card does not appear in recorded deciding turns across multiple matches, should its slot become more flexible interaction, more creature-pressure coverage, or a more reliable protection card?

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Engine-Path Mulligan Gate
- Priority: High
- Decision families: mulligan
- Cards: Oath of Druids; Show and Tell; Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Forbidden Orchard; Stock Up; Force of Will; Force of Negation
- Phase windows: opening hand, mulligan, post-mulligan bottom
- Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; visible opening hand
- Use when: deciding keep, mulligan, or London bottom for a hand without a clear first engine path.
- Avoid when: Forge has advanced beyond mulligan decisions.
- Instructions: Keep hands that combine mana, an engine route, and either protection or velocity; downgrade hands with only payoff creatures, only free counters, or artifact mana without colored follow-up. Bottom redundant `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` before unique engine, mana, or protection unless `Show and Tell` is already the selected plan.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Early Oath Setup
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: mana, priority
- Cards: Oath of Druids; Forbidden Orchard; Tropical Island; Black Lotus; Mox Emerald; Mox Sapphire
- Phase windows: turn one through turn three main phases, opponent end step if legal mana activation matters
- Runtime cues: action:cast Oath of Druids; action:activate Forbidden Orchard
- Use when: `Oath of Druids` is castable or already on battlefield and opponent creature count determines whether it can trigger.
- Avoid when: opponent already controls a creature or visible pressure makes extra tokens dangerous before Oath can trigger.
- Instructions: Commit `Oath of Druids` early when it is protected or the opponent is unlikely to answer it immediately; use `Forbidden Orchard` to give the opponent a creature only when enabling the next Oath trigger or fixing mana for a decisive play. Do not feed tokens just to spend mana.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Oath Trigger Execution
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: selection, priority
- Cards: Oath of Druids; Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Gaea's Blessing; Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers
- Phase windows: beginning of upkeep, triggered ability resolution
- Runtime cues: action:resolve Oath of Druids; prompt:Oath of Druids
- Use when: Forge presents legal Oath trigger choices or resolution prompts.
- Avoid when: the action list does not identify `Oath of Druids`.
- Instructions: Let the rules engine reveal and move cards; do not infer library order or hidden contents. If a choice appears between eligible Oath actions, preserve the line that produces a real payoff and keeps `Gaea's Blessing` handling governed by Forge output.
- Pilot skill floor: low
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Show And Tell Commitment Gate
- Priority: High
- Decision families: priority, interaction
- Cards: Show and Tell; Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Serra's Emissary; Force of Will; Force of Negation; Flusterstorm; Veil of Summer
- Phase windows: main phase with priority, stack response windows
- Runtime cues: action:cast Show and Tell
- Use when: `Show and Tell` is legal and the hand contains a battlefield-impact permanent.
- Avoid when: public information shows the opponent can put a more dangerous permanent onto the battlefield or the pilot lacks protection against visible resistance.
- Instructions: Cast `Show and Tell` when waiting gives the opponent more draw steps than protection; favor protected commitment over speculative draw when the opponent clock is short. Account for opposing revealed permanents, open mana, and known stack interaction before tapping out.
- Pilot skill floor: high
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Show And Tell Permanent Selection
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: selection
- Cards: Show and Tell; Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Serra's Emissary; Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers
- Phase windows: `Show and Tell` resolution
- Runtime cues: action:put Atraxa, Grand Unifier; action:put Serra's Emissary; action:put Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers
- Use when: Forge asks which permanent to put onto the battlefield for `Show and Tell`.
- Avoid when: the legal actions do not include a named permanent from hand.
- Instructions: Choose `Atraxa, Grand Unifier` when card advantage and a large body are needed; choose `Serra's Emissary` when its visible protection choice can lock out the opponent’s main damage or interaction axis. Card text check required for `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers` before preferring it over known payoff bodies.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Permission Commitment Gate
- Priority: High
- Decision families: interaction, priority
- Cards: Force of Will; Force of Negation; Flusterstorm; Mental Misstep; Mindbreak Trap; Veil of Summer; Vexing Bauble
- Phase windows: all stack windows, especially opponent combo turn and own engine commitment turn
- Runtime cues: action:cast Force of Will; action:cast Force of Negation; action:cast Flusterstorm; action:cast Mental Misstep; action:cast Mindbreak Trap; action:cast Veil of Summer
- Use when: an opposing spell, ability, or protection fight threatens to stop `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, or survival.
- Avoid when: the opposed spell is low-impact and spending interaction exposes the engine to a decisive follow-up.
- Instructions: Spend free permission on cards that stop the engine, win immediately, remove the payoff, or create lethal pressure; preserve blue cards for `Force of Will` and `Force of Negation` unless the current stack decides the game.
- Pilot skill floor: high
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Force Pitch Selection
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: selection, interaction
- Cards: Force of Will; Force of Negation; Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Stock Up; Show and Tell; Oath of Druids; Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Phase windows: alternate-cost payment prompts
- Runtime cues: prompt:exile a blue card; action:exile
- Use when: Forge asks for a blue card to pay for `Force of Will` or `Force of Negation`.
- Avoid when: hard-casting is legal and preserves a necessary blue card without losing the stack fight.
- Instructions: Exile redundant velocity or extra payoff before the only engine piece; do not exile the last `Show and Tell` when hand relies on `Atraxa, Grand Unifier`, and do not exile the only `Oath of Druids` when Orchard setup is already present.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Fast-Mana Burst Gate
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: mana, priority
- Cards: Black Lotus; Lotus Petal; Mana Crypt; Sol Ring; Mox Emerald; Mox Jet; Mox Pearl; Mox Ruby; Mox Sapphire; Ancient Tomb
- Phase windows: main phase, commitment turn, counter-war turn
- Runtime cues: action:activate Black Lotus; action:sacrifice Lotus Petal; action:tap Mana Crypt; action:tap Ancient Tomb
- Use when: fast mana enables protected `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, or a decisive interaction sequence.
- Avoid when: using the mana only empties resources into a pass or into visible hate such as `Null Rod` already controlled by either player.
- Instructions: Convert burst mana into a board-changing spell or protected stack fight; keep one-shot sources unspent when the current legal actions do not advance the engine.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Fetch And Color Discipline
- Priority: Low
- Decision families: mana, selection
- Cards: Flooded Strand; Misty Rainforest; Polluted Delta; Scalding Tarn; Tropical Island; Island; Hedge Maze
- Phase windows: land play, fetch activation, color-fixing prompts
- Runtime cues: action:search; action:fetch; action:choose Tropical Island; action:choose Island; action:choose Hedge Maze
- Use when: a land search or color choice is legal.
- Avoid when: the chosen land would strand a visible required color for the selected engine line.
- Instructions: Prioritize blue and green for `Oath of Druids`, counters, `Stock Up`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, and `Show and Tell`; fetch basic `Island` when life, denial, or nonbasic pressure matters and green is already covered.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Draw Before Commit
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: selection, priority
- Cards: Ancestral Recall; Gitaxian Probe; Stock Up; Time Walk
- Phase windows: precombat main, upkeep only if legal, before protected commitment
- Runtime cues: action:cast Ancestral Recall; action:cast Gitaxian Probe; action:cast Stock Up; action:cast Time Walk
- Use when: velocity can find missing mana, protection, or an engine piece before a commitment.
- Avoid when: a protected engine line is already legal and passing priority gives the opponent a meaningful extra turn.
- Instructions: Use `Gitaxian Probe` before commitment if it reveals resistance; use `Ancestral Recall` and `Stock Up` to assemble a protected line, not to delay lethal or stabilization. Treat `Time Walk` as setup plus attack tempo after a payoff is present.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Oko Stabilization Gate
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: priority, interaction, combat
- Cards: Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Phase windows: main phase, battlefield pressure turns
- Runtime cues: action:cast Oko, Thief of Crowns; action:activate Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Use when: a visible permanent or creature pressure can be neutralized, or Oko creates time for Oath or Show.
- Avoid when: tapping out for Oko leaves a known stack-combo or lethal combat line unanswered.
- Instructions: Use `Oko, Thief of Crowns` as a stabilizer before a win condition when battlefield pressure is the problem; target selection must consider visible threats, damage clocks, and whether an Elk plan interferes with Oath creature counts.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Removal And Boseiju Target Gate
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: interaction, selection
- Cards: Dismember; Boseiju, Who Endures; Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Phase windows: opponent combat, end step, own main phase, stack-independent permanent-answer windows
- Runtime cues: action:cast Dismember; action:channel Boseiju, Who Endures; action:activate Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Use when: a visible creature or permanent threatens lethal, disables the engine, or prevents a payoff from stabilizing.
- Avoid when: the target is cosmetic and the answer is needed for a known hate permanent or immediate combat threat.
- Instructions: Point removal at the permanent that changes the next decision cycle; account for life payments on `Dismember` under pressure and for the opponent receiving a resource from `Boseiju, Who Endures` if Forge shows that outcome.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat With Payoff Creatures
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: combat
- Cards: Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Serra's Emissary; Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers; Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Phase windows: declare attackers, declare blockers, combat damage
- Runtime cues: action:attack; action:block
- Use when: payoff creatures or Oko-created creatures can attack or block.
- Avoid when: combat risks the only stabilizing payoff into visible lethal crack-back or visible removal windows.
- Instructions: Attack when the clock advances without losing control of the board; block when preserving life matters more than damage output. Card text check required before assigning special combat roles to `Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers`.
- Pilot skill floor: medium
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Serra's Emissary Protection Choice
- Priority: Medium
- Decision families: selection
- Cards: Serra's Emissary
- Phase windows: enter-the-battlefield choice prompt
- Runtime cues: action:choose card type; prompt:Serra's Emissary
- Use when: Forge asks for the protection choice for `Serra's Emissary`.
- Avoid when: the visible opponent axis is unclear and another legal payoff line remains available before committing Emissary.
- Instructions: Choose the card type that matches the visible route that can beat the board: creature against combat damage, instant or sorcery against stack-heavy removal or combo, artifact against artifact boards when public information supports it.
- Pilot skill floor: high
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Self-Protection Pass
- Priority: Low
- Decision families: priority
- Cards: none
- Phase windows: priority windows with empty stack
- Runtime cues: action:pass priority
- Use when: the stack is empty, no legal action text names `Oath of Druids`, `Show and Tell`, `Oko, Thief of Crowns`, `Ancestral Recall`, `Stock Up`, `Dismember`, `Boseiju, Who Endures`, or a counterspell, and no attackers or blockers are being declared.
- Avoid when: any legal action text names an engine, interaction spell, removal spell, draw spell, or combat declaration.
- Instructions: Pass priority only for procedural advancement after verifying the visible legal action list lacks a material play.
- Pilot skill floor: low
- No-API allowed: yes
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Ravenous Trap Target Opponent
- Priority: Low
- Decision families: selection, interaction
- Cards: Ravenous Trap
- Phase windows: graveyard-hate target prompt
- Runtime cues: action:target opponent Ravenous Trap
- Use when: the legal action text contains `Ravenous Trap` and `target opponent`, and the prompt is only selecting the player whose graveyard will be affected.
- Avoid when: multiple non-opponent target actions are legal or the prompt asks whether to cast `Ravenous Trap`.
- Instructions: Select the opponent target after the graveyard-hate commitment has already been made by a prior decision.
- Pilot skill floor: low
- No-API allowed: yes
- Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Axis Selection
- Priority: High
- Decision families: sideboard
- Cards: Dismember; Flusterstorm; Mindbreak Trap; Null Rod; Ravenous Trap; Serra's Emissary; Veil of Summer; Force of Negation; Vexing Bauble; Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Phase windows: between games
- Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; match_stage:postboard
- Use when: choosing a sideboard plan after Game 1 or revising after Game 2.
- Avoid when: exact locked sideboard actions have already been submitted.
- Instructions: Add graveyard hate against graveyard engines, extra stack interaction against spell combo, `Dismember` against creature pressure, `Null Rod` against artifact mana engines, `Veil of Summer` against blue or black interaction, and `Serra's Emissary` when Show/Oath payoff texture needs a protection body. Preserve enough main-deck engines after sideboarding.
- Pilot skill floor: high
- No-API allowed: no
- Light-model allowed: yes
