# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Lotus Field Combo is a Historic combo-ramp deck built around resolving and exploiting `Lotus Field`, then converting repeated untap effects, card selection, and graveyard recursion into a spell-chain finish. The registered strategy name is `Lotus Field Combo`; the active format is `Historic`; the current archetype and mechanic tags are `combo` and `ramp`. Runtime decisions should treat this deck as a proactive engine deck with light interaction, not as a generic control deck, tempo deck, or creature-combat deck.

The registered deck passes the provided active validation contract: `60` main-deck cards and `15` sideboard cards. The main deck contains exactly: `3 Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `4 Expedition Map`, `4 Consign to Memory`, `2 Consider`, `2 Into the Flood Maw`, `1 Stifle`, `4 Hidden Strings`, `4 Pore Over the Pages`, `2 Lórien Revealed`, `2 Ponder`, `2 Stock Up`, `2 Wish`, `4 Artist's Talent`, `3 Underworld Breach`, `4 Deserted Temple`, `4 Lotus Field`, `4 Spirebluff Canal`, `3 Island`, `3 Otawara, Soaring City`, and `3 Steam Vents`. The sideboard contains exactly: `3 Brotherhood's End`, `3 Leyline of Sanctity`, `2 Surgical Extraction`, `1 Abrade`, `1 Grapeshot`, `1 Into the Flood Maw`, `1 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `1 Tendrils of Agony`, `1 Tome Scour`, and `1 Underworld Breach`.

The list is best classified as a hybrid Lotus Field build rather than a fully stock template. It uses familiar Lotus Field engine elements such as `Lotus Field`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, and `Wish`, but the exact shell is deck-specific because it combines `Artist's Talent`, `Underworld Breach`, main-deck `Consign to Memory`, main-deck `Into the Flood Maw`, and a compact sideboard finish package. A pilot should not assume outside staples, alternate finishers, extra tutors, commander protection cards, or absent utility cards exist unless they appear in the registered decklist or are shown by the rules engine as legal game objects.

The core role concern is that the deck must assemble mana before it can dominate the game. `Lotus Field` is the central engine land, `Deserted Temple` and untap spells can multiply its output, and `Expedition Map` increases access to the required land pieces. Early decisions should value hands and lines that plausibly reach a functional `Lotus Field` engine, but the pilot must respect visible pressure, known disruption, and actual legal actions before committing to a slow setup.

The mana-base concern is that the deck is blue-red but functionally engine-dependent. `Island`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` provide normal colored setup mana, while `Lotus Field` and `Deserted Temple` provide the explosive mana once the engine is online. The pilot should not treat every keepable two-land hand as stable if it lacks access to `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, strong selection such as `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, or a credible draw path into the engine.

The legality concern is that every runtime choice must come from Veles and the rules engine, not from deck theory. The guide may recommend looking for `Lotus Field`, sequencing `Hidden Strings`, or planning around `Wish`, but the decision agent must choose only displayed legal action IDs, respect current priority, visible mana, stack contents, zone visibility, and known revealed information, and avoid asserting that a spell can be cast, copied, targeted, escaped, wished for, or resolved unless the engine exposes that legal action.

The opponent-information status is unknown for this specification batch. No opposing archetype, decklist, sideboard, public game state, or metagame field has been supplied, so the default pilot posture is open-field Historic combo play: prioritize engine assembly, preserve interaction when visible threats or stack pressure justify it, and avoid naming opponent cards in policy fields unless Veles has observed them or a later matchup section explicitly marks them as `opponent:` examples.

## Thesis
Lotus Field Combo assembles `Lotus Field` plus untap effects, land access, and high-density card flow, then turns the resulting mana into a spell chain that wins through `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, and sideboard payoffs. The first priority is to make `Lotus Field` functional; the second priority is to convert that mana into cards with `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, and `Lórien Revealed`; the final priority is to commit to a win line only when the visible resources, graveyard, mana, and stack position support it.

This deck is not trying to trade creatures, win normal combat, or answer every opposing permanent. It uses `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Stifle`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, and sideboard interaction to buy the turn or protect the engine, but long games are favorable only when the engine continues generating mana and cards. Do not spend interaction merely because it is legal; spend it when it protects `Lotus Field`, preserves enough life/time to combo, stops a visible lock piece, or prevents a stack/ability event that would break the current commitment.

The win plan should stay conditional until Veles exposes legal actions. `Wish` can access registered sideboard payoff tools such as `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, `Underworld Breach`, or interaction, but the pilot must choose only visible legal actions and should not assume a sideboard card is castable, lethal, or correct without current mana, storm/spell count, graveyard, library, and priority context. `Underworld Breach` turns graveyard volume into repeated resources when legal, but it can also consume the graveyard quickly, so the commitment gate should compare whether waiting produces more mana/cards versus whether visible pressure or disruption makes waiting worse.

## Role Package
- Threats: `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` is primarily an untap piece, not a combat threat, and should be valued for engine function before damage. `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` is a sideboard alternate-win threat when accessed or boarded, but only if the legal action and library-state context support that route. `Grapeshot` and `Tendrils of Agony` are sideboard kill payoffs, not early interaction spells unless Veles shows a legal emergency line.

- Payoffs: `Wish` is the main bridge from engine mana to the sideboard finish package, especially `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, and the extra `Underworld Breach`. `Pore Over the Pages` is also a payoff because it can convert excess mana into cards while untapping engine resources. Treat payoff commitment as a reasoning-heavy choice when the opponent has visible pressure, open interaction, graveyard hate, or a relevant stack object.

- Engines: `Lotus Field` is the central mana engine, and `Deserted Temple`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` are the primary ways to reuse that mana. `Expedition Map` is the main land-engine access card and should often find missing engine lands rather than decorative utility. `Artist's Talent` belongs in the engine/velocity package, but Card text check required for exact level timing, cost modification, and card-flow usage; follow engine-exposed legal actions and treat it as conditional support, not a guaranteed combo by itself.

- Velocity: `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, and `Pore Over the Pages` find engine pieces, refill during combo turns, and smooth hands that otherwise contain too much mana or too many payoffs. Selection should prioritize missing engine access first, then untap density, then payoff access, unless survival interaction is immediately required.

- Interaction: `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Stifle`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Abrade`, `Brotherhood's End`, and `Surgical Extraction` are tactical tools for buying time or protecting the engine. `Consign to Memory` and `Stifle` should be held for stack or ability events that matter to the current plan when possible. `Into the Flood Maw` and `Otawara, Soaring City` are tempo exits against visible blockers, hate pieces, or pressure, not default value plays.

- Protection: `Leyline of Sanctity` protects the pilot from targeted disruption or damage plans when boarded or present in opening-hand contexts, subject to legal pregame actions. `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` are the main in-game protective cards. Protect engine continuity over minor card advantage when a single disrupted `Lotus Field` turn loses the game.

- Recursion: `Underworld Breach` is the primary recursion card and should be treated as a commitment engine rather than a casual value spell. The extra sideboard `Underworld Breach` can be a `Wish` target or boarded resource, but using either copy requires enough graveyard material and mana to continue after the first escape sequence.

- Mana: `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Island`, `Steam Vents`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` form the mana package. Early lands should enable blue setup spells and red support while moving toward `Lotus Field`; post-engine decisions should preserve enough colored mana for the actual legal payoff chain.

- Sideboard modules: `Brotherhood's End` is the sweeper module, `Leyline of Sanctity` is the protection module, `Surgical Extraction` is the graveyard/disruption module, `Abrade` is artifact/removal flexibility, `Into the Flood Maw` is extra tempo interaction, and `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, and `Underworld Breach` are the `Wish` and post-board finish/engine modules.

## Primary Win Conditions
- `Wish` payoff kill: Assemble `Lotus Field` with untap access from `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, or `Deserted Temple`, then use the mana and spell chain to cast `Wish` for a registered sideboard payoff such as `Grapeshot` or `Tendrils of Agony`. Prioritize this path when Veles shows enough current or reachable mana, enough spell count or repeatable casts, and a clear legal route to the sideboard card; do not assume lethal from storm-like text unless the rules engine exposes the legal action and the visible count supports it. Protect the commitment with `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` only against stack objects, abilities, or permanents that would stop the engine or the payoff turn.

- `Underworld Breach` recursion kill: Build a graveyard with `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Pore Over the Pages`, spent `Expedition Map`, interaction, and earlier untap spells, then commit to `Underworld Breach` when repeated legal casts can convert graveyard cards into mana, cards, and a finish. Prioritize this line when waiting is risky, the graveyard is large enough to pay escape costs through the first failed attempt, and visible graveyard interaction is absent or beatable. Avoid firing `Underworld Breach` as low-impact value when the graveyard is thin, the mana chain is incomplete, or the only legal follow-up spends the resources needed for `Wish` or a payoff.

- `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` alternate win: Use `Wish` or post-board access to `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` only when the engine can cast it and the library/graveyard context makes the alternate-win route plausible. `Tome Scour` can support a self-mill route when legally available through `Wish` or sideboarding, but the pilot must target and sequence only from visible legal actions and must not assume an empty-library win without engine confirmation. Prioritize this route when direct damage payoffs are unavailable, prevented, extracted, or visibly insufficient, and when the deck can survive the turn cycle or win immediately through the legal draw/mill sequence.

- Engine-first setup: Use `Expedition Map` to find missing `Lotus Field` or `Deserted Temple` before chasing utility, unless the visible board requires `Otawara, Soaring City` as interaction. Use `Artist's Talent` only according to rules-engine legal actions; Card text check required for exact level, cost, and card-flow implications, so treat it as support for velocity rather than a guaranteed win condition.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Hard-cast sideboard payoff pressure: `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Tome Scour`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, and the sideboard `Underworld Breach` can become real cards after `Wish` or sideboarding, so secondary wins should follow the same legal-action discipline as primary combo turns. Choose this route when the main `Wish` chain is constrained but the current hand, mana, or graveyard already supports a registered sideboard card.

- Small-creature damage is a fallback, not a plan: `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` can attack only when Veles exposes a legal attack and the creature is no longer needed to untap `Lotus Field` or `Deserted Temple`. Use combat damage to shorten the clock when the opponent is nearly dead or when combo resources are exhausted, but do not trade away `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` if it is the visible route to restarting the engine.

- Value-control drift can buy another combo turn: `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Stifle`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Brotherhood's End`, `Abrade`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, and `Surgical Extraction` are not the deck's main win conditions, but they can create enough time for a later `Lotus Field` turn. Use them to answer visible hate, lethal pressure, graveyard disruption, or stack events that matter; avoid spending them on marginal tempo if the hand still needs protection for a future commitment.

## Emergency Lines
- Behind on life or board: Stop sculpting if visible attackers or damage sources create a short clock, and prioritize legal actions that preserve a turn cycle: `Into the Flood Maw`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Brotherhood's End`, `Abrade`, or a faster `Wish` payoff attempt. If the only viable path is combo now, accept a lower-resource commitment rather than passing with no survival line.

- Behind on cards or engine pieces: Use `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, and `Pore Over the Pages` to find `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, untap effects, or payoff access in that order, unless immediate interaction is required. Keep hands or lines with mana but no card flow only when `Expedition Map` or visible draw actions can bridge into the engine.

- Behind on mana or missing `Lotus Field`: Preserve early blue sources from `Island`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` for selection and interaction while moving toward `Expedition Map` or natural `Lotus Field`. Do not sacrifice tempo to utility land choices if the deck cannot yet cast its setup spells.

- Graveyard or recursion disrupted: Shift from `Underworld Breach` toward direct `Wish` payoff, `Pore Over the Pages` refuel, or `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` if legal and supported. If `Underworld Breach` is removed or unusable, stop valuing graveyard volume as a win by itself.

- Win conditions removed or inaccessible: Reassess from visible zones only, then choose between rebuilding with card flow, using remaining `Wish` targets, attacking with `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, or buying time with interaction. Never concede from assumption; force Forge to prove no legal route remains.

## Resource Model
- Life is a combo clock buffer: spend life from `Steam Vents` only when the untapped red or blue source changes the current turn's legal actions, protects a `Lotus Field` setup, or enables a same-turn engine push. Preserve life when the hand already has blue access and the opponent's visible board threatens a short clock.

- Hand size is engine fuel: keep cards that combine `Lotus Field`, untap effects, selection, and payoff access, and convert excess sculpting spells into graveyard volume only when they move toward `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, or a missing mana piece. Do not hoard `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, or `Lórien Revealed` if the hand lacks `Lotus Field` access.

- Mana is the central resource: a resolved `Lotus Field` plus `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, or `Deserted Temple` is worth more than ordinary land count. Protect the first `Lotus Field` turn from tempo loss by ensuring the sacrificed lands have already produced needed setup value.

- Board presence is mostly infrastructure: treat `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Artist's Talent`, and a non-attacking `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` as engine pieces, not battlefield pressure. `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` should be spent on combat only when it is no longer needed as an untap resource or blocker and Veles exposes a legal attack that does not weaken the next combo turn.

- Graveyard is a second hand for `Underworld Breach`: selection spells, spent `Expedition Map`, interaction, and previous untap spells increase later recursion density. Avoid exiling key engine cards through `Underworld Breach` lines unless the current legal sequence is already converting them into mana, cards, or a win.

- Exile matters because recursive lines consume it: track which cards leave the graveyard during `Underworld Breach` turns and stop assuming a loop remains once `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Wish`, or payoff access is gone. If graveyard access is disrupted, pivot back to direct `Wish` or draw-based rebuilding.

- Lands are both mana and costs: early `Island`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` cast setup spells, then become acceptable `Lotus Field` sacrifice material once their color role is covered. `Deserted Temple` is usually not sacrifice fodder when it can untap `Lotus Field`.

- Sacrifice fodder is limited to lands for `Lotus Field`: do not value creatures or permanents as disposable unless Forge presents a legal cost from a visible card. The deck is not built to sacrifice `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` or `Artist's Talent` for value.

- Tempo is bought selectively: use `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` to stop visible hate, lethal pressure, or interaction that blocks the engine. Do not spend tempo tools on harmless permanents if the combo turn needs protection.

- Information comes from selection and public zones: use `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, and visible opponent actions to decide whether to sculpt, protect, or go now. Never assume hidden disruption; weigh only public mana, known cards, revealed cards, and legal stack actions.

- Sideboard bullets are `Wish` resources and post-board cards: `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, sideboard `Underworld Breach`, `Abrade`, `Brotherhood's End`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, `Surgical Extraction`, and sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` should be treated as precise answers or finishers, not generic cards to fetch without a visible purpose.

## Mana Guide
- Blue access is mandatory early: keep hands that can cast `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Stifle`, `Hidden Strings`, or `Expedition Map` on time, with special preference for `Island`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, or `Otawara, Soaring City`. Mulligan hands with no blue and no credible `Expedition Map` path unless Veles shows a strong alternative legal setup.

- Red access is required for major commitments: preserve or fetch red from `Spirebluff Canal` or `Steam Vents` when the hand contains `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, or `Artist's Talent`. Card text check required for exact `Artist's Talent` sequencing, so prioritize red for confirmed legal casts and do not assume it fixes or generates mana.

- `Lotus Field` timing should minimize lost development: play it when sacrificed lands have already produced early selection, `Expedition Map`, or protection, or when the next legal untap chain makes the loss irrelevant. Avoid playing `Lotus Field` too early if sacrificing lands leaves no colored source for follow-up actions.

- `Deserted Temple` is strongest after `Lotus Field`: sequence it as utility rather than color fixing, and do not keep a hand that relies on `Deserted Temple` as an early colored source. When both are present, preserve `Deserted Temple` for untap turns unless the rules engine exposes a clearly necessary land-sacrifice choice.

- `Otawara, Soaring City` is both land and interaction: play it as a blue source when the hand needs mana stability, but hold it when another blue source exists and a visible hate permanent, creature threat, or tempo-sensitive object may need its channel-like utility. Card text check required for exact activated ability cost and restrictions.

- Shock-land decisions should be tied to legal actions: play `Steam Vents` untapped when it enables immediate selection, interaction, `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, or a protected `Lotus Field` turn. Play it tapped when the same turn has no meaningful use for the extra mana or life is under pressure.

- Play lands before draw spells when the legal line needs mana now: make the land drop first if it unlocks `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Expedition Map`, `Hidden Strings`, `Consign to Memory`, or a protection spell this turn. Delay the land drop before `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, or `Pore Over the Pages` when current mana already casts the spell and the draw/selection may reveal whether the land should be `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, a color source, or utility `Otawara, Soaring City`.

- Mulligan mana rules are strict: keep hands with blue source plus `Expedition Map` or `Lotus Field` access and at least one velocity spell; be suspicious of hands with only colorless utility, only expensive draw, or `Lotus Field` without enough lands to sacrifice. A slower hand with `Consign to Memory` may be keepable against visible or known fast disruption only if it still advances toward `Lotus Field`.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keeps start with blue mana plus `Lotus Field` access: keep `Island` or `Spirebluff Canal` plus `Expedition Map`, `Ponder` or `Consider`, and any untap engine such as `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, or `Deserted Temple`. This hand has setup, selection, and a clear turn-three or turn-four engine path.

- Strong keeps can already contain `Lotus Field`: keep two other lands, `Lotus Field`, one cheap setup card, and either `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, or `Artist's Talent`. Prefer this over speculative multi-draw hands because it does not need to find the core land.

- Medium keeps need a credible search chain: keep blue source plus `Expedition Map` plus `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, or `Consider` if the hand has at least two lands or a visible path to land drops. These hands are acceptable when they can spend the first two turns finding `Lotus Field` or the untap half.

- Risky keeps are interaction-heavy but engine-light: keep `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or `Stifle` hands only when they also have blue mana, land drops, and at least one real engine finder. Do not keep four interaction/setup spells with no `Lotus Field`, no `Expedition Map`, and no selection unless the matchup demands survival and the hand still casts spells.

- Automatic ships lack blue or a core path: ship hands with no blue-producing land, hands relying on only `Deserted Temple` for mana, one-land hands without `Ponder` or `Consider`, and hands containing expensive cards like `Pore Over the Pages`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Wish`, and `Underworld Breach` without early mana. Ship `Lotus Field` hands that cannot produce two other lands to sacrifice before the deck can recover.

- Matchup-dependent keeps change with pressure: against fast creature pressure, prioritize blue land, early selection, and `Into the Flood Maw` or post-board `Brotherhood's End`; against discard or direct targeting, post-board hands with `Leyline of Sanctity` may be keepable if the remaining cards still function. Against graveyard pressure, do not keep an `Underworld Breach`-only plan unless `Wish`, `Pore Over the Pages`, or direct `Lotus Field` development can win without graveyard certainty.

- Play keeps should be proactive: on the play, favor `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, `Artist's Talent`, and clean land sequencing over reactive `Consign to Memory` hands. On the draw, a slightly slower hand with `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, or `Into the Flood Maw` is stronger because the opponent is likelier to present a visible stack or permanent before the combo turn.

- Trap hands look powerful but strand actions: avoid `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, and no cheap blue spell because the hand may sacrifice lands before it can convert mana. Avoid double `Underworld Breach` hands without graveyard fuel, and avoid double `Wish` hands without red mana or enough mana to cast the fetched payoff.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1 should create a path to `Lotus Field`: cast `Expedition Map` when available, otherwise cast `Ponder` or `Consider` to find `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, land drops, or an untap engine. Hold `Consign to Memory` or `Stifle` only when the opponent presents a legal stack object worth answering or the matchup makes early disruption more important than setup.

- Turn 1 land choice should preserve colors: lead `Spirebluff Canal`, `Island`, or untapped `Steam Vents` when it casts `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, or `Consign to Memory`. Play `Otawara, Soaring City` as a land when blue access is otherwise missing; hold it only when another blue source already supports the turn and a future bounce line may matter.

- Turn 2 should convert setup into certainty: activate or prepare `Expedition Map` for `Lotus Field` if the hand lacks it, cast `Artist's Talent` when red is available and Veles exposes a legal cast that improves future combo turns, or use `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, or `Lórien Revealed` when land drops or engine pieces are missing. Card text check required for exact `Artist's Talent` level or mode timing, so choose only legal actions exposed by the engine.

- Turn 2 deviations protect the combo turn: hold up `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` when a visible permanent, triggered ability, activated ability, or spell would stop `Lotus Field`, graveyard recursion, or survival. Do not spend these cards on low-impact objects if the next turn needs protection.

- Turn 3 is the normal `Lotus Field` commitment turn: play `Lotus Field` when two expendable lands are available and the follow-up hand contains `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Deserted Temple`, or selection that can bridge to them. If the hand cannot use the extra mana yet, consider delaying `Lotus Field` to cast `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, or `Consider` first.

- Turn 3 combo attempts require a gate: go now only when visible mana, known cards, graveyard fuel, and legal actions indicate that `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Deserted Temple`, `Underworld Breach`, or `Wish` can continue the chain. If interaction is visible or the chain lacks payoff access, sculpt instead of tapping out.

- Turns 4-5 should either win or assemble inevitability: chain `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, and `Deserted Temple` around `Lotus Field`, then use `Wish` to access a legal sideboard finisher or answer. Use `Underworld Breach` when the graveyard contains enough cheap selection, untap spells, or payoff access to justify exiling cards.

- Turns 4-5 deviations answer blockers to the engine: use `Into the Flood Maw`, `Otawara, Soaring City`, `Abrade` through post-board access, or `Brotherhood's End` after sideboarding only when the visible board or stack threatens lethal pressure, a hate permanent, or a disruption point that prevents the combo. Fetching a sideboard answer with `Wish` should solve a current obstacle or create a deterministic finish.

- Late game is about conserving deterministic outs: protect `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, `Hidden Strings`, and `Pore Over the Pages` because each can restart a stalled engine from a single `Lotus Field`. If graveyard resources are depleted, prioritize raw draw and selection from `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, and `Pore Over the Pages` over speculative recursion.

- Late game finish choices must follow legal payoff text: choose `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach` through `Wish` only when the visible legal action and current resources support that line. Do not assume storm count, library size, or self-mill legality beyond the rules-engine output.

## Card Roles
- `Lotus Field` is the deck's central mana engine: commit it when two other lands can be sacrificed and the hand or graveyard can immediately convert triple mana into `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Deserted Temple`, or `Wish`. Do not play it just because it is available if sacrificing lands leaves no blue spell, no untap effect, and no next-turn recovery path.

- `Deserted Temple` is both acceleration and combo redundancy: preserve it when `Lotus Field` is already present or imminent, because untapping `Lotus Field` is often stronger than making early colorless mana. Treat hands with only `Deserted Temple` as unstable unless another colored source or `Expedition Map` is already available.

- `Expedition Map` is the cleanest setup card: cast it early when `Lotus Field` is missing, activate it before spending mana on speculative selection, and fetch `Lotus Field` unless the engine already has one and visible needs point to `Deserted Temple` or a blue land. Do not overvalue holding `Expedition Map`; the deck usually wants certainty, not surprise.

- `Hidden Strings` is the primary untap converter: cast it when legal targets and mana make the chain advance, especially with `Lotus Field` plus another useful permanent or `Deserted Temple`. Avoid firing it into an empty continuation unless it produces a necessary bridge to `Pore Over the Pages`, `Wish`, or `Underworld Breach`; the card is much worse as a one-shot ritual with no follow-up.

- `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` is an untap spell first and a creature only when the engine is not ready or a body matters for survival. Prioritize the legal mode that untaps `Lotus Field` or another decisive mana permanent during combo turns, and cast it as a creature only when Veles exposes no useful untap line, a blocker is necessary, or the game has slowed enough that body plus future utility is relevant. Card text check required for any exact cycling or triggered details, so follow engine-presented legal actions.

- `Pore Over the Pages` is the major draw-and-untap bridge: use it after `Lotus Field` can pay for it and the untap will restore mana for more actions. It is often the best mid-combo spell because it digs while refunding tempo; before `Lotus Field`, it is usually stranded and should not justify a keep by itself.

- `Underworld Breach` is the recursion engine and fragile commitment card: cast it when the graveyard already contains enough cheap selection, untap effects, or payoff access to make the turn materially progress. Do not expose `Underworld Breach` just to replay one weak card unless pressure forces a low-resource attempt; graveyard size, visible hate, and available mana should decide whether to go now.

- `Wish` is the sideboard access valve: hold it until it either finds a finisher, finds an answer, or adds a missing combo piece such as sideboard `Underworld Breach`. Fetch `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, or `Tome Scour` only when current legal actions, mana, library state, graveyard state, and storm or draw context support that route; do not assume a payoff is lethal without visible proof.

- `Artist's Talent` is a proactive engine-support permanent when its legal text improves selection, cost flow, or combo velocity. Card text check required for exact level, trigger, and mode behavior, so the pilot should choose only engine-exposed actions and treat it as a setup piece rather than a guaranteed win condition. Cast it early when red mana is available and the hand already has land development; delay it when `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, or `Consider` is needed to find `Lotus Field` first.

- `Consign to Memory` is stack protection and tempo interaction: hold it for visible spells, activated abilities, or triggered abilities that threaten the combo turn, disrupt `Lotus Field`, stop `Underworld Breach`, or create lethal pressure. Do not spend it on low-impact objects when the hand is close to winning; its highest value is protecting the decisive turn or buying exactly enough time to reach it.

- `Stifle` is a narrow but high-leverage one-of: use it on a visible triggered or activated ability only when the ability materially affects mana development, combo safety, survival, or the opponent's own decisive turn. Because it is singleton interaction, do not fire it for convenience when `Consign to Memory`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or a combo win can handle the same problem later.

- `Into the Flood Maw` is a flexible bounce or reset tool: use it to remove a visible hate permanent, interrupt pressure for a turn, clear a blocker only if combat unexpectedly matters, or protect the combo from a permanent-based lock. Avoid spending it on ordinary creatures when life total and clock do not demand it; the deck's answer density is low, and `Wish` may need it to bridge sideboard games.

- `Ponder` is the best cheap sculpting spell when the deck needs a specific category: cast it early to find `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, a missing colored source, or an untap spell, and cast it mid-combo when mana remains and the next card matters. Preserve known-good tops when they complete the chain; shuffle or bottom-equivalent decisions should be based on visible hand gaps, not generic card quality.

- `Consider` is the instant-speed smoothing card: use it when holding interaction, when the top card is unknown and the hand needs land or engine density, or during `Underworld Breach` turns if recasting it adds meaningful graveyard churn. Do not cast it automatically before a known `Ponder` setup or when preserving a specific top card is important.

- `Stock Up` is a slower selection and resource card: cast it when the deck has reached stable mana but lacks a combo component, payoff access, or protection. It is weaker than direct `Lotus Field` access in the first two turns, but valuable after the first engine attempt stalls because it can find fresh density without relying on the graveyard.

- `Lórien Revealed` is a blue card-advantage and fixing role-player: use its available legal mode to secure land drops or refuel when the game slows, but avoid keeping hands that rely on casting it before `Lotus Field` without enough mana. Card text check required for exact cycling or search behavior; select the legal action that solves current mana or card-flow constraints.

- `Spirebluff Canal` is the preferred early colored land: lead it when it casts `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Consign to Memory`, or `Artist's Talent` on curve. Its value drops later if it enters tapped, so early sequencing should often use it before `Steam Vents` or `Otawara, Soaring City` when life total and colors permit.

- `Steam Vents` supplies both key colors: use it untapped when the turn needs immediate blue or red for setup, interaction, or `Artist's Talent`, and preserve life only when the visible clock is low and another source casts the same spells. It is one of the better sacrifice candidates to `Lotus Field` after it has produced its early color.

- `Island` is the safest blue source: keep it for early cantrips and interaction, and value it highly in hands with `Consign to Memory`, `Consider`, `Ponder`, or `Into the Flood Maw`. It cannot cast red setup or sideboard cards, so pair it with `Spirebluff Canal` or `Steam Vents` when possible.

- `Otawara, Soaring City` is both land and interaction: play it as a land when blue access is otherwise missing or when curving into `Expedition Map` and selection matters more than future bounce. Hold it only when another land already covers blue and a visible permanent-based disruption line makes the channel-style role more important. Card text check required for exact activation costs and reductions.

- Sideboard bullets matter through `Wish` even before sideboarding: `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, and sideboard `Underworld Breach` are payoff or engine-access targets, while `Brotherhood's End`, `Abrade`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, and `Surgical Extraction` are matchup tools. Use `Wish` for these only when the visible problem or finish is concrete, because spending a turn on the wrong sideboard card can strand the combo.

## Interaction Priorities

- Protect `Lotus Field` turns first: use `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` on visible stack or permanent actions that stop `Lotus Field`, deny its mana, remove `Underworld Breach`, or prevent untap chains. Do not answer a medium-pressure creature if the same interaction is needed to force the decisive turn through a visible counter, trigger, activated ability, or hate permanent.

- Counter or stop combo-breaking abilities before fair spells: prioritize visible activated or triggered abilities that tax, exile graveyards, lock spellcasting, copy a lethal opposing line, remove `Lotus Field`, or discard the last engine piece. `Consign to Memory` and `Stifle` should be treated as precision tools; spend them only when the rules engine shows a legal target whose resolution materially changes the combo turn, survival turn, or opponent's immediate kill.

- Bounce permanent hate before racing ordinary pressure: use `Into the Flood Maw` or `Otawara, Soaring City` on a permanent that stops casting, graveyard recursion, searching, untapping, targeting, or storm-style finishing before using those cards on normal attackers. Against creature decks, bounce the threat only when it changes the lethal clock, opens a required turn, or prevents a combat step that would force a bad `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` block.

- Bait interaction with expendable setup before committing `Underworld Breach`: cast `Expedition Map`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Artist's Talent`, `Stock Up`, or nonlethal `Hidden Strings` lines first when the opponent clearly represents stack interaction and the hand can still rebuild. Commit `Underworld Breach` only when enough mana, graveyard, and follow-up spells are visible to punish a pass, or when waiting gives the opponent a faster lethal or lock.

- Ignore low-impact objects when close to winning: do not spend `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` on small creatures, card draw, or setup permanents that do not change the next-turn clock or interact with `Lotus Field`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, graveyard access, or spell resolution. The deck has few answers, so every interaction decision should ask whether the answer buys a combo turn or protects the combo turn.

- Shift priorities by archetype: against aggressive decks, interaction buys one turn and life total is a resource with a floor; against control, interaction protects `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, and payoff access; against graveyard decks or graveyard hate, preserve `Surgical Extraction` lines after sideboarding and avoid exposing `Underworld Breach` into visible exile effects; against artifact-heavy or permanent-hate decks, value `Abrade`, `Brotherhood's End`, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`, and `Otawara, Soaring City` as lock-breakers rather than generic removal.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Treat combat as a clock-management problem, not a damage plan: this deck rarely wins by attacking, and `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` is more valuable as a mana-engine card than as a creature. Attack only when no relevant blocking duty exists, no engine use is expected, and the legal attack does not expose `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` to a trade that weakens the combo.

- Preserve `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` unless survival requires a block: do not trade it for an ordinary attacker while the hand still needs untap density, `Lotus Field` acceleration, or `Underworld Breach` fuel. Block with `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` when the visible attack creates lethal damage, puts life below a practical combo-turn threshold, or buys the exact turn needed to use `Pore Over the Pages`, `Hidden Strings`, `Wish`, or `Underworld Breach`.

- Use life total aggressively above the danger band: above roughly 8 life against non-burn creature boards, take damage if blocking costs an engine card and the next turn can develop `Lotus Field` or assemble a win. From 7 life downward, reassess every attack as potentially forcing interaction or a block, especially if the opponent has untapped mana, visible pump, haste pressure, or multiple attackers.

- Prioritize survival over elegance when the next turn wins: bounce, block, or counter the one attacker or combat-adjacent action that changes lethal math if the hand has a credible next-turn `Lotus Field` chain. Do not preserve a perfect combo hand and die with interaction unused; spending `Into the Flood Maw` or `Otawara, Soaring City` defensively is correct when it converts a loss into an untap step.

- Avoid combat trades that reduce spell density for `Underworld Breach`: losing `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` can reduce untap access and graveyard sequencing options, so a trade is acceptable only when it prevents lethal, protects a planeswalker finish such as `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` after sideboarding, or buys a decisive draw step. Ordinary damage races should favor taking damage and preserving engine material.

- Adjust by opponent role: against fast creature decks, value temporary bounce and emergency blocks higher; against control and combo, combat is mostly irrelevant unless `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` can safely chip damage without risking engine function; against midrange discard decks, preserving every live spell matters because `Underworld Breach` can turn graveyard density into a rebuild. Against artifact creature swarms after sideboarding, consider `Brotherhood's End` timing before blocking, because a sweeper may solve combat without sacrificing `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Find `Lotus Field` before polishing the hand: use `Expedition Map`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, and `Stock Up` primarily to assemble a hand that can make `Lotus Field` plus an untap chain, not to collect payoff cards too early. A hand with selection but no `Lotus Field` should prioritize land access over speculative `Underworld Breach` or `Wish` lines.

- Use `Expedition Map` as the cleanest setup tutor: search for `Lotus Field` when none is visible in hand or battlefield, then search for `Deserted Temple` when `Lotus Field` is already secured and the next turns need extra untap density. Search for `Otawara, Soaring City` only when the visible board or stack pressure makes a bounce land more important than combo speed.

- Sequence cantrips around land drops: cast `Ponder` before making a land drop when it can find `Lotus Field`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, `Island`, or `Deserted Temple` for the turn. Use `Consider` later when instant-speed information matters or when graveyard density for `Underworld Breach` is already valuable.

- Preserve high-impact draw until mana converts it into progress: `Pore Over the Pages` is strongest when it can untap `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, or both, so avoid casting it as a desperate draw spell unless the hand otherwise stalls or survival demands immediate cards. `Lórien Revealed` can be a land-finding action early and a large draw action later; choose the mode the legal action text presents according to whether the bottleneck is mana or cards.

- Treat `Stock Up` as controlled selection rather than automatic velocity: use it to find missing categories such as `Lotus Field`, untap effects, `Underworld Breach`, protection, or `Wish`. Card text check required for exact pile/choice handling; follow the rules-engine options and do not assume hidden card order beyond what Veles shows.

- Use `Wish` only with a concrete target role: get `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach` when the visible mana, graveyard, storm-like spell count, or library state supports a finish or engine continuation. Get `Brotherhood's End`, `Abrade`, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, or `Surgical Extraction` only when that sideboard card answers a visible problem or a matchup-specific protected setup is already planned.

- Bottom or decline redundant pieces when the bottleneck is elsewhere: extra `Artist's Talent`, extra `Expedition Map`, extra `Underworld Breach`, or extra lands are weaker than the missing combo class once `Lotus Field` and enough mana are present. Keep redundant engine pieces when the opponent has visible discard, counterplay, graveyard hate, or removal pressure that makes a single copy fragile.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Pass priority by default when no legal action advances mana, cards, survival, or protection: this deck wins by concentrating resources into a decisive turn, so avoid firing `Consider`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` into low-impact windows. Use Veles legal actions first; never invent an instant-speed line not shown by the engine.

- Protect the `Lotus Field` engine on the stack and battlefield: respond with `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` when the visible spell, ability, or permanent would stop `Lotus Field`, punish its sacrifice trigger, deny untaps, exile the graveyard before `Underworld Breach`, or prevent the current combo turn from resolving. Let ordinary creatures, small draw spells, and nonlethal setup resolve when interaction must be saved for the decisive exchange.

- Commit `Underworld Breach` only when priority can convert it into action: cast it with enough visible mana, graveyard fuel, and legal follow-up spells to continue immediately, or when waiting exposes the hand to lethal pressure or known disruption. Do not tap out for `Underworld Breach` merely because it is legal if the current graveyard cannot support meaningful escape sequences.

- Use untap effects as mana-positive stack decisions: prioritize `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Deserted Temple` lines that untap `Lotus Field` or produce enough mana to continue casting selection and payoff. If the rules engine offers target choices, choose `Lotus Field` and the most mana-relevant second permanent when that is the visible combo plan.

- Hold `Consign to Memory` and `Stifle` for stack objects that matter: counter or stop a visible spell or ability that attacks mana, graveyard access, payoff resolution, or immediate survival. Do not spend these cards on replaceable value unless the opponent's current action creates a loss, locks the combo, or prevents the next legal winning turn.

- Time bounce as a lock-breaker or lethal-clock reducer: use `Into the Flood Maw` or `Otawara, Soaring City` before the combo turn when a permanent would stop casting, searching, graveyard recursion, targeting, or untapping. During opponent combat, use bounce only when it changes lethal math or preserves the exact untap step needed to win.

- Manage optional payments and triggered choices conservatively: pay optional costs only when Veles shows the legal payment and it does not consume mana required for `Lotus Field` untaps, `Wish`, `Underworld Breach`, or protection. Card text check required for exact `Artist's Talent` level or trigger handling; take only engine-positive options shown by the rules engine.

- Let resolved information update the plan: after any reveal, counter, bounce, graveyard change, or draw/filter result, reassess whether the deck is still setting up, protecting a turn, or executing. Do not reuse a previous combo commitment if public information changed the available mana, graveyard fuel, legal targets, or opponent interaction window.

## Sideboard Map

- Sideboard principle: preserve the `Lotus Field` engine unless a matchup directly attacks the hand, graveyard, battlefield, or stack in a way the main deck cannot answer. The main deck needs `Lotus Field`, untap effects, card selection, and a payoff route, so sideboarding should change the protection shell more often than the engine core.

- Wish-board principle: keep at least one clear `Wish` payoff available unless the post-board plan intentionally wins through a main-decked alternate condition. `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, sideboard `Underworld Breach`, `Abrade`, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`, `Brotherhood's End`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, and `Surgical Extraction` all change value depending on whether they are in the sideboard for `Wish` access or registered into the main deck for earlier access.

- `Brotherhood's End`: bring in against creature-swarm, artifact-creature, low-to-the-ground aggro, and artifact-engine decks where a sweeper or artifact answer buys the turn needed for `Lotus Field`. It is bad against spell combo, counterspell-heavy control, large single threats, and graveyard decks without small permanents. Its role changes from `Wish` answer to proactive stabilizer when the opponent can kill before `Wish` mana is realistic.

- `Leyline of Sanctity`: bring in against discard-heavy, direct-damage, targeted-combo, and targeted graveyard-interaction decks when starting protected is more valuable than a later `Wish` line. It is bad against creature combat, counterspell control, battlefield lock pieces, and opponents whose disruption does not target the player. Its role changes from optional `Wish` shield to opening-hand protection, so mulligan decisions may value it only when the matchup makes targeted effects central.

- `Surgical Extraction`: bring in against graveyard combo, recursive threats, single-card combo engines, and mirrors where removing a visible graveyard card can collapse the opponent's plan. It is bad when there is no public graveyard target, when spending a card does not affect the opponent's clock, or when the deck needs every card to assemble `Lotus Field`. Its role changes from narrow `Wish` bullet to cheap interaction when the opponent reliably exposes a high-impact card.

- `Abrade`: bring in against artifacts that stop `Underworld Breach`, taxing permanents, small artifact creatures, and battlefield hate that `Into the Flood Maw` only delays. It is bad against creatureless combo, pure discard, and large threats outside its visible legal modes. Card text check required at runtime for the exact mode offered; choose only modes shown by Veles.

- Sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`: bring in when the opponent presents permanent-based hate, fast attackers, graveyard locks, taxing pieces, or a single battlefield object that must leave temporarily for the combo turn. It is bad against hands where bounce does not answer the opponent's axis, especially discard-only or counterspell-only matchups. Its role changes from Wishable emergency answer to main-deck tempo and lock-breaker.

- `Underworld Breach`: bring in when graveyard recursion must be found naturally because the opponent taxes `Wish`, counters expensive setup, or forces a fast deterministic turn. It is bad against heavy graveyard hate unless the plan also includes bounce or artifact/permanent answers. Its role changes from Wishable extra engine to redundant engine copy; avoid overloading on graveyard dependence when the opponent has visible hate.

- `Grapeshot`: keep as a `Wish` payoff in most games where repeated spells can create lethal damage or clear small blockers. Bring it in only when the matchup makes `Wish` unreliable and the deck can still generate high spell count from visible resources. It is bad against high life totals without enough spell count, prevention effects, or games where `Tendrils of Agony` is the cleaner payoff. Card text check required for exact storm handling; follow engine totals.

- `Tendrils of Agony`: keep as a `Wish` payoff when life swing and storm count are likely to matter. Bring it in only when direct access is more important than keeping it as a sideboard target. It is bad when black mana is unavailable, storm count is low, or the rules engine does not present a legal cast. Card text check required for exact storm and target handling.

- `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`: keep as a `Wish` alternate win condition when the library can become very small or when life-total damage is unreliable. Bring it in against decks that blunt damage-based payoffs but give time to assemble mana and cards. It is bad under heavy pressure, against clean planeswalker removal, or when the library is not close to empty. Card text check required for exact loyalty and win-condition timing.

- `Tome Scour`: keep as a compact `Wish` target for graveyard fuel or library-size lines when it supports `Underworld Breach` or `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`. Bring it in only for matchups where self-mill or targeted mill is a planned engine step and the card is not merely speculative. Card text check required for target choice; if self-target is legal and already selected as the engine plan, use it only when graveyard fuel or library reduction is the visible bottleneck.

Anti-Aggro / Small Creatures
Side in: 3 Brotherhood's End; 1 Into the Flood Maw; 1 Abrade
Cut: 1 Stifle; 2 Consign to Memory; 1 Stock Up; 1 Lórien Revealed

- Plan logic: add cheap battlefield interaction and reduce slower or narrower stack pieces when survival is the bottleneck. Keep `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Expedition Map`, `Artist's Talent`, and `Lotus Field` density because the deck still wins by producing a fast engine turn after stabilizing.

Targeted Discard / Burn / Player-Targeting Combo
Side in: 3 Leyline of Sanctity; 1 Underworld Breach
Cut: 1 Stifle; 1 Stock Up; 1 Lórien Revealed; 1 Artist's Talent

- Plan logic: add opening-hand protection and extra engine redundancy against targeted pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis on bounce and narrow stack interaction when the opponent attacks the hand or life total more than the battlefield. Keep `Consign to Memory` when the opponent also has stack or artifact disruption; if not, it can become the next flexible reduction.

Graveyard Combo / Recursive Engine
Side in: 2 Surgical Extraction; 1 Into the Flood Maw; 1 Abrade
Cut: 1 Stifle; 1 Stock Up; 1 Lórien Revealed; 1 Artist's Talent

- Plan logic: add graveyard interaction and permanent answers while preserving the ability to race. Use `Surgical Extraction` only on visible graveyard cards that Veles presents as legal targets; do not assume hidden copies. Keep `Underworld Breach` unless the opponent's graveyard hate is both visible and unanswered, because your own recursion can still be the fastest win.

Counterspell / Control
Side in: 3 Leyline of Sanctity; 1 Underworld Breach
Cut: 1 Stifle; 1 Stock Up; 1 Lórien Revealed; 1 Consign to Memory

- Plan note: this exact plan stays legal against the registered Game 1 deck by removing only main-deck cards. If the opponent's visible plan includes stack fights, triggered abilities, or graveyard hate, reduce an additional slower draw spell before trimming too many `Consign to Memory` copies.

- Control role guidance: Add role cards: `Leyline of Sanctity`; `Underworld Breach`; sometimes `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` when damage payoffs are unreliable. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature-only bounce, sweepers, and narrow removal effects. Keep `Consign to Memory` and `Stifle` when the opponent's visible plan includes stack fights, triggered abilities, or graveyard hate that must be stopped.

Artifact Hate / Permanent Lock Pieces
Side in: 1 Abrade; 1 Into the Flood Maw; 1 Brotherhood's End
Cut: 1 Stifle; 1 Stock Up; 1 Lórien Revealed

- Plan logic: add answers that clear or delay battlefield locks before the combo turn. `Abrade` is preferred for artifacts that must leave permanently, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` is preferred for nonartifact permanents or tempo windows, and `Brotherhood's End` is preferred when multiple small artifacts or creatures are visible.

- Mirror and faster combo guidance: Add role cards: `Surgical Extraction`; `Underworld Breach`; `Leyline of Sanctity` when the opposing combo targets the player. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature interaction and slow card draw that does not find `Lotus Field` or protection. Prioritize speed, graveyard timing, and stack protection over attrition.

- Sideboard risk rule: do not move every payoff into the main deck unless the post-board plan no longer relies on `Wish`. A hand with `Wish` needs a live sideboard target; a hand without `Wish` needs enough main-deck engine and payoff density to win without searching outside the game.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: prioritize survival without diluting the engine below functional density. Keep hands that present `Lotus Field` access through `Expedition Map`, natural `Lotus Field`, or enough selection with early mana, then use `Into the Flood Maw`, sideboard `Brotherhood's End`, and sideboard `Abrade` only when Veles shows legal actions that materially reduce lethal pressure or buy the combo turn. Add role cards: `Brotherhood's End`; `Abrade`; `Into the Flood Maw`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Stifle`, slower copies of `Stock Up`, and the slowest expensive selection when the hand already has sufficient `Lotus Field` access. Do not spend a premium tempo answer on a minor attacker if the visible clock still allows setup and the answer is needed for a hate permanent.

- Go-wide: value sweepers and mana-efficient reset turns over one-for-one tempo. Sideboard `Brotherhood's End` is the preferred role card when multiple small creatures or artifacts are visible; sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` is a stopgap for one key permanent, not the plan for an entire board. Use `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` to accelerate through the stabilizing turn once the board is contained. If the opponent can rebuild quickly, take the first legal combo commitment that has engine, payoff access, and enough mana rather than trying to fully stabilize.

- Burn: protect life total and hand quality while racing to the earliest deterministic finish. Add role cards: `Leyline of Sanctity`; `Underworld Breach`; sometimes `Tendrils of Agony` when the life swing is reachable through `Wish` or naturally drawn sideboard configuration. Reduce main-deck emphasis: bounce that does not answer damage output, slow selection that costs a full turn, and narrow stack pieces unless Veles shows relevant legal targets. Keep a `Leyline of Sanctity` opener more aggressively than normal only when the rest of the hand has lands or selection; do not keep an otherwise nonfunctional hand solely for Leyline protection.

- Tempo: treat every tap-out and every graveyard commitment as a gate decision. Preserve land drops, avoid exposing `Underworld Breach` before it converts visible graveyard and mana into progress, and sequence `Consign to Memory` or `Stifle` only against legal opposing stack or trigger actions that stop the engine or create a decisive clock. Add role cards: `Leyline of Sanctity` against targeted disruption, extra `Underworld Breach` for redundancy, and `Into the Flood Maw` for a single blocker or disruptive permanent. Reduce main-deck emphasis: expensive draw when it walks into open interaction without advancing `Lotus Field` access.

- Control: force the opponent to answer redundant engines, not isolated setup pieces. Keep `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, and card selection as high-value cards because long games reward multiple protected attempts. Add role cards: `Leyline of Sanctity`; `Underworld Breach`; `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` when damage-based payoffs look unreliable or life totals become irrelevant. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature-only interaction and sweepers. Prefer developing `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, and hand texture before committing `Wish` or `Underworld Breach` into open mana unless waiting gives the opponent a stronger visible clock or a lock piece.

- Removal-heavy midrange: ignore creature removal unless it also stops `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` from functioning as a visible engine action. The deck is not trying to win through creature combat, so trade life total for setup time when safe, and use `Leyline of Sanctity` against discard or player-targeting pressure rather than against removal alone. Add role cards: `Underworld Breach`; `Leyline of Sanctity`; sometimes `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` for attrition games. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Into the Flood Maw` if there are few must-answer permanents. Treat `Artist's Talent` as conditional engine support; Card text check required, and choose its legal actions only when they advance mana, selection, or combo conversion.

- Single-threat decks: answer the one permanent only if it changes the race or blocks the combo turn. `Into the Flood Maw` is strong when bouncing the visible threat creates an immediate setup or win window; `Abrade` is reserved for artifact threats or artifact hate Veles exposes as legal targets. Do not fire `Brotherhood's End` into a single threat unless the rules engine presents it as the cleanest survival action or it also clears supporting artifacts. If the single threat has protection, ward, or taxing text visible in state, preserve mana before optional `Underworld Breach`, `Artist's Talent`, or `Wish` lines that could consume the tax payment.

- Combo: race first, interact only with the decisive visible object or stack action. `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Surgical Extraction`, and `Leyline of Sanctity` are matchup-dependent tools, but they should not replace the need to assemble `Lotus Field` plus untap effects. Add role cards: `Surgical Extraction`; `Underworld Breach`; `Leyline of Sanctity` when the opposing combo targets the player; `Tome Scour` only when a chosen `Wish` or boarded plan needs graveyard fuel or library reduction. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature interaction and slow draw that does not find mana, engine, or protection. Use `Surgical Extraction` only on a card that is visible in a graveyard and legally targetable; never assume hidden copies.

- Graveyard decks: disrupt the graveyard without turning off your own fastest kill. `Surgical Extraction` is for public, high-leverage graveyard cards that Veles exposes as legal targets, especially cards that represent recursion, payoff, or deterministic combo access. `Abrade` and `Into the Flood Maw` answer visible graveyard hate or enablers only when legal; do not name or target hidden cards. Keep `Underworld Breach` when your own graveyard is stocked and the opponent has not shown a lock; reduce reliance on it when visible hate makes a Breach turn fail unless an answer is already available.

- Artifact/enchantment decks: prioritize permanent answers only when the permanent blocks mana, graveyard use, targeting, or payoff resolution. Add role cards: `Abrade`; `Into the Flood Maw`; `Brotherhood's End`; sometimes `Consign to Memory` if the legal action text shows relevant colorless spells, activated abilities, or triggered abilities. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow selection when the matchup is defined by an early lock. `Abrade` is the cleanest artifact answer, `Into the Flood Maw` buys a temporary window against a broader permanent class, and `Brotherhood's End` is best when several small artifacts or creatures can be cleared at once. Card text check required for any enchantment-specific interaction not shown by Veles legal actions.

- Big mana: become the faster engine deck and counter only the payoff that changes the game immediately. Keep hands with `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, `Deserted Temple`, `Hidden Strings`, or `Pore Over the Pages` because speed matters more than attrition. Add role cards: `Consign to Memory` if already main-deck relevant, `Stifle` for visible triggered abilities, `Underworld Breach` for faster reloads, and `Wish` payoffs such as `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, or `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` according to legal access and resource state. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature bounce unless it clears a hate creature or buys a lethal turn.

- Dedicated counterspell decks: sculpt a turn that presents multiple must-answer actions. Lead with lower-value selection when it improves land drops, then commit `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, or `Pore Over the Pages` when visible mana, graveyard, and backup actions make a counter exchange acceptable. `Leyline of Sanctity` matters only against targeted discard, burn, or player-targeting effects; it does not stop ordinary counterspells. When `Wish` resolves, choose the payoff that the visible resources can actually cast and finish with: `Grapeshot` for sufficient spell count, `Tendrils of Agony` when black mana and storm count are available, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` when a library-size line is real, or `Tome Scour` only as a planned engine step. Card text check required for exact storm, Jace, and Tome Scour timing; follow rules-engine legality.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- Aggro and burn: prioritize life-total survival only when it preserves a combo turn. Add role cards: `Brotherhood's End`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, and the sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` when visible pressure or player-targeting effects demand time; keep `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Hidden Strings`, and `Pore Over the Pages` as the actual route to winning. Priority targets are wide creature boards, a single threat that shortens the clock below the next combo window, and stack actions that deal lethal damage. Revealed cards override archetype assumptions.

- Graveyard pressure and graveyard hate: protect your own `Underworld Breach` line while attacking only public, legal graveyard targets. Add role cards: `Surgical Extraction`, `Abrade`, and sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` when the opponent reveals graveyard reliance or permanent hate. Priority targets are visible graveyard payoff cards, artifacts that stop graveyard use, and lock pieces Veles exposes as legal targets. Do not spend `Surgical Extraction` on a low-impact card just because it is targetable.

- Counterspell and instant-speed interaction decks: build a turn with redundancy before committing the closer. Add role cards: `Leyline of Sanctity` only for targeted discard or player-targeting effects, extra `Underworld Breach` for reload density, and `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries` when damage payoffs are unreliable. Priority targets are stack actions that stop `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, `Hidden Strings`, or `Pore Over the Pages`. Lead with lower-value `Consider`, `Ponder`, or `Stock Up` when legal if it improves land drops or exposes less important interaction.

- Permanent-hate and artifact-heavy decks: answer the object that prevents mana, graveyard recursion, or payoff resolution. Add role cards: `Abrade`, `Brotherhood's End`, and sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`; reduce main-deck emphasis on slow draw if the game is about an early lock. Priority targets are visible artifacts, disruptive creatures, and temporary bounce targets that create an immediate combo turn. Card text check required for `Into the Flood Maw` and `Brotherhood's End` modes if Veles exposes multiple legal choices.

- Other combo and big-mana decks: race unless the opponent presents one decisive visible stack or permanent action. Keep fast `Lotus Field` access through `Expedition Map`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, and `Consider`; use `Consign to Memory` and `Stifle` only on a legal target that changes the race. `Wish` should find the payoff matching visible resources: `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach`. Card text check required for exact payoff math and alternate-library lines.

## Risk Summary

- Mana risk: `Lotus Field` is powerful but exposes sequencing failure if played before enough lands, untap effects, or follow-up mana are available. Do not sacrifice the wrong lands to `Lotus Field` when the visible hand still needs colored mana from `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, `Island`, or `Otawara, Soaring City`.

- Matchup risk: the deck can lose to fast pressure while holding expensive engine cards. Treat `Pore Over the Pages`, `Stock Up`, and `Lórien Revealed` as strong only when the current life total, mana, and visible clock leave time to convert them.

- Draw risk: selection spells are not progress if they miss `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Hidden Strings`, `Underworld Breach`, or `Wish`. Avoid spending `Consider` or `Ponder` on cosmetic filtering when a legal action can secure mana or start the combo.

- Over-sideboarding risk: sideboard cards must not dilute the engine below functional density. `Brotherhood's End`, `Leyline of Sanctity`, `Surgical Extraction`, `Abrade`, and extra `Into the Flood Maw` are role cards, not a replacement for assembling `Lotus Field` plus untap and draw.

- Graveyard risk: `Underworld Breach` depends on graveyard access and enough usable cards. Visible graveyard hate should push the agent toward `Abrade`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Wish`, or non-graveyard payoff lines instead of forcing a fragile Breach turn.

- Sweeper/removal risk: `Brotherhood's End` can buy time but may consume a turn that should be spent winning. Use it when the visible board threatens survival or clears multiple relevant permanents, not as default interaction.

- Closer risk: `Wish` does not win by itself. Choose `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach` only when legal mana, storm count, graveyard, library size, and follow-up actions support that line.

- Interaction risk: `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, and `Into the Flood Maw` are strongest against decisive visible actions. Passing with interaction is correct only when holding mana changes the opponent's likely line or protects the combo turn; otherwise, progress the engine.

- Sequencing risk: untap effects are high leverage after the mana land exists. Do not spend `Hidden Strings` or `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` cycles in ways that leave `Lotus Field` or `Deserted Temple` unavailable for the decisive turn unless Veles shows no better legal setup.

## Test Feedback Checklist

- Deciding factor: identify whether the game was won or lost by assembling `Lotus Field` mana, surviving pressure, resolving `Underworld Breach`, resolving `Wish`, or failing to convert a started combo turn.
- Mulligans: record whether opening hands had access to `Lotus Field`, `Expedition Map`, `Lórien Revealed`, `Ponder`, `Consider`, enough lands, and a realistic first engine action.
- Mana: note every game where `Lotus Field`, `Deserted Temple`, `Spirebluff Canal`, `Steam Vents`, `Island`, or `Otawara, Soaring City` sequencing stranded a spell or delayed a combo turn.
- Velocity: check whether `Ponder`, `Consider`, `Stock Up`, `Lórien Revealed`, and `Pore Over the Pages` found engine pieces or merely spent mana without improving the next two turns.
- Engine execution: mark whether `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, `Pore Over the Pages`, and `Underworld Breach` produced a decisive mana-and-card loop or stalled after partial setup.
- Interaction timing: review each `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Abrade`, `Brotherhood's End`, and `Surgical Extraction` decision for whether it answered a decisive visible threat or delayed the main plan.
- Sideboard effect: compare pre-board and post-board games for whether `Leyline of Sanctity`, `Brotherhood's End`, `Surgical Extraction`, `Abrade`, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`, and extra `Underworld Breach` changed the deciding axis.
- Closing: record whether `Wish` found the correct visible payoff among `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach`.
- Role: flag games where the pilot played defense too long with interaction instead of racing, or raced into visible disruption when a setup turn was available.
- Mistakes: capture illegal assumptions, missed land drops, premature `Lotus Field`, wrong land sacrifice, low-value selection, unprotected `Underworld Breach`, or payoff selection without enough mana or storm.
- Stranded cards: list cards stuck in hand at game end, especially duplicate `Artist's Talent`, expensive draw, interaction without targets, or `Wish` without a castable sideboard line.
- Overperformers and underperformers: count meaningful actions from every repeated main-deck nonland, especially `Artist's Talent`, `Expedition Map`, `Consign to Memory`, `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Underworld Breach`, and `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`.

## First Tuning Questions

- Quantity question: does `Artist's Talent` consistently enable the engine, or does four copies create stranded setup when the hand needs more selection, lands, or protection?
- Quantity question: are two `Ponder`, two `Consider`, two `Stock Up`, and two `Lórien Revealed` the right mix, or does the deck need a different balance between cheap filtering and larger card flow?
- Mana question: do four `Lotus Field` plus four `Deserted Temple` appear on time often enough, and do three `Island`, three `Otawa, Soaring City` is invalid spelling, so tune only from logs using exact `Otawara, Soaring City`, three `Steam Vents`, and four `Spirebluff Canal` performance.
- Mana question: does `Expedition Map` solve land access quickly enough against pressure, or are too many early turns spent searching instead of casting selection or interaction?
- Aggro-plan question: do `Brotherhood's End`, sideboard `Into the Flood Maw`, and main-deck `Into the Flood Maw` buy enough time without reducing combo density below functional levels?
- Control-plan question: are four `Consign to Memory`, one `Stifle`, three `Underworld Breach`, and two `Wish` enough to fight stack interaction, or does the deck need a clearer protected-commitment plan?
- Closer question: which `Wish` payoff actually ends games most often: `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, `Tome Scour`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach`?
- Sideboard-slot question: does `Leyline of Sanctity` win enough targeted-disruption and burn games to justify three slots, or are those slots needed for permanent answers or graveyard interaction?
- Sideboard-slot question: does `Surgical Extraction` matter in actual public graveyard positions, or does it sit unused while the deck needs more cards that protect `Underworld Breach` or answer hate?
- Role-conflict question: does the deck lose more often by interacting too little, interacting too much, or choosing a payoff line before visible resources support it?
- Engine-conflict question: are `Hidden Strings`, `Vizier of Tumbling Sands`, and `Pore Over the Pages` enough untap-card conversion, or do logs show repeated turns with mana but no draw, or draw but no untap?
- Reliability question: should future versions prioritize faster `Lotus Field` access, more graveyard resilience, more anti-aggro time, or more deterministic `Wish` closing based on the largest repeated failure cluster?

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Opening Hand Engine Access
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan
Cards: Lotus Field; Expedition Map; Ponder; Consider; Lórien Revealed; Hidden Strings; Vizier of Tumbling Sands; Pore Over the Pages
Phase windows: opening hand, mulligan decisions
Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan, visible opening hand, available keep/take-mulligan actions
Use when: choosing whether a hand can assemble mana plus velocity before pressure or disruption overtakes the game.
Avoid when: the hand has no credible access to `Lotus Field` or `Expedition Map`, cannot cast its selection, or keeps only expensive spells with no early land plan.
Instructions: Keep hands with land access, a route to `Lotus Field`, and at least one cantrip, untap, or draw engine; be skeptical of hands that contain payoff cards but no way to reach the land engine. Treat `Lórien Revealed` as early land access only when Veles exposes the legal landcycling action.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Early Lotus Setup
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana; selection
Cards: Lotus Field; Expedition Map; Deserted Temple; Artist's Talent; Ponder; Consider
Phase windows: turns 1-3 main phases
Runtime cues: action:cast Expedition Map, action:play Lotus Field, action:cast Artist's Talent, action:cast Ponder, action:cast Consider
Use when: developing the first required engine piece before a combo turn.
Avoid when: visible interaction or pressure requires holding `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, or `Into the Flood Maw`, or when playing `Lotus Field` would sacrifice lands needed to cast current hand spells.
Instructions: Prioritize finding or playing `Lotus Field`; use `Expedition Map` before speculative filtering when the land is missing. Deploy `Artist's Talent` when it improves future spell chains without delaying land access or a needed defensive action.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Lotus Field Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: mana; priority
Cards: Lotus Field; Deserted Temple; Hidden Strings; Vizier of Tumbling Sands; Pore Over the Pages; Underworld Breach
Phase windows: main phases before committing mana engine resources
Runtime cues: action:play Lotus Field, action:cast Hidden Strings, action:cycle Vizier of Tumbling Sands, action:cast Pore Over the Pages, action:cast Underworld Breach
Use when: deciding whether this turn should begin the combo engine.
Avoid when: the visible hand lacks follow-up draw or untap effects, the graveyard does not support `Underworld Breach`, or opponent mana and known public cards make waiting safer than starting.
Instructions: Start the engine when available mana, untaps, draw, and graveyard resources can produce a meaningful chain or win. Delay when the turn only exposes `Lotus Field` or `Underworld Breach` without enough continuation.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Lotus Untap Execution
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana
Cards: Hidden Strings; Vizier of Tumbling Sands; Pore Over the Pages; Lotus Field; Deserted Temple
Phase windows: combo main phase, spell resolution target prompts
Runtime cues: action:target Lotus Field Hidden Strings, action:target Lotus Field Vizier of Tumbling Sands, action:untap Lotus Field, action:untap Deserted Temple
Use when: the current legal action text names `Lotus Field` as an untap target and the pilot has already committed to the combo turn.
Avoid when: Veles shows multiple strategically different target choices that include non-mana permanents or when `Lotus Field` is not visible as the named target.
Instructions: Choose `Lotus Field` for untap effects during an active combo chain. Choose `Deserted Temple` only when Veles shows the line requires Temple to untap `Lotus Field` again.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Mana Color And Payment Discipline
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana
Cards: Lotus Field; Deserted Temple; Spirebluff Canal; Steam Vents; Island; Otawara, Soaring City; Hidden Strings; Pore Over the Pages; Wish; Underworld Breach
Phase windows: all payment prompts, combo turns, protection turns
Runtime cues: action:choose mana, action:pay, action:activate Deserted Temple, action:tap Lotus Field
Use when: paying for spells or abilities with visible mana choices.
Avoid when: spending the only blue source prevents `Hidden Strings`, `Pore Over the Pages`, `Consign to Memory`, `Stifle`, or `Into the Flood Maw` during the same turn.
Instructions: Preserve blue mana through the engine, preserve red mana for `Underworld Breach`, `Wish`, `Grapeshot`, and `Brotherhood's End`, and avoid exhausting `Deserted Temple` before it can multiply `Lotus Field` mana.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Selection For Missing Axis
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection
Cards: Ponder; Consider; Stock Up; Lórien Revealed; Pore Over the Pages; Artist's Talent
Phase windows: main phases, end steps when instant-speed selection is legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Ponder, action:cast Consider, action:cast Stock Up, action:cast Lórien Revealed, action:cast Pore Over the Pages
Use when: choosing between card-flow actions or resolving selection choices.
Avoid when: casting selection taps mana needed for a visible opposing threat or starts a combo turn without the necessary mana base.
Instructions: Select for the missing axis: land access first, untap/draw density second, `Underworld Breach` or `Wish` third, protection only when visible interaction matters. Do not keep redundant setup over the card that lets the current turn continue.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Underworld Breach Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; selection
Cards: Underworld Breach; Hidden Strings; Pore Over the Pages; Consider; Ponder; Wish; Tome Scour
Phase windows: main phases with graveyard and mana visible
Runtime cues: action:cast Underworld Breach, action:cast Tome Scour, action:cast Wish
Use when: deciding whether to commit graveyard resources to a Breach turn.
Avoid when: graveyard count, mana, or visible follow-up spells cannot sustain escapes, or graveyard hate is visible and not answered.
Instructions: Cast `Underworld Breach` when the graveyard plus mana can replay selection, untap, or payoff actions. If the hand already has `Wish`, evaluate whether sideboard `Tome Scour`, `Grapeshot`, `Tendrils of Agony`, `Jace, Wielder of Mysteries`, or sideboard `Underworld Breach` is actually castable after `Wish` resolves.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Wish Payoff Selection Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: selection; priority
Cards: Wish; Grapeshot; Tendrils of Agony; Jace, Wielder of Mysteries; Tome Scour; Underworld Breach; Into the Flood Maw; Abrade
Phase windows: main phases with `Wish` legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Wish, prompt:choose card outside the game, visible sideboard choices
Use when: `Wish` can select a sideboard card and the current turn has a defined purpose.
Avoid when: no selected sideboard card can be cast or used before the opponent's next decisive turn.
Instructions: Choose a kill card only with sufficient storm, mana, and target legality. Choose sideboard `Underworld Breach` or `Tome Scour` when the plan is to extend the engine. Choose `Abrade` or sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` only when a visible permanent blocks winning or survival.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Payoff Target Opponent
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection; priority
Cards: Grapeshot; Tendrils of Agony
Phase windows: payoff target prompts after commitment
Runtime cues: action:target opponent Grapeshot, action:target opponent Tendrils of Agony
Use when: the legal action text offers targeting the opponent with `Grapeshot` or `Tendrils of Agony` after the payoff line has been selected.
Avoid when: Veles shows a prevention, redirection, hexproof, or target restriction that makes the opponent target illegal or not present in the action text.
Instructions: Target the opponent with lethal payoff copies when Veles exposes that exact legal target. Do not redirect copies to creatures unless a separate light-model decision selected removal instead of a kill.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Tome Scour Self-Fuel Target
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection
Cards: Tome Scour; Underworld Breach; Wish
Phase windows: combo main phase target prompts
Runtime cues: action:target self Tome Scour
Use when: the legal action text offers targeting self with `Tome Scour` during a selected `Underworld Breach` fuel line.
Avoid when: library size, graveyard hate, or a selected opponent-mill line is explicitly shown by Veles as the active plan.
Instructions: Target self with `Tome Scour` when the current combo plan needs graveyard fuel. Route through light-model if both self-mill and opponent-target outcomes are plausible from visible resources.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Permission Spending Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Consign to Memory; Stifle
Phase windows: opponent casts, activated or triggered abilities, combo protection windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Consign to Memory, action:cast Stifle, stack:opponent spell, stack:opponent ability
Use when: deciding whether to spend stack interaction on a visible opposing object.
Avoid when: the object does not stop the combo, threaten lethal pressure, remove `Lotus Field`, exile the graveyard, or prevent a payoff.
Instructions: Spend `Consign to Memory` or `Stifle` on visible disruption, hate, lethal threats, or abilities that break the engine. Preserve interaction when the opponent's stack object is low impact and the combo turn is close.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Bounce And Removal Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction
Cards: Into the Flood Maw; Otawara, Soaring City; Abrade; Brotherhood's End
Phase windows: main phases, combat, opponent end step, stack-sensitive permanent windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Into the Flood Maw, action:channel Otawara, Soaring City, action:cast Abrade, action:cast Brotherhood's End
Use when: a visible permanent, attack, or hate piece prevents survival or combo execution.
Avoid when: answering the permanent does not change the current clock or combo access, or when the mana spent prevents a winning line this turn.
Instructions: Use bounce or removal to clear hate, stop lethal pressure, or open a combo turn. Prefer temporary answers when winning immediately follows; prefer `Brotherhood's End` only when multiple visible permanents or creatures justify spending the turn.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Survival Defaults
Priority: Medium
Decision families: combat; interaction
Cards: Vizier of Tumbling Sands; Into the Flood Maw; Brotherhood's End
Phase windows: declare attackers, declare blockers, before combat damage
Runtime cues: action:block, action:cast Into the Flood Maw, action:cast Brotherhood's End, visible attackers
Use when: combat damage affects survival before the next combo opportunity.
Avoid when: blocking or interacting sacrifices an engine piece and Veles shows survival without that action.
Instructions: Treat combat as a clock-management problem, not a damage race. Preserve `Vizier of Tumbling Sands` when it is needed as an untap resource unless blocking prevents lethal or buys the exact next turn needed.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Plan Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Leyline of Sanctity; Brotherhood's End; Surgical Extraction; Abrade; Into the Flood Maw; Underworld Breach; Consign to Memory; Stifle; Artist's Talent; Stock Up; Pore Over the Pages
Phase windows: between games, sideboard prompts
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard, visible matchup label, legal sideboard candidates
Use when: choosing a registered sideboard plan after game one or game two.
Avoid when: proposed changes violate registered counts or remove too much engine density for narrow answers.
Instructions: Add `Leyline of Sanctity` against targeted discard or burn pressure, `Brotherhood's End` against creature or artifact boards, `Surgical Extraction` against graveyard-dependent public zones, `Abrade` or sideboard `Into the Flood Maw` against hate permanents, and extra `Underworld Breach` against attrition. Reduce slower draw or redundant setup before reducing `Lotus Field` access, untap density, or core payoff access.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Leyline Pregame Execution
Priority: Medium
Decision families: pregame
Cards: Leyline of Sanctity
Phase windows: opening hand pregame actions after sideboarding
Runtime cues: action:begin the game with Leyline of Sanctity, action:put Leyline of Sanctity onto the battlefield
Use when: the legal action text offers beginning the game with `Leyline of Sanctity` from the opening hand.
Avoid when: Veles does not show the exact pregame legal action.
Instructions: Put `Leyline of Sanctity` onto the battlefield when the rules engine offers that legal pregame action. Do not infer the action from card presence alone.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Emergency Non-Combo Stabilization
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; interaction; selection
Cards: Brotherhood's End; Into the Flood Maw; Abrade; Consign to Memory; Stifle; Otawara, Soaring City
Phase windows: any turn before lethal damage or decisive disruption resolves
Runtime cues: low life, visible lethal attack, visible hate permanent, stack:opponent spell, action:cast Brotherhood's End, action:cast Into the Flood Maw
Use when: the game cannot wait for a clean combo setup turn.
Avoid when: the same mana produces a legal win or a stronger protected combo start this turn.
Instructions: Spend interaction to survive, remove hate, or force one more draw step when the visible board demands it. Do not turn every threat into an emergency; preserve combo resources when the clock allows a setup turn.
Pilot skill floor: light-model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
