# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Quintorius Combo is a Historic combo deck built around resolving `Quintorius Kand` and converting the deck's unusually high mana-value construction into chained discover-style pressure, clone pressure, and oversized follow-up threats. The registered list is not a normal 60-card tuned shell: it is a legal 67-card main deck with an 8-card sideboard, so Veles should treat the extra seven cards as an intentional registration choice rather than silently assuming stock combo density.

- Format validation: Active format is Historic, and the supplied validation contract says the deck passes current main/sideboard size rules with `67` main-deck cards and `8` sideboard cards.
- Registration validation: Legal `Cut:` names are restricted to the registered main deck, and legal `Side in:` names are restricted to `Doomskar` and `Virtue of Courage`; no other card name should appear as an executable sideboard instruction.
- Archetype tags: The supplied tags are `combo, combo`; normalize strategic handling to `combo`, with secondary play patterns of tap-out midrange, big-spell control, and clone-based battlefield snowballing.
- Stock status: Treat this as a hybrid or rogue-adapted Quintorius Combo registration, not a generic Historic combo template, because it uses `67` main-deck cards, `Keruga, the Macrosage` in the main deck, a compact 8-card sideboard, and a threat suite of `Shark Typhoon`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, and `Trumpeting Carnosaur`.
- Companion status: `Keruga, the Macrosage` is registered in the main deck, so do not assume companion access or companion-zone rules unless the rules engine exposes a legal companion action.
- Core identity: The deck should prioritize mana development, color fixing, survival to high-impact turns, and a protected `Quintorius Kand` commitment over low-value early actions.
- Mana concern: The deck is five-color and land-heavy, using `Hallowed Fountain`, `Steam Vents`, `Sacred Foundry`, `Blood Crypt`, `Stomping Ground`, `Raffine's Tower`, `Spara's Headquarters`, `Seachrome Coast`, `Mountain`, `Castle Vantress`, and `Mirrex`; Veles should respect visible tapped-land timing, shock-land life payment options, and domain/five-color availability before committing a critical spell.
- Role concern: This deck has little cheap interaction and many expensive cards, so early turns often revolve around preserving life total, making land drops, and choosing whether a tap-out line is safer than holding interaction such as `Leyline Binding` or channel/cycling-style actions from visible legal options.
- Combo concern: `Quintorius Kand` should not be fired into obviously poor visible conditions merely because it is legal; commitment requires reasoning about life total, opponent pressure, available mana, known stack interaction, and whether waiting improves or worsens the position.
- Threat concern: `Shark Typhoon`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Spark Double`, `Surgical Metamorph`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, and `Trumpeting Carnosaur` are not interchangeable filler; each legal action should be evaluated by whether it stabilizes, advances the combo, creates a board, or preserves interaction.
- Sideboard concern: `Doomskar` and `Virtue of Courage` imply only two broad post-board pivots: sweeping creature pressure and increasing red-card/value pressure; do not invent sideboard bullets, graveyard hate, counterspells, artifact hate, or life-gain cards.
- Opponent info status: No opponent decklist, matchup label, metagame target, or testing concern was supplied, so matchup guidance must remain archetype-conditional and grounded in visible board state rather than naming hidden cards or assuming exact opponent holdings.
- Runtime priority: Legal actions and rules-engine output override this guide; when card text or legality is not exposed clearly enough by Veles, choose only among listed legal actions and mark uncertain tactical assumptions as conditional rather than asserting a rules result.

## Thesis
Quintorius Combo assembles a high-mana-value shell where `Quintorius Kand`, discover-style effects, clones, and expensive modal threats convert one resolved commitment into cascading board presence and life-total pressure. The deck is built to make land drops, fix five colors, survive the first pressure wave, then turn a single high-impact spell or planeswalker window into multiple threats rather than trade resources at low mana.

- Priority: Preserve life and mana development until a decisive `Quintorius Kand`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Shark Typhoon`, clone, or large creature line can take over the game.
- Priority: Treat `Quintorius Kand` as the central commitment card, not as a disposable five-mana play; deploy it when the visible board, life total, mana, and opponent pressure make the immediate activation or survival plan credible.
- Priority: Use `Leyline Binding`, visible channel/cycling/adventure actions, and sideboard sweepers to buy time, because the main deck is light on cheap interaction and can lose before its expensive cards dominate.
- Priority: Prefer lines that leave follow-up pressure after disruption, such as resolving a threat plus keeping clone pressure available, over lines that depend on one permanent surviving without backup.
- Win pattern: Stabilize with `Leyline Binding`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, or `Trumpeting Carnosaur` interaction, then win through `Quintorius Kand` value, discovered/cast-from-exile pressure, large creatures, `Shark Typhoon` tokens, copied threats from `Spark Double` or `Surgical Metamorph`, and repeated high-mana spell quality.
- Not the plan: Do not race like a low-curve aggro deck, do not spend shock-land life casually, do not keep hands that only cast spells on turn five without fixing, and do not fire speculative clone spells without a visible target or a clearly exposed engine action.
- Runtime rule: Legal actions and visible state override all strategic shortcuts; if Veles exposes only a subset of card text or target choices, choose from the listed legal actions and keep uncertain card-function assumptions conditional.

## Role Package
- Threats: `Shark Typhoon`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Spark Double`, and `Surgical Metamorph` provide the deck's battlefield pressure; rank them by immediate stabilization first, then snowball value, then raw clock.
- Payoffs: `Quintorius Kand` is the primary payoff and should be protected by timing, board control, and mana readiness; `Shark Typhoon` is the best long-game payoff when noncreature spells or cycling actions are exposed; `Trumpeting Carnosaur` is a payoff when it creates an additional spell or threat through visible legal text.
- Engines: `Quintorius Kand` plus cast-from-exile/discover-style actions is the named engine; `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Spark Double`, and `Surgical Metamorph` can extend the engine when legal action text shows copy, discover, or high-impact target options. `Calim, Djinn Emperor` may be an engine or payoff, but Card text check required before relying on a specific trigger or resource pattern.
- Velocity: `Oliphaunt` is a mana-smoothing card when landcycling or similar legal text appears, and it should often enable future turns before being treated as only a creature. `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, and `Shark Typhoon` may also provide modal velocity or flexible timing when Veles exposes alternate legal actions; Card text check required for exact mode names if hidden.
- Interaction: `Leyline Binding` is the main clean answer to a visible nonland permanent when domain/five-color mana makes it efficient enough. `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, and `Trumpeting Carnosaur` can function as interaction only when their visible legal actions show bounce, counter/tax, damage, or equivalent text; do not assume an unlisted mode exists.
- Protection: `Mirrorshell Crab` is the protection module when a legal counter/tax action is visible, especially for defending `Quintorius Kand`, a decisive threat, or a game-ending stack exchange. Protection is otherwise mostly sequencing-based: delay commitment, force action on less important threats, and avoid tapping out into a visible punish window.
- Recursion: The registered main deck has no dedicated recursion module. Do not plan around replaying graveyard cards, returning permanents, or looping threats unless the rules engine exposes a legal action from a registered card.
- Mana: `Hallowed Fountain`, `Seachrome Coast`, `Steam Vents`, `Blood Crypt`, `Stomping Ground`, `Sacred Foundry`, `Raffine's Tower`, `Spara's Headquarters`, `Mountain`, `Castle Vantress`, and `Mirrex` form a five-color, tapped-land-sensitive base. Prioritize colors and land count for `Leyline Binding`, `Quintorius Kand`, clone lines, and expensive red/blue threats; treat shock-land life payments as tactical costs.
- Sideboard modules: `Doomskar` is the anti-creature reset module for boards where one-for-one interaction cannot catch up. `Virtue of Courage` is the red value or reach module; Card text check required for exact adventure/enchantment play patterns, but use it broadly when the matchup rewards additional late-game pressure over narrow stabilization.

## Primary Win Conditions
- `Quintorius Kand` chain is the defining win path: develop enough mana and life buffer to resolve `Quintorius Kand`, use the engine action only when Veles exposes a legal activation, then convert discovered/cast-from-exile spells into repeated pressure and life swings. Prioritize this line when the board is stable enough that `Quintorius Kand` is not immediately dead, when the opponent is tapped low or shields are down, or when waiting gives the opponent a faster clock.
- `Spark Double` is the key clone payoff when legal text permits copying `Quintorius Kand` or another high-impact visible permanent. Use it to extend a `Quintorius Kand` turn only after the first commitment is selected; do not cast it into an empty or low-impact board unless the engine has already produced the target and Veles shows the copy action.
- `Surgical Metamorph` is a clone/pressure extender only when Veles exposes a legal copy target. Card text check required for exact target classes and casting conditions, so treat it as deterministic only when the rules engine lists the target and the resulting action is clearly legal.
- `Trumpeting Carnosaur` is the main standalone payoff when `Quintorius Kand` is unavailable or too risky. Prioritize it when visible legal text offers discover/value or damage interaction and when one resolved high-mana spell can either stabilize the battlefield or create another threat.
- `Shark Typhoon` is the long-game win condition against opponents who give time or trade one-for-one. Cast it as an engine when mana and shields allow repeated noncreature payoffs, or use a visible cycling token action when instant-speed pressure, blockers, or planeswalker defense matter more than the enchantment body; do not assume a cycle mode unless Veles exposes it.
- `Calim, Djinn Emperor` is a named threat and possible engine piece, but Card text check required. Prioritize it only when Veles shows a legal action whose text advances board presence, card flow, or damage; otherwise rank known `Quintorius Kand`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, and `Shark Typhoon` lines higher.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Large-creature pressure wins when the combo is disrupted or too slow: `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, and `Trumpeting Carnosaur` can close after `Leyline Binding` removes the key blocker or threat. Choose this path when the opponent is low on visible resources, the battlefield is clear enough to attack, or clone targets make one large body into multiple bodies.
- Clone pressure is a backup plan when the best visible permanent is already on board. Copy `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, or a strong opponent permanent only when Veles exposes the target and the copied body affects the current race, blocks immediately, or creates lethal pressure within the next turn cycle.
- `Mirrex` provides fallback creature-land or token pressure when both players are low on cards and the deck needs threats without spending high-impact spells. Use `Mirrex` conservatively while still needing colored mana, then turn it into inevitability once land count and colors are secure.
- `Castle Vantress` supports late-game selection rather than direct victory. Use it when no strong spell action is available and mana is otherwise unused, especially to find `Quintorius Kand`, `Shark Typhoon`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, or interaction; do not spend activation mana if it prevents a listed defensive action.
- `Keruga, the Macrosage` is a recovery and value threat, not the primary combo. Card text check required for exact draw condition, but prioritize it when the visible board contains enough qualifying permanents to make a high-card payoff credible or when the hand needs refueling after trading resources.
- Sideboard `Virtue of Courage` can become a secondary value or reach plan after sideboarding. Card text check required for exact mode text, so use it only when Veles exposes a legal action that clearly adds pressure, removal, card advantage, or damage reach.

## Emergency Lines
- When behind on life, spend resources to survive before preserving combo purity. Prioritize `Leyline Binding`, visible `Horned Loch-Whale` interaction, visible `Mirrorshell Crab` protection or tax actions, `Trumpeting Carnosaur` damage/value actions, and sideboard `Doomskar` over speculative setup.
- When behind on board, stabilize first with `Doomskar` post-board or `Leyline Binding` main deck, then rebuild with one large threat. Avoid committing `Quintorius Kand` into multiple attackers unless the legal activation immediately changes the board or life race.
- When behind on cards, favor durable engines over single trades: `Shark Typhoon`, `Keruga, the Macrosage`, `Castle Vantress`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, and `Virtue of Courage` are the recovery tools when their legal actions are exposed. Do not cycle or channel a high-impact card merely to use mana if the hand already lacks win conditions.
- When behind on mana or colors, use visible `Oliphaunt` landcycling or equivalent fixing actions before expensive threats. Shock-land life payments from `Hallowed Fountain`, `Steam Vents`, `Blood Crypt`, `Stomping Ground`, or `Sacred Foundry` are justified when they unlock immediate survival or the next-turn `Quintorius Kand` window.
- When `Quintorius Kand` is removed or unavailable, shift to threat density rather than waiting indefinitely. Chain `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Shark Typhoon`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, clones with visible targets, and `Mirrex` pressure while using `Leyline Binding` to force attacks through.
- When opponent interaction is visible or strongly telegraphed by open mana, bait with secondary threats before the central commitment if life total allows. If the clock makes waiting worse, commit `Quintorius Kand` or `Trumpeting Carnosaur` and choose the legal line that leaves the most battlefield presence after one answered spell.

## Resource Model
- Life is a spendable setup resource only when it buys colors or a decisive engine window. Pay shock-land life for `Hallowed Fountain`, `Steam Vents`, `Sacred Foundry`, `Blood Crypt`, or `Stomping Ground` when it enables immediate `Leyline Binding`, next-turn `Quintorius Kand`, or visible survival interaction; preserve life against fast boards when the same spell can wait one turn through a tapped land.
- Hand size is pressure redundancy, not a hoard. Keep enough expensive threats that one answered `Quintorius Kand` does not end the game, but convert spare high-cost cards through visible cycling, channel, landcycling, or adventure-style actions when Veles shows them and the hand lacks lands, blockers, or interaction.
- Mana is the main bottleneck and should be converted into either domain interaction or a high-impact five-plus-mana turn. Prioritize land drops, color diversity, and untapped sources over marginal early utility because `Quintorius Kand`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Shark Typhoon`, clone lines, and large creatures all punish missed mana.
- Board presence is defensive until the first major payoff resolves. Use `Leyline Binding`, large bodies, and post-board `Doomskar` to prevent lethal pressure, then pivot into attacking once `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Spark Double`, or `Surgical Metamorph` creates a stable battlefield.
- Graveyard is a low-priority resource in this list unless Veles exposes a legal action that uses it. Do not value graveyard size by itself; track spent `Leyline Binding`, used channel/cycling cards, dead threats, and removed `Quintorius Kand` only as evidence for whether the remaining hand must become a creature-pressure plan.
- Exile is strategically central because `Quintorius Kand` and discover-style effects may care about cast-from-exile lines. Do not assume an exile-cast is legal from card memory; when Veles exposes a cast-from-exile action, prefer the action that stabilizes the board or extends the `Quintorius Kand` engine without losing to the visible counterattack.
- Lands are both fixing and late-game action. `Mirrex` and `Castle Vantress` are valuable once colors are secure, but early turns should treat them as risky colorless or slow resources if they delay `Leyline Binding`, `Quintorius Kand`, or double-spell turns.
- Sacrifice fodder is not a primary deck resource. If `Mirrex` creates tokens or another legal action creates expendable permanents, use them mostly to block, pressure planeswalkers, or protect life; do not preserve them for sacrifice synergies unless Veles shows an exact legal sacrifice payoff.
- Tempo is recovered through one large swing rather than many small trades. Spending a turn on tapped fixing is acceptable if it unlocks a stronger turn four or five, but against visible lethal pressure prioritize immediate `Leyline Binding`, cycling/token blockers from `Shark Typhoon`, legal `Horned Loch-Whale` interaction, or post-board `Doomskar`.
- Information comes from public zones, legal action text, and revealed choices only. Do not infer exact hidden cards from archetype alone; use open mana, known revealed cards, graveyard contents, and prior actions to decide whether to commit `Quintorius Kand` now or bait with `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Shark Typhoon`, or a cloneable creature.
- Sideboard bullets change resource conversion after game one. `Doomskar` converts opponent board commitment into time and parity, while `Virtue of Courage` converts mana and longer games into pressure or value only when Veles exposes legal text that matters to the current board.

## Mana Guide
- Build domain and untapped access before utility. `Raffine's Tower` and `Spara's Headquarters` supply multiple land types but enter tapped; `Hallowed Fountain`, `Steam Vents`, `Sacred Foundry`, `Blood Crypt`, `Stomping Ground`, and `Mountain` help make `Leyline Binding` cheaper and support the red-white core for `Quintorius Kand`.
- Prioritize red and white as the main commitment colors. Keep hands that can plausibly cast `Quintorius Kand` on curve or shortly after, then value blue for `Shark Typhoon`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Spark Double`, and selection-style actions; black and green are mostly domain/fixing colors unless a visible legal action requires them.
- Treat `Mirrex` as a late-game land unless the opening hand already has stable colors. Multiple `Mirrex` hands need strong colored lands or visible landcycling from `Oliphaunt`; otherwise they risk failing to cast `Leyline Binding` or `Quintorius Kand` on time.
- Treat `Castle Vantress` as a tapped or utility liability early. Play it early only when it does not block a required color sequence; save activation mana for late turns when no stronger legal spell, interaction, or cycling action is available.
- Use tapped triomes early when the hand has no urgent untapped play. Lead on `Raffine's Tower` or `Spara's Headquarters` when they improve domain and the next turns still cast the needed spell; avoid them when an untapped shock land is required for immediate `Leyline Binding` or survival.
- Pay shock-land life when the spell unlocked is worth more than the life lost. Against pressure, shock only for immediate interaction, a necessary blocker/token line, or a decisive engine turn; against slow opponents, tapped shocks are preferred if the same curve remains intact.
- Use visible `Oliphaunt` landcycling or equivalent fixing actions when land count or red access is missing. Do not spend the action if the current land sequence already reaches the next payoff and the creature body is needed for stabilization.
- Play lands before draw-like or discover actions when the legal action may reveal castable cards and the extra mana affects choices. Hold a land until after `Castle Vantress`, cycling, or other selection only when hand size, bluffing, or a known landfall-independent decision makes the hidden land tactically useful.
- Keep opening mana only when it supports a credible first five turns. A strong keep has three or more lands or two lands plus visible fixing, at least two relevant colors, and a path to `Leyline Binding` or a payoff; a weak keep has colorless-heavy lands, no fixing, and only expensive spells that cannot be cast before falling behind.
- Sequence for double-spell turns once five mana is reached. After the first payoff, prefer land drops that leave interaction plus development available, such as `Leyline Binding` plus a cycling/token action, `Mirrex` activation plus holding mana, or clone plus protection when Veles exposes those legal actions.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keep: Keep three to five lands with red and white access, at least one domain land or shock land, and one stabilizer or payoff such as `Leyline Binding`, `Quintorius Kand`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Shark Typhoon`, or `Horned Loch-Whale`. This hand has a real plan even if the first two turns are lands.
- Strong keep: Keep two lands plus visible fixing from `Oliphaunt` when the hand already has red access or a clear route to red-white by turn four. Prefer this keep on the draw or against slower decks where spending an early action on fixing is acceptable.
- Medium keep: Keep three lands with `Mirrex` or `Castle Vantress` only when the other lands supply the colors for `Leyline Binding` or `Quintorius Kand`. Treat double-utility-land hands as medium at best because the deck’s spells are powerful but color hungry.
- Medium keep: Keep a hand with `Leyline Binding` and no fast payoff when it has domain progress and enough mana to cycle, adventure, or deploy `Shark Typhoon`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, or `Oliphaunt` later. This hand is a stabilizing keep, not a combo keep.
- Risky keep: Keep two lands with no `Oliphaunt` only on the draw when both lands cast relevant early legal actions or enable cheap `Leyline Binding`. Ship it on the play against visible aggressive pressure unless the matchup demands a high-risk payoff hand.
- Risky keep: Keep hands with multiple `Spark Double` or `Surgical Metamorph` only when another card already provides a meaningful object to copy or a route to a payoff turn. Clone-heavy hands without `Quintorius Kand`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, or `Shark Typhoon` are delayed hands, not engines.
- Automatic ship: Ship zero-land, one-land without visible fixing, and hands where the first castable nonland spell is turn five or later with no `Leyline Binding` or legal cycling/fixing action. This deck can recover from a mulligan better than from doing nothing.
- Automatic ship: Ship hands with mostly `Mirrex`, `Castle Vantress`, or off-color lands that cannot plausibly cast red-white spells. Do not keep because the expensive cards are individually strong.
- Matchup-dependent keep: Against creature pressure, keep hands with `Leyline Binding`, post-board `Doomskar`, or early blocker/token lines even if the payoff is slower. Against slow interaction, prefer hands with resilient mana and multiple must-answer threats such as `Quintorius Kand`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Shark Typhoon`, and clone follow-up.
- Play/draw adjustment: On the play, demand cleaner mana and a faster stabilizing action because missed turns snowball. On the draw, accept one more tapped land or one fixing action if the hand has payoff density and a credible turn-four or turn-five pivot.
- Trap hand: Do not keep a hand of `Spark Double`, `Surgical Metamorph`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, and weak mana just because every spell is powerful. Without a castable engine, copy target, or survival tool, the hand relies on future draws and should be shipped.
- Trap hand: Do not keep `Quintorius Kand` plus mostly tapped or colorless lands unless red-white is already scheduled. The deck name does not make an uncastable `Quintorius Kand` a keep.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1: Prefer a tapped fixing land such as `Raffine's Tower` or `Spara's Headquarters` when it improves domain and does not block an urgent untapped sequence. Deviate to untapped `Hallowed Fountain`, `Steam Vents`, `Sacred Foundry`, `Blood Crypt`, or `Stomping Ground` only when Veles shows an immediate legal action or survival need.
- Turn 1: Avoid leading `Mirrex` unless colored mana is already secure or no colored land sequencing is available. The early game is about colors, not token utility.
- Turn 2: Make the second land drop to maximize domain and red-white access. Use visible `Oliphaunt` fixing only when the hand otherwise misses land drops or red access; preserve `Oliphaunt` as a future body when mana is already stable.
- Turn 2: Hold interaction only when Veles exposes a legal `Leyline Binding` line against a relevant permanent. If no target matters, continue fixing rather than spending resources on low-impact actions.
- Turn 3: Prioritize survival and setup over speculative pressure. Cast or hold `Leyline Binding` according to visible threats, use legal cycling/adventure-style actions from `Shark Typhoon`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, or `Mirrorshell Crab` when they solve mana or board pressure, and avoid deploying clones without a meaningful target.
- Turn 3: Treat `Calim, Djinn Emperor` as conditional until card text is confirmed by Veles. Card text check required; choose its legal action only when the visible action advances board stability, pressure, or the planned payoff turn.
- Turns 4-5: Commit `Quintorius Kand` when the board state, life total, and opponent mana make the engine turn better than waiting. If visible pressure threatens the planeswalker or your life total, prefer `Leyline Binding`, `Doomskar` post-board, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Shark Typhoon`, or a large creature line first.
- Turns 4-5: Use `Trumpeting Carnosaur` as a high-impact pivot when it is castable and the board can absorb the tempo. Follow with `Spark Double` or `Surgical Metamorph` only when copying a visible payoff, threat, or stabilizer is legal and materially stronger than developing a fresh threat.
- Turns 4-5: Use `Shark Typhoon` flexibly according to Veles actions. If a token-making line is legal and blocks or pressures planeswalkers, take it; if a full enchantment line is legal and the opponent is slow, it can become the long-game engine.
- Late game: Convert excess mana into repeatable pressure, selection, and oversized threats. `Castle Vantress` is acceptable when no stronger spell or interaction is legal, `Mirrex` can create bodies when colors are solved, and large casts of `Shark Typhoon`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, or `Trumpeting Carnosaur` should end the game rather than merely cycle resources.
- Late game: Sequence clones after the best visible permanent appears. `Spark Double` and `Surgical Metamorph` should copy `Quintorius Kand`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, a large creature, or a decisive opponent permanent only when Veles presents that legal copy choice and the board supports the commitment.

## Card Roles
- `Quintorius Kand`: Treat `Quintorius Kand` as the deck’s defining commitment card, not a generic five-mana planeswalker. Its important role is enabling a discover chain through a deck built with high mana values, clone effects, and flexible early actions; commit it when Veles shows a legal cast and the visible board does not make the planeswalker immediately irrelevant. Prefer landing `Quintorius Kand` with enough life, blockers, or interaction to survive the next opponent turn, because a one-turn window can convert into a decisive chain. Do not cast it into obvious visible pressure just because it is available; stabilize first with `Leyline Binding`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Shark Typhoon`, or post-board `Doomskar` when those actions are legal.

- `Spark Double`: Use `Spark Double` primarily as the cleanest clone payoff for `Quintorius Kand` and other high-impact permanents. It is strongest when copying a visible `Quintorius Kand` or another permanent whose extra body, loyalty, or triggered value immediately advances the combo turn or stabilizes the board. Hold `Spark Double` when the only legal targets are low-impact creatures, temporary tokens, or permanents that do not matter to the current race. Do not spend it merely to curve out unless the opponent’s pressure makes blocking or board presence necessary.

- `Surgical Metamorph`: Use `Surgical Metamorph` as the flexible clone that can turn either your best permanent or a visible opponent permanent into a swing point. Card text check required for exact copy restrictions, costs, and life-payment implications; choose its legal copy action only when Veles exposes the target and the resulting object is strategically worth the resource. Copying `Quintorius Kand`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, or a decisive opposing threat is usually a real plan. Copying a small creature just to spend mana is a trap unless it prevents lethal pressure or creates a required blocker.

- `Trumpeting Carnosaur`: Treat `Trumpeting Carnosaur` as both a top-end stabilizer and a combo-adjacent payoff. It is a large threat that can turn a stalled board into pressure, and its associated discovery-style value makes it especially important when the deck needs a high-impact action without already controlling `Quintorius Kand`. Cast it when the board can absorb the mana investment or when the resulting value is needed to catch up. Hold it when cheaper interaction or a more protected `Quintorius Kand` line is available and the opponent is not forcing an immediate pivot.

- `Shark Typhoon`: Use `Shark Typhoon` as the deck’s most flexible pressure, blocker, and long-game engine. When Veles offers a token-making line that blocks an attacker, pressures a planeswalker, or uses mana efficiently at instant speed, prefer that line over exposing a full enchantment into removal-heavy or fast boards. When the opponent is slow and the visible board is stable, the full `Shark Typhoon` enchantment line can dominate because the deck casts many expensive noncreature spells and clone effects. Do not cycle or token it for a tiny body unless the body changes combat, preserves life, or keeps mana from being wasted in a meaningful priority window.

- `Leyline Binding`: Use `Leyline Binding` as the main-deck answer that buys time for the expensive engine. Its value depends on domain and target quality, so sequence lands to lower its cost and reserve it for permanents that threaten life total, `Quintorius Kand`, mana stability, or a clock that cannot be raced. Fire it early against visible aggressive threats when survival matters more than perfect efficiency. Hold it against slow decks when the current target is replaceable and a higher-impact permanent is likely to appear, but do not hold so long that a known threat snowballs.

- `Horned Loch-Whale`: Use `Horned Loch-Whale` as a stabilizing flexible card whose early mode can affect tempo and whose late body can win combat. Card text check required for exact adventure or alternate-mode text; choose the smaller legal mode when it clearly prevents damage, breaks a critical attack, or buys the turn needed for `Quintorius Kand`. Cast the large creature when the game has shifted from setup to board control. Do not burn the tempo mode on a harmless creature if the real problem is a later lethal attack or a permanent better answered by `Leyline Binding`.

- `Mirrorshell Crab`: Use `Mirrorshell Crab` as interaction when Veles presents a legal channel or cast action that matters, and as a late-game body when interaction is no longer the priority. Card text check required for exact ability text and timing; treat it as a way to contest key spells or abilities only when the rules engine confirms legality. Holding `Mirrorshell Crab` is correct when the opponent is representing a decisive spell and your board is otherwise stable. Casting it as a creature is correct when the opponent is low on resources, the battlefield needs a large body, or the hand contains redundant interaction.

- `Oliphaunt`: Use `Oliphaunt` first as mana fixing only when the hand needs a land or red access to function. Its landcycling-style role is important because the deck is color hungry and domain-aware, but spending it for fixing when mana is already stable gives up a future threat. Cast `Oliphaunt` as a large body in games where both players have traded resources and the deck needs a straightforward finisher. Do not overvalue the creature side in opening hands that cannot cast early spells; fixing the mana is often the real job.

- `Calim, Djinn Emperor`: Treat `Calim, Djinn Emperor` as a high-impact four-copy threat, but require Veles-visible card text and legal actions before relying on a specific line. Card text check required. Use it when the visible action develops pressure, stabilizes combat, or creates a copy-worthy permanent for `Spark Double` or `Surgical Metamorph`. Avoid committing it into a board where it neither blocks profitably nor advances the combo plan, unless the hand has no other realistic action and tempo matters.

- `Keruga, the Macrosage`: Treat `Keruga, the Macrosage` as a one-copy card-advantage payoff that rewards the deck’s high mana curve. Card text check required for exact companion or cast constraints in the registered configuration; do not assume companion access unless Veles exposes it as a legal action. Cast `Keruga, the Macrosage` when it will refill after you have developed expensive permanents or when the game is about attrition. Do not prioritize it over a necessary `Leyline Binding`, stabilizing blocker, or active `Quintorius Kand` chain.

- `Mirrex`: Use `Mirrex` as late-game pressure and colorless utility after colored mana is secure. It should rarely be the first land if another land advances red-white access or domain. Activate it when no stronger spell, interaction, or setup action is legal, or when a small body changes combat math. Do not let `Mirrex` tempt the agent into missing a color requirement for `Quintorius Kand`, `Leyline Binding`, or the clone package.

- `Castle Vantress`: Use `Castle Vantress` as a mana sink for selection only after the deck has reached stable mana and the turn has no stronger action. Its job is to improve late draws, not to replace early fixing. Choose its activation when Veles shows no relevant spell, interaction, or token line and the game rewards finding `Quintorius Kand`, `Leyline Binding`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, or a clone.

- `Hallowed Fountain`, `Steam Vents`, `Sacred Foundry`, `Blood Crypt`, `Stomping Ground`, `Raffine's Tower`, `Spara's Headquarters`, `Seachrome Coast`, and `Mountain`: Treat lands as spell enablers first and life-total tools second. Prioritize sequences that create red-white for `Quintorius Kand`, enough land types for efficient `Leyline Binding`, and blue access for clone or interaction lines. Shock lands should enter untapped only when the current or next-turn legal action justifies the life payment. `Raffine's Tower` and `Spara's Headquarters` are valuable for domain and fixing, but tapped sequencing must not strand urgent interaction.

- Sideboard role preview: `Doomskar` is the reset button against creature density, and `Virtue of Courage` is the grind or damage-oriented sideboard threat. Card text check required for `Virtue of Courage` exact adventure, enchantment, and trigger text. Do not treat either sideboard card as present in Game 1 decisions unless Veles state or sideboard stage confirms it is in the current deck.

## Interaction Priorities

- Priority: Exile the permanent that stops `Quintorius Kand` from chaining or surviving before answering ordinary pressure. Use `Leyline Binding` first on visible hate, planeswalkers, engines, or creatures whose attacks make the next `Quintorius Kand` activation unsafe; do not spend it on a replaceable small attacker when `Horned Loch-Whale`, a Shark token, or a blocker can absorb the turn.

- Priority: Counter or tax the spell or ability that beats the current commitment, not the first legal object on the stack. Use `Mirrorshell Crab` only when Veles confirms a legal interactive action; Card text check required for exact channel/counter terms. High-value stops are removal aimed at `Quintorius Kand`, a counterspell or discard-equivalent effect during the combo turn, lethal burn, a sweeper that clears your stabilizing bodies, or a resolved engine that will outscale `Shark Typhoon`.

- Priority: Bounce or tempo the attacker that changes the clock by a full turn. Use `Horned Loch-Whale` when its legal smaller mode prevents lethal, protects `Quintorius Kand`, breaks a combat step, or forces the opponent to recast an expensive threat. Card text check required for exact mode text. Do not bounce a creature just because mana is open if the opponent can replay it and the deck needs the card as a late stabilizer.

- Priority: Bait interaction with nonessential expensive threats before committing `Quintorius Kand` when the opponent has open mana and the board is not forcing an immediate answer. `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, a cycled `Shark Typhoon`, or a cast `Horned Loch-Whale` can draw counters or removal while leaving the combo card for a later window. If waiting exposes lethal damage or a planeswalker kill, commit sooner and make the opponent have it.

- Priority: Ignore low-impact permanents that do not pressure life, mana, `Quintorius Kand`, or the stack. Small creatures, tapped utility bodies, and slow value pieces can be raced once the deck begins making planeswalkers, Sharks, or large creatures. Against aggressive decks, this rule changes: remove the highest immediate damage source first, even if it is not the most expensive card.

- Priority: Preserve `Leyline Binding` for resolved permanents and `Mirrorshell Crab` for stack fights when both are available. If the opponent is mostly creature combat, spend `Leyline Binding` earlier. If the opponent is spell-based combo or control, hold `Mirrorshell Crab` for the decisive spell and use board development to pressure them.

- Priority: Treat discard choices as unavailable unless the rules engine exposes a legal copied, stolen, or generated discard action. This registered deck has no normal main-deck discard card, so the agent must not plan around proactive hand attack.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Priority: Protect `Quintorius Kand` over preserving a medium creature when the planeswalker activation is the route to winning. Block with Shark tokens, `Mirrex` tokens, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Spark Double`, or `Surgical Metamorph` copies if the trade keeps `Quintorius Kand` alive for another activation or prevents lethal damage.

- Priority: Use life total as a resource only while the next turn is clearly safe. Above 12 life, prefer mana-efficient development and tapped-land sequencing when no haste or burn-like pressure is visible. At 8 to 12 life, preserve enough blockers or interaction to survive the next attack. At 7 or less, treat every attack step as potentially decisive and favor `Leyline Binding`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, Shark tokens, and large blockers over speculative value.

- Priority: Attack planeswalkers or vulnerable opponents only when defense remains adequate. Large bodies from `Oliphaunt`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, and `Mirrorshell Crab` can end games quickly, but do not tap the only blocker if the crack-back kills `Quintorius Kand` or drops life into visible lethal range.

- Priority: Trade tokens before trading combo-enabling permanents. Shark tokens and `Mirrex` tokens are expendable if they buy time; `Spark Double` and `Surgical Metamorph` copies are less expendable when they copy `Quintorius Kand`, a large stabilizer, or a value engine. A clone that is merely a generic body can trade when survival requires it.

- Priority: Stabilize first against creature decks, then win with inevitability. Blocking with a large creature is usually better than racing when the opponent has multiple attackers, because this deck’s expensive cards dominate once life is protected. Use `Doomskar` post-board as the reset plan when Veles confirms it is in the current deck; do not expose extra creatures into your own visible sweeper line unless the pressure demands it.

- Priority: Pressure first against control and slow combo when the battlefield is stable. Cycled `Shark Typhoon`, cast large creatures, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, and post-board `Virtue of Courage` can force the opponent to act before the `Quintorius Kand` turn. Card text check required for exact `Virtue of Courage` and `Calim, Djinn Emperor` use.

- Priority: Decline marginal attacks that turn on bad blocks, removal blowouts, or loss of planeswalker cover. A no-attack line is correct when the deck is waiting for enough mana, a safer `Quintorius Kand` window, or a protected `Leyline Binding` plus blocker turn.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Selection: Treat this deck as pseudo-selection, not true tutoring. The registered main deck has no normal unrestricted tutor; selection mainly comes from legal engine prompts, cycling/channel-style actions, discover-like effects, `Castle Vantress` scry, and any rules-engine prompt created by `Quintorius Kand`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Shark Typhoon`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, or `Oliphaunt`.

- Selection: Use visible legal action text before strategic assumptions. If Veles exposes a discover, reveal, cast-from-exile, cycling, channel, scry, or similar prompt, choose only from the offered legal actions and do not assume a card remains in library, hand, exile, or graveyard unless visible state confirms it.

- Selection: Prioritize `Quintorius Kand` access when the battlefield can protect it or when waiting is worse. A legal selection that finds, casts, copies, or chains into `Quintorius Kand` is high priority if life total, opposing attackers, and open interaction do not make the planeswalker immediately fail.

- Selection: Prioritize chain continuity after `Quintorius Kand` is already committed. When a legal prompt offers `Spark Double`, `Surgical Metamorph`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, or another high-impact exile/selection continuation, prefer the option that creates the next legal spell or durable board swing over a merely large body. Card text check required for exact `Calim, Djinn Emperor` and `Surgical Metamorph` text.

- Selection: Use `Trumpeting Carnosaur` as a bridge between pressure and engine access when legal action text confirms its selection mode. Card text check required for exact discover or alternate-action terms; if it can legally dig while adding a threat, favor it when the hand lacks `Quintorius Kand` or needs another high-impact play.

- Selection: Use `Shark Typhoon` selection modes according to timing pressure. If Veles offers a cycling-like action and the deck needs an instant-speed blocker, card flow, or a threat through permission, take the token/card line; if mana is abundant and the opponent cannot punish a six-mana enchantment, a resolved `Shark Typhoon` can turn later expensive spells into inevitability.

- Selection: Use land-finding actions to complete colors and domain before greed. If `Oliphaunt` or another visible legal action can find a land, select the land that enables the next committed line: white for `Leyline Binding` and `Quintorius Kand`, red for `Quintorius Kand` and `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, blue for `Shark Typhoon`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, and `Spark Double`, and black or green mainly when domain or specific legal costs require them.

- Selection: Scry with `Castle Vantress` only when holding mana does not protect a better instant-speed action. Bottom excess lands when enough colors and mana already support the hand; keep lands when missing the next land drop, missing domain, or needing to reach the expensive spell chain. Keep `Quintorius Kand`, `Leyline Binding`, or a stabilizing expensive card when the current board asks for that role.

- Selection: Delay land drops when visible legal actions may ask for land-type or domain information only if there is a concrete benefit. Most turns should make the land drop before expensive spells, but with `Leyline Binding` available, choose the land that maximizes domain and untapped mana for the current priority window.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Priority: Pass routine empty-stack priority unless a legal action advances mana, survival, or the combo plan this turn. This deck is expensive and tap-out oriented, so floating interaction for no reason can waste a turn; however, keep mana open when `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Shark Typhoon`, `Leyline Binding`, or `Castle Vantress` has a relevant visible legal action.

- Priority: Commit `Quintorius Kand` only through a real gate. Before casting or selecting a line into `Quintorius Kand`, check visible attackers, opposing open mana, known revealed interaction, available blockers, and whether `Leyline Binding` or `Mirrorshell Crab` can protect the turn. If the opponent is presenting lethal or a decisive engine, act sooner; if the board is stable and interaction is likely, bait first with another expensive threat.

- Priority: Respond to removal or counterplay aimed at `Quintorius Kand` before protecting ordinary bodies. If Veles offers `Mirrorshell Crab` or another legal stack interaction, use it on the spell or ability that stops the planeswalker chain, kills a necessary copy, or prevents the selected payoff from resolving. Card text check required for exact `Mirrorshell Crab` counter/tax text.

- Priority: Let low-impact spells resolve when the answer is needed for a permanent or lethal stack object. `Leyline Binding` should usually answer resolved battlefield problems; `Mirrorshell Crab` should usually answer stack problems. Do not spend stack interaction on a small creature or card-selection spell unless that object clearly enables lethal, a lock, or a combo race loss.

- Priority: Use instant-speed `Leyline Binding` timing to deny attacks, activated abilities, or end-step shields. If the opponent commits a must-answer permanent, binding before combat can preserve life or `Quintorius Kand`; if the permanent is not immediately dangerous, waiting until end step can keep mana flexible and reveal more information.

- Priority: Use `Horned Loch-Whale` at the window where bounce changes the turn. Card text check required for exact adventure or instant mode. Prefer the action before combat damage, in response to an aura/equipment-like commitment, or on end step before a tap-out turn; avoid bouncing a low-impact permanent during main phase when it will simply be replayed.

- Priority: Use `Shark Typhoon` on the opponent’s end step when the token/card mode is legal and no stack fight is required. Make an instant-speed Shark when it blocks profitably, pressures planeswalkers, or spends otherwise unused mana; preserve mana instead when `Mirrorshell Crab` or `Leyline Binding` must cover a higher-risk stack or board action.

- Priority: Treat optional payments and triggers as resource commitments, not freebies. Pay optional costs only when the resulting spell, token, damage, copy, or selection advances the current plan and does not consume mana needed for `Leyline Binding`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Shark Typhoon`, or the next `Quintorius Kand` action.

- Priority: Respect graveyard and exile timing exactly as Veles exposes it. This deck may care about cast-from-exile chains through `Quintorius Kand` or other card text, but the agent must not assume an exile spell is castable, a graveyard object is usable, or a trigger exists unless the rules engine presents the legal action.

## Sideboard Map

- Sideboard role: `Doomskar` is the anti-creature stabilizer when the opponent can put multiple attackers onto the battlefield before `Quintorius Kand` can safely take over. Bring it for go-wide aggro, creature-based tempo, recursive creature pressure, and battlefield engines where a single `Leyline Binding` cannot keep pace. Card text check required for exact foretell/timing text; use only the legal action Veles exposes.

- Sideboard role: `Virtue of Courage` is the attrition and reach card for slower games where repeated red damage or exile-based value can matter more than a single body. Bring it against midrange, control, removal-heavy decks, and opponents trying to trade one-for-one with `Quintorius Kand`, `Spark Double`, `Surgical Metamorph`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, and `Calim, Djinn Emperor`. Card text check required for exact adventure/enchantment text; use tactical role only when the rules engine presents legal actions.

- When bad: `Doomskar` loses value when the opponent presents few creatures, mostly planeswalkers, combo pieces, graveyard engines, or stack-based pressure. Do not dilute the deck with sweepers against control or combo unless visible games show creature tokens or must-clear boards that `Leyline Binding` cannot answer alone.

- When bad: `Virtue of Courage` loses value when the opponent kills before expensive value engines matter or when tapping mana for it exposes `Quintorius Kand` to a lethal counterattack. Against very fast creature starts, prefer `Doomskar` unless the visible game has slowed enough that `Virtue of Courage` becomes a stabilizing removal/value action.

Fast creature aggro / go-wide battlefield pressure
Side in: 4 Doomskar
Cut: 1 Castle Vantress; 1 Shark Typhoon; 1 Spark Double; 1 Surgical Metamorph

- Plan rule: Add all `Doomskar` when the opponent’s normal path is two or more attackers before turn four or repeated creature redeployment after spot removal. Preserve `Leyline Binding` because it answers the single largest permanent before or after the sweeper. Reduce slow card-advantage emphasis by lowering reliance on `Keruga, the Macrosage`, `Castle Vantress`, one `Shark Typhoon`, and one expensive nonessential chain body.

Red aggro / burn with creatures
Side in: 4 Doomskar
Cut: 1 Castle Vantress; 1 Shark Typhoon; 1 Spark Double; 1 Mirrorshell Crab

- Plan rule: Use `Doomskar` to reset creature damage, then win by landing `Quintorius Kand` only when life total and blockers support the planeswalker. Keep `Leyline Binding` for the threat that survives or arrives after the sweeper. Reduce `Spark Double` slightly because copying a board piece is weak when survival requires answering the current battlefield first.

Creature midrange / large bodies / board snowball
Side in: 4 Doomskar; 2 Virtue of Courage
Cut: 1 Castle Vantress; 1 Shark Typhoon; 1 Spark Double; 1 Surgical Metamorph; 1 Leyline Binding; 1 Horned Loch-Whale

- Plan rule: Add `Doomskar` when the opponent commits enough creatures that one-for-one removal falls behind, and add a small `Virtue of Courage` package when the matchup also becomes resource-heavy. Keep `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, and `Mirrorshell Crab` as stabilizing bodies or interaction if legal text supports that role. Do not overcommit all value cards if the opponent’s pressure is still fast.

Removal-heavy midrange / attrition
Side in: 4 Virtue of Courage
Cut: 1 Castle Vantress; 1 Shark Typhoon; 1 Horned Loch-Whale; 1 Leyline Binding

- Plan rule: Add `Virtue of Courage` when the opponent spends cards answering individual threats and the game goes long enough for repeated value to matter. Keep clone density high enough that `Spark Double` and `Surgical Metamorph` can still multiply the best resolved permanent. Reduce the slowest singleton and one flexible expensive card rather than weakening the entire `Quintorius Kand` chain.

Control / permission / sweepers
Side in: 4 Virtue of Courage
Cut: 1 Castle Vantress; 1 Leyline Binding; 1 Horned Loch-Whale; 1 Oliphaunt

- Plan rule: Add `Virtue of Courage` when the opponent’s main interaction is counterspells, sweepers, or removal rather than battlefield speed. Reduce one `Leyline Binding` only when the opponent has few must-answer permanents; keep all four if planeswalkers, enchantments, or creature-lands are central. Avoid adding `Doomskar` unless public game information shows creature token pressure.

Linear combo / low-creature engine
Side in: 4 Virtue of Courage
Cut: 1 Castle Vantress; 1 Leyline Binding; 1 Shark Typhoon; 1 Oliphaunt

- Plan rule: Add `Virtue of Courage` only if its legal actions increase clock, card access, or pressure through interaction; otherwise keep the main configuration. `Doomskar` is poor unless the opposing combo relies on creatures staying in play. Preserve `Mirrorshell Crab` for stack interaction when Veles presents a relevant legal action.

- Archetype rule: Against aggro, `Doomskar` changes the deck from pure combo-ramp into survive-then-combo. Mulligans should value lands, white access, `Leyline Binding`, and legal early stabilizers more than speculative clone-heavy hands. After sideboarding, do not fire `Doomskar` just because it is legal; wait if a one-turn delay catches a decisive additional attacker and life total allows it.

- Archetype rule: Against midrange, `Virtue of Courage` changes the deck from one large swing into layered threats. Use it to make removal exchanges less punishing, but still prioritize resolving or protecting `Quintorius Kand` when that line is available and not immediately losing to visible pressure.

- Archetype rule: Against control, `Virtue of Courage` should pressure end games without forcing blind commitment into open mana. Bait with castable expensive threats, cycle or use instant-speed legal actions when available, and commit `Quintorius Kand` after the opponent taps low, expends a counter, or presents a must-answer window.

- Archetype rule: Against creature-light combo, sideboarding should not slow the goldfish unless the added card directly pressures or disrupts the opponent. `Doomskar` stays on the bench unless game evidence shows creature dependence; `Virtue of Courage` is acceptable only when its legal action text contributes reach or card velocity.

- Role-change rule: `Leyline Binding` remains the clean answer to a single permanent after sideboarding, even when `Doomskar` is added. Use sweepers for breadth and `Leyline Binding` for the specific permanent that matters most.

- Role-change rule: `Shark Typhoon` is flexible but not sacred. It is strong in long games and at instant speed, but it is a reasonable reduction point when the matchup is about surviving the first attacks or when `Virtue of Courage` provides the preferred long-game value card.

- Role-change rule: `Keruga, the Macrosage` and `Castle Vantress` are common reductions because they are slow and singleton value sources. Do not reduce mana too aggressively beyond one slow land unless a specific matchup plan proves flooding is worse than missing the fifth land for `Quintorius Kand`, `Doomskar`, `Virtue of Courage`, and the expensive chain.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro guidance: Prioritize survival resources over perfect combo texture when the opponent presents early repeated attackers. Keep hands that can cast `Leyline Binding`, reach enough mana for `Doomskar` after sideboarding, or produce a stabilizing body from `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, or `Calim, Djinn Emperor` when legal actions make those lines available. Add role cards: `Doomskar`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Keruga, the Macrosage`, `Castle Vantress`, one slow flexible threat, and clone density only when the battlefield is already deciding the game.

- Go-wide guidance: Treat multiple small creatures as a different problem from one large threat. Preserve life total until `Doomskar` can convert one card into several opposing creatures, and avoid spending `Leyline Binding` on a minor permanent if waiting leaves a clear answer for the largest post-sweeper threat. Use `Shark Typhoon` defensively when the token blocks meaningfully and the legal action does not consume mana needed for a higher-impact stabilizer. Add role cards: `Doomskar`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow singleton value and excess top-end that does not affect the board immediately.

- Burn guidance: Count life total as the primary resource once the opponent can finish the game without attacking. Shock-land decisions with `Hallowed Fountain`, `Steam Vents`, `Sacred Foundry`, `Blood Crypt`, and `Stomping Ground` should pay life only when the current turn’s legal action prevents more damage, enables `Leyline Binding`, or advances a near-term `Quintorius Kand` win. Add role cards: `Doomskar` only when creatures are a large part of the burn pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow card advantage and copy effects that require a safe board before they matter.

- Tempo guidance: Make land drops and force the opponent to answer threats at awkward times rather than walking the entire plan into open interaction. `Mirrorshell Crab` should be valued when Veles exposes relevant interaction text, while `Shark Typhoon` and adventure-style or cycling-style legal actions from `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, or `Trumpeting Carnosaur` can pressure without committing the main combo at the worst moment. Do not assume any card text; when an action’s role is unclear, follow the rules-engine label and visible consequences. Add role cards: `Virtue of Courage` only when the game is expected to extend. Reduce main-deck emphasis: the slowest singleton value cards.

- Control guidance: Delay the decisive `Quintorius Kand` commitment until waiting is worse, the opponent taps low, or a bait threat has drawn interaction. `Shark Typhoon` is strong because instant-speed legal actions can keep pressure while respecting countermagic windows; `Mirrorshell Crab` matters when its legal action can fight over the stack. `Spark Double` and `Surgical Metamorph` are best after a meaningful permanent resolves, not as blind setup into an empty board. Add role cards: `Virtue of Courage`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: excess `Leyline Binding` only when public information shows few must-answer permanents.

- Removal-heavy guidance: Do not spend the whole hand making one permanent slightly better when the opponent’s visible plan is to answer individual threats. Sequence `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Shark Typhoon`, and `Quintorius Kand` so each must be answered separately when possible. Use `Spark Double` or `Surgical Metamorph` to copy the highest-impact resolved permanent only after the board state justifies the copy target. Add role cards: `Virtue of Courage`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow reactive pieces and the slowest singleton value source.

- Midrange guidance: Play as the bigger deck when the opponent trades one-for-one, and play as the control deck when the opponent curves creatures into planeswalkers or large bodies. `Leyline Binding` should answer the permanent most likely to invalidate the next `Quintorius Kand` turn, not necessarily the first legal target. `Doomskar` is appropriate when battlefield width beats single-target answers, while `Virtue of Courage` is appropriate when both players are trading resources. Add role cards: `Doomskar` against board snowball, `Virtue of Courage` against attrition. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow singletons and one redundant top-end card.

- Single-threat guidance: Use `Leyline Binding` as the cleanest answer to the one permanent that matters, and avoid spending it on support cards unless the rules-engine state shows that support card is the actual danger. A single large attacker can often be managed by a large creature body from `Oliphaunt`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, or `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, but do not block with a key engine piece unless the visible damage race requires it. Add role cards: `Virtue of Courage` if the threat deck is removal-heavy; `Doomskar` only if backup creatures appear. Reduce main-deck emphasis: broad sweepers when only one opposing permanent matters.

- Combo guidance: Race first unless the visible legal actions offer real disruption. `Quintorius Kand` is the main commitment point, and `Spark Double` or `Surgical Metamorph` should support the fastest deterministic chain only after the engine is legally available and not visibly punished. Preserve `Mirrorshell Crab` for stack interaction when Veles exposes a relevant action. `Leyline Binding` should target the combo permanent that the current public state identifies as essential, not a generic value permanent. Add role cards: `Virtue of Courage` only when it increases pressure or card access. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Doomskar` unless the opposing combo requires creatures in play.

- Big mana guidance: Pressure before the opponent’s mana advantage turns every draw into a larger threat. Mulligans should prefer functional mana and a fast `Quintorius Kand` line over slow reactive hands with no clock. `Leyline Binding` is for the first permanent that will dominate the game if unanswered; `Shark Typhoon` can pressure at instant speed when tapping out is risky. `Oliphaunt`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, and `Calim, Djinn Emperor` help maintain pressure if the combo stalls. Add role cards: `Virtue of Courage` when games go long through removal; avoid `Doomskar` unless creatures are the ramp payoff. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow removal when threats are mostly noncreature or singular.

- Graveyard guidance: Do not pretend to have graveyard hate that is not registered. Race with `Quintorius Kand`, pressure with large bodies, and use `Leyline Binding` only on visible permanents that enable or pay off the graveyard plan. If the opponent’s graveyard deck also floods the battlefield, `Doomskar` can answer creatures without interacting with the graveyard itself. Add role cards: `Doomskar` for creature-heavy graveyard boards, `Virtue of Courage` only for attrition versions. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow value cards when speed is the only realistic disruption.

- Artifact/enchantment guidance: Treat `Leyline Binding` as the key flexible answer and spend it on the permanent that blocks the combo, creates lethal pressure, or produces repeated value. Do not over-sideboard into `Doomskar` if the problem is a noncreature permanent. `Virtue of Courage` is useful only when the matchup becomes resource-heavy or its legal actions answer creatures while generating value; Card text check required for exact mode use at runtime. Add role cards: `Virtue of Courage` for grindy permanent decks with creatures. Reduce main-deck emphasis: sweepers and creature-only stabilization when the decisive cards are artifacts or enchantments.

- Matchup uncertainty guidance: When the opponent’s archetype is not yet clear, keep the main plan intact and let visible game actions classify the matchup. Early creatures plus life pressure point toward `Doomskar`; counterspells, sweepers, and long exchanges point toward `Virtue of Courage`; singular permanent engines point toward preserving `Leyline Binding`; low-board combo points toward racing with `Quintorius Kand`. Never choose sideboard or in-game actions from archetype labels alone when the rules engine shows a conflicting board state.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- General/archetype-only note: Exact opponents are not supplied, so revealed cards and rules-engine state override these assumptions. Use early public information to classify pressure, interaction, and speed before changing the plan; `Quintorius Kand` remains the main commitment gate unless visible damage or disruption makes a different line mandatory.

- Aggro and go-wide creatures: Stabilize life total first, then win with one large turn. Add role cards: `Doomskar`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: the slowest value-only threats when they do not affect the battlefield before lethal pressure. Priority targets for `Leyline Binding` are anthem effects, haste enablers, or the single creature that makes blocking impossible; do not spend it on a small attacker if `Doomskar` is likely to clean up the board.

- Control and counterspell decks: Keep threats staggered and avoid turning `Spark Double` or `Surgical Metamorph` into a low-impact copy just to spend mana. Add role cards: `Virtue of Courage`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: excess `Leyline Binding` when public information shows few targets. Priority targets are planeswalkers, lock pieces, or resolved engines that punish waiting; `Shark Typhoon` and `Mirrorshell Crab` legal actions are important because they let Veles interact without blindly tapping out.

- Midrange and removal piles: Force one-for-one answers until a protected or redundant `Quintorius Kand` turn is available. Add role cards: `Virtue of Courage` for attrition and `Doomskar` only when the opponent builds a wide board. Priority targets for `Leyline Binding` are permanents that beat large creatures or stop the combo turn, not ordinary value permanents that can be raced by `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, or `Trumpeting Carnosaur`.

- Combo and big mana: Race unless the current legal actions expose a specific disruption point. Add role cards: `Virtue of Courage` only when games are expected to become interactive and long; avoid diluting the deck with `Doomskar` unless creature boards are the engine. Priority targets are visible combo permanents, mana engines, or payoff permanents; use `Mirrorshell Crab` only when the stack action clearly contests a decisive spell or ability.

- Graveyard and recursion decks: Do not assume access to graveyard hate because none is registered. Add role cards: `Doomskar` only for creature-heavy graveyard boards and `Virtue of Courage` for attrition builds. Priority targets are battlefield enablers and payoff permanents that `Leyline Binding` can legally answer; if the graveyard itself is the only axis, pressure with `Quintorius Kand` and large creatures.

## Risk Summary

- Mana risk: The deck is five-color and 67 cards, so keep hands must have functional colored sources for early interaction and a credible path to `Quintorius Kand`. `Mirrex`, `Castle Vantress`, and singletons can create awkward color gaps; do not keep a hand whose visible lands cannot cast its relevant legal actions in time.

- Matchup risk: The deck can misclassify opponents because many plans begin with lands and pass actions. Delay matchup-specific assumptions until revealed cards show whether `Doomskar`, `Virtue of Courage`, or a pure combo race is appropriate.

- Draw risk: Extra deck size lowers access to `Quintorius Kand` and key support cards. Hands with only expensive creatures and no pressure, selection, or interaction should be treated skeptically even if they technically cast spells later.

- Over-sideboarding risk: Removing too much of the core engine makes `Spark Double`, `Surgical Metamorph`, and expensive threat density worse. Sideboard changes should solve a visible problem without turning the deck into a slow pile of disconnected answers.

- Graveyard risk: The registered 75 has no dedicated graveyard hate. Win through speed, battlefield answers, and pressure; do not make low-impact plays that imply nonexistent graveyard interaction.

- Sweeper/removal risk: `Doomskar` can reset pressure but may also clear copy targets or large stabilizers. `Leyline Binding` is flexible but finite, so save it for permanents that change the race, stop `Quintorius Kand`, or create unavoidable advantage.

- Closer risk: A resolved threat is not always a win if the opponent can ignore it or answer it efficiently. Prefer closers that match the board: `Shark Typhoon` for instant-speed pressure, large creatures for racing, and `Quintorius Kand` when the engine turn can matter immediately.

- Interaction risk: `Mirrorshell Crab` and `Leyline Binding` are not generic permission for every problem. Use them on decisive visible actions and permanents; passing with interaction is only good when the legal action list supports holding it up.

- Sequencing risk: Copy effects are strongest after the correct permanent exists. Avoid committing `Spark Double` or `Surgical Metamorph` before the board presents a target worth copying or before the rules engine confirms the intended target is legal.

## Test Feedback Checklist

- Deciding factor: Identify whether the game was decided by a resolved `Quintorius Kand`, copied pressure from `Spark Double` or `Surgical Metamorph`, instant-speed pressure from `Shark Typhoon`, large creature beats from `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, or `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, or by failure to assemble those pieces before the opponent’s clock.

- Mulligans: Record whether each keep had functional lands, a castable interaction plan with `Leyline Binding` or `Mirrorshell Crab`, and a credible route to `Quintorius Kand`; flag any keep that had expensive spells but no near-term action.

- Mana: Note every turn where `Mirrex`, `Castle Vantress`, singleton shock lands, or missing triome colors prevented the chosen legal action, especially casting `Leyline Binding`, committing `Quintorius Kand`, or holding up `Mirrorshell Crab`.

- Velocity: Check whether the 67-card configuration delayed finding `Quintorius Kand`, `Shark Typhoon`, or interaction; distinguish actual draw variance from keeps that lacked a plan.

- Engine commitment: Review each `Quintorius Kand` turn for whether waiting one turn would have increased protection, mana flexibility, or follow-up pressure, and whether going now was forced by visible lethal pressure.

- Copy effects: Audit every `Spark Double` and `Surgical Metamorph` decision for target quality; flag copies made only to spend mana when a later `Quintorius Kand`, `Shark Typhoon`, or large threat target was plausible.

- Removal and interaction: Track whether `Leyline Binding` answered the permanent that changed the race or stopped the combo plan, and whether `Mirrorshell Crab` was spent on a decisive spell or ability rather than a low-impact exchange.

- Sideboard: After post-board games, ask whether `Doomskar` actually answered the opponent’s pressure and whether `Virtue of Courage` produced relevant resource advantage; Card text check required for exact `Virtue of Courage` mode evaluation.

- Closing: Record whether the deck won promptly after stabilizing, or whether it stabilized without a closing plan because threats were stranded, copied poorly, or answered one at a time.

- Role: Classify the pilot’s correct role each game as race, stabilize-then-combo, attrition, or protect-the-engine; flag turns where the chosen action contradicted the visible role.

- Mistakes: Mark any pass, attack, block, target, or mana payment where the legal action list contained a clearly safer survival line, a higher-pressure closing line, or a cleaner setup for `Quintorius Kand`.

- Stranded cards: Count games where `Doomskar`, `Virtue of Courage`, `Spark Double`, `Surgical Metamorph`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, or high-cost threats remained unusable because of mana, target absence, timing, or role mismatch.

- Overperformers and underperformers: List exact cards that changed outcomes, not just cards that looked powerful; compare `Shark Typhoon`, `Leyline Binding`, `Quintorius Kand`, `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Spark Double`, and `Surgical Metamorph` by outcome impact.

## First Tuning Questions

- Card quantities: Is 67 main-deck cards improving threat density enough to justify lower access to `Quintorius Kand`, `Leyline Binding`, and `Shark Typhoon`, or should the configuration move closer to the minimum legal main-deck size?

- Combo density: Are four `Quintorius Kand` enough when the deck’s strongest turns depend on resolving it, or do the current support cards make non-`Quintorius Kand` wins frequent enough?

- Copy package: Are four `Spark Double` plus four `Surgical Metamorph` producing high-impact copies often, or are too many copies stranded before a strong target is visible?

- Threat mix: Which large threats actually close games: `Calim, Djinn Emperor`, `Horned Loch-Whale`, `Oliphaunt`, `Trumpeting Carnosaur`, `Shark Typhoon`, or copied permanents; adjust quantities only after separating mana failures from card quality.

- Interaction mix: Is four `Leyline Binding` enough against permanent-based disruption, and is `Mirrorshell Crab` functioning as meaningful interaction often enough to justify its slot count?

- Mana base: Are `Mirrex` and `Castle Vantress` worth their utility when the deck needs five-color access, or are colorless and narrow lands causing too many lost legal actions?

- Aggro plan: Does `Doomskar` arrive in time and leave the pilot able to rebuild, or does the deck need a different sideboard structure for early creature pressure?

- Control plan: Does `Virtue of Courage` solve attrition games, or does the deck need sideboard cards that better protect `Quintorius Kand` or punish counterspell-heavy opponents? Card text check required before drawing firm conclusions.

- Closing plan: After stabilizing with `Leyline Binding`, `Doomskar`, or large blockers, does the deck reliably convert to lethal pressure, or does it need more immediate closers and fewer setup-only cards?

- Role conflicts: Are sideboard games becoming diluted, with `Doomskar`, `Virtue of Courage`, copy effects, and expensive threats pulling the pilot into incompatible plans?

- Companion slot: Is the single `Keruga, the Macrosage` producing meaningful value under actual legal-action timing, or is it mostly a deck-construction cost with limited in-game payoff?

- Metagame slots: Are the eight sideboard cards too narrow for Historic’s range, especially against graveyard, combo, and noncreature permanent strategies where the registered 75 has limited specialized answers?

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Opening Keep Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan
Cards: Quintorius Kand; Leyline Binding; Mirrorshell Crab; Shark Typhoon
Phase windows: pregame, opening hand, mulligan decisions
Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; hand contains lands and castable interaction or engine path
Use when: choose keep only when visible hand has at least two lands, credible colors, and either `Leyline Binding`/`Mirrorshell Crab` interaction or a route toward `Quintorius Kand` plus follow-up pressure.
Avoid when: hand is mostly expensive spells, has only colorless/narrow mana, or cannot affect the game before turn four.
Instructions: Prefer functional mana and one stabilizing action over raw threat count; the 67-card list must not keep speculative hands that only win after perfect draws.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: First Mana Setup
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana
Cards: Hallowed Fountain; Steam Vents; Sacred Foundry; Raffine's Tower; Spara's Headquarters; Blood Crypt; Stomping Ground; Seachrome Coast; Mountain; Mirrex; Castle Vantress
Phase windows: opening turns, land-play decisions
Runtime cues: action:play; visible hand includes multicolor spells
Use when: select early lands to unlock white for `Leyline Binding`, red/white for `Quintorius Kand`, and blue for `Shark Typhoon` or `Mirrorshell Crab` before utility lands.
Avoid when: life total is under visible pressure and an untapped shock land is not required for a legal same-turn action.
Instructions: Treat `Mirrex` and `Castle Vantress` as secondary lands until colored requirements are stable.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Quintorius Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; mana
Cards: Quintorius Kand; Leyline Binding; Mirrorshell Crab; Spark Double; Surgical Metamorph
Phase windows: main phases, priority with sufficient mana
Runtime cues: action:cast Quintorius Kand
Use when: cast `Quintorius Kand` when the visible board or clock rewards committing now, mana supports follow-up, or waiting exposes the pilot to a worse position.
Avoid when: visible pressure can be answered first with `Leyline Binding`, known stack interaction is likely from public information, or copy effects lack a protected engine target.
Instructions: This is the defining engine gate; reason about survival, open mana, redundancy, and whether passing improves the next turn.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Quintorius Cast
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority
Cards: Quintorius Kand
Phase windows: main phases
Runtime cues: action:cast Quintorius Kand
Use when: the current plan has already selected committing `Quintorius Kand`, the legal action text exactly offers casting `Quintorius Kand`, and no new public object appeared since that plan.
Avoid when: stack, combat, revealed information, available mana, or opponent battlefield changed after the commitment decision.
Instructions: Execute the selected engine play; do not reinterpret the strategic gate in no-API mode.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Copy Target Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection; priority
Cards: Spark Double; Surgical Metamorph; Quintorius Kand; Shark Typhoon; Calim, Djinn Emperor; Horned Loch-Whale; Oliphaunt; Trumpeting Carnosaur
Phase windows: main phases, copy-effect resolution
Runtime cues: prompt:target; action:target; visible copy candidates
Use when: choose copy targets only after checking legal candidates, legend handling, board role, and whether copying an engine, large threat, or token advances the current race.
Avoid when: only low-impact targets are visible and holding the copy spell is legal.
Instructions: Route target selection through reasoning unless the legal text names one exact visible target and prior policy already chose it.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Shark Typhoon Timing Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; interaction
Cards: Shark Typhoon
Phase windows: opponent end step, combat trick windows, main phases, stack interaction windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Shark Typhoon; action:cycle Shark Typhoon
Use when: use `Shark Typhoon` as instant-speed pressure, blocker, or scaling threat when holding mana creates a better visible exchange than tapping out.
Avoid when: committing mana prevents `Leyline Binding`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, or survival actions against the current board.
Instructions: Prefer flexible timing; cast or cycle according to legal actions and visible pressure, not generic card-advantage instincts.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Leyline Binding Target Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Leyline Binding
Phase windows: opponent main phase, combat, end step, pilot main phase
Runtime cues: action:cast Leyline Binding; prompt:target Leyline Binding
Use when: target the visible permanent that most affects survival, engine safety, or the opponent’s fastest win path.
Avoid when: the target is low impact, the pilot can absorb it, or spending `Leyline Binding` exposes `Quintorius Kand` to a more decisive permanent.
Instructions: Prioritize lethal pressure, lock pieces, planeswalkers, and must-answer engines from visible information only.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Mirrorshell Crab Spend Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Mirrorshell Crab
Phase windows: stack windows, opponent key spells or abilities
Runtime cues: action:cast Mirrorshell Crab; action:channel Mirrorshell Crab; prompt:target spell or ability
Use when: spend `Mirrorshell Crab` on a visible spell or ability that stops the engine, creates lethal pressure, or invalidates the pilot’s stabilizing line.
Avoid when: the opposing object is low impact and the pilot needs the card as a later counter or large body.
Instructions: Treat `Mirrorshell Crab` as scarce permission; passing with it is correct only when the visible stack does not threaten the plan.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Large Threat Stabilization
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; combat
Cards: Calim, Djinn Emperor; Horned Loch-Whale; Oliphaunt; Trumpeting Carnosaur
Phase windows: main phases, combat setup, post-combat main
Runtime cues: action:cast Calim, Djinn Emperor; action:cast Horned Loch-Whale; action:cast Oliphaunt; action:cast Trumpeting Carnosaur
Use when: deploy a large threat to stabilize the battlefield, pressure a planeswalker, or close after interaction has bought time.
Avoid when: tapping out leaves a visible lethal attack, prevents required interaction, or commits into an obvious board wipe plan.
Instructions: Choose the threat that changes the current board, not merely the most expensive legal action.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Attack Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: combat
Cards: Calim, Djinn Emperor; Horned Loch-Whale; Oliphaunt; Trumpeting Carnosaur; Shark Typhoon; Spark Double; Surgical Metamorph; Mirrex
Phase windows: declare attackers, precombat main phase
Runtime cues: prompt:declare attackers; action:attack
Use when: attack when visible blocks, crack-back damage, and engine protection still leave the pilot ahead or force the opponent to answer a closing clock.
Avoid when: the attacker is needed to block lethal pressure or protect `Quintorius Kand` from visible combat damage.
Instructions: Do not send setup creatures or copied threats into trades unless the race math or planeswalker pressure requires it.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Block Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: combat
Cards: Calim, Djinn Emperor; Horned Loch-Whale; Oliphaunt; Trumpeting Carnosaur; Shark Typhoon; Spark Double; Surgical Metamorph; Mirrex
Phase windows: declare blockers, combat damage setup
Runtime cues: prompt:declare blockers; action:block
Use when: block to prevent lethal damage, preserve planeswalker/engine stability, or trade expendable tokens for meaningful visible attackers.
Avoid when: blocking sacrifices the only closing threat and the life total can safely absorb the attack.
Instructions: Survival beats preserving card quality; when not facing lethal, evaluate whether the blocker is part of the next-turn win.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Mirrex Token Use
Priority: Low
Decision families: mana; combat; priority
Cards: Mirrex
Phase windows: end step, combat setup, stalled boards
Runtime cues: action:activate Mirrex
Use when: activate `Mirrex` after colored mana needs are met and a token contributes to blocking, pressure, or copy targets.
Avoid when: activating prevents casting `Leyline Binding`, holding `Mirrorshell Crab`, cycling `Shark Typhoon`, or committing `Quintorius Kand`.
Instructions: Treat token production as a mana sink, not the primary plan.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Keruga Resource Gate
Priority: Low
Decision families: priority; selection
Cards: Keruga, the Macrosage
Phase windows: main phases with legal companion or cast actions
Runtime cues: action:put Keruga, the Macrosage into hand; action:cast Keruga, the Macrosage
Use when: use `Keruga, the Macrosage` when the game is stable enough for a resource turn and the legal action is available under current rules-engine output.
Avoid when: immediate survival, interaction, or `Quintorius Kand` commitment matters more than delayed cards.
Instructions: Card text check required for exact draw-count evaluation; treat this as a slow attrition option.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Pass With No Action
Priority: Low
Decision families: priority
Cards: none
Phase windows: empty-stack priority, opponent end step, noncombat priority
Runtime cues: action:pass
Use when: legal actions contain only `pass` or all non-pass actions require spending mana with no named card from hand, battlefield, or stack visible in the action text.
Avoid when: any legal action text names `Leyline Binding`, `Mirrorshell Crab`, `Shark Typhoon`, `Quintorius Kand`, `Doomskar`, or a current lethal/survival combat choice.
Instructions: Pass only in the narrow visible-action case; otherwise route priority through reasoning.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Doomskar Sideboard And Cast Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard; priority; interaction
Cards: Doomskar; Shark Typhoon; Spark Double; Surgical Metamorph; Calim, Djinn Emperor; Horned Loch-Whale; Oliphaunt; Trumpeting Carnosaur
Phase windows: sideboarding, main phases before combat, emergency stabilization
Runtime cues: action:cast Doomskar; prompt:sideboard
Use when: bring and cast `Doomskar` against visible creature-pressure plans where sweeping improves survival more than preserving the pilot’s board.
Avoid when: the pilot is ahead on battlefield, opponent pressure is noncreature, or sweeping removes the only path to lethal without solving the threat.
Instructions: Sideboarding judgment stays model-routed; exact plans belong to Sideboard Map, not this policy block.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Virtue Of Courage Attrition Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: sideboard; priority; selection
Cards: Virtue of Courage
Phase windows: sideboarding, midgame, late game
Runtime cues: action:cast Virtue of Courage; prompt:sideboard
Use when: use `Virtue of Courage` in slower games where the visible exchange pattern rewards additional resources or late-game inevitability.
Avoid when: the opponent’s clock demands `Doomskar`, `Leyline Binding`, or immediate battlefield stabilization.
Instructions: Card text check required for exact mode and timing; evaluate legal text at runtime before selecting a mode.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Role Lock
Priority: Medium
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Doomskar; Virtue of Courage; Leyline Binding; Mirrorshell Crab; Shark Typhoon; Quintorius Kand; Spark Double; Surgical Metamorph
Phase windows: sideboarding after game one or game two
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; match stage:post-board
Use when: select sideboard configuration according to the matchup’s visible plan: `Doomskar` for creature pressure, `Virtue of Courage` for attrition, and preserve enough engine density for `Quintorius Kand` kills.
Avoid when: the proposed plan cuts too many threats, removes all interaction, or dilutes both combo and stabilization roles.
Instructions: Validate registered counts and use only executable Sideboard Map plans.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Exact Selected Target Execution
Priority: Low
Decision families: selection
Cards: Leyline Binding; Mirrorshell Crab; Spark Double; Surgical Metamorph
Phase windows: target prompts after a prior model-selected line
Runtime cues: action:target
Use when: the previous model response named one exact visible target, the current legal action text contains that exact target name and source card, and no new public information appeared.
Avoid when: multiple legal actions contain the same card name, target legality changed, or the stack/battlefield changed since selection.
Instructions: Execute only the preselected exact target; otherwise return to light-model reasoning.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes
