# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Selesnya Depths is a Legacy Selesnya land-combo midrange deck registered as 61 main-deck cards and 15 sideboard cards. The active validation contract passes for Legacy because the main deck is at least 60 cards and the sideboard is at most 15 cards; this guide should still treat 61 cards as a consistency cost when evaluating marginal keeps, sideboard cuts, and tutor density.

Use the tags `combo` and `midrange` as the active archetype labels, with the duplicated input tags normalized to those two strategic roles. The deck is a hybrid build: the core `Dark Depths` plus `Thespian's Stage`, `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Mox Diamond`, `Wasteland`, and `Swords to Plowshares` package resembles established Legacy Selesnya Depths shells, while `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, `Erode`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, `Six`, `Echoing Deeps`, `Talon Gates of Madara`, and `Lush Portico` make this exact registration a deck-specific or partially rogue configuration rather than a purely stock list.

Treat the primary identity as proactive land-combo pressure backed by a creature toolbox and disruptive lands. The agent should understand the deck as a `Dark Depths` deck first, a `Knight of the Reliquary` and `Elvish Reclaimer` toolbox deck second, and a fair Selesnya creature deck third; fair combat plans matter, but they should not override a clean, legal, protected `Dark Depths` line when visible information supports going for it.

Respect the runtime engine before all strategic labels. The guide gives tactical preferences, but Veles must choose only from legal actions exposed by the rules engine, must use visible board state and public information, and must avoid assuming hidden removal, hidden countermagic, unknown hand contents, or unverified rules outcomes unless those cards or effects are revealed or otherwise represented in engine output.

Flag card-text uncertainty before relying on unfamiliar registered cards. Card text check required for `Badgermole Cub`, `Erode`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, `Scythecat Cub`, `Six`, `Talon Gates of Madara`, and sideboard `Icetill Explorer` before making exact trigger, target, timing, stat, or replacement-effect claims; until checked, use them through legal action text and visible engine metadata rather than assumed oracle text.

Monitor mana stability as a real deckbuilding concern. The mana base is powerful but tight: `Mox Diamond` can accelerate or fix only when an extra land is available, `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Wasteland`, `Blast Zone`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Karakas`, `Sejiri Steppe`, `Talon Gates of Madara`, and `Echoing Deeps` can create awkward colored-mana sequences, and early green access is critical for `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` development.

Treat opponent information as unspecified at guide-import time. No exact opponent decklist, matchup, hand, battlefield, graveyard, exile, or sideboard plan is known from this batch; matchup-specific sections may later discuss broad Legacy archetypes, but runtime decisions must prioritize the actual visible opponent cards and logged public actions over metagame guesses.

Preserve exact registered names in all tactical and sideboard decisions. Legal `Cut:` names are only the registered main-deck cards, and legal `Side in:` names are only `Collector Ouphe`, `Disruptor Flute`, `Doorkeeper Thrull`, `Endurance`, `Force of Vigor`, `Gaddock Teeg`, `Icetill Explorer`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Outland Liberator`, and `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`; absent staples or generic format cards must not be treated as available tools.

## Thesis
Selesnya Depths assembles a land-based kill with `Dark Depths` plus `Thespian's Stage`, then protects or forces through the resulting threat with tutor density, land utility, and cheap interaction. The deck should prioritize early green access, a credible path to `Dark Depths`, and enough protection or disruption to make the combo turn survive visible opposing interaction.

The deck wins by converting lands into inevitability instead of trying to play a long generic creature curve. `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` find the exact land needed; `Green Sun's Zenith` increases access to creature engines; `Mox Diamond` turns land-heavy hands into faster setup; and `Wasteland`, `Karakas`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Blast Zone`, `Sejiri Steppe`, and `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth` give the land package real tactical texture.

Prioritize protected combo pressure over fair damage when both lines are legal and visible information favors commitment. A fast `Dark Depths` line is the cleanest plan, but the agent should not blindly sacrifice stability: keep enough mana, land count, or tutor redundancy to recover if the first land line is answered, and delay commitment when visible public information shows an immediate answer that can be played around.

Use the creature plan as pressure, tutoring infrastructure, and recovery rather than as a default beatdown identity. `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, `Six`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, and `Dryad Arbor` can occupy the board, pressure life totals, or enable land decisions, but the deck is not trying to win by ignoring the `Dark Depths` package and simply attacking with small creatures.

Respect card-text uncertainty for unusual registered cards. Card text check required for `Badgermole Cub`, `Erode`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, `Scythecat Cub`, `Six`, `Talon Gates of Madara`, and `Icetill Explorer`; until runtime text or engine output confirms details, treat them by visible legal actions, costs, targets, and resulting engine metadata rather than assumed abilities.

## Role Package
- Threats: `Dark Depths` plus `Thespian's Stage` is the primary threat package, while `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, `Dryad Arbor`, and `Six` provide board presence when the combo is delayed or when fair pressure is the safer visible line.

- Payoffs: `Dark Depths` is the defining payoff, and `Knight of the Reliquary` is the main fair payoff because it turns land density into both size and land selection. `Scythecat Cub` and `Badgermole Cub` may be payoff or pressure pieces, but card text check required before assigning exact trigger-based or combat-based priorities.

- Engines: `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Crop Rotation`, `Mox Diamond`, and `Six` form the repeatable setup core. Use these cards to convert excess lands, graveyard access, or creature tutoring into the exact board state needed for combo, disruption, or recovery; card text check required before relying on exact `Six` recursion lines.

- Velocity: `Green Sun's Zenith` is creature access, `Crop Rotation` is instant-speed land access, `Mox Diamond` is acceleration when the hand contains expendable lands, and fetchlands such as `Windswept Heath` support fixing and graveyard fuel. Do not treat velocity as pure speed if it empties the hand into a visibly fragile combo attempt.

- Interaction: `Swords to Plowshares` handles opposing creatures, `Wasteland` attacks opposing mana or utility lands, `Karakas` answers legal legendary-creature pressure when applicable, `Bojuka Bog` pressures graveyards, `Blast Zone` can answer board clusters, and `Erode` is interaction only as confirmed by card text or legal action text.

- Protection: `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Sejiri Steppe`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, and `Talon Gates of Madara` are the registered protection module, but card text check required for `Legolas's Quick Reflexes` and `Talon Gates of Madara`. Protect the combo threat when the engine exposes a legal protective action and visible information says protection matters more than developing another resource.

- Recursion: `Six` and `Echoing Deeps` are the apparent recursion or land-reuse module, but card text check required before treating either as guaranteed recovery. Use recursion to rebuild after `Wasteland` exchanges, sacrificed lands, or answered combo pieces only when runtime legality confirms the line.

- Mana: `Savannah`, `Forest`, `Plains`, `Lush Portico`, `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth`, `Windswept Heath`, `Mox Diamond`, `Dryad Arbor`, `Flagstones of Trokair`, and utility lands must be sequenced to preserve early green. Avoid hands where `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Wasteland`, or other colorless utility lands prevent casting the setup cards that make those lands powerful.

- Sideboard modules: `Collector Ouphe`, `Force of Vigor`, and `Outland Liberator` address artifact or enchantment pressure; `Endurance` and `Bojuka Bog` style effects cover graveyard pressure; `Mindbreak Trap`, `Gaddock Teeg`, and `Disruptor Flute` are anti-combo or spell-axis tools; `Doorkeeper Thrull` is a hate piece whose exact use requires confirmed text; `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` pressures creature-heavy boards; and `Icetill Explorer` requires card text check before strategic assignment.

## Primary Win Conditions

- `Dark Depths` plus `Thespian's Stage` is the primary kill, and the setup is to put both lands into play with enough mana and protection to survive the opponent's visible answer window. Use natural land drops, `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` to assemble the pair; use `Mox Diamond` only when the discarded land does not strand the combo or remove needed colored mana.

- Execute the `Dark Depths` line when the engine presents the legal activation or land-search sequence and the visible board does not demand a defensive detour. The normal commitment pattern is to find the missing land, activate `Thespian's Stage` copying `Dark Depths`, let the rules engine create the resulting threat, then preserve attack access with `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, or `Talon Gates of Madara` only when legal action text confirms the relevant protection; card text check required for `Legolas's Quick Reflexes` and `Talon Gates of Madara`.

- Prioritize the fast combo when the opponent is low on visible mana, tapped low, under graveyard or land pressure, or presenting a faster deterministic clock. Delay the combo when visible public information shows an immediate answer that can be played around by waiting for `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, an extra land-search effect, or `Wasteland` pressure.

- Protect the combo by choosing land tutors for the missing protection land when the combo is already assembled or nearly assembled. `Crop Rotation` and `Knight of the Reliquary` can find `Sejiri Steppe`, `Karakas`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Blast Zone`, `Wasteland`, or `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth` as needed, but do not spend the last tutor on utility if that leaves no route to `Dark Depths` or `Thespian's Stage`.

- Use `Knight of the Reliquary` as both a threat and a combo engine when the game slows down. A resolved `Knight of the Reliquary` can pressure life totals, turn excess lands into exact utility, and threaten the combo every turn; prioritize keeping it alive when it is the only active way to find `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, or protective lands.

## Secondary Win Conditions

- Win fair games with oversized land-synergy creatures when the combo is delayed, disrupted, or visibly unsafe. `Knight of the Reliquary` is the main fair attacker, while `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, `Dryad Arbor`, and `Six` can create a board that forces blocks or shortens the clock; card text check required before relying on exact combat triggers from `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, or `Six`.

- Use `Green Sun's Zenith` as the flexible creature plan rather than as a generic value spell. Find `Dryad Arbor` when the hand needs acceleration or a body, find `Sylvan Safekeeper` when protection matters, find `Elvish Reclaimer` when land access matters, and find larger creature pressure such as `Knight of the Reliquary` only when the mana and board state support a fair-game pivot.

- Use disruption to convert modest pressure into a win when the combo cannot be forced immediately. `Swords to Plowshares` clears blockers or lethal attackers, `Wasteland` constrains opposing mana, `Bojuka Bog` disrupts graveyard engines, `Karakas` checks legal legendary-creature threats, and `Blast Zone` can answer clusters that block attacks or threaten the board.

- Treat `Erode` as conditional interaction until card text is confirmed. If the rules engine exposes a legal `Erode` action against a visible permanent or spell, evaluate it as a tempo or protection play; do not assume it answers a specific card type without legal action text or confirmed card text.

- Use recursion or land reuse as a fallback engine only when runtime legality confirms it. `Six` and `Echoing Deeps` may help recover sacrificed or destroyed lands, but card text check required; if the engine offers a legal recovery action for `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Wasteland`, `Sejiri Steppe`, or `Bojuka Bog`, prioritize the land that restores either a combo kill or survival.

## Emergency Lines

- When behind on life, stabilize before committing to a fragile combo if the visible board can kill before the token attacks. Use `Swords to Plowshares`, `Blast Zone`, `Karakas`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Wasteland`, or legal blockers from `Dryad Arbor`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, and `Six` according to the exact attack math shown by the engine.

- When behind on board, choose the line that either produces the fastest protected `Dark Depths` kill or removes the highest-impact visible threat. Do not use `Crop Rotation` or `Knight of the Reliquary` for small utility if the only realistic recovery is assembling `Dark Depths` plus `Thespian's Stage` before the next combat step.

- When behind on cards, preserve repeatable engines and avoid sacrificing unique resources without a concrete payoff. Keep `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Six`, or `Green Sun's Zenith` lines that rebuild access to lands, and avoid discarding the only colored source to `Mox Diamond` unless the resulting play immediately stabilizes or threatens the combo.

- When behind on mana, prioritize green access and functional land drops over speculative utility. `Windswept Heath`, `Savannah`, `Forest`, `Lush Portico`, `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth`, `Mox Diamond`, and `Dryad Arbor` are the recovery tools; colorless lands such as `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Wasteland`, and `Blast Zone` are powerful only after setup spells remain castable.

- When a combo piece is removed, pivot through redundancy before conceding the plan. Search for the remaining `Dark Depths` or `Thespian's Stage`, look for recovery via `Echoing Deeps` or `Six` only if legal action text supports it, and use `Knight of the Reliquary` pressure plus `Wasteland` disruption while rebuilding.

- When graveyard recursion or opposing combo is the emergency, use the exact visible hate line. `Bojuka Bog` is the main-deck graveyard reset, `Wasteland` can attack land-based engines, `Karakas` can answer legal legendary-creature lines, and `Swords to Plowshares` should be saved for the creature that actually wins or unlocks the opponent's current board.

## Resource Model

- Life is a timing resource, not the primary win condition. Accept early damage when it preserves `Crop Rotation`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, or the missing `Dark Depths`/`Thespian's Stage` piece, but use `Swords to Plowshares`, blockers, or a faster combo line when visible attack power can kill before the token attacks.

- Hand quality matters more than raw card count because many cards are specialized lands or tutors. Keep hands that convert cards into either green mana plus land access or immediate disruption, and avoid spending `Mox Diamond`, `Crop Rotation`, or `Knight of the Reliquary` activations in ways that trade the last useful land card for only marginal tempo.

- Mana is converted into inevitability by repeatedly turning lands into exact lands. `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Crop Rotation`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, and `Green Sun's Zenith` should be treated as access to `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Sejiri Steppe`, `Wasteland`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Karakas`, `Blast Zone`, `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth`, or `Dryad Arbor` according to the current visible problem.

- Board presence is both pressure and infrastructure. Protect `Elvish Reclaimer` and `Knight of the Reliquary` when they are the only active land engines, attack with `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, `Dryad Arbor`, `Six`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` when damage shortens the combo clock, and do not expose a critical creature to combat if it is needed to find a combo or protection land.

- Graveyard resources are meaningful but conditional. Lands in the graveyard can increase `Knight of the Reliquary` pressure and may enable `Six` or `Echoing Deeps` if the engine exposes legal recovery actions; card text check required before relying on exact recursion timing from `Six` or `Echoing Deeps`.

- Exile is mostly a denial zone and should not be planned as a recoverable resource. Use `Swords to Plowshares`, `Bojuka Bog`, and sideboard `Endurance` lines according to legal action text and visible targets, but do not assume exiled own combo pieces can be recovered.

- Lands are spell-equivalents in this deck. Treat `Wasteland` as disruption, `Sejiri Steppe` as protection, `Karakas` as a legal legendary-creature answer, `Bojuka Bog` as graveyard interaction, `Blast Zone` as board control, `Talon Gates of Madara` as conditional utility with card text check required, and `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` as a sideboard battlefield-pressure bullet when legal and relevant.

- Sacrifice fodder should be selected from replaceable lands first. For `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, and `Knight of the Reliquary`, prefer sacrificing excess fetchlands, redundant colored sources, or lands already made redundant by `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth`; avoid sacrificing the only green source, the only white source, or an assembled combo piece unless the chosen action wins, prevents lethal, or is engine-forced.

- Tempo comes from making the opponent answer two axes at once. Combine fair pressure from `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Badgermole Cub`, and `Scythecat Cub` with the threat of instant land tutoring, and use `Wasteland`, `Swords to Plowshares`, `Erode`, or `Blast Zone` to buy the one turn needed for the combo; card text check required for exact `Erode` use.

- Information should gate commitment. If public information shows open interaction or known answers, prefer a protected line with `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, or redundant tutor access; if the opponent is tapped low or constrained by `Wasteland`, the cost of waiting often rises.

- Sideboard bullets convert narrow cards into high-impact roles. `Collector Ouphe`, `Force of Vigor`, `Outland Liberator`, `Disruptor Flute`, `Doorkeeper Thrull`, `Gaddock Teeg`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Endurance`, `Icetill Explorer`, and `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` should be valued only when their visible matchup function outweighs reducing main-deck combo density.

## Mana Guide

- Prioritize green mana in almost every opener. `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Six`, `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, `Erode`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, and most sideboard creature/bullet plans require green access or become much slower without it.

- Preserve white mana when interaction or `Knight of the Reliquary` matters. `Savannah`, `Plains`, `Lush Portico`, `Flagstones of Trokair`, and fetch access through `Windswept Heath` support `Swords to Plowshares`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Doorkeeper Thrull`, `Gaddock Teeg`, and some sideboard plans.

- Sequence colorless utility lands after functional colors unless the utility land is the current plan. `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Wasteland`, `Blast Zone`, `Karakas`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Echoing Deeps`, `Sejiri Steppe`, and `Talon Gates of Madara` can win or solve games, but an opener with only utility lands often cannot cast the spells that find the missing pieces.

- Use `Mox Diamond` for acceleration only when the discarded land is truly expendable. A strong `Mox Diamond` line enables turn-one `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Green Sun's Zenith` for `Dryad Arbor`, fast `Knight of the Reliquary`, or protected interaction; a weak line discards the only combo piece, only colored source, or only sacrifice land without creating a decisive board.

- Fetch sequencing should preserve options until the engine asks for a choice. Use `Windswept Heath` to secure the missing color, leave fetchlands uncracked when landfall-style, graveyard, or shuffle value may matter, and crack before draw only when life, mana, or known top-card information makes the timing clearly better; card text check required before relying on exact triggers from `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, or `Six`.

- Play lands before draw only when mana is required immediately or the action is forced by visible legality. When holding `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, or `Knight of the Reliquary`, delaying the land drop can preserve information and tutor flexibility; play first when `Mox Diamond`, `Swords to Plowshares`, sideboard interaction, or a same-turn combo activation needs exact mana now.

- Keep mana hands that produce green plus either a tutor or pressure. A keepable hand often has `Windswept Heath`, `Savannah`, `Forest`, `Lush Portico`, `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth`, `Mox Diamond`, or `Green Sun's Zenith` into `Dryad Arbor`; mulligan hands that cannot cast green spells and do not already contain an immediate legal `Dark Depths`/`Thespian's Stage` route.

- Treat tapped or timing-sensitive lands as plan-specific. `Lush Portico`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Sejiri Steppe`, and any land entering tapped or carrying a one-shot trigger should be deployed when their color, graveyard reset, protection trigger, or utility is needed, not merely because they are available.

- Use `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth` to unlock awkward draws. It can make utility-heavy hands function, help `Dark Depths` and `Thespian's Stage` produce green, and reduce pressure on `Savannah` or `Forest`; still account for opponent-visible benefits and do not play it before using `Wasteland` if that gives the opponent a meaningful green-mana window.

- Float or preserve mana before sacrificing lands when the rules engine permits it. Before `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, or `Knight of the Reliquary`, check whether the land being sacrificed can produce needed mana for `Swords to Plowshares`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Erode`, or sideboard interaction after the tutor resolves.

## Mulligan Guide

- Strong keep: keep green mana plus a one-mana setup spell or land-tutor axis. `Windswept Heath` or `Savannah` with `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Crop Rotation`, or `Mox Diamond` is a functional opener when it also contains either pressure, interaction, or one `Dark Depths`/`Thespian's Stage` piece.

- Strong keep: keep fast protected combo hands when mana is real. `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, green access, and either `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Sejiri Steppe`, or `Legolas's Quick Reflexes` can justify a keep even without much fair pressure.

- Medium keep: keep fair hands that cast `Knight of the Reliquary` on time and interact. Two lands, green-white access, `Swords to Plowshares`, and either `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Badgermole Cub`, or `Scythecat Cub` is acceptable when the hand can develop while threatening later land tutoring.

- Risky keep: keep utility-heavy hands only when `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth` or `Mox Diamond` fixes the colors. Hands with `Wasteland`, `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Blast Zone`, or `Karakas` but no castable green spell should usually mulligan unless they already present a near-term legal combo or matchup-specific disruption.

- Automatic ship: ship hands with no green source and no immediate executable combo. A hand full of `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Crop Rotation`, and `Elvish Reclaimer` is not a hand if it cannot cast them.

- Automatic ship: ship hands that rely on sacrificing the only functional land to `Crop Rotation` without a payoff. Do not keep a one-land hand because it has `Crop Rotation` unless that land plus the rest of the hand clearly produces a legal, protected, or urgently necessary line.

- Matchup-dependent keep: value `Swords to Plowshares`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Karakas`, `Wasteland`, `Erode`, and sideboard cards according to visible or known pairing pressure. Against creature pressure, a slower `Knight of the Reliquary` hand with `Swords to Plowshares` is better; against graveyard pressure, early `Bojuka Bog` access matters; against artifact/enchantment pressure, `Erode` is conditional and card text check required.

- Play/draw rule: keep slightly faster hands on the play and slightly more interactive hands on the draw. On the play, `Mox Diamond` into `Elvish Reclaimer` or `Green Sun's Zenith` for `Dryad Arbor` can seize initiative; on the draw, prefer hands that survive an opposing start with `Swords to Plowshares`, stable colors, or a fast `Crop Rotation` route.

- Trap hand: do not keep double `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Wasteland`, `Blast Zone`, and spells with no colored mana. The hand looks close to combo but often fails to cast `Crop Rotation`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Swords to Plowshares`, or `Knight of the Reliquary` before the opponent develops.

- Trap hand: do not overvalue `Mox Diamond` when the land count is too low. `Mox Diamond` plus one land and several three-mana spells is fragile unless it creates an immediate `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, or `Knight of the Reliquary` curve with a discardable land.

## Turn Arc

- Turn 1: establish green mana and a tutor body before exposing utility lands. Preferred starts are `Windswept Heath` for a green source into `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Green Sun's Zenith` for `Dryad Arbor`, or `Mox Diamond` acceleration into the same; deviate for `Swords to Plowshares` only when an opposing threat must be answered immediately.

- Turn 1: deploy `Dark Depths` or `Thespian's Stage` early only when the hand supports the missing piece or protects the line. If the hand needs colored spells first, lead on `Savannah`, `Forest`, `Lush Portico`, `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth`, or fetch access instead.

- Turn 2: decide whether the game is combo-first or board-first. Use `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, or accelerated `Knight of the Reliquary` to find the missing combo/utility land when the opponent is constrained; cast `Swords to Plowshares`, develop `Badgermole Cub` or `Scythecat Cub`, or hold protection when racing is unsafe.

- Turn 2: use `Wasteland` as tempo when it delays the opponent more than it delays your own colored mana. Avoid firing `Wasteland` if it prevents casting `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Crop Rotation`, `Erode`, or protection on the next turn.

- Turn 3: pressure the opponent with `Knight of the Reliquary` or convert tutoring into a concrete land plan. Preferred lines are protected `Dark Depths`/`Thespian's Stage` assembly, `Sejiri Steppe` access for a vulnerable token or attacker, `Bojuka Bog` against graveyard dependence, or `Karakas` against a visible legendary creature.

- Turn 3: hold priority interaction when the opponent can punish an unprotected combo. If `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, `Sejiri Steppe`, or another legal protection route is available, weigh waiting one turn against losing to visible removal, bounce, exile, or mana denial.

- Turns 4-5: force the opponent to answer both axes. Attack with `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Badgermole Cub`, and `Scythecat Cub` when combat is favorable, while keeping `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, or `Knight of the Reliquary` activations available for end-step combo, `Wasteland`, `Blast Zone`, `Bojuka Bog`, or protection lands.

- Turns 4-5: use `Six` and `Echoing Deeps` only according to legal text shown by the engine. Card text check required before planning exact recursion, copied-land, or graveyard-resource lines; treat them as recovery tools only when the rules engine exposes the action.

- Late game: make every land drop and tutor activation threaten lethal, disruption, or protection. `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Crop Rotation`, `Wasteland`, `Blast Zone`, `Sejiri Steppe`, and `Talon Gates of Madara` should be chosen for the current board, with card text check required for exact `Talon Gates of Madara` use.

- Late game: stop trading resources casually once the combo is live. Preserve `Swords to Plowshares` for threats that race or answer the token, preserve sacrifice fodder for land tutors, and commit `Marit Lage` only when winning now, forcing a weak answer, or waiting gives the opponent a clearer route.

## Card Roles

- `Dark Depths`: Treat `Dark Depths` as the deck's primary kill condition, not as an ordinary mana source. Deploy it early when `Thespian's Stage`, `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, or `Knight of the Reliquary` can complete the line, but avoid exposing it to land interaction when the hand still needs colored mana development.

- `Thespian's Stage`: Preserve `Thespian's Stage` as the cleanest combo partner for `Dark Depths`. Prioritize keeping enough mana available to activate it at an end step or protected window, and do not spend it copying generic lands unless the rules engine shows that mana survival matters more than the token plan.

- `Crop Rotation`: Use `Crop Rotation` as a decisive instant-speed land tutor, protection pivot, or disruption spell. Hold it when sacrificing a land would expose the mana base; fire it for `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Sejiri Steppe`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Wasteland`, `Blast Zone`, or `Karakas` when the visible board makes that land immediately relevant.

- `Elvish Reclaimer`: Cast `Elvish Reclaimer` early when green mana is stable because it threatens both combo assembly and utility-land answers. Protect it less than `Knight of the Reliquary` unless it is the only route to `Dark Depths` or a critical `Bojuka Bog`, `Sejiri Steppe`, `Wasteland`, or `Karakas` line.

- `Knight of the Reliquary`: Treat `Knight of the Reliquary` as both a large midrange threat and the most flexible land engine. Cast it when it can survive long enough to activate, attack profitably, or force removal away from `Marit Lage`; hold it only when tapping out loses to a visible faster combo or when instant-speed `Crop Rotation` is the safer route.

- `Green Sun's Zenith`: Use `Green Sun's Zenith` as a role-selecting spell, not as automatic curve filler. Early, it can establish `Dryad Arbor` or find `Elvish Reclaimer`; later, it should find `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Six`, `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, or sideboard creatures only when the legal choices match the current tactical need.

- `Dryad Arbor`: Use `Dryad Arbor` as a `Green Sun's Zenith` setup target, sacrifice resource, and emergency body. Avoid fetching it into obvious removal or combat loss unless it enables mana, `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, or a sideboard pressure line.

- `Mox Diamond`: Use `Mox Diamond` to accelerate into turn-one `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, or faster `Knight of the Reliquary`, but respect the land-discard cost. Do not keep or sequence `Mox Diamond` hands that discard the only land needed for green-white access, combo assembly, or future tutor activations.

- `Swords to Plowshares`: Hold `Swords to Plowshares` for creatures that race, block `Marit Lage`, enable an opposing combo, or threaten a planeswalker-like value snowball if present through legal output. Use it early against fast creature starts; preserve it against slower boards where `Wasteland`, `Karakas`, or combat can answer the threat.

- `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`: Treat `Legolas's Quick Reflexes` as protection or combat leverage only when the rules engine exposes a legal, relevant action. Card text check required for exact targeting and effect timing; tactically, it should be saved for protecting `Marit Lage`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, or a key tutor creature rather than spent for minor damage unless combat math demands it.

- `Sylvan Safekeeper`: Use `Sylvan Safekeeper` as the cleanest creature-based protection piece for `Marit Lage` and key green creatures. Do not sacrifice lands casually; spend lands only when protecting the token, preserving a lethal attack, or saving a tutor creature that will immediately convert into a winning or stabilizing land.

- `Badgermole Cub`: Use `Badgermole Cub` as a fair pressure and resource-conversion creature when the combo is delayed. Card text check required for exact triggered or activated lines; prioritize it in grindy matchups where creature size, land movement, or board presence matters, and avoid casting it over immediate combo protection against fast decks.

- `Scythecat Cub`: Use `Scythecat Cub` as a secondary fair threat and pressure piece when the opponent can answer `Dark Depths` or when combat damage is the better axis. Card text check required for exact growth, combat, or land-synergy text; do not let it distract from assembling a protected `Marit Lage` when that line is legal.

- `Six`: Use `Six` as a grind engine or recovery tool only when its legal actions are visible and strategically useful. Card text check required for exact recursion or graveyard interactions; prefer it in attrition games where replaying lands, converting graveyard resources, or rebuilding after land trades is better than rushing the combo.

- `Erode`: Treat `Erode` as conditional interaction until card text is confirmed by the rules engine. Card text check required; use it only when the visible legal action answers a permanent or resource that materially blocks the combo, races the board, or invalidates your protection plan.

- `Wasteland`: Use `Wasteland` to buy time, constrain opposing interaction, or clear utility lands that answer `Marit Lage`. Avoid firing it when it delays your own `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Crop Rotation`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, or protected combo turn more than it delays the opponent.

- `Bojuka Bog`: Use `Bojuka Bog` as graveyard disruption that can be tutored at instant speed through `Crop Rotation` or at activation speed through land engines. Do not play it as a tapped value land unless graveyard pressure is absent and mana development requires it.

- `Karakas`: Use `Karakas` as a tutorable answer to visible legendary creatures and as a protective or tempo land only when the rules engine confirms legal targets. Do not over-prioritize it in matchups where the opponent's relevant threats are nonlegendary and the immediate need is combo, colored mana, or graveyard hate.

- `Sejiri Steppe`: Save `Sejiri Steppe` as a protection or evasion land for `Marit Lage`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, or a decisive attacker. It is strongest when found at instant speed with `Crop Rotation` or through an active land tutor before a removal spell or blocker matters.

- `Blast Zone`: Use `Blast Zone` as a reset button for low-cost permanents that block the combo, overwhelm combat, or shut off key spells. Respect its speed and mana requirements; do not rely on it as an emergency answer when `Swords to Plowshares`, `Wasteland`, `Karakas`, or sideboard interaction can answer immediately.

- `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth`: Use `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth` to make utility-land-heavy hands functional and to let `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Wasteland`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Karakas`, or `Blast Zone` contribute green mana. Be careful that it can also help opposing lands if the visible board makes that relevant.

- `Windswept Heath`, `Savannah`, `Forest`, `Plains`, and `Lush Portico`: Prioritize these lands for stable green-white development before utility greed. Fetch basics or durable colors when facing visible land pressure; fetch `Savannah` or `Lush Portico` when double-spell turns or white interaction matter.

- `Flagstones of Trokair`: Use `Flagstones of Trokair` as sacrifice-friendly mana support with `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, or `Knight of the Reliquary` when the rules engine exposes the relevant replacement/search action. Do not assume a shortcut or outcome outside the legal prompt.

- `Echoing Deeps`: Treat `Echoing Deeps` as a specialized land with card text check required. Use it only when the engine exposes a legal action that improves the current plan, such as copying or leveraging a visible graveyard land if that is confirmed.

- `Talon Gates of Madara`: Treat `Talon Gates of Madara` as a specialized utility land with card text check required. Tutor or play it only when the visible legal action clearly protects a key permanent, changes combat, or solves a board state better than `Sejiri Steppe`, `Karakas`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Wasteland`, or combo assembly.

## Interaction Priorities

- Preserve `Swords to Plowshares` for creatures that stop a `Marit Lage` attack, create a faster lethal clock, or enable an opposing combo through visible board text. Spend it early against fast creature pressure, but do not use it on replaceable blockers when `Sejiri Steppe`, `Karakas`, `Wasteland`, or simply making the token can solve the turn.

- Use `Wasteland` first on visible lands that answer `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Marit Lage`, or your mana engine. Against mana-light opponents, `Wasteland` can be a tempo spell; against decks with redundant mana, save it for utility lands unless cutting a color creates an immediate protected combo window.

- Use `Bojuka Bog` as the exile effect when the graveyard is an active resource, not as a routine tapped land. Prefer instant-speed access through `Crop Rotation` when the opponent commits a graveyard-dependent action; if no graveyard action is pending, weigh whether holding the tutor land is stronger than consuming the land drop.

- Use `Karakas` as bounce interaction only when the rules engine exposes a legal legendary target or a protective line. Do not tutor `Karakas` over combo pieces against nonlegendary threats, and do not assume it interacts with `Marit Lage` unless the engine shows a legal action.

- Use `Blast Zone` when the opposing board clusters around one mana value and those permanents either race you or prevent combo execution. Avoid slow `Blast Zone` lines when a single `Swords to Plowshares`, `Wasteland`, `Karakas`, or sideboard card answers the relevant permanent immediately.

- Treat `Erode` as conditional interaction until exact card text is confirmed. Card text check required; if the engine offers a legal answer to a visible artifact, enchantment, land, or other permanent that blocks the combo or wins the race, prioritize the most permanent or least replaceable threat.

- Use `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` as interaction engines, not only combo assembly. Fetch `Bojuka Bog` for graveyard actions, `Sejiri Steppe` for targeted removal or lethal evasion, `Wasteland` for land-based disruption, `Karakas` for legal legendary threats, and `Blast Zone` for board clusters.

- Bait interaction with fair threats before committing fragile combo pieces when time allows. `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, `Six`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` can force removal or counters; do not expose `Dark Depths` plus `Thespian's Stage` into obvious open interaction unless waiting is worse.

- Ignore low-impact permanents that do not race, block `Marit Lage`, disrupt land tutoring, pressure life total, or stop activated abilities. This deck wins by concentrating resources into a protected threat; trading interaction for cosmetic value usually weakens the decisive turn.

- Change interaction posture by archetype. Against fast creature decks, answer clock and blockers first; against combo, attack mana, graveyard, or required permanents first; against control, preserve protection and force action on their end step; against prison, prioritize permanents that shut off land search, activated abilities, or spell casting.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Attack with `Marit Lage` only when the visible board and legal actions support a lethal or near-lethal line. Check for legal blockers, bounce, exile, sacrifice effects, protection actions, and instant-speed land tutoring before moving through combat; use `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, or `Talon Gates of Madara` only when the engine exposes the needed legal action.

- Protect `Marit Lage` above every fair creature unless the fair creature is the only route to rebuild. Sacrifice lands to `Sylvan Safekeeper` only for lethal, survival, or preservation of a tutor creature that immediately finds the winning land; do not spend lands just to protect ordinary damage.

- Preserve `Elvish Reclaimer` and `Knight of the Reliquary` when they are active or about to become active. Blocking with them is correct when life total would fall below a realistic recovery threshold, when the opponent threatens lethal, or when their tutor role is redundant because `Dark Depths` plus `Thespian's Stage` is already secured.

- Use `Dryad Arbor` as a disposable blocker when it buys a turn without breaking the next land-tutor or combo sequence. Do not expose it to combat if it is required as green mana, sacrifice material, or a `Green Sun's Zenith` setup creature.

- Trade `Badgermole Cub` and `Scythecat Cub` more freely in creature mirrors when the trade preserves life or clears a path for `Knight of the Reliquary`. Card text check required for exact combat scaling; if their visible stats or triggers make them grow through land movement, avoid trading before using the growth line.

- Attack with fair creatures when pressure forces the opponent to answer the board instead of holding interaction for the combo. Hold attackers back when the opponent's counterattack changes a protected combo turn into a forced defensive turn, especially if `Swords to Plowshares` is the only clean removal.

- Block aggressively below ten life against wide or fast boards if the combo is not guaranteed next turn. Above ten life, prefer preserving tutor creatures and using life total as a resource when a protected `Marit Lage` line is one or two actions away.

- Use `Legolas's Quick Reflexes` as combat leverage only for a meaningful swing. Card text check required; spend it to save a key creature, win a fight that unlocks lethal, or protect a decisive attacker, not to improve a minor attack.

- Respect archetype differences in combat. Against creature aggro, become the stabilizing deck and trade until `Marit Lage` ends the game; against control, make attacks that tax answers without overextending; against combo, attack whenever it shortens their clock and does not delay disruption; against prison, preserve creatures that unlock land tutoring or pressure planeswalker-like engines only if visible.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Use `Green Sun's Zenith` as the most flexible creature selector, not just a threat. Find `Dryad Arbor` when the hand needs immediate mana or sacrifice material, `Elvish Reclaimer` when land tutoring is the missing engine, `Sylvan Safekeeper` when a visible answer threatens a committed `Marit Lage`, `Knight of the Reliquary` when a larger repeatable tutor is better than speed, and the relevant sideboard creature only after sideboarding and only when its text matters to the visible matchup.

- Sequence `Green Sun's Zenith` before the land drop when the target can change the land decision. `Dryad Arbor` may unlock a same-turn play, `Elvish Reclaimer` may change whether to deploy `Dark Depths`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` may make holding a fetchland or expendable land more valuable.

- Treat `Crop Rotation` as the highest-leverage tutor because it is instant speed and costs a land. Use it proactively for `Dark Depths` or `Thespian's Stage` only when the missing combo piece creates a near-term kill; otherwise hold it for `Sejiri Steppe`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Wasteland`, `Karakas`, `Blast Zone`, `Echoing Deeps`, `Talon Gates of Madara`, or mana fixing after the opponent commits information.

- Sacrifice the least important land to `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, or `Knight of the Reliquary` unless a named land has become redundant. Prefer sacrificing a tapped fetchland, excess `Flagstones of Trokair`, extra `Savannah`, or a land no longer needed for colors; avoid sacrificing `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Sejiri Steppe`, `Karakas`, or `Bojuka Bog` when their unique effect is still live.

- Find `Dark Depths` or `Thespian's Stage` only after checking which half is already visible, whether the opponent has visible land interaction, and whether protection is available. If both pieces are missing, prioritize the piece that the current tutor can legally find while preserving future access to the other piece.

- Fetch `Sejiri Steppe` for protection or evasion at the moment it changes a legal target, block, or removal exchange. Do not spend the one-shot effect as a tapped land unless mana is otherwise impossible or the matchup has no visible way for protection to matter.

- Fetch `Bojuka Bog` in response to graveyard commitment, not at random. The strongest window is after the opponent targets, counts, flashes back, reanimates, delves, or otherwise exposes reliance on graveyard contents through legal stack text.

- Use `Wasteland` selection to create a decisive window. Find it when it cuts the opponent off an answer color, removes a visible utility land, or prevents a faster combo; do not over-tutor it when assembling `Marit Lage` wins immediately.

- Use `Windswept Heath` and `Flagstones of Trokair` to improve land density for graveyard-size and land-movement engines when the cost is low. Hold a fetchland if `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, or `Six` benefits from a future land action exposed by the engine. Card text check required for exact `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, and `Six` triggers.

- Select `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth`, `Savannah`, `Forest`, `Plains`, or `Lush Portico` based on castability before elegance. Green is needed for the tutor core, white is needed for `Swords to Plowshares`, and `Mox Diamond` makes land count matter more than raw color perfection.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Hold priority decisions around `Crop Rotation` until the opponent commits a relevant spell, ability, attack, graveyard action, or removal target. Instant-speed land tutoring is the deck's main stack advantage, so passing with green mana open is often stronger than spending the tutor into hidden information.

- Activate `Thespian's Stage` copying `Dark Depths` only when the legal action creates a protected or necessary `Marit Lage` line. Check visible bounce, exile, sacrifice, tapping, blockers, and mana before committing; if waiting preserves `Crop Rotation`, `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, or `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, wait unless the opponent's next turn is more dangerous.

- Respond to removal on `Marit Lage` with protection before accepting resolution. Use `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, or `Talon Gates of Madara` only when the rules engine exposes a legal protective action that actually addresses the shown spell or ability. Card text check required for exact `Legolas's Quick Reflexes` and `Talon Gates of Madara` effects.

- Let low-impact spells resolve when they do not change the clock, disrupt land tutoring, answer `Marit Lage`, or enable a visible combo. Save `Swords to Plowshares`, `Crop Rotation`, `Wasteland`, and protection for stack objects that affect the decisive turn.

- Use `Swords to Plowshares` before damage, combo resolution, or a lethal attack when the target is visible and legal. Do not fire it at a small creature if a pending `Marit Lage` attack ignores that creature or if `Blast Zone`, blocking, or racing solves the board.

- Use `Sylvan Safekeeper` at the last safe priority window because every activation spends a land. Protect `Marit Lage` first, protect an active `Knight of the Reliquary` or `Elvish Reclaimer` second, and rarely protect fair pressure unless that creature is the only route left.

- Use `Wasteland` before the opponent can use the land if the land is visibly decisive. If the land is merely annoying, hold `Wasteland` to pair with a combo turn, punish a color bottleneck, or answer a newly revealed utility land.

- Use `Blast Zone` activation only when the selected counter value and board state are clear from engine output. Avoid sweeping your own essential `Mox Diamond`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, or sideboard permanents unless survival or combo access requires it.

- Treat `Erode` as conditional stack or permanent interaction until exact card text is confirmed. Card text check required; cast it only when the engine offers a legal action against a visible object whose resolution or continued presence materially disrupts the combo, clock, or mana.

- Decline optional value payments or triggers when mana or priority must remain available for protection, `Crop Rotation`, `Swords to Plowshares`, or `Wasteland`. Accept optional actions only when the visible board shows no higher-priority stack risk or when the option directly advances lethal, survival, or disruption.

## Sideboard Map

- Sideboard by role first and card name second. Preserve the `Dark Depths` plus `Thespian's Stage` kill in almost every matchup, because the sideboard mostly adds hate pieces, protection, and asymmetrical pressure rather than changing the deck into a pure fair deck.

- Use `Collector Ouphe` against artifact mana, artifact combo, artifact prison, and decks whose visible battlefield depends on activated artifact abilities. It is strongest when `Green Sun's Zenith` can find it before the opponent converts artifacts into mana or combo material; it is weakest when your own `Mox Diamond` mana is essential, when the opponent has mostly nonartifact acceleration, or when a larger hate creature would cover the same axis with less self-pressure.

- Use `Disruptor Flute` against named-card combo, fast spell engines, planeswalker or activated-ability engines, and single-card answer patterns that beat `Marit Lage`. Card text check required for exact tax and activated-ability scope; choose names from visible information, revealed cards, public deck identity, or stack patterns, not from invented hidden cards. It is weak when the opponent's threats are broad, creature-based, or already on board.

- Use `Doorkeeper Thrull` against enters-the-battlefield engines, creature-combo chains, value creatures, artifact creatures with ETB triggers, and decks where stopping a triggered entry matters more than attacking. Card text check required for exact affected permanent types. It is bad when the opponent wins through spells, combat size, lands, graveyard recursion, or static hate rather than ETB triggers.

- Use `Endurance` against graveyard combo, graveyard tempo, recursive threats, self-mill, reanimation, and decks where instant-speed graveyard reset changes a stack decision. It also becomes a surprise blocker in fair creature games when the graveyard text is live enough to justify holding green cards. It is weaker when the opponent's graveyard is incidental and pitching a green card would reduce combo velocity or protection density.

- Use `Force of Vigor` against artifact or enchantment prison, artifact combo, fast mana boards, and permanent hate that blocks `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Crop Rotation`, or creature tutors. It is strongest when free interaction prevents losing before untapping; it is weaker against low-permanent combo, creature-only pressure, or games where two-for-one pitching a green card would strand the combo.

- Use `Gaddock Teeg` against high-cost noncreature spells, sweepers, storm-like payoff structures, and control decks that rely on large answers. Card text check required for exact mana-value and X-spell restrictions. It changes role from hatebear to protection piece when it stops the opponent's visible answer to `Marit Lage`; it is weak against low-curve creature decks and removal-heavy decks that ignore its restriction.

- Use `Icetill Explorer` only after confirming what text matters in the matchup. Card text check required. Treat it as a flexible creature slot for games where its exact rules text improves land development, combat, or resource exchange; avoid relying on it in sideboard plans until Veles has verified its tactical role from the rules engine.

- Use `Mindbreak Trap` against storm, fast cast-chain combo, uncounterable-looking stack clusters, and turns where exiling spells on the stack is the relevant safety valve. It is bad against fair creature decks, slow control without burst turns, and matchups where the opponent presents permanents before the trap condition matters. Do not keep weak hands solely because `Mindbreak Trap` exists unless the matchup is visibly about a fast spell chain.

- Use `Outland Liberator` against artifacts, enchantments, lock pieces, and slower permanent-based hate where a tutorable or castable creature answer is more valuable than a one-shot spell. Card text check required for daybound/nightbound details. It is weaker when immediate free interaction is required, when the opponent has no high-impact artifacts or enchantments, or when creature removal makes a delayed answer unreliable.

- Use `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` against creature swarms, token boards, initiative-style creature pressure, and decks that need many creatures to stay in play. It is strongest when `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, or `Knight of the Reliquary` can find it after the opponent commits bodies. It is weak against combo, control, single-large-threat decks, and games where your own creature board is the only pressure or mana engine.

Artifact combo and artifact prison
Side in: 1 Collector Ouphe; 2 Force of Vigor; 1 Outland Liberator; 2 Disruptor Flute
Cut: 2 Scythecat Cub; 2 Erode; 1 Badgermole Cub; 1 Six

Graveyard combo and reanimation
Side in: 2 Endurance; 2 Mindbreak Trap; 2 Disruptor Flute
Cut: 2 Erode; 2 Scythecat Cub; 1 Badgermole Cub; 1 Swords to Plowshares

Creature swarm and go-wide pressure
Side in: 1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale; 2 Endurance; 1 Outland Liberator
Cut: 2 Erode; 1 Six; 1 Badgermole Cub

Spell-combo and storm
Side in: 2 Mindbreak Trap; 2 Disruptor Flute; 1 Gaddock Teeg
Cut: 4 Swords to Plowshares; 1 Scythecat Cub

ETB creature engines
Side in: 2 Doorkeeper Thrull; 1 Gaddock Teeg; 1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Cut: 2 Erode; 1 Six; 1 Badgermole Cub

- Against artifact-heavy decks, add role cards: `Collector Ouphe`, `Force of Vigor`, `Outland Liberator`, and `Disruptor Flute`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow creature pressure, uncertain `Erode` spots, and fair recursion pieces that do not stop the artifact turn. Keep enough green cards for `Force of Vigor` and enough lands for `Mox Diamond` even when `Collector Ouphe` may later shut artifact activations down.

- Against graveyard decks, add role cards: `Endurance`, `Mindbreak Trap`, and sometimes `Disruptor Flute`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: removal pointed at ordinary creatures and slow fair threats. Keep `Bojuka Bog` access high because the main deck already has instant-speed land tutoring; use sideboard graveyard interaction to create overlapping windows rather than spending every hate piece at the first legal moment.

- Against fast spell combo, add role cards: `Mindbreak Trap`, `Disruptor Flute`, and `Gaddock Teeg`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Swords to Plowshares`, fair combat pressure, and slow land-value cards. Mulligan toward a hate action plus a real clock, because the combo kill still needs to end the game before the opponent rebuilds around a named card or tax effect.

- Against creature-heavy fair decks, add role cards: `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Endurance`, and sometimes `Outland Liberator` if visible artifacts or enchantments matter. Reduce main-deck emphasis: uncertain noncreature interaction and slow engines that do not affect combat. Preserve `Swords to Plowshares`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, and `Sejiri Steppe` because survival and protected `Marit Lage` attacks matter more than pure speed.

- Against control, add role cards: `Disruptor Flute`, `Gaddock Teeg`, `Force of Vigor` when enchantment or artifact hate is expected, and `Endurance` when graveyards or flashback-style resources are visible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal with no targets and fragile small threats into sweepers. Name cards with `Disruptor Flute` only from public information or established matchup role; do not guess hidden answers when a broader pressure line is available.

- Against ETB-value decks, add role cards: `Doorkeeper Thrull`, `Gaddock Teeg`, and `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` when the board goes wide. Reduce main-deck emphasis: cards that do not interact with the trigger engine or the clock. Check whether `Doorkeeper Thrull` conflicts with your own relevant ETB effects before committing it, because this deck can use `Bojuka Bog`, `Sejiri Steppe`, and other land-entry effects in important windows.

- Against unknown opponents, avoid speculative sideboarding. Add role cards only after Game 1 reveals a clear axis, and otherwise keep the maindeck's tutor density, land count, `Swords to Plowshares`, and `Green Sun's Zenith` package intact. The default unknown plan is to win with `Marit Lage`, use `Wasteland` and `Karakas` when visible, and let sideboard cards answer demonstrated threats rather than imagined ones.

## Matchup Guidance

- Against aggro, prioritize survival first and combo second. Keep hands that present early mana, `Swords to Plowshares`, a blocker from `Green Sun's Zenith`, or a fast `Dark Depths` plus `Thespian's Stage` path; avoid hands that only develop slow land value while taking repeated attacks. Add role cards: `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Endurance`, and sometimes `Outland Liberator` if permanent-based pressure or equipment-like artifacts are visible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow `Erode` spots, uncertain `Six` recursion plans, and creature threats that do not block profitably. Use `Knight of the Reliquary` as a stabilizer before using it as a tutor engine when life total is under pressure.

- Against control, apply pressure from multiple permanent types and avoid committing the entire `Dark Depths` line into open interaction without a protection plan. `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, and land tutors force answers while preserving a later `Marit Lage` attempt. Add role cards: `Disruptor Flute`, `Gaddock Teeg`, `Force of Vigor` when artifacts or enchantments are visible, and `Endurance` when graveyard resources matter. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Swords to Plowshares` when the opponent shows few creature targets and low-impact creature combat. Use `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, and `Karakas` only according to legal action text and visible threats; do not assume protection beats every answer.

- Against fast combo, mulligan toward disruption plus a clock rather than a fair midrange hand. `Crop Rotation` for `Bojuka Bog`, `Wasteland` against key lands, `Karakas` against legal legendary-creature pressure, and a fast `Dark Depths` line are the maindeck pressure points. Add role cards: `Mindbreak Trap`, `Disruptor Flute`, and `Gaddock Teeg`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Swords to Plowshares`, fair combat creatures, and long recursion lines unless the opponent's combo uses creatures. Use `Disruptor Flute` from public information or clear matchup identity; do not name hidden cards from guesswork when holding up another legal interaction is safer.

- Against tempo, protect mana development and do not let the game become only one-spell-per-turn under pressure. `Mox Diamond`, `Windswept Heath`, `Savannah`, `Forest`, and `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth` matter because the deck needs enough mana to deploy a threat and still use land tutors or protection. Preserve `Swords to Plowshares` for the threat that is actually ending the game, and use `Wasteland` when it disrupts the opponent without stranding your own `Dark Depths` assembly. Add role cards: `Endurance` if graveyards or cheap threats matter, `Disruptor Flute` for revealed interaction or central threats, and `Force of Vigor` only when visible permanent hate justifies it. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow `Badgermole Cub`, uncertain `Erode`, and high-friction lines that expose `Marit Lage` without protection.

- Against midrange, trade resources while preserving inevitability through lands. `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Crop Rotation`, and `Green Sun's Zenith` let the deck rebuild after removal, while `Dark Depths` forces the opponent to keep specific answers available. Add role cards: `Endurance` for graveyard exchange, `Disruptor Flute` for known haymakers or removal bottlenecks, `Outland Liberator` for visible artifacts or enchantments, and `Gaddock Teeg` when high-cost noncreature spells matter. Reduce main-deck emphasis: purely aggressive `Scythecat Cub` lines when board stalls are likely and `Erode` if its exact text is not relevant. Card text check required for `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, and `Erode` before relying on matchup-specific text.

- Against big mana, attack lands and close quickly. `Wasteland`, `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` should pressure mana while `Dark Depths` threatens a short clock. Add role cards: `Disruptor Flute`, `Gaddock Teeg`, `Force of Vigor` for visible artifact or enchantment acceleration, and `Mindbreak Trap` only when the opponent's payoff turn is a cast-chain rather than a single permanent. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal with no targets and slow fair creatures that do not meaningfully shorten the clock. Avoid spending `Wasteland` on a low-impact land when a more decisive land is likely visible or already public.

- Against graveyard decks, keep access to `Bojuka Bog` high and layer interaction instead of firing every piece at the first legal moment. `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` can turn land access into instant-speed graveyard pressure when the rules engine exposes the legal timing. Add role cards: `Endurance`, `Mindbreak Trap`, and `Disruptor Flute`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow combat-only creatures and some `Swords to Plowshares` when the opponent is not winning through ordinary creatures. Use `Bojuka Bog` based on visible graveyard contents, stack context, and priority; do not assume hidden graveyard plans.

- Against artifact or enchantment decks, answer the permanent that changes the game rather than the first legal target. Add role cards: `Collector Ouphe`, `Force of Vigor`, `Outland Liberator`, and `Disruptor Flute`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow `Erode` positions if its exact text does not address the visible axis, fair pressure without disruption, and `Six` plans when graveyards are not the fight. Keep enough green cards in hand for `Force of Vigor` when possible, and remember that `Collector Ouphe` can affect your own `Mox Diamond` after it is on the battlefield.

- Against go-wide creature decks, treat `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` as a stabilizing tutor target, not only a sideboard land. `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` can find it after the opponent commits multiple bodies, while `Swords to Plowshares` handles the creature that keeps damage lethal through the tax. Add role cards: `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Endurance`, and `Outland Liberator` if permanent support is visible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: nonblocking slow engines and uncertain `Erode`. Do not overbuild your own creature board when `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` will also tax you.

- Against single-threat decks, conserve clean answers and force them to answer `Marit Lage`. `Swords to Plowshares`, `Karakas` when legal, `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, and `Legolas's Quick Reflexes` are the key tools for threat exchange and protection windows. Add role cards: `Disruptor Flute` for known threat or answer bottlenecks, `Endurance` if the threat depends on graveyards, and `Gaddock Teeg` when the opponent's answer suite is high-cost noncreature spells. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` plans and go-wide hate. Use `Talon Gates of Madara` only after card text and legal action text confirm its relevant role.

- Against burn, protect life total and end the game before repeated direct damage matters. `Swords to Plowshares` may be a life-total tool only when the rules engine presents a legal creature target and the exchange is better than taking damage; avoid unnecessary fetch-shock-like assumptions because this deck's lands are exact registered cards, not invented mana sources. Add role cards: `Endurance` only if graveyards matter, `Disruptor Flute` if a revealed or known card bottleneck exists, and `Gaddock Teeg` only if its restrictions are relevant after card text check. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow `Badgermole Cub`, uncertain `Erode`, and durdly `Six` recursion.

- Against removal-heavy decks, make them answer redundant engines before committing the decisive token. Lead with `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, and sometimes `Badgermole Cub` or `Scythecat Cub` as pressure if their card text supports the board state. Add role cards: `Disruptor Flute`, `Gaddock Teeg`, `Endurance` for recursion fights, and `Force of Vigor` only for visible hate permanents. Reduce main-deck emphasis: all-in `Dark Depths` attempts without `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, or a reason waiting is worse. If the opponent spends removal on setup creatures, reassess whether the window is now open for `Thespian's Stage` plus `Dark Depths` rather than continuing fair combat.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- General/archetype-only notes apply until revealed cards, public zones, or rules-engine legal actions identify a narrower plan. Revealed cards override assumptions, and Veles should choose from legal actions first, visible board state second, and these matchup heuristics third.

- Against combo, prioritize the interaction axis that stops the first decisive turn. `Mindbreak Trap` is for visible cast-chain turns, `Disruptor Flute` is for a named bottleneck when the opponent has shown the card or strategy, `Gaddock Teeg` is for high-cost noncreature payoffs after card text confirms relevance, and `Endurance` is for graveyard dependence. Add role cards: `Mindbreak Trap`, `Disruptor Flute`, `Endurance`, `Gaddock Teeg`. Priority targets are the opponent's public engine card, payoff spell, or graveyard window, not a low-impact setup piece. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow `Badgermole Cub`, uncertain `Erode`, and creature removal when no creature-based kill is visible.

- Against fast creature pressure, stabilize before racing unless `Dark Depths` plus `Thespian's Stage` is protected and immediately decisive. `Swords to Plowshares` should answer the creature that changes the clock, while `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` is a high-value tutor target against multiple attackers. Add role cards: `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Endurance`, `Outland Liberator` if support permanents are visible, and `Doorkeeper Thrull` only when its exact text checks as relevant to the opposing triggers or entries. Priority targets are lethal attackers, pump enablers, and permanents that make `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` insufficient.

- Against artifact or enchantment engines, preserve removal for the permanent that produces inevitability or prevents the `Marit Lage` kill. `Collector Ouphe` can slow artifacts but may reduce future `Mox Diamond` utility, so deploy it after evaluating whether the hand already has enough mana. Add role cards: `Collector Ouphe`, `Force of Vigor`, `Outland Liberator`, `Disruptor Flute`. Priority targets are lock pieces, mana engines, and hate permanents that stop `Dark Depths`, `Crop Rotation`, or creature combat.

- Against control or removal-heavy midrange, make the opponent spend answers on `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, and `Green Sun's Zenith` threats before exposing the decisive token. `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, and `Legolas's Quick Reflexes` are protection tools only when the legal action text and stack state show the protected object and timing. Add role cards: `Disruptor Flute`, `Gaddock Teeg`, `Endurance`, `Doorkeeper Thrull` if card text checks against their visible effects, and `Icetill Explorer` only after card text confirms the matchup role. Priority targets are removal bottlenecks, sweepers, and permanent hate that invalidates the combo.

- Against land-centric or big-mana decks, use `Wasteland`, `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` to break the key land while still developing a clock. Add role cards: `Disruptor Flute`, `Gaddock Teeg`, `Force of Vigor` for visible artifact/enchantment acceleration, and `Mindbreak Trap` only for spell-chain payoff turns. Priority targets are the land or engine permanent that unlocks the opponent's next high-impact turn.

## Risk Summary

- Mana risk: `Mox Diamond` creates explosive starts but costs a land, so avoid hands that discard the only route to green mana, `Dark Depths`, or `Thespian's Stage` without a clear replacement. `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth`, `Savannah`, `Windswept Heath`, `Forest`, `Plains`, and `Lush Portico` should be sequenced to keep green available for `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, and `Knight of the Reliquary`.

- Matchup risk: the deck can misidentify its role because it is both combo and midrange. Do not force `Dark Depths` into visible interaction when `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, `Badgermole Cub`, or `Scythecat Cub` can pressure first; do not grind when the opponent's public clock or combo window demands immediate `Marit Lage` assembly.

- Draw risk: 61 cards and several singletons make opening hands uneven. Mulligan hands that lack mana plus a plan, and treat `Green Sun's Zenith` as a flexible creature access card only when the battlefield, mana, and known library targets support the line.

- Over-sideboarding risk: cutting too many proactive cards can leave only answers and lands. Add role cards for the visible opposing axis, but preserve enough `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, and `Dark Depths` access to actually win.

- Graveyard risk: `Bojuka Bog`, `Endurance`, `Six`, and land recursion lines can matter, but timing is everything. Use graveyard interaction from visible graveyard contents and stack context; do not fire `Bojuka Bog` before the opponent commits the graveyard resource unless waiting exposes a known lethal or irreversible line.

- Sweeper/removal risk: `Marit Lage` and large creatures still lose to legal answers if protection is absent or mistimed. Hold `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, and `Karakas` decisions for actual rules-engine prompts, and avoid assuming protection works against every answer.

- Closer risk: fair creatures may fail to close quickly if their exact text is not relevant. Card text check required for `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, `Erode`, `Talon Gates of Madara`, and `Icetill Explorer` before relying on them as matchup-specific closers or interaction.

- Interaction risk: `Swords to Plowshares`, `Force of Vigor`, `Outland Liberator`, `Collector Ouphe`, `Disruptor Flute`, `Gaddock Teeg`, `Doorkeeper Thrull`, and `Mindbreak Trap` cover different axes, not interchangeable answers. Choose the piece that matches visible legal threats and public information.

- Sequencing risk: land tutors can sacrifice the wrong resource. Before activating `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, or `Knight of the Reliquary`, verify the current land count, graveyard needs, `Flagstones of Trokair` value, `Wasteland` targets, and whether fetching `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Sejiri Steppe`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Karakas`, `Blast Zone`, `Echoing Deeps`, or `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` is actually the legal and tactical target.

## Test Feedback Checklist

- Deciding factor: Record whether the game was decided by `Dark Depths` plus `Thespian's Stage`, fair pressure from `Elvish Reclaimer` or `Knight of the Reliquary`, land denial with `Wasteland`, graveyard timing from `Bojuka Bog` or `Endurance`, or the opponent resolving a threat this deck failed to answer.

- Mulligans: Check whether the kept hand had green mana, a proactive plan, and a believable path to either combo or pressure. Flag keeps that relied on `Mox Diamond` while discarding the only important land, kept `Dark Depths` without access to `Thespian's Stage` or a tutor, or kept interaction without a closing route.

- Mana: Track whether `Savannah`, `Forest`, `Plains`, `Lush Portico`, `Windswept Heath`, `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth`, and `Mox Diamond` produced the colors needed on time. Mark games where `Crop Rotation`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, or `Knight of the Reliquary` were stranded by sequencing rather than opponent pressure.

- Velocity: Ask whether the deck presented a decisive action before the opponent's visible clock or engine became dominant. Slow games should identify whether the bottleneck was missing combo access, too many reactive cards, mana denial, or choosing a fair line when `Marit Lage` was needed.

- Engine use: Review every `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` activation for land choice. Confirm whether the chosen land was `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Sejiri Steppe`, `Karakas`, `Bojuka Bog`, `Blast Zone`, `Wasteland`, `Echoing Deeps`, `Talon Gates of Madara`, or `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` for a visible tactical reason.

- Removal: Check whether `Swords to Plowshares`, `Erode`, `Force of Vigor`, `Outland Liberator`, `Blast Zone`, and `Legolas's Quick Reflexes` were used on the permanent or creature that actually changed the race, combo window, or lock state. Mark low-impact removal when a more dangerous public threat remained.

- Sideboard impact: Record which of `Collector Ouphe`, `Disruptor Flute`, `Doorkeeper Thrull`, `Endurance`, `Force of Vigor`, `Gaddock Teeg`, `Icetill Explorer`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Outland Liberator`, and `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` appeared, whether it matched the opponent's visible axis, and whether it advanced the plan instead of only delaying.

- Closing: Identify whether the deck failed to end games after creating an advantage. Note if `Marit Lage` was exposed without `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, or `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, if `Badgermole Cub` or `Scythecat Cub` could not convert pressure, or if `Green Sun's Zenith` found setup when a closer was needed.

- Role accuracy: Judge whether the pilot correctly chose combo, midrange, control, or mana-denial posture from public information. Flag games where the deck overprotected a slow plan against a fast opponent or rushed combo into visible interaction when fair pressure was available.

- Mistakes: List illegal assumptions separately from poor strategic choices. The agent must not assume hidden cards, guaranteed protection, exact card text for unchecked cards, or rules outcomes not shown by Veles and Forge.

- Stranded cards: Track cards that stayed in hand without legal or useful deployment, especially duplicate `Dark Depths`, late `Mox Diamond`, narrow sideboard cards, `Erode`, `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`, and card-text-uncertain threats.

- Overperformers and underperformers: Report cards by exact name and game context. Separate true performance from matchup luck, mana screw, and opponent mistakes.

## First Tuning Questions

- Quantity question: Is the 61st main-deck card improving flexibility, or is it reducing access to `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Green Sun's Zenith`, and `Knight of the Reliquary` often enough to justify returning to 60 cards?

- Combo access question: Are 2 `Dark Depths`, 2 `Thespian's Stage`, 3 `Crop Rotation`, 4 `Elvish Reclaimer`, and 4 `Knight of the Reliquary` enough to assemble lethal pressure on time, or do losses show too many games where the deck had disruption but no finisher?

- Mana question: Are 3 `Mox Diamond` and the current land mix producing explosive starts without creating too many resource-negative hands? Check whether `Flagstones of Trokair`, `Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth`, `Savannah`, and fetchable basics support both fair pressure and instant-speed land tutoring.

- Protection question: Are `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, and 2 `Legolas's Quick Reflexes` enough protection for `Marit Lage`, or are games being lost to visible answers after the combo is assembled? Card text check required for `Legolas's Quick Reflexes` before increasing reliance on it.

- Fair threat question: Do 3 `Badgermole Cub`, 2 `Scythecat Cub`, `Six`, and 4 `Knight of the Reliquary` win games where combo is contested, or are they too slow against fast decks and too answerable against control? Card text check required for `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, and `Six` in matchup-specific evaluation.

- Removal question: Are 4 `Swords to Plowshares` plus 2 `Erode` covering the creature and permanent threats that actually matter, or should the main deck shift toward more proactive combo density or broader permanent answers? Card text check required for `Erode` before treating it as flexible interaction.

- Aggro plan question: Does `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` from the sideboard plus main-deck `Swords to Plowshares`, `Blast Zone`, and fast `Marit Lage` stabilize enough, or do creature matchups need more early-board role cards?

- Control plan question: Are `Disruptor Flute`, `Gaddock Teeg`, `Doorkeeper Thrull`, and protection lands enough against removal-heavy and spell-heavy opponents, or does the deck need more resilient closers or fewer narrow reactive cards? Card text check required for `Doorkeeper Thrull` and `Gaddock Teeg` against each visible matchup axis.

- Graveyard plan question: Are `Bojuka Bog` and 2 `Endurance` sufficient, or are graveyard decks forcing interaction before the deck can develop pressure? Review whether graveyard hate was drawn, tutored, timed correctly, and paired with a clock.

- Artifact/enchantment plan question: Are `Collector Ouphe`, 2 `Force of Vigor`, and `Outland Liberator` enough without overloading sideboard space, or are artifact and enchantment engines still determining games?

- Role-conflict question: Does the sideboard create hands with too many answers and too few ways to win? Review post-board games where `Green Sun's Zenith`, `Crop Rotation`, `Elvish Reclaimer`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, and `Dark Depths` access were reduced in practical play.

- Narrow-slot question: Did `Icetill Explorer`, `Talon Gates of Madara`, `Echoing Deeps`, or sideboard singletons create unique wins, or were they stranded without clear text-confirmed purpose? Card text check required before changing quantities based on isolated appearances.

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Opening Role Mulligan
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan
Cards: Dark Depths; Thespian's Stage; Crop Rotation; Elvish Reclaimer; Green Sun's Zenith; Knight of the Reliquary; Mox Diamond
Phase windows: pregame, mulligan
Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan, opening hand, known matchup label
Use when: deciding keep or mulligan before any game actions.
Avoid when: sideboard lock has not loaded or hand data is unavailable.
Instructions: Keep hands that produce mana and either assemble `Dark Depths` plus access to `Thespian's Stage`, develop `Elvish Reclaimer` or `Knight of the Reliquary`, or interact while progressing. Reject hands with no mana, no engine, or only reactive cards unless the matchup requires immediate hate and the hand has a clock.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: First Enabling Permanent
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana, priority, selection
Cards: Elvish Reclaimer; Green Sun's Zenith; Dryad Arbor; Mox Diamond; Knight of the Reliquary
Phase windows: turns 1-2 main phases
Runtime cues: action:cast Elvish Reclaimer, action:cast Green Sun's Zenith, action:play Mox Diamond
Use when: choosing the first proactive setup action.
Avoid when: visible lethal pressure or stack interaction requires immediate response.
Instructions: Lead with mana and a land-tutor creature when protected by the current board. Use `Green Sun's Zenith` for setup only when the legal action text and available mana show the intended creature line; do not assume the library contains a specific card unless the engine lists it.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Dark Depths Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority, mana, selection
Cards: Dark Depths; Thespian's Stage; Crop Rotation; Elvish Reclaimer; Knight of the Reliquary; Sejiri Steppe; Sylvan Safekeeper; Legolas's Quick Reflexes
Phase windows: opponent end step, own main phase, combat setup
Runtime cues: action:activate Thespian's Stage, action:cast Crop Rotation, action:activate Elvish Reclaimer, action:activate Knight of the Reliquary
Use when: selecting whether to start the `Dark Depths` combo line.
Avoid when: the legal action is only a routine mana activation.
Instructions: Commit when the visible clock, mana, protection, and opponent public resources make waiting worse than acting. Prefer windows that retain protection from `Sejiri Steppe`, `Sylvan Safekeeper`, or a text-confirmed `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`; card text check required for `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Execute Stage Copy After Commitment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority, mana
Cards: Dark Depths; Thespian's Stage
Phase windows: any legal priority window
Runtime cues: action:activate Thespian's Stage target Dark Depths
Use when: the legal action text shows `Thespian's Stage` targeting `Dark Depths` and the prior decision frame selected the `Dark Depths` combo line.
Avoid when: the prior decision frame did not commit to the combo.
Instructions: Choose the exact legal action that copies `Dark Depths`; do not reinterpret the line or select another target.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Crop Rotation Land Choice
Priority: High
Decision families: selection, mana, interaction
Cards: Crop Rotation; Dark Depths; Thespian's Stage; Sejiri Steppe; Bojuka Bog; Wasteland; Karakas; Blast Zone; Talon Gates of Madara; Echoing Deeps
Phase windows: any legal instant-speed window
Runtime cues: action:cast Crop Rotation, prompt:choose land, prompt:search library
Use when: `Crop Rotation` is legal or resolving.
Avoid when: the engine does not expose candidate lands.
Instructions: Choose the land that answers the current public problem: combo access, protection, graveyard hate, opposing legendary threat, mana denial, sweeper setup, or mana fixing. Do not sacrifice essential mana unless the selected land immediately advances survival or closing.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Reclaimer And Knight Land Choice
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection, mana, priority
Cards: Elvish Reclaimer; Knight of the Reliquary; Dark Depths; Thespian's Stage; Sejiri Steppe; Bojuka Bog; Wasteland; Karakas; Blast Zone; Echoing Deeps; Talon Gates of Madara
Phase windows: own main phase, opponent end step, combat tricks when legal
Runtime cues: action:activate Elvish Reclaimer, action:activate Knight of the Reliquary, prompt:choose land
Use when: a land-tutor activation is legal or resolving.
Avoid when: activating exposes a needed blocker to lethal combat or removes required mana.
Instructions: Treat every activation as a role choice. Assemble combo under low pressure, find protection when a lethal token is exposed, find hate against graveyard reliance, or find utility only when it changes the visible board.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Mox Diamond Payment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana, selection
Cards: Mox Diamond; Flagstones of Trokair; Dark Depths; Thespian's Stage; Wasteland; Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
Phase windows: main phase, opening development
Runtime cues: action:cast Mox Diamond, prompt:discard a land
Use when: `Mox Diamond` requires a land discard choice.
Avoid when: the hand has too few lands to continue development.
Instructions: Discard a redundant land or a land whose role is covered by visible alternatives. Preserve unique combo pieces, protection lands, and matchup-critical utility unless the acceleration immediately unlocks a stronger legal play.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Mandatory Mana For Selected Spell
Priority: Low
Decision families: mana
Cards: Savannah; Forest; Plains; Mox Diamond; Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth; Lush Portico
Phase windows: any payment prompt
Runtime cues: action:pay mana, prompt:pay cost
Use when: exactly one legal mana payment action is exposed for the already selected spell or ability.
Avoid when: multiple payment lines differ by preserving colored mana, untapped lands, or utility lands.
Instructions: Submit the single visible payment action. When choices differ, preserve protection and interaction mana through light-model reasoning.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Protection Response
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction, priority
Cards: Sejiri Steppe; Sylvan Safekeeper; Legolas's Quick Reflexes; Crop Rotation; Green Sun's Zenith
Phase windows: stack response, combat, removal targeting window
Runtime cues: prompt:priority, stack:targeting own creature, action:activate Sylvan Safekeeper, action:cast Legolas's Quick Reflexes, action:cast Crop Rotation
Use when: an owned key creature or combo token is visibly targeted or threatened.
Avoid when: the target is not strategically important or protection costs sacrifice the winning position.
Instructions: Protect `Marit Lage`, `Knight of the Reliquary`, and engine creatures when their survival determines the game. Card text check required for `Legolas's Quick Reflexes`; use only if the engine exposes a legal protective action.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Swords Removal Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction, priority
Cards: Swords to Plowshares
Phase windows: combat, stack response, opponent end step, own main phase
Runtime cues: action:cast Swords to Plowshares, prompt:choose target creature
Use when: deciding whether to spend `Swords to Plowshares`.
Avoid when: the creature is not affecting the current race, lock, combo, or survival problem.
Instructions: Spend removal on creatures that stop the combo, create lethal pressure, enable an opponent engine, or invalidate combat. Do not remove a low-impact creature while a more dangerous public creature remains unless life total or timing demands it.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Utility Interaction Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction, priority, selection
Cards: Erode; Wasteland; Karakas; Blast Zone; Force of Vigor; Outland Liberator; Collector Ouphe; Disruptor Flute; Doorkeeper Thrull; Gaddock Teeg
Phase windows: main phase, opponent development, stack response when legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Erode, action:activate Wasteland, action:activate Karakas, action:activate Blast Zone, action:cast Force of Vigor
Use when: a public permanent or spell axis is stopping the deck's plan.
Avoid when: card text is not verified and the engine does not expose the relevant legal action.
Instructions: Use narrow interaction only against visible engines, blockers, mana, or answers that matter this turn cycle. Card text check required for `Erode`, `Doorkeeper Thrull`, and `Gaddock Teeg` in exact rule interactions.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Fair Threat Development
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority, combat, mana
Cards: Badgermole Cub; Scythecat Cub; Six; Knight of the Reliquary; Green Sun's Zenith
Phase windows: own main phase, combat setup
Runtime cues: action:cast Badgermole Cub, action:cast Scythecat Cub, action:cast Six, action:cast Knight of the Reliquary
Use when: combo is delayed or public interaction makes a fair line safer.
Avoid when: a deterministic combo line is protected and lethal soon.
Instructions: Develop fair pressure when it shortens the clock without abandoning combo access. Card text check required for `Badgermole Cub`, `Scythecat Cub`, and `Six`; follow engine-exposed legal actions and visible stats.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat With Marit Lage Or Large Creature
Priority: High
Decision families: combat
Cards: Dark Depths; Knight of the Reliquary; Sejiri Steppe; Sylvan Safekeeper
Phase windows: declare attackers, declare blockers, combat trick windows
Runtime cues: prompt:declare attackers, prompt:declare blockers, action:attack with, action:block with
Use when: attacking or blocking can decide lethal, survival, or protection use.
Avoid when: combat has exactly one legal no-impact pass action.
Instructions: Attack with lethal or dominant threats unless public blockers, bounce, exile, sacrifice, or prevention makes waiting stronger. Preserve `Knight of the Reliquary` as a blocker or land tutor when combat damage is less important than the next activation.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic No-Block Pass
Priority: Low
Decision families: combat
Cards: none
Phase windows: declare blockers
Runtime cues: action:declare no blockers
Use when: the only legal block action is `declare no blockers`.
Avoid when: any legal block action names a creature or token.
Instructions: Submit the visible no-block action without calling for strategic reasoning.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Graveyard Hate Timing
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction, priority, selection
Cards: Bojuka Bog; Endurance; Crop Rotation; Elvish Reclaimer; Knight of the Reliquary
Phase windows: opponent graveyard setup, response window, opponent end step
Runtime cues: action:play Bojuka Bog, action:cast Endurance, action:cast Crop Rotation, prompt:choose graveyard target
Use when: opponent public graveyard resources threaten combo, recursion, or lethal.
Avoid when: graveyard hate does not change a visible resource or timing window.
Instructions: Fire graveyard hate when it denies a public payoff or buys a decisive turn. Prefer tutor-backed `Bojuka Bog` when land access is available; use `Endurance` when the stack or timing requires it.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Lock Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Collector Ouphe; Disruptor Flute; Doorkeeper Thrull; Endurance; Force of Vigor; Gaddock Teeg; Icetill Explorer; Mindbreak Trap; Outland Liberator; The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Phase windows: between games
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard, match stage, opponent archetype label
Use when: selecting or validating a sideboard plan.
Avoid when: exact sideboard inventory or main-deck inventory is unavailable.
Instructions: Add hate that matches the opponent's visible axis while preserving combo access and a clock. Do not overload on reactive cards at the expense of `Dark Depths`, `Thespian's Stage`, land tutors, and green creature access.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Mindbreak Trap Emergency
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction, priority
Cards: Mindbreak Trap
Phase windows: opponent combo turn, stack response
Runtime cues: action:cast Mindbreak Trap, stack:multiple spells, prompt:choose target spell
Use when: the engine exposes `Mindbreak Trap` and opponent stack actions can decide the game.
Avoid when: the stack item is low impact or the opponent is not threatening a decisive sequence.
Instructions: Use `Mindbreak Trap` to stop visible combo or storm-like stack pressure. Target selection must follow engine-listed candidates; do not assume hidden follow-up spells.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Force Of Vigor Pitch Choice
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction, selection
Cards: Force of Vigor; Collector Ouphe; Outland Liberator; Green Sun's Zenith; Sylvan Safekeeper
Phase windows: opponent turn, free-spell window, main phase
Runtime cues: action:cast Force of Vigor, prompt:exile a green card, prompt:choose artifact or enchantment
Use when: `Force of Vigor` is legal and a pitch or target choice is required.
Avoid when: the target does not block survival, combo, or sideboard role execution.
Instructions: Pitch the least essential green card for the current role and target the public artifact or enchantment that matters now. Preserve unique hate or combo access unless the target is immediately decisive.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
