# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype

- Identity: Red Prison is a Vintage 60-card main deck with a 15-card sideboard, registered as prison and stompy. The submitted validation contract says the deck passes active Vintage deck-count and format-aware checks, so Veles should treat this as a legal registered configuration unless the rules engine later reports a concrete legality problem.

- Archetype shape: This is not a stock mono-red prison list; it is a hybrid Rakdos prison-stompy shell using black disruption, graveyard pressure, fast mana, and land denial around the Red Prison name. The tactical center is to compress the opponent's early turns with `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, `Cabal Therapy`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Magus of the Moon`, and fast mana, then convert the window into pressure from `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, or a reanimation line.

- Count validation: Main deck count is exactly 60 and sideboard count is exactly 15. Main-deck registration includes 4 `Reanimate`, 4 `Dark Ritual`, 4 `Grief`, 4 `Wasteland`, 3 `Troll of Khazad-dum`, 3 `Badlands`, 3 `Swamp`, 3 `Polluted Delta`, 2 `Verdant Catacombs`, 2 `Thoughtseize`, 2 `Dauthi Voidwalker`, 2 `Fatal Push`, 2 `Barrowgoyf`, and 2 `Mai, Scornful Striker`, plus singletons that define the prison and tutor texture.

- Sideboard registration: Sideboard cards are exactly `Red Elemental Blast`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Pithing Needle`, `Snuff Out`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Long Goodbye`, `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Engineered Explosives`, `Tormod's Crypt`, `Meltdown`, `Opposition Agent`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, and `Magus of the Moon`. Sideboarding must never name an unregistered sideboard card in `Side in:` and must never cut a card absent from the main deck.

- Mana identity concern: The deck is black-heavy despite the Red Prison label, with `Dark Ritual`, `Reanimate`, `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, `Fatal Push`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Demonic Tutor`, and `Demonic Consultation` requiring black access or black sequencing. Red access is narrower but still important for `Magus of the Moon`, `Meltdown`, and sideboard `Red Elemental Blast`; Veles should value hands that can actually cast the disruptive spell they keep for, not just hands with abstract fast mana.

- Artifact tension: `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, and `Sol Ring` accelerate the prison plan, but `Null Rod` can shut off friendly artifact mana after deployment. The pilot should prefer sequencing artifact mana before `Null Rod` when legal and strategically chosen, while still recognizing that locking opponent artifacts may outweigh losing later friendly activations.

- Land-denial tension: `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Magus of the Moon`, and sideboard `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` push toward resource denial, but the deck also needs stable black mana for disruption and `Reanimate`. The agent should not treat every land-denial action as automatic; it must compare visible opponent mana, current hand castability, and whether delaying its own black spells weakens the lock.

- Role classification: This is a proactive prison-tempo deck, not a pure control deck and not a deterministic combo deck. Its best games involve a fast disruption piece plus pressure; its risky games involve mana that is fast but color-wrong, prison pieces that conflict with the pilot's own resources, or discard without a clock.

- Opponent information status: No opponent decklist, matchup label, or metagame target was supplied for this batch. Runtime decisions must therefore obey legal actions first, visible board state second, public and revealed information third, and only then infer broad Vintage roles from cards the opponent has actually shown.

## Thesis

- Core plan: Red Prison assembles a fast black disruption opening backed by mana denial and cheap pressure, not a slow lock that waits to win after perfect control. Prioritize hands that can make an immediate exchange with `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, `Cabal Therapy`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Null Rod`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Wasteland`, or `Strip Mine`, then deploy a clock before the opponent rebuilds.

- Win pattern: The deck wins by converting early denial into compressed decision space. A typical winning line takes a key card with `Grief` or `Thoughtseize`, constrains mana with `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Null Rod`, or `Vexing Bauble`, then attacks with `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, or a creature returned by `Reanimate`.

- Priority rule: Protect black functionality before overcommitting to the Red Prison label. Keep hands and choose land lines that actually cast `Dark Ritual`, `Reanimate`, `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, `Fatal Push`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Demonic Tutor`, or `Demonic Consultation`; red access matters for `Magus of the Moon`, `Meltdown`, and sideboard `Red Elemental Blast`, but the main disruption base is black.

- What this deck is not: Do not pilot this as a pure attrition control deck, a deterministic combo deck, or an artifact-mana deck that ignores its own `Null Rod`. If the current hand lacks pressure, prioritize disruption that creates time for a threat; if the hand relies on `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, or `Sol Ring`, sequence those resources before a chosen `Null Rod` when legal and tactically sound.

- Runtime discipline: Never assume hidden cards, exact opponent archetype, or that a prison piece is good in the abstract. Choose legal actions from the rules engine, read the visible board and revealed information, then decide whether the current axis should be discard, artifact denial, land denial, creature removal, graveyard pressure, or a fast clock.

## Role Package

- Threats: `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Opposition Agent`, and `Grief` are the bodies that make disruption lethal. Treat `Troll of Khazad-dum` as both a large reanimation/attack threat and a mana-smoothing card when its land-search ability is legally available; Card text check required for exact `Barrowgoyf` and `Mai, Scornful Striker` combat scaling before making fine-grained damage assumptions.

- Payoffs: `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Reanimate`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, and sideboard threat upgrades turn early disruption into game-winning leverage. Use `Dauthi Voidwalker` as pressure plus graveyard/exile pressure when legal, but only use any captured-card action if the rules engine exposes it as legal and the visible card is worth the mana and timing.

- Engines: `Dark Ritual`, `Reanimate`, `Demonic Tutor`, `Demonic Consultation`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, and `Wasteland` plus `Strip Mine` are the repeatable or high-leverage engines of the shell. The deck does not need a permanent engine every game; it needs one decisive early resource swing followed by a threat.

- Velocity: `Dark Ritual`, `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Demonic Tutor`, `Demonic Consultation`, fetch lands, and `Troll of Khazad-dum` landcycling are the cards that turn a seven-card hand into a fast prison draw. Spend velocity to create a meaningful lock or clock, not to empty the hand into a board state that loses to one visible answer.

- Interaction: `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, `Cabal Therapy`, `Mental Misstep`, `Fatal Push`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Meltdown`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Magus of the Moon`, and `Opposition Agent` define the disruption spread. Choose the axis that attacks visible resources: artifact mana for `Null Rod` or `Meltdown`, greedy mana for `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, or `Magus of the Moon`, creature pressure for `Fatal Push` or `Sheoldred's Edict`, stack or cheap-spell pressure for `Mental Misstep` or `Vexing Bauble`.

- Protection: `Thoughtseize`, `Grief`, `Cabal Therapy`, `Mental Misstep`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Opposition Agent`, and sideboard `Red Elemental Blast` or `Mindbreak Trap` protect the proactive line by stripping or constraining answers before the threat is exposed. Do not spend protection on low-impact visible cards when a pending lock piece or lethal clock needs a specific answer removed.

- Recursion: `Reanimate` is both a proactive threat converter and an emergency stabilizer. Prefer returning the highest-impact legal creature from any graveyard when life total and visible race permit; avoid paying life for a creature that does not change the clock, lock, or survival math.

- Mana: `Dark Ritual`, `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Badlands`, `Swamp`, `Polluted Delta`, `Verdant Catacombs`, `Raucous Theater`, `Wasteland`, and `Strip Mine` are the practical mana module. Prioritize black source access, then decide whether land denial is worth delaying your next black spell.

- Sideboard modules: `Red Elemental Blast`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Pithing Needle`, `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, `Engineered Explosives`, `Tormod's Crypt`, extra `Meltdown`, extra `Opposition Agent`, extra `Magus of the Moon`, extra `Barrowgoyf`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, and `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` let the deck shift between stack interaction, artifact pressure, creature removal, graveyard containment, extra prison, extra threat density, and anti-creature resource denial.

## Primary Win Conditions

- Fast discard into threat is the default win path: use `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, or `Cabal Therapy` to remove the opponent's highest-impact visible or revealed card, then convert the time gained into attacks from `Barrowgoyf`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Opposition Agent`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, or a hard-cast `Grief`. Prioritize this line when the opening hand has black mana plus disruption and at least one credible clock, because this deck wins most cleanly when the opponent must rebuild under pressure rather than merely discard and draw out.

- Prison-plus-clock is the defining Red Prison line: deploy `Vexing Bauble`, `Null Rod`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Wasteland`, or `Strip Mine` to constrain the opponent's current resource axis, then attack before the lock piece becomes irrelevant. Prioritize `Null Rod` or `Meltdown` against visible artifact-heavy starts, prioritize `Magus of the Moon` plus land destruction against greedy visible mana, and avoid locking yourself out with `Null Rod` until `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, or `Sol Ring` have already produced the necessary mana or are no longer central to the line.

- `Reanimate` threat conversion is the highest-ceiling finish when a graveyard contains a creature worth the life payment. Set it up with `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, `Cabal Therapy`, combat trades, removal, or the opponent's own graveyard; execute only when the legal target changes the race, stabilizes the board, or creates a fast lethal clock. Prioritize `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Grief`, opposing large creatures, or another visible high-impact creature over small value bodies, and decline low-impact `Reanimate` lines when life loss would expose you to a visible attack or damage source.

- `Dauthi Voidwalker` wins by combining pressure with graveyard denial and stolen-resource upside. Cast it early when the opponent's graveyard or spell-flow matters, attack with it when legal, and use any captured-card action only when Veles exposes a legal action with a visible card that materially advances the lock, threat, or survival plan.

- `Karn, the Great Creator` is a win condition only when the game can support a planeswalker turn. Use fast mana or prison cover to resolve it, then choose only legal activated actions surfaced by the engine; Card text check required for exact sideboard-access and static-ability implications in a given runtime.

## Secondary Win Conditions

- Backup combat wins through ordinary creature density when the first lock or reanimation plan fails. `Barrowgoyf`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, and `Tourach, Dread Cantor` are the main midgame attackers; Card text check required for exact `Barrowgoyf` and `Mai, Scornful Striker` sizing or triggers, so base attacks on visible power, toughness, counters, damage, and legal combat output rather than assumed scaling.

- `Orcish Bowmasters` is a pressure and stabilization card, not a primary burn plan. Use it when its legal timing can punish visible card-draw sequences, pick off small creatures, create a blocker, or add damage while maintaining disruption; do not hold it indefinitely if deploying a body now prevents a worse attack step.

- `Troll of Khazad-dum` is both mana smoothing and a large fallback finisher. Use its land-search mode when the hand needs black mana or a land drop more than a graveyard creature, and treat later hard-cast or `Reanimate` lines as the payoff once the game slows.

- `Opposition Agent` can become a flash-speed disruptive attacker when the opponent represents search effects or when a surprise body changes combat. Prioritize it as a threat against search-heavy visible lines, but do not pass a decisive board-development turn just to hold it up without evidence that the opponent's next action involves searching.

- `Meltdown` wins secondary games by converting artifact boards into tempo collapse. Use it when visible artifacts are a major share of the opponent's mana or board, then follow immediately with a clock; avoid spending it for a marginal single artifact if `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, discard, or land denial already handles the same axis.

## Emergency Lines

- When behind on life, stop treating `Reanimate`, `Mana Crypt`, and fetch land sequencing as free resources. Prefer `Fatal Push`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, blockers, or a fast prison piece that reduces incoming damage; use `Reanimate` only if the returned creature clearly stabilizes or races according to visible combat math.

- When behind on board, trade disruption for time rather than hoarding it. Use `Fatal Push` on the creature that changes the next attack most, use `Sheoldred's Edict` when targeted removal is poor or unavailable, and consider `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, `Engineered Explosives`, or extra `Barrowgoyf` after sideboarding when the matchup is creature-pressure heavy.

- When behind on cards, shift toward permanent impact. Prioritize `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, or `Mai, Scornful Striker` over one-for-one discard unless the discard protects an immediate stabilizing action.

- When behind on mana, preserve black access before activating land denial. Use `Dark Ritual`, `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Badlands`, `Swamp`, `Polluted Delta`, `Verdant Catacombs`, `Raucous Theater`, and `Troll of Khazad-dum` smoothing to cast spells; use `Wasteland` or `Strip Mine` only if the exchange leaves you able to function.

- When graveyard recursion is shut off, win through castable creatures and prison pressure. Treat `Reanimate` as dead or conditional until Veles exposes a legal useful target, then lean on `Grief`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Opposition Agent`, and sideboard threat additions.

- When combo pressure is imminent, choose the highest-impact disruption axis from visible information. Use `Thoughtseize`, `Grief`, `Cabal Therapy`, `Mental Misstep`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Opposition Agent`, `Mindbreak Trap`, or `Red Elemental Blast` only when legal and aligned with the shown threat; if the exact kill is unknown, attack mana and stack velocity first.

- When primary win conditions are removed, shorten the game with any legal body plus denial. A single `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Orcish Bowmasters` token, `Magus of the Moon`, `Opposition Agent`, or hard-cast `Grief` can finish if `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, and discard keep the opponent from converting draws into action.

## Resource Model

- Life is a spendable clock only when the board and stack are contained. Pay life for `Reanimate`, `Thoughtseize`, fetch lands, and any `Mana Crypt` exposure when the resulting spell creates a lock, removes the opponent's next winning line, or adds a faster clock than the life lost; stop spending life aggressively once visible attacks, damage sources, or opposing board width make the race close.

- Hand size is converted into disruption and velocity, not raw card advantage. `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, `Cabal Therapy`, `Demonic Tutor`, `Demonic Consultation`, and `Dark Ritual` should turn opening cards into a protected permanent, a reanimated threat, or a prison window; avoid emptying the hand for medium board impact if the opponent still has visible mana and cards to rebuild.

- Mana is the deck's most explosive resource and easiest self-lock risk. `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, and `Dark Ritual` should be used before `Null Rod` when possible, and `Null Rod` should be delayed if your legal follow-up still depends on artifact mana.

- Board presence becomes inevitability only when paired with denial. `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Grief`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Opposition Agent`, and `Orcish Bowmasters` should attack while `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Null Rod`, discard, or removal prevents the opponent from using higher-quality cards.

- Graveyards are both ammunition and risk. Use `Reanimate` on visible creatures that stabilize, race, or create a decisive clock; use `Dauthi Voidwalker` as graveyard denial and stolen-card pressure only through legal actions exposed by Veles. Do not assume a graveyard target is safe through opposing public hate or replacement effects.

- Exile resources matter mainly through visible engine output. If `Dauthi Voidwalker` or another effect exposes a legal playable exiled card, evaluate it as a temporary resource that must beat normal development, not as automatic value.

- Lands are split between casting stability and mana denial. `Swamp`, `Badlands`, `Polluted Delta`, `Verdant Catacombs`, and `Raucous Theater` enable spells; `Wasteland` and `Strip Mine` trade land drops for tempo. Do not fire land destruction if it leaves black spells stranded unless the opponent's visible land is the bottleneck.

- Sacrifice fodder is not a core engine, so do not invent sacrifice lines. Use creatures as blockers, attackers, discard bodies, or `Reanimate` targets according to legal actions; Card text check required before treating `Mai, Scornful Striker` or any token as sacrifice infrastructure.

- Information is a premium resource because the deck has many commitment gates. `Thoughtseize`, `Grief`, `Cabal Therapy`, visible graveyards, revealed cards, and public tutor/search actions should decide whether to deploy `Magus of the Moon`, commit `Karn, the Great Creator`, spend `Demonic Consultation`, hold `Opposition Agent`, or cast `Meltdown`.

- Sideboard bullets convert narrow matchups into compact answers. `Red Elemental Blast`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Pithing Needle`, `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Engineered Explosives`, `Tormod's Crypt`, extra `Meltdown`, extra `Opposition Agent`, extra `Magus of the Moon`, extra `Barrowgoyf`, and `Stillmoon Cavalier` should be valued only against the visible axis they answer.

## Mana Guide

- Keep hands that produce black mana and a meaningful first action. A strong hand usually has `Swamp`, `Badlands`, a fetch land, `Mox Jet`, `Black Lotus`, or `Dark Ritual` plus `Thoughtseize`, `Grief`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Reanimate`, removal, or a prison payoff; mulligan hands that rely only on `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, or `Sol Ring` without black access unless the legal opener is an immediate lock.

- Sequence black before red unless the red spell is the plan. `Dark Ritual`, `Grief`, `Reanimate`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Demonic Tutor`, `Demonic Consultation`, `Fatal Push`, `Thoughtseize`, `Cabal Therapy`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Opposition Agent`, and `Troll of Khazad-dum` all demand reliable black; red is mainly for `Magus of the Moon`, `Meltdown`, and sideboard `Red Elemental Blast`.

- Fetch basics before locking yourself under `Magus of the Moon` when black spells still matter. Use `Polluted Delta` or `Verdant Catacombs` to secure `Swamp` or `Badlands` according to visible needs before casting `Magus of the Moon`; after `Magus of the Moon`, rely on already-established black sources for black-heavy hands.

- Use artifact mana before `Null Rod` whenever the action queue allows it. Convert `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, and `Sol Ring` into the important spell first, then cast `Null Rod` if the opponent's artifacts matter more than your remaining artifact activations.

- Spend `Dark Ritual` for decisive tempo, not cosmetic acceleration. Good uses include protected discard plus threat, fast `Dauthi Voidwalker`, hard-cast `Grief`, `Opposition Agent` at the right window, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, or `Demonic Tutor` into an immediate legal play; weak uses are plays that still pass without pressure or protection.

- Treat `Troll of Khazad-dum` as mana smoothing when land access is the constraint. If Veles exposes a land-search action and the hand needs a castable black source or next land drop, prioritize that over preserving `Troll of Khazad-dum` as a future creature unless a visible `Reanimate` line is already stronger.

- Play land before draw-like or tutor-like actions when mana must be fixed for the same turn. Play a fetch land, `Badlands`, or `Swamp` before `Demonic Tutor`, `Demonic Consultation`, or a legal `Vexing Bauble` card-draw action if the post-action line needs that mana now; delay the land only when visible information could change whether `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, fetch, or colored source is correct.

- Preserve utility lands until the exchange is favorable. Use `Wasteland` or `Strip Mine` when it strands the opponent, protects a lock, or denies a visible key land; otherwise develop colored mana first so `Reanimate`, discard, and removal remain live.

- Sideboard mana pressure changes land priorities. `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` is a land-slot answer that may not cast spells, extra `Meltdown` and `Red Elemental Blast` increase red demand, and `Snuff Out` may reduce immediate mana needs while increasing life-pressure concerns.

## Mulligan Guide

- Strong keep: Keep any hand with reliable black mana plus a disruptive first action and a follow-up clock or lock. Examples include `Swamp` or `Badlands` plus `Dark Ritual` and `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Thoughtseize` plus `Grief` plus `Reanimate`, or `Black Lotus` plus `Karn, the Great Creator` when the hand also has pressure, discard, or mana denial.

- Strong keep: Keep explosive prison hands that deploy a real lock before the opponent can use their resources. `Black Lotus`, `Mox Ruby`, or `Mana Crypt` into `Magus of the Moon`, `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, or `Karn, the Great Creator` is strong when the hand still functions after its own lock piece.

- Medium keep: Keep hands with one black source, one disruption spell, and one threat even without acceleration. `Badlands`, `Thoughtseize`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Fatal Push`, and `Wasteland` is slower but coherent because it trades information, removal, pressure, and land denial.

- Medium keep: Keep `Troll of Khazad-dum` hands when the visible hand needs land smoothing and has a meaningful turn after the search action. A hand with `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Reanimate`, `Dark Ritual`, and no stable land is not automatically keepable unless Veles exposes a legal land-search line that fixes the hand.

- Risky keep: Keep all-in `Grief` plus `Reanimate` only when the rest of the hand can exploit the disruption. The line is strongest with another threat, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Wasteland`, or `Strip Mine`; it is risky if losing the first threat leaves only artifact mana and no black source.

- Risky keep: Keep artifact-heavy openers only if the first lock or threat is immediate. `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Mox Ruby`, `Null Rod`, and no black source is a trap unless the legal turn-one play wins the resource exchange before `Null Rod` disables your own mana.

- Automatic ship: Mulligan hands with no black mana, no land-search action, and no castable first play. Hands built around only `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Mox Ruby`, `Meltdown`, or expensive black spells do not execute the deck's plan.

- Automatic ship: Mulligan hands that contain interaction with no pressure and no lock. `Fatal Push`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Meltdown`, and lands can be defensible only against known creature or artifact starts; blind hands that simply answer one thing and pass give Vintage opponents too much time.

- Matchup-dependent keep: Keep `Meltdown`, `Null Rod`, and `Vexing Bauble` more aggressively against artifact-heavy or spell-chain opponents, but avoid hands where those cards strand your own `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, or `Sol Ring` before they produce value.

- Matchup-dependent keep: Keep removal-heavy hands against visible creature pressure and keep discard-heavy hands against combo or control. `Fatal Push`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, and `Orcish Bowmasters` are lower-value blind than `Thoughtseize`, `Grief`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, or `Magus of the Moon` unless the opponent's role is known.

- Play/draw adjustment: On the play, prioritize `Magus of the Moon`, `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Grief`, and land destruction because denying the first clean turn is the deck's best tempo edge. On the draw, prioritize free or cheap interaction such as `Mental Misstep`, `Fatal Push`, `Thoughtseize`, `Grief`, and `Reanimate` lines that recover from an opposing first action.

- Trap hand: Do not keep a hand that looks powerful but has conflicting locks. `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mana Crypt`, `Null Rod`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, and no colored land can collapse if `Null Rod` is cast before the artifacts pay for the important spell.

- Trap hand: Do not keep a hand that casts `Magus of the Moon` while relying on future fetch lands for black mana. Fetch `Swamp` or `Badlands` first when possible, and only lock nonbasics when the remaining hand can still cast its black spells.

## Turn Arc

- Turn 1: Lead with the action that either strips the opponent's best start or creates a lock they must answer. Preferred lines are `Thoughtseize` or `Grief` before committing fragile permanents, `Dark Ritual` into `Dauthi Voidwalker` or `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, fast `Magus of the Moon` when your own mana remains functional, or `Null Rod` after artifact mana has already paid for the key spell.

- Turn 1 deviation: Use `Wasteland` or `Strip Mine` immediately only when it visibly cuts the opponent off a critical color or protects an active lock. If your hand needs black mana for `Reanimate`, `Fatal Push`, `Demonic Tutor`, or `Dauthi Voidwalker`, develop `Swamp`, `Badlands`, `Polluted Delta`, or `Verdant Catacombs` first.

- Turn 1 deviation: Cast `Meltdown` early only against visible artifact dependency or when it answers enough mana to justify spending the turn. Avoid firing it into your own `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, or `Sol Ring` unless the exchange is clearly favorable from visible permanents.

- Turn 2: Convert the disruption window into pressure. Attack with `Grief`, deploy `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, or `Mai, Scornful Striker`, or use `Reanimate` on a visible creature that creates the fastest stable clock; Card text check required before treating `Mai, Scornful Striker` as anything beyond a creature threat.

- Turn 2 deviation: Hold `Opposition Agent` when the opponent is likely to search and your mana supports passing with it. Commit it proactively only when a body plus disruption matters more than the search-trap window.

- Turn 3: Decide whether to deepen the lock or widen the clock. `Karn, the Great Creator`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Wasteland`, and `Strip Mine` are strongest when a creature is already attacking; if you lack pressure, prioritize `Demonic Tutor`, `Demonic Consultation`, or a threat over a redundant lock.

- Turn 3 deviation: Use `Demonic Tutor` for the missing role, not the flashiest card. Find mana if stranded, removal if dying, `Reanimate` or a threat if the opponent is empty-handed, `Meltdown` against artifact boards, or `Karn, the Great Creator` when the board can support a planeswalker.

- Turns 4-5: Maintain denial while preserving lethal pressure. Attack consistently with `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Grief`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, `Magus of the Moon`, and `Orcish Bowmasters`, then use discard, removal, `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, and lock pieces to stop the opponent from converting topdecks into a comeback.

- Turns 4-5 deviation: Do not overextend into visible sweepers, graveyard hate, or artifact hate if one threat is already closing. Hold a second `Barrowgoyf`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, or `Reanimate` line when the opponent is forced to answer the current board first.

- Late game: Treat every draw as either pressure, denial, or recovery. `Reanimate` should target the best visible creature for the current race, `Demonic Consultation` should be saved for a specific necessary card when waiting is worse, and `Karn, the Great Creator` should be protected as a lock or utility engine only through legal options Veles exposes.

- Late game deviation: Stop spending life loosely when racing. `Thoughtseize`, `Reanimate`, `Mana Crypt`, fetch lands, and sideboard `Snuff Out` style effects can turn a won lock into a lost race, so prioritize lethal math, blocker quality, and visible opposing damage before choosing life-payment actions.

## Card Roles

- `Grief`: Treat `Grief` as the deck's cleanest first-turn information and tempo card. Hard-cast it when mana and time allow, but the strongest openings often use its alternate-cost line to take the opponent's highest-impact card before committing `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Null Rod`, `Magus of the Moon`, or `Barrowgoyf`. Pairing `Grief` with `Reanimate` is a defining pressure line: strip a card, put `Grief` in the graveyard if legally there, then reanimate it to attack and take another card when the rules engine exposes that sequence. Do not pitch black cards casually if the remaining hand loses all pressure or black interaction.

- `Reanimate`: Use `Reanimate` as both a proactive engine and a recovery tool, not only as a late bomb spell. The primary deck-specific line is reanimating your own `Grief` after an alternate-cost discard line, but `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Opposition Agent`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, `Magus of the Moon`, and visible opposing creatures can all become correct targets depending on life total, clock, and board texture. Respect life loss: reanimating a large creature while under pressure can lose races that a smaller disruptive creature would stabilize. Do not target an opposing graveyard creature through `Dauthi Voidwalker` replacement effects unless the engine shows it is actually in a legal graveyard zone.

- `Dark Ritual`: Use `Dark Ritual` to convert one black source into a lock, discard-plus-threat, or fast planeswalker turn. Strong outputs include `Dauthi Voidwalker` plus discard, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Opposition Agent` held up or deployed, `Demonic Tutor` into a missing piece, or `Karn, the Great Creator` when artifact mana also contributes. Avoid spending `Dark Ritual` merely to empty low-impact cards when the opponent has not been disrupted; this deck wins by making the first explosive turn matter. Sequence black mana before `Null Rod` if artifacts are helping pay for the key spell.

- `Thoughtseize`: Cast `Thoughtseize` before permanent locks when you need to know whether `Magus of the Moon`, `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, or a creature will survive. Take the card that beats the current hand, not automatically the most famous card: removal matters when your hand is threat-light, mana or draw spells matter when you have pressure, and combo pieces matter when you cannot race. Preserve life in tight races; if `Grief` or `Cabal Therapy` already provides information and pressure, another `Thoughtseize` may be less urgent.

- `Dauthi Voidwalker`: Deploy `Dauthi Voidwalker` early when graveyard denial, unblockable pressure, and stolen-card upside all matter. It is especially valuable after `Thoughtseize`, `Grief`, `Cabal Therapy`, removal, or opposing fetch/cantrip exchanges because exiled cards may become resources if the legal ability appears. Hold it less often than `Opposition Agent`; the body and graveyard pressure are central to the main plan. Do not sacrifice it for a flashy card if the static graveyard hate is currently preventing an opposing recovery line.

- `Troll of Khazad-dum`: Use `Troll of Khazad-dum` first as mana smoothing when the hand lacks a stable black source or needs `Badlands`, `Swamp`, or `Raucous Theater` access through a legal land-search action. Its graveyard placement can support `Reanimate`, but do not cycle only for a reanimation line if life total, opposing graveyard hate, or missing `Reanimate` makes the plan fragile. Hard-casting is a late-game fallback under mana abundance, not the primary plan.

- `Barrowgoyf`: Treat `Barrowgoyf` as a cheap pressure creature whose exact combat sizing requires a card text check from the rules engine. It is best after discard, removal, fetch lands, cycling `Troll of Khazad-dum`, or artifact exchanges have increased graveyard variety. Do not assume it wins combat without visible power/toughness from Veles; if the engine shows it as small, prioritize additional disruption or a different threat.

- `Fatal Push`: Use `Fatal Push` to protect the first lock or buy a turn against creature pressure. It is strongest when fetch lands, `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, sacrificed artifacts, or other visible permanents enable the larger removal mode, but only rely on that if the engine exposes the legal target. Hold it against creature decks for a must-answer threat; against noncreature decks, it is pitch material for `Grief` only when another black card is less important.

- `Sheoldred's Edict`: Reserve `Sheoldred's Edict` for threats `Fatal Push` cannot answer or for boards where sacrifice mode lines up well. It is valuable against protected, large, or singular creatures and planeswalker-style pressure if the legal mode is exposed. Avoid firing it into expendable tokens or small creatures unless survival requires it.

- `Cabal Therapy`: Use `Cabal Therapy` after information from `Thoughtseize`, `Grief`, revealed hands, or public game actions. Blind naming should be rare and archetype-driven; do not invent hidden cards. Flashback or sacrifice lines should be chosen only when the creature being sacrificed is less valuable than the discard effect, such as a creature already blanked by board state or a lethal combo prevention spot.

- `Orcish Bowmasters`: Cast `Orcish Bowmasters` when the opponent is likely to draw extra cards, when a small creature or planeswalker can be picked off, or when a flash threat changes combat. Card text check required for exact trigger and token handling at runtime; rely on legal targets and visible damage prompts rather than assumptions. It is also a compact threat under prison pieces because it pressures while holding mana open.

- `Tourach, Dread Cantor`: Use `Tourach, Dread Cantor` as a scalable discard threat when black mana is plentiful. The kicked discard line is strongest after fast mana or `Dark Ritual`, especially when the opponent is already constrained by `Wasteland`, `Null Rod`, or `Magus of the Moon`. Card text check required for exact protection and counter behavior; do not assume combat dominance without engine state.

- `Mai, Scornful Striker`: Card text check required before treating `Mai, Scornful Striker` as more than a creature threat. Deploy it when the legal text and visible state indicate it advances pressure or combat better than holding mana for interaction. Avoid building lines around unverified abilities, counters, sacrifice text, or triggered effects until Veles exposes them.

- `Magus of the Moon`: Cast `Magus of the Moon` when it damages the opponent's mana more than yours. Fetch or play black-producing lands first if your hand still needs `Reanimate`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Fatal Push`, `Thoughtseize`, or `Demonic Tutor`. It is not merely a creature; protect it as a lock piece when the opponent's visible mana is mostly nonbasic.

- `Null Rod`: Use `Null Rod` after extracting value from `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, or `Sol Ring`. It is strongest against artifact mana and activated artifact engines, but it can also strand your own acceleration and weaken `Karn, the Great Creator` lines. Do not cast it before using artifact mana needed for the same turn's decisive play.

- `Vexing Bauble`: Card text check required for exact trigger, activation, and replacement behavior. Use it as a cheap anti-free-spell or spell-chain lock only when the opponent's visible or known plan is vulnerable, and avoid assuming it stops a specific spell unless the rules engine confirms the interaction. It pairs well with discard because information tells you whether it matters now.

- `Meltdown`: Use main-deck `Meltdown` as a high-leverage artifact reset, not a generic removal spell. It can punish opposing artifact mana, artifact boards, and low-cost utility artifacts, but it also threatens your own `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Null Rod`, and `Vexing Bauble` if legal choices include them. Count the exchange before casting.

- `Mental Misstep`: Hold `Mental Misstep` for one-mana spells that protect an opposing start, answer your lock, or start a combo chain. Do not spend it on a low-impact cantrip when your hand can already apply a lock and pressure, unless denying that cantrip visibly cuts the opponent off resources.

- `Demonic Tutor`: Use `Demonic Tutor` to find the missing role: mana, lock, removal, pressure, or a specific kill/recovery line. It is strongest after discard reveals what axis matters. Do not tutor for a card that conflicts with current mana, such as `Magus of the Moon` before black is secured or `Null Rod` before artifact mana is spent.

- `Demonic Consultation`: Use `Demonic Consultation` only when the named card is necessary and waiting is worse. It is a high-risk precision tool for a missing answer, lock, or lethal enabler, not routine card selection. Name only exact registered card names and respect any engine-exposed exile or loss consequences.

- `Karn, the Great Creator`: Cast `Karn, the Great Creator` when the board can protect a planeswalker or when the artifact-lock role is decisive. Card text check required for exact sideboard access and activated modes in this implementation; choose only legal engine actions. It overlaps with `Null Rod`, so evaluate whether the static lock, tutor mode, or body pressure matters most.

- `Opposition Agent`: Hold `Opposition Agent` when the opponent is likely to search and your mana supports passing. Deploy it proactively when a flash body plus denial is better than waiting, especially under pressure or after discard confirms no search action is imminent. Card text check required for exact control of searched cards.

- Fast mana package: `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, and `Sol Ring` exist to front-load disruption before prison pieces close the door. Spend artifact mana before `Null Rod` or opposing artifact hate can blank it. Do not keep hands whose only colored development collapses after your own lock resolves.

- Land package: `Badlands`, `Swamp`, `Polluted Delta`, `Verdant Catacombs`, and `Raucous Theater` provide black consistency, while `Wasteland` and `Strip Mine` are active denial cards. Use fetch lands to secure black before `Magus of the Moon`; use land destruction when it cuts a visible color, protects a lock, or keeps the opponent from recovering after discard.

## Interaction Priorities
- Discard first when information changes the whole turn. Lead with `Thoughtseize`, `Grief`, or informed `Cabal Therapy` before committing `Null Rod`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, or a major `Meltdown` when the opponent could answer, counter, or combo through the first lock piece. Take the card that beats the current hand, not the highest-power card in the abstract.

- Remove mana first when the opponent is bottlenecked. Use `Wasteland` and `Strip Mine` before creature removal if the visible land destruction cuts a color, strands a known card from discard, or keeps a prison permanent alive. Against artifact-mana decks, prioritize `Null Rod`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, and `Meltdown`; spend your own `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, or `Sol Ring` before shutting them off.

- Kill creatures that unlock the opponent's engine before killing creatures that only attack. Use `Fatal Push`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, `Long Goodbye`, or `Snuff Out` on mana creatures, hate-bear equivalents, must-answer value creatures, or lethal attackers first. Ignore small attackers temporarily when the same mana can resolve `Magus of the Moon`, `Null Rod`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, or a discard spell that prevents a much stronger turn.

- Save `Sheoldred's Edict` for threats that dodge `Fatal Push` or for boards with exactly one meaningful opposing permanent of the relevant type. Do not feed it into disposable tokens or low-impact creatures unless the life total or planeswalker pressure demands it. If multiple legal modes appear, choose the mode that answers the permanent actually ending the game.

- Counter with `Mental Misstep` only when the one-mana spell protects an opposing breakout, answers a prison piece, wins a stack fight over `Reanimate`, or enables a combo turn. Let low-impact one-mana filtering resolve when your visible line already contains fast pressure plus lock, unless discard information shows that filtering is the opponent's only path out.

- Use `Dauthi Voidwalker` as graveyard denial and pressure, not merely as a creature. Deploy it early against graveyard or spell-recursion plans, protect it when its replacement effect is constraining the opponent, and consider its activated payoff only when the rules engine exposes a legal action and the exiled card is visible and worth the tempo.

- Reanimate tactically when the target changes the game immediately. `Reanimate` on your own `Grief`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, or a fallen lock creature can be correct, but life loss matters. Reanimating an opposing graveyard card is a visible-information decision only; never assume hidden graveyard contents or unshown text.

- Bait with redundant threats before unique locks when the opponent represents interaction. `Barrowgoyf`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, and sometimes `Dauthi Voidwalker` can draw removal or counters before `Magus of the Moon`, `Null Rod`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, or `Opposition Agent`. Do not bait when the lock is time-critical and waiting gives the opponent a clear recovery turn.

- Change removal priorities by archetype. Against artifact prison or artifact combo, artifact denial outranks creature trades. Against blue combo/control, discard and `Mental Misstep` windows outrank `Fatal Push` unless a creature is already pressuring a lock. Against creature decks, preserve life with removal and blockers, then land a lock after the board is stable. Against graveyard decks, prioritize `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Tormod's Crypt`, discard that removes enablers, and fast clocks.

## Combat And Trading Rules
- Attack when pressure supports the prison plan. `Grief`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, `Opposition Agent`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, and `Magus of the Moon` win by shortening the opponent's recovery window after discard, `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Null Rod`, or `Magus of the Moon`. Favor attacks that preserve the lock clock without exposing the only lock creature to a bad block.

- Preserve `Magus of the Moon` when its mana denial is active. Do not attack it into a visible trade if the opponent's mana is mostly nonbasic and the lock is still constraining them. Attack with `Magus of the Moon` only when the opponent cannot profitably block, the damage is necessary, or the mana lock has stopped mattering.

- Trade creatures when the trade protects life, removes an engine, or converts a temporary advantage into inevitability. Trading `Orcish Bowmasters` token bodies, spent `Grief`, or a redundant `Dauthi Voidwalker` can be correct if it buys a turn for `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, or prison pieces to dominate. Avoid trading the only graveyard hate, search punishment, or lock body unless survival requires it.

- Block conservatively above ten life when the opponent is mana-locked or hand-light. Life is a resource for `Reanimate`, `Thoughtseize`, `Snuff Out`, `Mana Crypt`, and racing; preserve creatures that maintain pressure unless the incoming damage changes the clock sharply. Below eight life, prioritize preventing damage because your own cards can cost life and `Mana Crypt` can create forced-risk turns.

- Use `Troll of Khazad-dum` and `Barrowgoyf` as stabilizers when the board is creature-centric. These bodies can turn the corner after early discard. Attack only if crack-back math keeps you out of burn, haste, or visible lethal range; block if the opponent's battlefield is wider and prison pieces are not yet ending the game.

- Treat `Orcish Bowmasters` as both interaction and combat manipulation. Flash it in when legal to punish draw actions, pick off one-toughness creatures, pressure planeswalkers, or create surprise blockers. Card text check required for exact trigger and token handling, so choose only engine-exposed legal targets.

- Respect protection and special combat text only when visible. `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, and `Mai, Scornful Striker` may have combat-relevant text, but do not assume protection, evasion, counters, or triggered outcomes unless Veles shows them. If the engine offers an attack or block that appears safe only because of uncertain text, prefer a light-model check.

- Shift combat posture by archetype. Against combo, attack aggressively and trade only to preserve hate such as `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Opposition Agent`, `Null Rod`, or `Magus of the Moon`. Against creature aggro, become a removal-and-blocking deck until a large `Barrowgoyf` or `Troll of Khazad-dum` stabilizes. Against control, keep multiple threats moving through removal rather than overprotecting a single non-lock creature.

## Selection And Tutor Rules
- Use `Demonic Tutor` to complete the active prison plan, not to collect generic power. If the hand already has fast mana, tutor for `Magus of the Moon`, `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Opposition Agent`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, or `Karn, the Great Creator` according to the visible matchup pressure. If the lock is already online, tutor for the fastest closing threat or the clean answer to the permanent currently breaking parity.

- Treat `Demonic Consultation` as a commitment gate. Cast it only when the named card is necessary, the game is likely lost without that card, or the current turn has a deterministic payoff from finding it. Do not use it for speculative smoothing when normal draw steps, fetchlands, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, or `Demonic Tutor` can support the plan with lower risk.

- Name with `Demonic Consultation` only after checking visible copies and deck context. If a card is already in hand, graveyard, exile, battlefield, or sideboard where unavailable, do not name it unless the intended line specifically wants another visible remaining copy. For singleton cards such as `Black Lotus`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mox Jet`, `Mental Misstep`, `Meltdown`, `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, `Demonic Tutor`, and `Opposition Agent`, require a strong reason because missing or exiling key resources can end the game.

- Use `Troll of Khazad-dum` as mana selection when the hand needs stable black or a pre-`Magus of the Moon` land. If Veles exposes swampcycling, prioritize finding `Badlands`, `Raucous Theater`, or `Swamp` based on the current color need, life total, and whether `Magus of the Moon` will soon turn nonbasics into Mountains. Keep `Troll of Khazad-dum` as a creature or `Reanimate` target when mana is already functional and pressure is needed.

- Sequence fetchlands before `Magus of the Moon` when the land type matters. Use `Polluted Delta` or `Verdant Catacombs` to secure black mana before resolving `Magus of the Moon`, especially when the hand contains `Dark Ritual`, `Reanimate`, `Thoughtseize`, `Fatal Push`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, or `Tourach, Dread Cantor`. Delay fetch activation when `Opposition Agent` risk is absent and the shuffle or landfall timing may matter, but do not let a future `Magus of the Moon` strand black spells.

- Use land destruction as selection denial. `Wasteland` and `Strip Mine` should usually target the land that unlocks the opponent's next visible color, artifact workaround, or restricted mana bottleneck. When `Magus of the Moon` is active or imminent, reassess whether destroying a nonbasic is better than letting it become a Mountain under the lock.

- Use `Karn, the Great Creator` choices only from legal engine output. Card text check required for exact loyalty abilities and sideboard access in this runtime, so choose the visible action that either locks artifacts harder, finds a sideboard tool such as `Tormod's Crypt`, `Pithing Needle`, `Engineered Explosives`, or `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, or creates a near-term win condition.

## Priority And Stack Rules
- Spend priority to protect the lock before advancing pressure. When the opponent acts into `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, or `Opposition Agent`, use discard, `Mental Misstep`, removal, or flash-speed actions only if the response preserves the lock or prevents an immediate breakout.

- Cast `Dark Ritual` only when the follow-up is ready. Use it for same-window `Grief`, `Thoughtseize` plus threat, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Opposition Agent`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, or a lock piece. Avoid floating mana into uncertain stack fights unless the visible legal actions show a clear payoff.

- Use `Mental Misstep` on one-mana stack actions that matter. Counter opposing interaction that stops `Reanimate`, protects a combo turn, removes `Null Rod` or `Magus of the Moon`, or enables a decisive draw/tutor chain. Let low-impact cantrips or setup resolve when the opponent is already constrained and your hand has a stronger proactive use for resources.

- Respond with `Orcish Bowmasters` only when the trigger or body changes the exchange. If Veles exposes flash timing and legal targets, use it to punish a draw spell, remove a one-toughness creature, pressure a planeswalker, or create a blocker. Card text check required for exact trigger handling, so follow engine-provided target and damage options.

- Flash `Opposition Agent` in response to visible search effects when legal. Do not deploy it merely as an attacker if the opponent is likely to search soon and you can leave mana available. If the opponent is not threatening search and pressure matters, casting it proactively can still be correct.

- Choose `Reanimate` targets at priority with life total and stack risk in mind. Reanimating `Grief` can extend discard pressure, `Troll of Khazad-dum` can close or stabilize, and `Magus of the Moon` or `Opposition Agent` can restore a fallen lock. Reanimate opposing graveyard cards only when their identity and legality are visible through Veles.

- Fire `Fatal Push`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Meltdown`, `Long Goodbye`, or `Snuff Out` before damage or before an opposing engine trigger when waiting loses value. Hold removal when the current spell on stack is more dangerous than the creature already visible, unless that creature enables mana, lethal damage, or a protected combo line.

- Treat optional payments and triggered choices as tactical commitments. Pay life, mana, or alternate costs only when the resulting spell or ability advances the lock, stops a kill, or converts pressure into a short clock. Decline optional costs that consume mana needed for `Mental Misstep`, `Fatal Push`, `Opposition Agent`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, or post-stack follow-up actions.

## Sideboard Map
- Default sideboarding rule: preserve the deck's proactive lock-and-pressure identity. Add sideboard cards to sharpen the prison axis or answer a visible class of permanents; do not dilute hands into reactive piles that cannot present `Grief`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, mana denial, or a fast threat.

Blue artifact-combo or fast spell-chain decks
Side in: 2 Red Elemental Blast; 1 Mindbreak Trap; 2 Meltdown; 1 Tormod's Crypt; 1 Pithing Needle
Cut: 2 Fatal Push; 1 Sheoldred's Edict; 1 Tourach, Dread Cantor; 1 Barrowgoyf; 1 Reanimate; 1 Cabal Therapy

Creature-heavy fair or initiative-style decks
Side in: 1 Snuff Out; 1 Long Goodbye; 1 Barrowgoyf; 1 Engineered Explosives; 1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale; 1 Stillmoon Cavalier
Cut: 1 Mental Misstep; 1 Vexing Bauble; 1 Null Rod; 1 Demonic Consultation; 1 Reanimate; 1 Cabal Therapy

Artifact workshop, artifact-mana prison, or construct-heavy decks
Side in: 2 Meltdown; 1 Engineered Explosives; 1 Pithing Needle; 1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale; 1 Barrowgoyf
Cut: 1 Mental Misstep; 1 Vexing Bauble; 1 Sheoldred's Edict; 1 Cabal Therapy; 1 Tourach, Dread Cantor; 1 Reanimate

- `Red Elemental Blast`: add against blue decks where countering or destroying a blue spell or permanent is materially better than generic discard. Prioritize it against blue draw engines, blue protection, and blue stack interaction that can break through `Vexing Bauble`, `Null Rod`, or early discard. It is bad against nonblue creature decks, artifact-prison decks with few blue cards, and graveyard decks where the important actions are not blue.

- `Mindbreak Trap`: add against fast combo and storm-like spell chains where exiling stack objects can matter even through normal counter constraints. Keep it when the opponent's visible plan involves multiple spells in one turn, restricted draw bursts, or protection layers that make one-for-one discard insufficient. It is bad against slow creature decks, planeswalker attrition, and matchups where the opponent usually casts one meaningful spell per turn.

- `Pithing Needle`: add when a named activated ability is central to the opponent's visible plan or when Veles shows a recurring permanent that can beat the prison pieces. Use it for planeswalkers, artifact engines, Bazaar-style graveyard engines, land abilities, or specific permanents already seen in public information. It is bad when no high-impact activated ability is known; do not guess names from hidden information.

- `Snuff Out`: add when tempo removal matters more than life total and the opponent presents black-legal creature targets that must die before combat or before a triggered engine snowballs. It is strongest when preserving mana for `Dark Ritual`, `Opposition Agent`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, `Reanimate`, or a lock piece matters. It is bad when life total is under immediate pressure, when opposing targets are black or otherwise illegal, or when creature count is too low.

- `Long Goodbye`: add against creature decks where uncounterable or resilient removal matters. Use it to answer cheap hate creatures, initiative threats, evasive pressure, or creatures that make `Fatal Push` timing awkward. It is bad against artifact combo, spell combo, and opponents whose creature threats are too large or not the axis deciding the game.

- `Barrowgoyf`: add for fair games that become about board presence, graveyards, and closing through removal. It shifts the deck toward prison-stompy attrition by making discard plus mana denial convert into a real clock. It is bad when the matchup is decided before combat, when graveyards are suppressed by your own plan, or when adding more creatures weakens essential interaction.

- `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`: add against token decks, creature swarms, initiative boards, and artifact-creature boards where taxing multiple attackers buys time for `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, or `Karn, the Great Creator`. It changes the role from pure lock pressure to mana-tax attrition. It is bad against low-creature combo, single-threat decks, and matchups where your own mana development is already fragile.

- `Engineered Explosives`: add against clustered mana values, tokens, cheap permanents, and boards where one flexible permanent answer can reset pressure. Card text check required for exact sunburst or mana-value handling in Vintage runtime, so choose only legal engine actions. It is bad when the opponent's threats are spread across costs, when `Null Rod` effects interfere with the line, or when your battlefield would lose more than theirs.

- `Tormod's Crypt`: add against graveyard decks, `Dredge`-style engines, reanimation, escape or flashback plans, and any matchup where public graveyard contents are becoming a second hand. It is also a `Karn, the Great Creator` utility target when the sideboard remains accessible through legal actions. It is bad against decks that do not use the graveyard and against games where your own `Reanimate` line is the only pressure unless the opposing graveyard threat is larger.

- `Meltdown`: add both sideboard copies against artifact mana, artifact prison, constructs, and low-cost artifact boards. It reinforces `Null Rod` by punishing opponents who rely on artifacts to rebuild or pay through mana denial. It is bad when artifacts are incidental, when your own artifact mana and lock pieces are more important than the opposing artifacts, or when the board state makes the legal `Meltdown` value asymmetric against you.

- `Opposition Agent`: add against tutors, fetch-heavy decks, and combo decks that must search to assemble a kill. It changes the role from proactive prison into flash-speed interception; preserve mana when the opponent is likely to search. It is bad against decks with few search actions, against creature rushes where a three-mana flash body is too slow, and when `Magus of the Moon` plus land denial already shuts off search lands.

- `Stillmoon Cavalier`: add against white or black creature decks, removal-heavy fair decks, and matchups where an evasive resilient body can carry the game after prison pieces trade resources. Card text check required for exact protections and activated abilities, so use it conditionally from visible legal actions. It is bad against fast combo, artifact prison, and decks where combat text does not address the main axis.

- `Magus of the Moon`: add when nonbasic mana is the opponent's structural weakness and your own black mana can be secured first. It increases the lock density with `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, and discard, especially against greedy blue, Bazaar-adjacent, Workshop-adjacent nonbasic plans where red mana is not enough to function. It is bad when the opponent uses basics, artifacts, or red mana well, or when your hand cannot cast black spells after resolving it.

- Add role cards: against blue control, prioritize `Red Elemental Blast`, `Opposition Agent`, `Magus of the Moon`, and threat density from `Barrowgoyf` when games slow down. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow creature removal and speculative graveyard recursion when the visible games are about stack control rather than creature combat.

- Add role cards: against graveyard combo, prioritize `Tormod's Crypt`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Pithing Needle`, and fast discard backed by `Dauthi Voidwalker`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow fair threats and removal that does not interact with graveyard setup.

- Add role cards: against artifact prison, prioritize `Meltdown`, `Engineered Explosives`, `Pithing Needle`, `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, and additional pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: one-mana stack interaction and discard effects that age poorly once both players are top-decking under lock pieces.

- Add role cards: against creature pressure, prioritize `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, `Engineered Explosives`, `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, and the third `Barrowgoyf`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Demonic Consultation`, narrow stack hate, and lock pieces that do not affect the visible combat clock.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: become a discard-backed removal deck first and a prison deck second when the opponent is already attacking. Keep hands that produce black mana plus `Fatal Push`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, `Grief`, or `Thoughtseize`; fast `Magus of the Moon` matters only when it visibly strands mana before creatures overrun combat. `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, and `Mai, Scornful Striker` should trade time for damage, not sit back waiting for a perfect lock. Add role cards: `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, `Engineered Explosives`, `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, and `Barrowgoyf`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Demonic Consultation`, slow tutor lines, narrow stack interaction, and artifact lock pieces that do not change the visible combat clock.

- Control: pressure the hand, mana, and stack before committing the final threat. `Thoughtseize`, `Grief`, `Cabal Therapy`, and `Dauthi Voidwalker` are the best early cards because they turn hidden permission into public constraints; `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Null Rod`, and `Vexing Bauble` should be sequenced to make the opponent answer threats with fewer mana and fewer free-spell options. Do not fire `Demonic Consultation` or `Demonic Tutor` for a redundant threat when the visible line can instead lock mana or protect a current clock. Add role cards: `Red Elemental Blast`, `Opposition Agent`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Pithing Needle`, and `Barrowgoyf`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: excess creature removal when the opponent is not presenting creatures and speculative `Reanimate` lines without a high-impact graveyard target.

- Combo: lead with disruption that sees or constrains the kill, then clock quickly. `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, `Cabal Therapy`, `Mental Misstep`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Null Rod`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, and `Opposition Agent` are priority cards because combo games are decided before normal combat math stabilizes. Use `Dark Ritual`, `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, and `Sol Ring` to deploy multiple hate pieces or a hate piece plus a clock, not to cast an unsupported midrange threat. Add role cards: `Mindbreak Trap`, `Pithing Needle`, `Tormod's Crypt`, `Opposition Agent`, `Red Elemental Blast`, and `Magus of the Moon` when the combo depends on nonbasic mana or blue interaction. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow removal and combat-only cards unless their body supplies the fastest legal clock.

- Tempo: protect mana development and avoid walking one spell at a time into soft permission. Fetch basics or black-producing lands before `Magus of the Moon` if the hand still needs `Reanimate`, `Fatal Push`, `Thoughtseize`, `Demonic Tutor`, or `Dauthi Voidwalker`; use `Wasteland` and `Strip Mine` when the opponent is constrained, not when it leaves your own hand unable to cast spells. `Orcish Bowmasters` is strong when the opponent visibly relies on draw actions or small creatures, while `Fatal Push`, `Long Goodbye`, and `Snuff Out` keep tempo threats from converting permission into a race. Add role cards: `Red Elemental Blast`, `Long Goodbye`, `Snuff Out`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, and `Barrowgoyf`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: clunky prison pieces that do not resolve through pressure and life-cost lines when burn or combat damage is already close to lethal.

- Midrange: trade resources aggressively, then win with the largest surviving permanent. `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, and `Cabal Therapy` should clear removal or key engines before `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, or `Mai, Scornful Striker` commits to combat. `Reanimate` is strongest when it converts any graveyard's best creature into a cheap threat, but check life total before choosing a large target. Add role cards: `Barrowgoyf`, `Long Goodbye`, `Snuff Out`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, `Pithing Needle`, and `Magus of the Moon` when nonbasic mana is structural. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow anti-artifact or anti-stack cards if the visible games revolve around creatures and removal.

- Big mana: attack lands and artifact mana before attacking hand texture. `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Meltdown`, and `Karn, the Great Creator` are central because the opponent's payoff spells become ordinary when mana is denied. Use discard to take the payoff only when mana denial is already available or the payoff is immediately castable. Add role cards: `Meltdown`, `Pithing Needle`, `Opposition Agent`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Engineered Explosives`, and `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` if big mana also produces multiple creatures. Reduce main-deck emphasis: one-for-one creature removal unless the visible threat is already on board.

- Graveyard: decide whether your graveyard plan or their graveyard plan is more important before using hate. `Dauthi Voidwalker` is ideal because it pressures while denying graveyards; `Tormod's Crypt` and `Pithing Needle` should be used when public graveyard contents or named activated abilities are central to the opponent's engine. `Reanimate` can steal a high-impact opposing creature, but do not preserve your own graveyard line if the opponent's graveyard kill is visible and immediate. Add role cards: `Tormod's Crypt`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Pithing Needle`, `Barrowgoyf`, and sometimes `Opposition Agent` against search-enabled graveyard setup. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow prison permanents and removal that does not touch graveyard progress.

- Artifact/enchantment: treat artifacts as both mana and threats until proven otherwise, and use red splash cards to reset them. `Null Rod`, `Meltdown`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, `Wasteland`, and `Strip Mine` form the main artifact-prison package; choose `Meltdown` values from visible legal actions and board state so your own artifact mana loss is acceptable. Enchantment-heavy boards require exact text awareness; this deck has limited direct enchantment interaction, so race, discard, mana denial, or `Demonic Tutor` for a relevant available answer may be required. Add role cards: `Meltdown`, `Engineered Explosives`, `Pithing Needle`, `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, and `Magus of the Moon`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Mental Misstep` and discard that loses value after permanent engines are already resolved.

- Go-wide: slow the battlefield before trying to win a race. `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Engineered Explosives`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, `Fatal Push`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Meltdown`, and `Barrowgoyf` matter more than narrow hand disruption once multiple bodies are public. `Mai, Scornful Striker` can help stabilize only if legal combat and visible triggers make blocking or racing favorable; Card text check required for exact trigger implications. Add role cards: `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Engineered Explosives`, `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, `Meltdown`, and `Barrowgoyf`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: single-target discard after the opponent has emptied its hand.

- Single-threat: answer the threat cleanly or make it unable to matter. `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Fatal Push`, `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, `Pithing Needle`, `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, and `Magus of the Moon` are the key tools depending on whether the threat is a creature, permanent ability, land, or mana source. Do not spend discard on low-impact cards when the visible threat requires removal mana to stay open. Add role cards: `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, `Pithing Needle`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, and `Red Elemental Blast` when the single threat or protection is blue. Reduce main-deck emphasis: sweep-style artifact hate unless the single threat is artifact-based.

- Burn: preserve life total and reduce self-damage unless the current line ends the game quickly. `Reanimate`, `Snuff Out`, `Mana Crypt`, fetch lands, and shock-like life pressure from opposing attacks must be weighed against the clock; choose lower-life-cost lines when legal unless a high-impact reanimation or free removal line prevents more damage than it costs. `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, and `Stillmoon Cavalier` are useful only if they change the race immediately. Add role cards: `Long Goodbye`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, `Barrowgoyf`, and selective `Snuff Out` only when killing the creature saves more life than paying the alternate cost. Reduce main-deck emphasis: life-intensive recursion and slow prison pieces that do not stop damage.

- Removal-heavy decks: diversify threats and make discard protect the most durable clock. `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, and `Stillmoon Cavalier` should be sequenced so one removal spell does not answer the whole plan. `Reanimate` is better after both players trade creatures than as an exposed first threat into open interaction. Add role cards: `Barrowgoyf`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, `Red Elemental Blast` against blue removal or stack fights, and `Long Goodbye` when their creatures also need answering. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow hate permanents that do not pressure life total or protect threats.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- General/archetype-only note: revealed cards, legal actions, and public board state override these assumptions. Treat early turns as diagnosis: use `Thoughtseize`, `Cabal Therapy`, `Grief`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, and visible mana artifacts to classify the opponent before committing `Null Rod`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Meltdown`, or a life-cost `Reanimate` line.

- Blue stack decks: prioritize resolving the first constraining permanent or discard spell over deploying redundant threats. Likely priority targets are counterspells, draw engines, and fast mana seen through discard; `Mental Misstep`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, and `Opposition Agent` become higher value when the opponent is using stack density or search. Add role cards: `Red Elemental Blast`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Opposition Agent`, and sometimes `Pithing Needle`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal if the visible battlefield is light.

- Artifact mana decks: attack mana first when the opponent’s payoff is not already lethal or game-ending. `Null Rod`, `Meltdown`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, and `Magus of the Moon` should be sequenced around your own `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, and `Sol Ring`; do not strand your own needed mana unless the visible denial effect hurts the opponent more. Add role cards: `Meltdown`, `Engineered Explosives`, `Pithing Needle`, and `Magus of the Moon`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow discard after permanent mana is already in play.

- Creature pressure decks: preserve life total and trade before using high-risk acceleration. `Fatal Push`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Engineered Explosives`, `Barrowgoyf`, and `Stillmoon Cavalier` are the stabilizing tools; Card text check required for exact `Barrowgoyf`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, and `Mai, Scornful Striker` combat implications. Add role cards: `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, `Engineered Explosives`, and `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: `Demonic Consultation` and life-intensive `Reanimate` unless the line prevents more damage than it costs.

- Graveyard and recursion decks: decide whether to deny their graveyard or exploit it before taking a graveyard action. `Dauthi Voidwalker` and `Tormod's Crypt` are primary denial tools; `Reanimate` is a tactical theft line only when the visible graveyard target and life total justify it. Add role cards: `Tormod's Crypt`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Pithing Needle`, `Opposition Agent`, and `Barrowgoyf`. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow prison pieces that do not stop the visible graveyard route.

- Land-dependent decks: make nonbasic mana unreliable before spending discard on late payoffs. `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Dark Ritual`, and fast mana support early prison turns; prioritize hands that combine a mana denial piece with pressure from `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, or `Mai, Scornful Striker`. Add role cards: `Magus of the Moon`, `Opposition Agent`, `Pithing Needle`, and `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` if creatures are also part of the plan.

## Risk Summary

- Mana risk: the deck has powerful but uneven mana, so `Dark Ritual`, `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Mox Jet`, and `Mox Ruby` can create explosive starts that later become dead or conflicting with `Null Rod`. Sequence artifact mana before locking it off, and check whether `Badlands`, `Swamp`, `Raucous Theater`, fetch lands, `Wasteland`, and `Strip Mine` actually cast the visible hand.

- Draw risk: prison-heavy hands can fail if they do not also contain pressure or discard. A hand with `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, or `Magus of the Moon` needs either acceleration, a clock, or specific visible matchup value; otherwise the opponent may draw out before `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, or `Tourach, Dread Cantor` ends the game.

- Over-sideboarding risk: do not dilute the black disruption core for narrow answers. Keep enough `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, `Cabal Therapy`, `Dark Ritual`, and real threats to execute the primary plan; role cards such as `Meltdown`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Tormod's Crypt`, and `Pithing Needle` must answer cards the opponent has shown or strongly implied.

- Graveyard risk: `Reanimate`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, and opposing graveyard plans can pull in different directions. Avoid using `Tormod's Crypt` or graveyard-denial lines before checking whether your own best legal threat or recursion line depends on that zone.

- Sweeper/removal risk: single large threats can be stranded by removal-heavy opponents. Spread pressure across discard, mana denial, and multiple threat types when possible, and use `Reanimate` after trades rather than exposing the only threat into open mana.

- Closer risk: prison without a clock gives the opponent time to recover. After a successful `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Null Rod`, `Magus of the Moon`, or discard turn, prioritize deploying a legal threat over adding redundant lock pieces unless the new lock prevents an immediate escape.

- Interaction risk: free or cheap interaction can punish all-in lines. Treat `Demonic Consultation`, large `Reanimate` life payments, and full-resource `Dark Ritual` turns as commitment decisions that require visible payoff, known disruption context, or a clock that makes waiting worse.

- Sequencing risk: this deck often wins or loses on the order of operations. Use discard before committing fragile permanents when interaction is likely, use mana rocks before `Null Rod`, choose `Meltdown` values around your own artifacts, and avoid turning `Wasteland` or `Strip Mine` into color-screw against yourself when black mana is needed.

## Test Feedback Checklist

- Deciding factor: identify whether the game was decided by discard, mana denial, a prison permanent, creature pressure, graveyard interaction, or a failed all-in line. Tie the answer to visible actions involving `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, `Cabal Therapy`, `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Null Rod`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, or `Reanimate`.

- Mulligan quality: record whether the opener had black mana, acceleration, disruption, and a clock. Flag hands that kept `Dark Ritual`, `Black Lotus`, `Mana Crypt`, `Sol Ring`, `Mox Jet`, or `Mox Ruby` without a payoff, or hands that had lock pieces but no pressure.

- Mana reliability: check whether `Badlands`, `Swamp`, `Raucous Theater`, `Polluted Delta`, `Verdant Catacombs`, `Wasteland`, and `Strip Mine` supported the actual spell sequence. Note any game where using `Wasteland` or `Strip Mine` delayed casting `Grief`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Reanimate`, or removal.

- Velocity and sequencing: mark whether the first two turns converted resources into a constriction plus a threat. A strong start usually turns acceleration into discard, `Null Rod`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, or `Karn, the Great Creator` rather than merely emptying the hand.

- Engine pressure: ask whether prison effects bought enough turns to close. If `Null Rod`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Wasteland`, or `Strip Mine` resolved but the opponent recovered, record which threat was missing or stranded.

- Removal performance: evaluate whether `Fatal Push`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Meltdown`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, and `Engineered Explosives` answered the permanents that mattered. Distinguish wrong-target removal from no-legal-target games.

- Sideboard impact: record whether sideboard cards matched the opponent’s shown plan. Track real impact from `Red Elemental Blast`, `Mindbreak Trap`, `Pithing Needle`, `Tormod's Crypt`, `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, extra `Meltdown`, extra `Magus of the Moon`, extra `Opposition Agent`, extra `Barrowgoyf`, `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, and `Engineered Explosives`.

- Closing speed: note whether `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, `Opposition Agent`, or reanimated threats ended the game quickly enough after disruption. Card text check required for `Mai, Scornful Striker` before assigning detailed combat or engine blame.

- Role accuracy: ask whether the pilot correctly became control, prison, or beatdown after seeing the opponent’s first public cards. Flag games where the deck kept adding lock pieces while behind on board, or attacked too slowly after stripping interaction.

- Mistake review: identify each turn where legal actions offered a better resource exchange than the chosen action. Focus on discard target selection, `Demonic Tutor` targets, `Demonic Consultation` commitment, `Reanimate` life payments, `Meltdown` values, and passing with available interaction.

- Stranded card review: list cards that remained unused because of mana, timing, matchup mismatch, or self-locking. Common candidates to inspect are `Null Rod` with artifact mana, red cards without `Badlands` or `Mox Ruby`, creature removal against spell-only opponents, and `Reanimate` without a safe graveyard target.

- Overperformer and underperformer log: name cards that directly changed the result, then separate single-game variance from repeatable evidence. Do not upgrade or blame one-of cards such as `Demonic Tutor`, `Karn, the Great Creator`, `Opposition Agent`, `Mental Misstep`, or `Tourach, Dread Cantor` without multiple relevant games.

## First Tuning Questions

- Card quantity question: does the deck need more reliable early pressure, or are `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Barrowgoyf`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, `Tourach, Dread Cantor`, `Mai, Scornful Striker`, and singleton threats enough once disruption lands? If prison games are stable but slow, investigate threat density before adding narrower interaction.

- Mana question: is the red splash supporting `Magus of the Moon`, `Meltdown`, `Red Elemental Blast`, and `Mox Ruby` often enough, or does the mana base over-prioritize black starts? Track games where `Badlands`, `Raucous Theater`, `Polluted Delta`, and `Verdant Catacombs` fail to cast red cards on time.

- Artifact-mana conflict question: how often does `Null Rod` lock the opponent while also blanking `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, and `Sol Ring` before they create value? If self-locking is frequent, tune sequencing rules first, then reassess quantity.

- Aggro plan question: are `Fatal Push`, `Sheoldred's Edict`, `Orcish Bowmasters`, `Snuff Out`, `Long Goodbye`, `Engineered Explosives`, `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Barrowgoyf`, and `Stillmoon Cavalier` enough to stabilize creature pressure? If losses come from early damage, consider whether sideboard space should favor cheaper removal or sturdier blockers.

- Control plan question: do discard and anti-stack cards create a durable window against blue decks? If `Thoughtseize`, `Grief`, `Cabal Therapy`, `Mental Misstep`, `Vexing Bauble`, `Red Elemental Blast`, and `Mindbreak Trap` still fail to force threats through, identify whether the issue is threat timing, threat quality, or insufficient protected interaction.

- Closer question: do games end before the opponent rebuilds after `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, `Magus of the Moon`, or `Null Rod`? If not, compare additional pressure from the sideboard `Barrowgoyf` and `Magus of the Moon` against narrow answer slots.

- Graveyard-role question: does `Reanimate` improve the deck’s fastest wins, or does it create life-total and dependency problems? Track whether `Dauthi Voidwalker`, `Tormod's Crypt`, `Troll of Khazad-dum`, and opposing graveyards conflict with the intended recursion plan.

- Tutor-risk question: are `Demonic Tutor` and `Demonic Consultation` finding decisive cards, or are they being used to patch unstable keeps? If `Demonic Consultation` causes avoidable losses or low-confidence commitments, tighten runtime gates before changing card counts.

- Sideboard-slot question: which sideboard cards are repeatedly high impact, and which are matchup labels without game text relevance? Demand evidence from `Pithing Needle`, `Tormod's Crypt`, `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale`, `Stillmoon Cavalier`, extra `Meltdown`, extra `Opposition Agent`, and extra `Magus of the Moon` before reallocating slots.

- Role-conflict question: does the deck lose because prison, discard, graveyard, and beatdown plans pull in different directions? If so, tune toward the plan that most often produces wins from visible logs rather than preserving every tactical package equally.

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Mulligan For Constraint Plus Clock
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan; pregame
Cards: Grief; Thoughtseize; Dark Ritual; Dauthi Voidwalker; Barrowgoyf; Troll of Khazad-dum; Null Rod; Magus of the Moon; Wasteland; Strip Mine
Phase windows: Opening hand and London mulligan decisions.
Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; action:keep; action:take mulligan
Use when: Evaluate whether the hand can cast black disruption or a prison piece by turn one or two and can follow with a creature, land denial, or tutor line.
Avoid when: Do not keep hands that only contain mana acceleration with no disruptive permanent, discard, threat, or selection path.
Instructions: Prefer hands with black mana plus `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, `Dark Ritual`, `Dauthi Voidwalker`, or `Barrowgoyf`; keep mana-heavy hands only when `Null Rod`, `Magus of the Moon`, `Wasteland`, `Strip Mine`, or a fast threat converts the mana into immediate pressure.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Early Black Setup
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana; priority
Cards: Swamp; Badlands; Polluted Delta; Verdant Catacombs; Raucous Theater; Mox Jet; Black Lotus; Dark Ritual
Phase windows: Turns one and two main phases.
Runtime cues: action:play; action:cast Dark Ritual; action:activate
Use when: Choose the first land or black source while multiple legal mana starts exist.
Avoid when: Red source commitment is needed for a visible `Magus of the Moon`, `Meltdown`, or `Red Elemental Blast` line this turn.
Instructions: Establish black first for discard, removal, `Reanimate`, and threats; fetch `Badlands` only when red access changes the current or next-turn legal line, and preserve fetchlands against visible land-denial pressure only if another black source already functions.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Spend Artifact Mana Before Null Rod
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana; priority
Cards: Null Rod; Black Lotus; Mox Jet; Mox Ruby; Mana Crypt; Sol Ring
Phase windows: Main phases before casting `Null Rod`.
Runtime cues: action:cast Null Rod
Use when: `Null Rod` is legal and artifact mana is also available or playable.
Avoid when: Holding artifact mana creates a known stronger same-turn play than resolving `Null Rod`.
Instructions: Convert `Black Lotus`, `Mox Jet`, `Mox Ruby`, `Mana Crypt`, or `Sol Ring` into mana before resolving `Null Rod` if that mana casts discard, a threat, `Karn, the Great Creator`, or land-denial support; do not self-lock unused artifact mana without a reason from visible state.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Prison Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; interaction
Cards: Null Rod; Magus of the Moon; Vexing Bauble; Karn, the Great Creator; Wasteland; Strip Mine
Phase windows: Main phases and priority windows before committing prison effects.
Runtime cues: action:cast Null Rod; action:cast Magus of the Moon; action:cast Vexing Bauble; action:cast Karn, the Great Creator
Use when: A lock piece is legal and the opponent has visible mana, artifacts, nonbasic lands, stack dependence, or a known recovery path.
Avoid when: The lock piece mainly constrains your own already-legal action chain and the opponent has a visible board clock that requires removal or blockers first.
Instructions: Commit prison when it immediately cuts off visible resources or protects the next threat; delay when removal, discard, or a creature is needed to avoid dying before the lock matters.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Discard Target Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; selection
Cards: Grief; Thoughtseize; Cabal Therapy; Tourach, Dread Cantor
Phase windows: Pregame if applicable, main phases, and discard-resolution prompts.
Runtime cues: action:select; prompt:hand; action:target opponent
Use when: A discard effect exposes opponent hand choices or asks for a named card.
Avoid when: No opponent hand cards are visible or the legal action list does not expose candidates.
Instructions: Take the card that beats the current plan first: cheap engine, fast mana, removal for your only threat, counter to the prison piece, or lethal pressure; for `Cabal Therapy`, name only from revealed cards, public information, or a matchup-specific high-confidence cue.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Opponent Target For Discard
Priority: Low
Decision families: interaction
Cards: Grief; Thoughtseize; Cabal Therapy
Phase windows: Casting and target-selection prompts.
Runtime cues: action:target opponent
Use when: Exactly one legal action contains `target opponent` for `Grief`, `Thoughtseize`, or `Cabal Therapy`, and no other player-target action is legal.
Avoid when: Multiple opponent-target actions or self-target actions are present.
Instructions: Select the only visible opponent target for the discard spell or ability after the decision to cast it has already been made.
Pilot skill floor: No-API deterministic.
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Removal Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Fatal Push; Sheoldred's Edict; Meltdown; Orcish Bowmasters; Snuff Out; Long Goodbye; Engineered Explosives
Phase windows: Main phases, combat, end step, and stack windows.
Runtime cues: action:cast Fatal Push; action:cast Sheoldred's Edict; action:cast Meltdown; action:cast Snuff Out; action:cast Long Goodbye; action:activate Engineered Explosives
Use when: Removal is legal and visible permanents threaten lethal, invalidate attacks, protect the opponent’s engine, or answer a hate piece blocking your plan.
Avoid when: The visible creature or permanent does not affect the next turn cycle and spending removal exposes you to a stronger public threat.
Instructions: Kill creatures that shorten the clock, remove blockers only when it accelerates a real lethal clock, and save broad answers like `Meltdown` or `Engineered Explosives` for board states where the visible exchange is materially better than one-for-one removal.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Reanimate Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; selection
Cards: Reanimate; Troll of Khazad-dum; Grief; Dauthi Voidwalker; Barrowgoyf; Opposition Agent; Orcish Bowmasters
Phase windows: Main phases after graveyards are visible.
Runtime cues: action:cast Reanimate
Use when: `Reanimate` is legal and graveyard candidates are visible.
Avoid when: Life payment from the visible target risks losing to known board damage or when the target does not advance the prison, clock, or disruption plan.
Instructions: Reanimate a disruptive or high-pressure creature when the life loss is acceptable; prioritize targets that immediately change the race, protect the lock, or reuse discard pressure.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Reanimate Target After Commitment
Priority: Low
Decision families: selection
Cards: Reanimate; Troll of Khazad-dum
Phase windows: Target-selection prompt for `Reanimate`.
Runtime cues: action:target Troll of Khazad-dum Reanimate
Use when: The legal action text names `Troll of Khazad-dum` as the only visible `Reanimate` target and the spell has already been selected.
Avoid when: Any other creature target is listed or life total is part of the unresolved choice.
Instructions: Select `Troll of Khazad-dum` only in the exact single-target prompt after the `Reanimate` line is committed.
Pilot skill floor: No-API deterministic.
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Tutor And Consultation Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: selection; priority
Cards: Demonic Tutor; Demonic Consultation; Karn, the Great Creator
Phase windows: Main phases, urgent response windows, and tutor-resolution prompts.
Runtime cues: action:cast Demonic Tutor; action:cast Demonic Consultation; action:activate Karn, the Great Creator
Use when: A selection spell or planeswalker selection is legal and a specific visible problem or win path exists.
Avoid when: The desired card is not clearly tied to the current board, or `Demonic Consultation` would be a blind gamble without a decisive need.
Instructions: Use `Demonic Tutor` for the missing lock, answer, mana, or clock; use `Demonic Consultation` only when waiting is worse or the named card wins, stabilizes, or preserves the lock from visible information.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Land Denial Sequencing
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana; priority
Cards: Wasteland; Strip Mine; Magus of the Moon
Phase windows: Main phases and priority windows with land abilities.
Runtime cues: action:activate Wasteland; action:activate Strip Mine; action:cast Magus of the Moon
Use when: Opponent has visible lands that enable their next action or escape a prison piece.
Avoid when: Sacrificing the land prevents casting a current high-impact spell or when `Magus of the Moon` will already neutralize the same nonbasic lands.
Instructions: Use land destruction to cut a color, remove a key utility land, or strand known cards; sequence `Magus of the Moon` before sacrificing lands when it solves more visible resources at lower cost.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Clock Discipline
Priority: Medium
Decision families: combat
Cards: Dauthi Voidwalker; Barrowgoyf; Troll of Khazad-dum; Tourach, Dread Cantor; Mai, Scornful Striker; Opposition Agent; Orcish Bowmasters; Stillmoon Cavalier
Phase windows: Declare attackers, declare blockers, and combat trick windows.
Runtime cues: prompt:attack; prompt:block; action:attack; action:block
Use when: Combat choices are legal with at least one visible creature.
Avoid when: Attacking sacrifices the only blocker against a lethal visible crackback or exposes a key prison creature for no damage race gain.
Instructions: Attack when the damage clock matters more than preserving a blocker; hold back creatures that defend planeswalkers, stop lethal, or keep a lock protected. Card text check required for `Mai, Scornful Striker` before using detailed ability assumptions.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Single Legal Combat Pass
Priority: Low
Decision families: combat
Cards: none
Phase windows: Declare attackers or blockers.
Runtime cues: action:no attackers; action:no blocks
Use when: Exactly one legal combat action is visible and it is `no attackers` or `no blocks`.
Avoid when: Any attack or block alternative is legal.
Instructions: Submit the only visible no-combat action when the rules engine exposes no alternate combat assignment.
Pilot skill floor: No-API deterministic.
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Permission And Stack Defense
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Mental Misstep; Red Elemental Blast; Mindbreak Trap; Vexing Bauble
Phase windows: Opponent casting windows and stack-response prompts.
Runtime cues: action:cast Mental Misstep; action:cast Red Elemental Blast; action:cast Mindbreak Trap; action:cast Vexing Bauble
Use when: A stack interaction spell or anti-stack permanent is legal against a visible spell or stack pattern.
Avoid when: The opposing spell is low impact and the interaction is needed for a known stronger threat or to force your own decisive spell.
Instructions: Spend permission on spells that break the lock, answer your only clock, start a faster combo, or create an unrecoverable resource swing; preserve it against minor cantrips or redundant effects unless they are the opponent’s only visible way out.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Role Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Red Elemental Blast; Mindbreak Trap; Pithing Needle; Snuff Out; Barrowgoyf; Long Goodbye; The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale; Engineered Explosives; Tormod's Crypt; Meltdown; Opposition Agent; Stillmoon Cavalier; Magus of the Moon
Phase windows: Between games.
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; action:submit sideboard
Use when: Sideboarding is available and public game information identifies opponent speed, permanent types, stack reliance, graveyard use, or creature pressure.
Avoid when: A plan violates registered 75 validation or cuts more main-deck cards than the exact plan allows.
Instructions: Choose the prewritten balanced plan matching revealed archetype evidence; emphasize `Meltdown` and `Engineered Explosives` against artifacts, `Red Elemental Blast` and `Mindbreak Trap` against stack decks, `Tormod's Crypt` against graveyards, and creature removal or `The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale` against boards.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Emergency Stabilization Over Lock Purity
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; combat; interaction
Cards: Fatal Push; Sheoldred's Edict; Snuff Out; Long Goodbye; Engineered Explosives; The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale; Barrowgoyf; Troll of Khazad-dum
Phase windows: Any priority or combat window while behind on board.
Runtime cues: life:low; prompt:block; action:cast Fatal Push; action:cast Snuff Out; action:activate Engineered Explosives
Use when: Visible attackers, damage on board, or next-turn lethal pressure makes survival the immediate constraint.
Avoid when: The opponent has no visible clock and the prison or discard line will deny more resources.
Instructions: Stabilize first by removing the lethal source, blocking, or deploying a body; postpone `Null Rod`, `Magus of the Moon`, discard, or tutor lines that do not change the visible damage race.
Pilot skill floor: Light tactical model.
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
