# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Y'shtola, Night's Blessed is a Commander Esper singleton combo-control deck with graveyard, life-drain, and protected deterministic-combo pressure. The active validation contract reports 100 main-deck cards and a 10-card Veles policy sideboard, which is valid for this command-zone configuration; do not apply 60-card constructed sizing logic to this guide.

- Format: Commander.
- Commander: Y'shtola, Night's Blessed.
- Main count: 100 cards.
- Sideboard count: 10 cards for Veles policy use.
- Tags: combo, graveyard, tribal.
- Stock status: hybrid rogue/staple-shell list; the deck uses familiar Esper Commander acceleration, tutors, protection, and interaction, but its exact commander-centered role assumptions require runtime verification against Y'shtola, Night's Blessed card text and legal engine output.
- Legality status: format-aware validation passes under the supplied contract, including singleton construction outside basic lands and the exact 10-card Veles sideboard inventory.
- Opponent info status: no opponent deck, matchup, commander, colors, speed, or known hate pieces were supplied, so early policy must default to visible-board and public-information discipline.

The deck should be piloted as an Esper combo-control shell rather than as generic value Commander. Primary structural anchors are fast mana and fixing from Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Talisman of Dominance, Talisman of Hierarchy, Talisman of Progress, Ancient Tomb, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, and Smothering Tithe; protected combo assembly through Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Fabricate, Entomb, Brainstorm, Frantic Search, Windfall, Rhystic Study, Esper Sentinel, The One Ring, and Bolas's Citadel; and win pressure through Thassa's Oracle, Demonic Consultation, Laboratory Maniac, Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Walking Ballista, and Y'shtola, Night's Blessed.

The deck has credible protection and stack-control density, so the pilot should not fire all tutors or combo pieces into open mana without checking available protection. Key protection and interaction cards include Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Mindbreak Trap, Angel's Grace, Teferi's Protection, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Mithril Coat, Spellskite, Deadly Rollick, Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Cyclonic Rift, Toxic Deluge, Farewell, Vindicate, Void Rend, Fractured Identity, and Akroma's Will.

Mana concerns are real despite strong fixing because the deck wants early blue for stack interaction, early black for tutors and rituals, and white for protection, removal, and sideboard hate. Runtime keep decisions must verify at least one functional early mana path rather than assuming Command Tower, Reflecting Pool, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Hallowed Fountain, Watery-style duals, pain lands, filter lands, and verge lands cover every opener. Card text check required for Bleachbone Verge, Floodfarm Verge, Shadowy Backstreet, Undercity Sewers, Meticulous Archive, Erode, Morningtide's Light, Decorum Dissertation, High Fae Trickster, Emeritus of Woe, Hope Estheim, and Y'shtola, Night's Blessed whenever the rules engine has not already exposed exact legal actions.

Role concerns center on timing and table threat perception. The deck can appear defensive with Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Rhystic Study, Monologue Tax, Smothering Tithe, Painful Quandary, Esper Sentinel, and removal, but its best wins usually come from assembling a compact protected line rather than grinding indefinitely. The pilot should treat commander deployment as conditional until Y'shtola, Night's Blessed text is confirmed by the engine, and should never assume tribal synergies exist unless legal actions or visible oracle text prove them.

Sideboard identity is anti-combo and anti-graveyard with stack reinforcement. Dovin's Veto, Dispel, Grand Abolisher, Teferi, Time Raveler, Drannith Magistrate, Rest in Peace, Dauthi Voidwalker, Grafdigger's Cage, Chain of Vapor, and Pithing Needle give Veles precise knobs for faster combo tables, graveyard decks, commander-centric engines, activated-ability engines, and permanent-based lock pieces.

## Thesis
This deck assembles compact Esper win packages behind fast mana, tutors, card-flow engines, and layered protection. The highest-priority wins are Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation, Bloodchief Ascension plus Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood plus Sanguine Bond or Bloodthirsty Conqueror, and Heliod, Sun-Crowned plus Walking Ballista when the rules engine exposes the required legal actions. Laboratory Maniac is a backup self-library payoff, not a reason to exile or draw the deck without visible protection or a deterministic follow-up.

This deck wins by converting a small protected opening into a decisive stack or life-drain line, not by playing slow fair Esper value forever. Prioritize early mana from Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, the Talismans, Ancient Tomb, Dark Ritual, and Cabal Ritual; then use Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Fabricate, Entomb, Brainstorm, Frantic Search, Windfall, The One Ring, Rhystic Study, Esper Sentinel, Smothering Tithe, and Bolas's Citadel to find either a win package or the protection needed to force it through.

This deck is not trying to be a generic creature-combat Commander deck. Combat damage from Y'shtola, Night's Blessed, Orcish Bowmasters, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Delney, Streetwise Lookout, High Fae Trickster, Emeritus of Woe, Hope Estheim, Elesh Norn, or incidental bodies matters only when it advances clock pressure, defends life total, or complements a drain/lock plan. Card text check required for Y'shtola, Night's Blessed, High Fae Trickster, Emeritus of Woe, Hope Estheim, Morningtide's Light, Decorum Dissertation, Erode, Bleachbone Verge, Floodfarm Verge, Shadowy Backstreet, Undercity Sewers, and Meticulous Archive unless the engine exposes exact legal actions.

Prioritize protected commitment over raw speed when opponents have open mana, known hate, or public interaction. Do not cast Demonic Consultation for Thassa's Oracle or Laboratory Maniac lines unless the payoff is present or guaranteed by visible legal actions and the current stack can be defended with cards such as Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Mindbreak Trap, Angel's Grace, Teferi's Protection, Grand Abolisher, Teferi, Time Raveler, Dovin's Veto, or Dispel.

## Role Package
- Threats: Use Y'shtola, Night's Blessed as a command-zone pressure card only after card text is confirmed; use Orcish Bowmasters, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Painful Quandary, Bloodchief Ascension, Rhystic Study, Esper Sentinel, Monologue Tax, and Smothering Tithe to punish opponents for normal game actions and compress their safe windows.
- Payoffs: Treat Thassa's Oracle, Laboratory Maniac, Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Walking Ballista, Bolas's Citadel, and Akroma's Will as finishers or finisher enablers that require commitment checks before exposure.
- Engines: Develop Rhystic Study, The One Ring, Esper Sentinel, Smothering Tithe, Monologue Tax, Bolas's Citadel, Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Painful Quandary, Delney, Streetwise Lookout, and Y'shtola, Night's Blessed when they produce mana, cards, drain, or repeatable pressure without sacrificing a near-term protected combo.
- Velocity: Use Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Fabricate, Entomb, Brainstorm, Frantic Search, Windfall, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Reanimate, and The One Ring to turn a partial hand into either a deterministic win attempt or a protected midgame engine.
- Interaction: Preserve Cyclonic Rift, Farewell, Toxic Deluge, Deadly Rollick, Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Vindicate, Void Rend, Fractured Identity, Erode, Mindbreak Trap, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Fierce Guardianship, and Angel's Grace for cards or stack actions that stop a win, kill a payoff, or end the game before this deck can act.
- Protection: Shield payoff turns with Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Mithril Coat, Spellskite, Teferi's Protection, Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Mindbreak Trap, Angel's Grace, Grand Abolisher, Teferi, Time Raveler, Dovin's Veto, and Dispel rather than spending them on low-impact disputes.
- Recursion: Use Reanimate and Entomb as tactical graveyard tools for exact visible targets, but do not assume a creature is worth reanimating without checking life payment, graveyard hate, and whether the target advances combo, protection, or survival.
- Mana: Build toward blue-black-white flexibility with Command Tower, Reflecting Pool, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Hallowed Fountain, Marsh Flats, Fabled Passage, Adarkar Wastes, Caves of Koilos, Underground River, the filter lands, the check lands, the surveil/cycling lands, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Talisman of Dominance, Talisman of Hierarchy, Talisman of Progress, Ancient Tomb, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Smothering Tithe, and Monologue Tax.
- Sideboard modules: Use Dovin's Veto, Dispel, Grand Abolisher, and Teferi, Time Raveler for stack fights and protected combo windows; use Rest in Peace, Dauthi Voidwalker, and Grafdigger's Cage for graveyard pressure; use Drannith Magistrate for commander/cast-from-outside-pressure; use Pithing Needle for visible activated-ability engines; use Chain of Vapor as flexible cheap bounce.

## Primary Win Conditions
- Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation is the cleanest compact win when the payoff is in hand or on the stack and protection is visible. Set up with blue mana, black mana, and either immediate protection or a low-interaction table; execute by resolving Thassa's Oracle and only committing Demonic Consultation when the engine shows the relevant legal action and the stack state supports the library-empty line. Prioritize this line when opponents are tapped low, Grand Abolisher or Teferi, Time Raveler is active, or backup interaction such as Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Mindbreak Trap, Dovin's Veto, or Dispel can cover the attempt.

- Laboratory Maniac plus Demonic Consultation is a backup self-library win, not the default line. Use it only when Laboratory Maniac can survive through the required draw event and the rules engine exposes a legal draw or resolution path; do not exile the library merely because Laboratory Maniac is present. Prioritize this line when Thassa's Oracle is unavailable, known exile effects removed the Oracle, or a protected draw source such as Brainstorm, Frantic Search, The One Ring, Windfall, or Bolas's Citadel is already usable.

- Bloodchief Ascension plus Mindcrank is the preferred permanent-based drain loop when Bloodchief Ascension is active or close to active by visible counters. Set up Bloodchief Ascension early behind Esper Sentinel, Rhystic Study, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Orcish Bowmasters, or Painful Quandary pressure; execute only after the engine confirms the triggered or damage/loss event that starts the loop. Prioritize this line in slower pods, against life-payment or spell-heavy opponents, and when stack protection is weaker but permanent pressure is sticking.

- Exquisite Blood plus Sanguine Bond or Bloodthirsty Conqueror is the main life-loop finish when enough mana and protection are available. Set up by tutoring one missing half with Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, or Grim timing through Mystical Tutor only if the target is legal; execute after confirming a legal life-gain or life-loss event starts the loop. Prioritize this line when life totals have been pressured by Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Orcish Bowmasters, Bloodchief Ascension, Painful Quandary, or Y'shtola, Night's Blessed if its engine text confirms drain pressure.

- Heliod, Sun-Crowned plus Walking Ballista is a creature/permanent combo line that requires exact rules-engine confirmation. Card text check required for any devotion, counter, lifelink, or damage details at runtime; do not assume the loop is legal unless Forge exposes the necessary activation and target actions. Prioritize this line when artifact or creature tutors such as Fabricate or Enlightened Tutor can complete it and creature removal is less threatening than stack interaction.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Bolas's Citadel is the best value-to-combo bridge when life total is high and top-deck access is useful. Use it to convert life, fast mana, and card selection into a decisive line, but stop before unnecessary life payments if Angel's Grace, Teferi's Protection, or a winning follow-up is not visible.

- Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, Esper Sentinel, Monologue Tax, and The One Ring are pressure engines that turn stalled games into inevitability. Prioritize them when no protected combo is ready, and use the extra mana or cards to assemble a two-card win rather than drifting into unfocused value plays.

- Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Orcish Bowmasters, Bloodchief Ascension, Painful Quandary, and Mindcrank can win through cumulative punishment. Treat this as the fallback burn/drain plan when opponents are interacting too much with compact combos, and avoid trading these pieces away unless survival or a deterministic combo turn requires it.

- Reanimate plus Entomb is a tactical recursion package, not a generic graveyard plan. Use Entomb for a creature only when Reanimate is visible or the graveyard target immediately advances survival, protection, or a win attempt; check life payment before choosing a large target such as Elesh Norn or Bloodthirsty Conqueror.

- Combat is a closing tool after engines constrain opponents. Attack with Y'shtola, Night's Blessed, Elesh Norn, Hope Estheim, High Fae Trickster, Delney, Streetwise Lookout, Emeritus of Woe, Orcish Bowmasters, or Walking Ballista only when visible attacks preserve blockers, pressure a vulnerable player, or support a lethal noncombat line. Card text check required for Y'shtola, Night's Blessed, Hope Estheim, High Fae Trickster, Emeritus of Woe, and Decorum Dissertation.

## Emergency Lines
- When behind on life, preserve survival before advancing slow engines. Use Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Deadly Rollick, Toxic Deluge, Cyclonic Rift, Farewell, Teferi's Protection, Angel's Grace, Glacial Chasm, or life-gain loops only when legal actions and visible threats show they prevent lethal or regain control.

- When behind on board, spend broad answers before narrow protection. Toxic Deluge and Farewell reset creature or permanent pressure; Cyclonic Rift buys a tempo window; Void Rend, Vindicate, Fractured Identity, Erode, Swords to Plowshares, and Path to Exile answer the single permanent most likely to stop a win or kill you.

- When behind on cards, prioritize live engines over speculative tutors. The One Ring, Rhystic Study, Esper Sentinel, Brainstorm, Frantic Search, Windfall, Bolas's Citadel, and Y'shtola, Night's Blessed if confirmed should refill toward a protected win; tutors should find the missing card only when the other half or protection is already visible.

- When behind on mana, slow down commitment and develop rocks first. Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Talisman of Dominance, Talisman of Hierarchy, Talisman of Progress, Ancient Tomb, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Smothering Tithe, and Monologue Tax should enable one protected turn rather than expose an unsupported payoff.

- When graveyard recursion is shut off, abandon Reanimate and Entomb dependency unless removal for the hate is visible. Shift to Thassa's Oracle, Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Walking Ballista, or value-engine pressure.

- When a win condition is removed, identify the remaining compact packages before spending tutors. Do not chase an exiled piece; retarget Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, or Fabricate toward the next legal package with protection and mana already available.

## Resource Model
- Life is a combo resource, but survival is the first gate. Spend life on Ancient Tomb, Adarkar Wastes, Caves of Koilos, Underground River, The One Ring, Bolas's Citadel, Reanimate, Toxic Deluge, and pain-free shock/utility sequencing only when the visible board does not present a short lethal clock or when the spend enables a protected win attempt. Preserve Angel's Grace, Teferi's Protection, and Glacial Chasm for lethal prevention or a decisive Bolas's Citadel turn rather than routine value.

- Hand size is the deck's main protection buffer. Convert extra cards from Rhystic Study, Esper Sentinel, The One Ring, Brainstorm, Frantic Search, Windfall, and likely Y'shtola, Night's Blessed only into a line that includes mana, payoff, and interaction; Card text check required for Y'shtola, Night's Blessed. A seven-card hand with no protection can be weaker than a four-card hand containing Thassa's Oracle, Demonic Consultation, and Fierce Guardianship.

- Mana is strongest when held for one protected turn cycle. Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Talisman of Dominance, Talisman of Hierarchy, Talisman of Progress, Ancient Tomb, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Smothering Tithe, and Monologue Tax should either accelerate a durable engine or support combo plus protection in the same turn. Avoid tapping final blue mana before a win attempt if Swan Song, Flusterstorm, Fierce Guardianship, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Mindbreak Trap, Dovin's Veto, or Dispel is part of the protection plan.

- Board resources are engines first and attackers second. Protect Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Walking Ballista, Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, and The One Ring unless a visible lethal attack or rules-confirmed combo requires using them differently. Use Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Mithril Coat, and Spellskite to shield the commander or the current combo piece, not the most expensive permanent by default.

- Graveyard resources are tactical, not a full reanimation identity. Entomb and Reanimate should target a creature only when the target changes the current game state, protects a line, or completes a win; check life loss from Reanimate before returning Elesh Norn, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Laboratory Maniac, or another large-risk target. If opponent hate is visible, shift away from graveyard dependency until Chain of Vapor, Void Rend, Vindicate, Farewell, Fractured Identity, Erode, or another legal answer is available.

- Exile is mostly a cost and risk zone. Demonic Consultation can win with Thassa's Oracle or Laboratory Maniac, but it can also remove backup plans; use it only when the draw or Oracle trigger path is legal and protected. Track cards exiled by The One Ring, Bolas's Citadel, Farewell, Mindbreak Trap, Dauthi Voidwalker, Rest in Peace, and Grafdigger's Cage effects from public information before choosing the next package.

- Sacrifice fodder is scarce and should be counted explicitly. Do not treat key permanents as expendable unless Bolas's Citadel exposes a legal sacrifice-ten-nonlands activation that is lethal or clearly stabilizing; preserve Esper Sentinel, Orcish Bowmasters, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Bloodchief Ascension, and protection equipment when they are still taxing opponents or shielding a combo.

- Information converts directly into tutor precision. Use revealed hands, public graveyards, known exile, stack contents, commander identities, and recent decision history to decide whether Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Fabricate, or Entomb finds payoff, protection, mana, or removal.

- Sideboard bullets convert matchup texture into lower-risk wins. Add role cards: Dovin's Veto and Dispel for stack fights, Grand Abolisher and Teferi, Time Raveler for protected combo turns, Rest in Peace, Dauthi Voidwalker, and Grafdigger's Cage for graveyard pressure, Drannith Magistrate for command-zone or cast-from-exile pressure, Chain of Vapor for cheap escape, and Pithing Needle for visible activated engines.

## Mana Guide
- Keep hands that produce early blue plus either white or black by turn two. Blue protects and selects with Brainstorm, Swan Song, Flusterstorm, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Mystical Tutor, Cyclonic Rift, and countermagic; black powers Demonic Consultation, Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Entomb, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Reanimate, Toxic Deluge, and Deadly Rollick; white enables Enlightened Tutor, Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Esper Sentinel, Smothering Tithe, Teferi's Protection, Angel's Grace, Farewell, and Heliod, Sun-Crowned.

- Mulligan mana that cannot cast spells before turn three unless Sol Ring or Ancient Tomb produces a clear engine line. A keep should usually contain two lands, one land plus Sol Ring or Arcane Signet, or a land plus fast mana and a tutor/draw action; a one-land hand without Brainstorm, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, or a cheap tutor is risky even with strong payoffs.

- Sequence untapped rainbow or dual lands before color-filter lands when colors are uncertain. Command Tower, Reflecting Pool with another colored source, Vault of Champions when enabled by multiplayer, Hallowed Fountain when life is safe, Watery-style access from Undercity Sewers or Meticulous Archive if untapped legally, and pain lands such as Adarkar Wastes, Caves of Koilos, and Underground River are preferred when holding mixed interaction. Fetid Heath and Sunken Ruins are powerful after another colored source, but weak as the only early color source.

- Treat tapped lands as planning costs. Irrigated Farmland, Prairie Stream, Sunken Hollow, Drowned Catacomb, Glacial Fortress, Isolated Chapel, Shattered Sanctum, Choked Estuary, Shadowy Backstreet, Floodfarm Verge, Bleachbone Verge, Shineshadow Snarl, Meticulous Archive, and Undercity Sewers may enter tapped depending on visible conditions; play them early when no one-mana interaction is needed, and avoid them on the planned combo turn unless the rules engine confirms untapped mana.

- Use utility lands for timing, not decoration. Ancient Tomb accelerates engines but taxes life; Glacial Chasm buys survival but can disrupt normal land development and attacks; Reliquary Tower is strongest after The One Ring, Rhystic Study, Windfall, or heavy draw; Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth improves black access and can change opponent mana too, so account for visible enemy benefits.

- Play land before draw when the hand already contains the needed colors and the turn requires maximum mana. Play land after Brainstorm, Frantic Search, The One Ring draw, or a tutor-to-top line when land identity matters, when fetchland timing with Marsh Flats or Fabled Passage can clear unwanted cards, or when the draw may reveal the missing color.

- Preserve fetches and tutors for color correction when the hand is close to a win. Marsh Flats and Fabled Passage should find the color that lets the current hand cast both payoff and protection; do not fetch a basic automatically if Hallowed Fountain, Shadowy Backstreet, Meticulous Archive, Undercity Sewers, Plains, Island, or Swamp changes the turn's legal action set.

- Float and spend ritual mana only inside a committed line. Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual should support Demonic Tutor into a win, Bolas's Citadel, protected Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation, or emergency Toxic Deluge; avoid using rituals for routine value if the resulting shields are down and the table can untap into removal.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keep: keep two to three lands with early blue plus black or white, one fast-mana piece, and one engine, tutor, or shield. Command Tower plus Underground River plus Sol Ring plus Rhystic Study, Demonic Tutor, Swan Song, and Swords to Plowshares is a strong opener because it develops, interacts, and can pivot toward Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation, Bloodchief Ascension plus Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood plus Sanguine Bond, or Bolas's Citadel.

- Strong keep: keep one land plus Sol Ring or Ancient Tomb only when the hand has castable setup. Ancient Tomb plus Arcane Signet plus Esper Sentinel, Vampiric Tutor, Flusterstorm, and The One Ring is keepable if colors come online by turn two; one land plus Dark Ritual and only expensive payoffs is not equivalent.

- Medium keep: keep two lands, one cheap selection spell, and one defensive spell when the hand lacks an immediate payoff. Brainstorm, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Fabricate, Entomb, or Frantic Search can find the missing half, but this hand needs patience and should not tutor before visible threats or shields clarify the target.

- Risky keep: keep one-land Brainstorm hands only with a shuffle effect or fast mana. Marsh Flats, Fabled Passage, Brainstorm, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Path to Exile, and Rhystic Study is plausible; Island, Brainstorm, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Farewell, and Elesh Norn is a trap because it needs too many draws before functioning.

- Automatic ship: mulligan hands with no land, hands with four or more expensive noninteractive cards and no acceleration, and hands that cannot produce a legal spell before turn three. Bolas's Citadel, Farewell, Painful Quandary, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, and a single tapped land should be shipped unless rules output shows an exceptional free-interaction reason.

- Matchup-dependent keep: keep interaction-heavy hands against fast combo, graveyard, or commander-centric pods even without a payoff. Swan Song, Flusterstorm, Fierce Guardianship, Mindbreak Trap, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Deadly Rollick, Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Void Rend, or Cyclonic Rift can buy enough time for topdeck tutors, but do not keep all-answer hands against slow value tables without card draw.

- Play/draw adjustment: on the play, prefer Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Esper Sentinel, Rhystic Study, Bloodchief Ascension, or Smothering Tithe starts that force opponents to answer. On the draw, value cheap interaction and card selection more because visible opposing acceleration or commanders can make a tap-out engine unsafe.

- Trap hand: do not keep a named combo with no protection and no mana to execute. Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation is not a keep by itself if the colors are missing, if the only blue source enters tapped, or if opponents are likely to hold open interaction before you can protect with Swan Song, Flusterstorm, Fierce Guardianship, Angel's Grace, Teferi's Protection, Grand Abolisher, or Teferi, Time Raveler after sideboarding.

- Text-dependent keep: treat Y'shtola, Night's Blessed, Decorum Dissertation, Emeritus of Woe, High Fae Trickster, Morningtide's Light, Hope Estheim, and Erode as Card text check required for mulligan valuation. Keep them for curve or synergy only when runtime card text confirms they advance the current plan.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1 priority: deploy fast mana or low-cost taxation before speculative tutors. Preferred starts are Sol Ring, Arcane Signet off Sol Ring, Esper Sentinel, Bloodchief Ascension, or a held-up Swan Song, Flusterstorm, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Path to Exile, or Swords to Plowshares when opponents threaten a faster start.

- Turn 1 deviation: tutor only when the target changes the next two turns. Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Entomb, and Fabricate should find mana, protection, The One Ring, Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, Mindcrank, or the missing deterministic combo piece based on visible pressure, not a generic favorite.

- Turn 2 priority: establish the first persistent advantage engine or complete color fixing. Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, Monologue Tax, Fellwar Stone, Talisman of Dominance, Talisman of Hierarchy, Talisman of Progress, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Spellskite, or Bloodchief Ascension are preferred when shields or table speed allow.

- Turn 2 deviation: answer a commander, graveyard engine, or fast combo piece before developing. Use Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Deadly Rollick, Swan Song, Flusterstorm, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Dovin's Veto, Dispel, Chain of Vapor, Pithing Needle, Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, Dauthi Voidwalker, or Drannith Magistrate after sideboarding only when the visible permanent or spell materially beats your clock.

- Turn 3 priority: choose between protected setup and commitment. The One Ring, Y'shtola, Night's Blessed, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Orcish Bowmasters, Delney, Streetwise Lookout, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, or protection equipment can come down here; Card text check required for Y'shtola, Night's Blessed before treating the commander as the best proactive play.

- Turn 3 deviation: start a combo only with mana, legal actions, and protection aligned. Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation, Bloodchief Ascension plus Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood plus Sanguine Bond or Bloodthirsty Conqueror, and Heliod, Sun-Crowned plus Walking Ballista require runtime confirmation of legality, opponent interaction windows, life totals, and available shields.

- Turns 4-5 priority: convert advantage into a protected win attempt. Use Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Fabricate, Brainstorm, Frantic Search, Windfall, The One Ring, or Bolas's Citadel to assemble the shortest legal line while preserving Fierce Guardianship, Swan Song, Flusterstorm, Mindbreak Trap, Teferi's Protection, Angel's Grace, Mithril Coat, Spellskite, Lightning Greaves, or Swiftfoot Boots.

- Turns 4-5 deviation: stabilize before comboing if the board threatens lethal. Toxic Deluge, Farewell, Cyclonic Rift, Void Rend, Vindicate, Fractured Identity, Deadly Rollick, Path to Exile, and Swords to Plowshares should be spent when survival or a clear protected follow-up is more valuable than holding perfect interaction.

- Late-game priority: force one decisive stack fight rather than many partial fights. Build to a turn with protected Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation, Bolas's Citadel pressure, Exquisite Blood loops, Mindcrank loops, or Walking Ballista lines, and avoid exposing Laboratory Maniac or Bloodthirsty Conqueror without protection unless waiting is visibly worse.

- Late-game deviation: use emergency effects for survival when the table can kill you before your next turn. Angel's Grace, Teferi's Protection, Cyclonic Rift, Farewell, Toxic Deluge, Glacial Chasm, and Akroma's Will should be treated as bridge cards to a winning turn, not as permission to spend tutors on slow value.

## Card Roles
- Commander role: Y'shtola, Night's Blessed is the named commander and should be treated as a synergy engine only after runtime card text confirms what it rewards. Card text check required; do not keep, tutor, or tap out for Y'shtola, Night's Blessed over a known combo piece unless visible legal text shows the commander materially advances the current line.

- Fast mana role: Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Talisman of Dominance, Talisman of Hierarchy, Talisman of Progress, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, and Ancient Tomb compress the win turn and let the deck hold interaction while developing. Spend one-shot rituals when they cast a protected engine, tutor plus payoff, Bolas's Citadel, or a same-turn win attempt; avoid using them for medium value if the hand still needs colored protection.

- Tax and draw role: Esper Sentinel, Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, Monologue Tax, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Painful Quandary, The One Ring, Brainstorm, Frantic Search, Windfall, and Bolas's Citadel are resource engines, not automatic tap-out plays. Deploy Esper Sentinel, Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, or Monologue Tax early when shields are not required; hold Windfall until it improves your hand, disrupts stocked opponents, or reloads after fast mana.

- Primary combo role: Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation is the cleanest deterministic win pattern when legal actions, blue mana, and protection align. Laboratory Maniac is a backup empty-library payoff, but it is more fragile because it normally needs a draw or maintained battlefield presence; do not expose Laboratory Maniac without a same-turn draw line or protection unless waiting is visibly worse.

- Drain-loop role: Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Bloodchief Ascension, and Mindcrank create life-loss or mill loops once the correct triggers and state requirements exist. Card text check required for Bloodthirsty Conqueror if runtime text is unavailable; do not assume Bloodchief Ascension is active unless counters or engine output confirm it.

- Ballista role: Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Walking Ballista form a creature-combo package only when legal actions show the counters, lifelink, damage, and protection pieces work from the visible board. Use Walking Ballista earlier as removal only when it prevents a faster loss or clears a stax creature blocking the win; otherwise preserve it as a payoff.

- Tutor role: Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Entomb, and Fabricate should find the shortest protected line, not the flashiest card. Find Thassa's Oracle, Demonic Consultation, Mindcrank, Bloodchief Ascension, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bolas's Citadel, The One Ring, Sol Ring, or protection based on visible mana, opponent pressure, and current hand; Entomb should be treated as Card text check required for graveyard purpose unless Reanimate or another legal graveyard line is visible.

- Reanimation role: Reanimate converts a graveyard card into a battlefield shortcut, most often after Entomb, discard, opposing mill, or a destroyed threat. Use it for Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Esper Sentinel, Orcish Bowmasters, Grand Abolisher after sideboarding, or another visible high-impact creature only when life loss and removal risk are acceptable; Card text check required for unfamiliar creature targets.

- Stack protection role: Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, Mindbreak Trap, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Angel's Grace, Teferi's Protection, and Akroma's Will protect winning turns or prevent lethal turns. Use free or cheap counters to stop opposing wins, removal pointed at a decisive payoff, or interaction against Thassa's Oracle; do not spend them on minor value unless the table’s next action will invalidate your plan.

- Permanent protection role: Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Mithril Coat, and Spellskite protect exposed combo creatures and the commander. Equip or redirect only when the protected permanent is part of a current plan; avoid moving protection away from Laboratory Maniac, Walking Ballista, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Y'shtola, Night's Blessed, or another key piece without checking all visible removal windows.

- Removal role: Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Deadly Rollick, Toxic Deluge, Farewell, Cyclonic Rift, Vindicate, Void Rend, Fractured Identity, and Erode are for survival, stax removal, and opening a protected combo turn. Card text check required for Erode; use Toxic Deluge and Farewell when multiple opposing permanents beat your clock, and prefer Void Rend, Vindicate, or Fractured Identity for single hate pieces that prevent the win.

- Creature pressure role: Orcish Bowmasters punishes draw bursts and controls small creatures; Delney, Streetwise Lookout may multiply small-creature triggers if runtime text confirms the interaction; Elesh Norn can suppress or double enter-the-battlefield patterns depending on exact printed text. Card text check required before treating Delney, Streetwise Lookout or Elesh Norn as combo engines in this deck.

- Unknown synergy role: Decorum Dissertation, Emeritus of Woe, High Fae Trickster, Morningtide's Light, and Hope Estheim need runtime card text before strategic commitment. Play them only when legal text shows immediate protection, card advantage, combo progress, or board stabilization; otherwise prioritize known engines, tutors, interaction, or mana.

- Land utility role: Glacial Chasm and Reliquary Tower change resource math more than color fixing. Use Glacial Chasm as an emergency bridge when combat damage threatens lethal and a win or reset is likely soon; use Reliquary Tower to preserve large hands from Rhystic Study, The One Ring, Windfall, or Bolas's Citadel lines.

- Color land role: Command Tower, Reflecting Pool, Hallowed Fountain, Watery dual-style lands, pain lands, filter lands, and surveil or cycling lands make early color choices matter. Sequence untapped blue and black sources before a Demonic Consultation or counterspell turn, preserve white for Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Teferi's Protection, Farewell, and Enlightened Tutor, and use Marsh Flats or Fabled Passage to support Brainstorm or fix missing colors.

## Interaction Priorities

- Stop the opponent win first: spend Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, Mindbreak Trap, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Dovin's Veto, or Dispel on a visible action that wins this turn, locks this deck out of casting spells, exiles the graveyard before a live Reanimate or Entomb line, or removes Thassa's Oracle, Laboratory Maniac, Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, or Walking Ballista during a committed win attempt.

- Protect the deterministic win over value: if Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation is available or being assembled, reserve cheap stack interaction for removal, counterspells, trigger denial, forced draw, or effects that change library state before the win resolves. Do not counter a minor draw spell, ramp spell, or value permanent if that leaves the Oracle turn uncovered.

- Remove rule-setting hate before engine value: use Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Deadly Rollick, Vindicate, Void Rend, Fractured Identity, Chain of Vapor, Cyclonic Rift, Toxic Deluge, or Farewell first on permanents that stop searching, casting from graveyard, tutoring, activated abilities, life gain, drawing, or noncreature spells. Use single-target answers before sweepers when only one hate piece matters.

- Bounce to win, not to tidy: Cyclonic Rift and Chain of Vapor are strongest when they clear hate or blockers immediately before a same-turn combo or lethal attack. Do not spend bounce on a permanent that can simply be ignored until the end step unless it prevents the next protected line.

- Exile graveyards only with a plan: Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, and Dauthi Voidwalker are sideboard tools that can also weaken Entomb, Reanimate, and graveyard-dependent lines. Bring them to fight opponent graveyard engines, but sequence them so they do not shut off your own selected route unless the hate effect is worth abandoning that route.

- Sweep only when behind or locked: Toxic Deluge and Farewell should answer multiple lethal attackers, several hate permanents, or a board that will kill before your next protected attempt. Preserve Esper Sentinel, Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, Monologue Tax, Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, and protection creatures unless the reset prevents a faster loss.

- Discard and wheel with purpose: Windfall is interaction when opponents have sculpted large hands, when this hand is stalled, or when Orcish Bowmasters is visible and legal text supports punishing draws. Do not cast Windfall into open mana when the current hand already contains a protected win unless the wheel removes known opposing answers from public information.

- Bait with replacable engines: Esper Sentinel, Rhystic Study, Monologue Tax, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Painful Quandary, The One Ring, and Smothering Tithe can draw removal before a combo turn. Do not bait with Thassa's Oracle, Laboratory Maniac, Walking Ballista, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, or the only tutor if losing that card ends the live line.

- Ignore low-impact permanents under combo pressure: leave ordinary attackers, mana rocks, and slow value engines alone when life total is stable and a protected win can be set up. Shift removal toward creatures and combat resets only when the clock puts you below a safe setup window.

## Combat And Trading Rules

- Treat life as a combo resource until it becomes a clock: above roughly 25 life, take small attacks to preserve cards, mana, and protection; from 10 to 15 life, prioritize blockers, removal, Glacial Chasm, The One Ring, Teferi's Protection, Angel's Grace, Toxic Deluge, or Cyclonic Rift if the next attack cycle threatens lethal; below 10 life, assume Ancient Tomb, pain lands, Reanimate, Bolas's Citadel, and Toxic Deluge costs need explicit survival math.

- Preserve engine creatures over chip damage: keep Esper Sentinel, Orcish Bowmasters, Spellskite, Laboratory Maniac, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Walking Ballista, Grand Abolisher, Drannith Magistrate, Dauthi Voidwalker, and Y'shtola, Night's Blessed out of combat unless attacking advances lethal, blocks a lethal line, or legal text confirms a combat trigger worth the risk. Card text check required before using Y'shtola, Night's Blessed, Delney, Streetwise Lookout, Emeritus of Woe, High Fae Trickster, Hope Estheim, or Elesh Norn as a combat engine.

- Trade only for time or access: block with nonessential bodies when the trade buys a full turn, protects a planeswalker or lock piece, or prevents commander damage pressure from becoming decisive. Avoid trading a protected combo creature for an attacker that can be answered later by Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Deadly Rollick, Toxic Deluge, Farewell, Cyclonic Rift, Vindicate, or Void Rend.

- Equip for survival before aggression: Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Mithril Coat, and Spellskite should protect the permanent that makes the current line work. Move equipment to an attacker only when the attack is lethal, removes a player, or does not expose Laboratory Maniac, Walking Ballista, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Thassa's Oracle setup, or a commander-based plan.

- Attack combo and control opponents sparingly: pressure life totals when it enables Bloodchief Ascension, Sanguine Bond, Exquisite Blood, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Walking Ballista, or Akroma's Will lines, but do not tap key blockers into an opponent who can crack back for lethal. Against spell-heavy decks, the better combat play is often holding mana and cards for stack interaction.

- Stabilize against creature decks early: use Orcish Bowmasters, Walking Ballista, spot removal, Toxic Deluge, Farewell, Glacial Chasm, The One Ring, Teferi's Protection, and Angel's Grace to survive long enough to assemble a compact win. Against go-wide boards, value small chip damage less than preserving sweepers and white mana.

- Convert combat only when decisive: Akroma's Will can turn a developed board into a kill or a protective swing, but do not cast it as a medium attack pump when the same mana protects a combo or prevents lethal. Card text check required for exact modes and legality before treating Akroma's Will as protection or evasion.

- Respect visible crack-back math: before attacking with any creature that blocks, compare current life, known opposing attackers, tapped blockers, available removal, and prevention. If the attack does not change the win turn or enable a named engine, keep the creature back.

## Selection And Tutor Rules

- Tutor for the nearest protected win, not the fanciest card: Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Fabricate, Entomb, and Demonic Consultation should point toward the live line that can be defended through visible mana and known interaction. Prefer Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation when Oracle, Consultation, protection, and blue-black mana are available or tutor-accessible.

- Use Demonic Consultation as a commitment card: do not cast Demonic Consultation for setup unless the named card and fail case are acceptable from visible library and hand context. In normal winning lines, pair it with Thassa's Oracle or Laboratory Maniac timing, and keep protection for the Oracle trigger, draw trigger, or removal aimed at Laboratory Maniac.

- Sequence top-deck tutors before draw carefully: Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, and Enlightened Tutor become strongest when Brainstorm, The One Ring, Rhystic Study, Esper Sentinel, Bolas's Citadel, or a natural draw step can immediately convert the chosen card. If the chosen card is not needed this turn, avoid exposing the plan before opponents untap unless waiting risks losing.

- Use Brainstorm with a shuffle or top-card engine: cast Brainstorm before Fabled Passage or Marsh Flats when the hand has dead cards to hide or shuffle away. With Bolas's Citadel visible, use Brainstorm to stack castable low-cost cards on top and avoid leaving expensive or uncastable cards blocking Citadel chains.

- Hold fetch lands when selection matters: delay Fabled Passage or Marsh Flats if Brainstorm, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Bolas's Citadel, or public top-library information can improve the shuffle decision. Crack them earlier only when color fixing, landfall timing, or untapped mana this turn is required.

- Entomb should match the selected route: find Reanimate targets only when Reanimate is available or likely soon, and avoid filling the graveyard into visible Rest in Peace, Grafdigger's Cage, Dauthi Voidwalker, or similar opponent hate. Card text check required before using Y'shtola, Night's Blessed, Emeritus of Woe, Hope Estheim, or Morningtide's Light as graveyard-selection payoffs.

- Fabricate should find the artifact that solves the current bottleneck: choose Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Talisman of Dominance, Talisman of Hierarchy, or Talisman of Progress for mana; Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Mithril Coat, or Spellskite for protection; Mindcrank or Walking Ballista for combo; The One Ring or Bolas's Citadel for card flow; Pithing Needle or Grafdigger's Cage only after sideboarding and only when their text attacks the visible opponent plan.

- Bottom or shuffle away slow duplicates of function: when selection asks what to keep, prefer mana plus one compact win path plus one protection piece. Deprioritize extra slow engines when already holding Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, Monologue Tax, The One Ring, or Bolas's Citadel and the table is pressuring life.

## Priority And Stack Rules

- Protect deterministic win attempts first: hold An Offer You Can't Refuse, Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Mindbreak Trap, Swan Song, Dovin's Veto, Dispel, Grand Abolisher, Teferi, Time Raveler, Teferi's Protection, Angel's Grace, Spellskite, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, and Mithril Coat for the turn that commits Thassa's Oracle, Demonic Consultation, Laboratory Maniac, Bolas's Citadel, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Mindcrank, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, or Walking Ballista.

- Let harmless spells resolve when shields are needed: do not spend stack interaction on routine ramp, cantrips, or medium value permanents if a protected combo turn is close. Counter spells that stop drawing, tutoring, casting, graveyard use, life gain, activated abilities, or the current win attempt.

- Use removal at the last safe moment: cast Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Deadly Rollick, Vindicate, Void Rend, Chain of Vapor, Cyclonic Rift, Toxic Deluge, Farewell, or Fractured Identity when the target blocks the selected line or creates lethal pressure before the next turn. Avoid main-phase answers when waiting preserves information without risking the line.

- Treat optional payments as resource decisions: pay Rhystic Study-style taxes when the spell is a win attempt, tutor, protection piece, or survival spell and mana remains for required interaction. Decline optional extort, copy, or value payments when they consume mana needed for counterspells, protection, ward/tax triggers, or Demonic Consultation plus Thassa's Oracle sequencing.

- Stack Oracle lines with exact survival checks: when Thassa's Oracle is cast, preserve priority resources for removal on Thassa's Oracle, trigger interaction, forced draw, counterspells, and effects that alter library size. If Laboratory Maniac is the win card, protect the creature before resolving the draw that would win.

- Use Angel's Grace and Teferi's Protection as survival and combo shields: cast them only when lethal damage, loss-of-game effects, or a decisive counter-race makes them necessary. Do not fire them as general fogs if Glacial Chasm, blockers, removal, or The One Ring can cover the turn.

- Activate Walking Ballista only with a clear target map: use counters on opponents, creatures, or planeswalkers according to visible lethal math and known prevention. With Heliod, Sun-Crowned, confirm the legal action text supports the intended life-gain/counter loop before committing.

- Respect graveyard timing: cast Reanimate after opponents have passed relevant windows or after protection is available, and avoid walking it into visible graveyard hate. Use Chain of Vapor, Cyclonic Rift, Vindicate, Void Rend, Farewell, or Fractured Identity to clear hate before graveyard commitment when that route is still the fastest win.

## Sideboard Map

- Sideboarding should protect the fastest live combo while attacking the opponent's narrowest dependency: add stack shields against spell combo, hate permanents against graveyard or commander engines, and cheap bounce only when a visible permanent can stop Thassa's Oracle, Demonic Consultation, Reanimate, Bolas's Citadel, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Mindcrank, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, or Walking Ballista. Do not dilute the deck into fair control unless the opponent's pressure makes an immediate combo unrealistic.

Default spell-combo and counter-war plan
Side in: Dovin's Veto; Grand Abolisher; Teferi, Time Raveler; Dispel
Cut: Painful Quandary; Decorum Dissertation; Elesh Norn; Farewell

Graveyard-combo and recursion-heavy plan
Side in: Rest in Peace; Dauthi Voidwalker; Grafdigger's Cage
Cut: Reanimate; Entomb; Morningtide's Light

Permanent-hate and activated-engine plan
Side in: Chain of Vapor; Pithing Needle; Teferi, Time Raveler
Cut: Painful Quandary; Decorum Dissertation; Elesh Norn

Commander-centric creature-combo plan
Side in: Drannith Magistrate; Dovin's Veto; Grand Abolisher; Chain of Vapor
Cut: Painful Quandary; Farewell; Elesh Norn; Fractured Identity

Fast tempo and protected-window plan
Side in: Dispel; Chain of Vapor; Grand Abolisher
Cut: Painful Quandary; Decorum Dissertation; Farewell

Big-mana payoff and activated-permanent plan
Side in: Dovin's Veto; Pithing Needle; Chain of Vapor
Cut: Decorum Dissertation; Elesh Norn; Painful Quandary

- Dovin's Veto is strongest against spell-combo, control, extra-turn, mass-removal, and counter-war tables where a single noncreature spell decides the turn. Add it when protecting Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation, stopping a sweeper before a protected creature engine, or forcing through Bolas's Citadel. Reduce main-deck emphasis on slow tap-out pressure such as Painful Quandary or Decorum Dissertation when the game is about one stack exchange. It is weak when the opponent is mostly creature combat or activated abilities already on board.

- Teferi, Time Raveler turns protected combo turns into sorcery-speed fights for opponents and gives tempo against hate permanents that can be bounced. Add it against blue control, instant-speed removal, cascade-like stack fights, and decks that rely on acting during your turn. Reduce main-deck emphasis on expensive board-reset cards when the opponent is not winning through creatures. It is weak when Teferi cannot survive the next attack or when the opponent's key interaction is already a static permanent that must be removed permanently.

- Rest in Peace is graveyard hate first and a self-hate card second: bring it only when opposing graveyards matter more than your Reanimate, Entomb, Cabal Ritual threshold potential, and any commander-specific graveyard text. Add it against reanimator, dredge-style recursion, graveyard combo, flashback engines, and death-trigger loops. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Reanimate and Entomb lines when Rest in Peace is part of the plan. Do not bring it in when your fastest route is graveyard-based or when the opponent uses graveyard only incidentally.

- Drannith Magistrate is a commander and cast-from-nonhand tax piece: prioritize it against decks that rely on their commander, exile-casting, graveyard-casting, adventure-like sequencing, or cascade-like access. Add it when delaying the opponent's commander buys enough turns to assemble Oracle, Bloodchief Ascension plus Mindcrank, or life-drain combos. Reduce main-deck emphasis on slow engines that do not affect the opponent's immediate access route. It is weak when the opponent is a normal hand-based control deck with plentiful creature removal.

- Grand Abolisher is a commitment shield, not a generic two-drop: bring it when the expected game hinges on opponents interacting during your turn. Add it against counterspell decks, instant-speed removal, activated graveyard hate, and open-mana bluff tables before Thassa's Oracle, Demonic Consultation, Bolas's Citadel, Exquisite Blood, or Sanguine Bond turns. Reduce main-deck emphasis on clunky nonessential permanents when the plan needs one protected turn. It is weak when combat pressure kills you before a shield matters.

- Dauthi Voidwalker pressures graveyards while preserving a threat that can convert an opponent's spell into tempo. Add it against graveyard combo, tutor-heavy decks, wheels, sacrifice loops, and decks that expose high-impact spells to exile. Reduce main-deck emphasis on graveyard-only setup if Rest in Peace or Grafdigger's Cage also enters. It is weak when the opponent has minimal graveyard use and many small blockers or cheap removal.

- Chain of Vapor is the cheapest emergency answer to hate permanents and mana-efficient stack setup problems. Add it against Rule-of-Law-style permanents, graveyard hate, artifact hate, creature stax, opposing protection pieces, or a permanent preventing the selected combo. Reduce main-deck emphasis on expensive universal answers when one-mana bounce creates the winning window. It is weak when bouncing gives the opponent a stronger replay than your follow-up, or when sacrificing lands would break your own combo mana.

- Dispel is a narrow shield for the decisive stack window. Add it against blue interaction, instant-speed removal, instant-speed tutors, and protection fights over Thassa's Oracle, Laboratory Maniac, Walking Ballista, or Bolas's Citadel. Reduce main-deck emphasis on slow card-advantage permanents when mana efficiency matters more than broad coverage. It is weak against creature decks, planeswalkers, sorcery-speed sweepers, and permanent-based hate.

- Pithing Needle is for named activated abilities that are already known or highly likely from public information. Add it against commanders, artifacts, lands, planeswalkers, or hate pieces whose activated ability stops your combo or wins the opponent's game. Reduce main-deck emphasis on slower removal when a one-mana named answer covers the relevant permanent type. Do not bring it in when you cannot name a permanent from visible information or when the opponent wins through triggered or static abilities.

- Grafdigger's Cage attacks library and graveyard casting without shutting off every graveyard interaction the same way Rest in Peace does, but it can still conflict with your Reanimate plan. Add it against creature-library engines, graveyard casting, reanimation chains, and commander decks that use library-to-battlefield shortcuts. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Reanimate and Entomb lines when Cage blocks your own route. It is weak when the opponent uses graveyard as a resource but not for casting or battlefield entry.

- Against fast creature pressure, prioritize sideboard cards only if they directly buy a turn or protect a sweeper; Chain of Vapor can answer a key hate creature, Drannith Magistrate can slow commander pressure, and Grand Abolisher can force a stabilizing Toxic Deluge or combo turn through instant interaction. Add role cards: Chain of Vapor; Drannith Magistrate; Grand Abolisher. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Painful Quandary, Decorum Dissertation, and other slow non-stabilizers when life total is under immediate attack.

- Against graveyard opponents, choose between Rest in Peace, Dauthi Voidwalker, and Grafdigger's Cage by self-impact: Rest in Peace is the highest ceiling hate, Dauthi Voidwalker preserves pressure and theft equity, and Grafdigger's Cage is narrower but cheaper. Add role cards: Rest in Peace; Dauthi Voidwalker; Grafdigger's Cage. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Entomb, Reanimate, and Cabal Ritual threshold planning when the hate card you add weakens those lines.

- Against control and spell combo, stack protection is the main sideboard axis: Dovin's Veto and Dispel fight over the decisive spell, Grand Abolisher and Teferi, Time Raveler create a protected turn, and Chain of Vapor clears hate if the opponent shifts to permanents. Add role cards: Dovin's Veto; Dispel; Grand Abolisher; Teferi, Time Raveler; Chain of Vapor. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Farewell, Elesh Norn, and other expensive board cards when the board is not the battlefield that matters.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro: Preserve life first and combo speed second when multiple attackers can reduce your clock below two full turns. Prioritize Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, the Talismans, cheap interaction, and early blockers or tax pieces over slow value permanents. Use Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Deadly Rollick, Void Rend, Vindicate, Toxic Deluge, and Cyclonic Rift to break the attack curve before spending mana on Painful Quandary or Bolas's Citadel. Add role cards: Chain of Vapor when a hate creature or one large attacker must be removed temporarily; Drannith Magistrate when the opposing commander is the pressure engine; Pithing Needle when a visible activated commander or equipment-like engine is central. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow enchantment engines that do not stabilize immediately.

- Control: Force a protected commitment turn instead of trading resources until every combo piece is exposed. Develop Rhystic Study, Esper Sentinel, Monologue Tax, Smothering Tithe, The One Ring, and protected mana rocks when they resolve under low risk, then defend the decisive Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation, Bloodchief Ascension plus Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood plus Sanguine Bond, or Walking Ballista line with Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Mindbreak Trap, Angel's Grace, Teferi's Protection, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Mithril Coat, and Spellskite as applicable. Add role cards: Dovin's Veto; Dispel; Grand Abolisher; Teferi, Time Raveler. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature sweepers and expensive sorcery-speed removal when stack fights decide the game.

- Combo: Identify whether your hand is faster, more protected, or better at disruption before committing a tutor. Keep hands with acceleration plus one compact route, or interaction plus card selection if the opponent is visibly faster. Use Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Fabricate, Entomb, Brainstorm, Frantic Search, and Windfall only after checking whether the next decision is assembling, protecting, or stopping the opponent. Hold Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Mindbreak Trap, Angel's Grace, and Teferi's Protection for deterministic opponent wins rather than routine value. Add role cards: Dovin's Veto; Dispel; Grand Abolisher; Drannith Magistrate; Dauthi Voidwalker; Pithing Needle when public information identifies an activated combo piece.

- Tempo: Treat mana efficiency as the matchup resource and avoid turns where one cheap answer invalidates your whole plan. Sequence tapped lands, Fabled Passage, Irrigated Farmland, Meticulous Archive, Shadowy Backstreet, Prairie Stream, Sunken Hollow, and Undercity Sewers around whether you must hold one-mana interaction. Prefer cheap plays that advance and defend at once, such as Esper Sentinel, Orcish Bowmasters, Spellskite, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, and relevant tutors for low-cost protection. Do not tap out for Painful Quandary, Farewell, Fractured Identity, or Bolas's Citadel while the opponent can punish with board pressure plus open mana unless waiting is worse. Add role cards: Dispel; Chain of Vapor; Teferi, Time Raveler.

- Midrange: Build a resource engine first, then convert the first clear window into a compact win. Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, The One Ring, Esper Sentinel, Monologue Tax, Bloodchief Ascension, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Orcish Bowmasters, and Y'shtola, Night's Blessed can punish fair spell sequencing, but Card text check required for Y'shtola-specific triggers before relying on a commander text line. Spend Vindicate, Void Rend, Deadly Rollick, Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, and Toxic Deluge on permanents that stop combo, shorten the clock, or generate repeated material. Add role cards: Grand Abolisher for protected combo turns; Dauthi Voidwalker when graveyards and wheels matter; Pithing Needle for visible activated engines.

- Big mana: Race the payoff, not the mana count, unless a visible permanent will immediately dominate the next turn. Use Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, Thassa's Oracle, Demonic Consultation, Laboratory Maniac, Bolas's Citadel, and tutor chains to shorten the game before the opponent's top end stabilizes. Save Vindicate, Void Rend, Fractured Identity, Cyclonic Rift, and Farewell for the permanent that actually blocks your win or wins theirs; do not spend premium answers on ramp unless the legal action text and public board make the payoff imminent. Add role cards: Dovin's Veto for decisive noncreature payoffs; Pithing Needle for known activated mana or payoff permanents; Chain of Vapor to open a same-turn combo window.

- Graveyard: Decide whether you are the graveyard deck or the hate deck before locking in a plan. Entomb, Reanimate, Cabal Ritual threshold, Dauthi Voidwalker, and any commander-graveyard text can conflict with Rest in Peace and Grafdigger's Cage, so choose hate only when the opponent's graveyard engine is more important than your own graveyard access. Use Dauthi Voidwalker when you need hate plus pressure, Rest in Peace when total graveyard shutdown matters, and Grafdigger's Cage when graveyard or library-to-battlefield/casting routes are the visible problem. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Entomb and Reanimate lines whenever your chosen hate shuts them off.

- Artifact/enchantment: Answer the permanent that constrains your win, not the permanent that merely produces value. Void Rend, Vindicate, Fractured Identity, Farewell, Cyclonic Rift, Chain of Vapor, Erode, and Morningtide's Light are the main tools, but Card text check required for Erode and Morningtide's Light before assuming exact coverage or timing. Enlightened Tutor can find combo enchantments, protection artifacts, or hate depending on the visible threat; Fabricate can find Sol Ring, The One Ring, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Mithril Coat, Spellskite, Mindcrank, or Walking Ballista when that artifact is the selected route. Add role cards: Chain of Vapor; Pithing Needle; Teferi, Time Raveler if timing rules matter.

- Go-wide: Treat life total and sweeper timing as the key decisions. Toxic Deluge is the cleanest reset when life payment keeps you alive afterward; Farewell is slower but can clear multiple permanent classes when the board is already beyond one-for-one removal. Cyclonic Rift can create a one-turn combo window, and Elesh Norn may stabilize if its exact text is relevant, but Card text check required before relying on any specific static or triggered effect. Do not expose Laboratory Maniac or Thassa's Oracle as blockers unless the legal action is necessary for survival and the combo line is unavailable. Add role cards: Chain of Vapor only for key anthem, hate, or protection permanents; Drannith Magistrate only when commander access fuels the swarm.

- Single-threat: Use exile and unconditional removal aggressively when one commander, creature, or permanent represents the opponent's clock. Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Deadly Rollick, Void Rend, Vindicate, Fractured Identity, and Cyclonic Rift should answer the threat before it forces defensive combo timing. Glacial Chasm and Teferi's Protection can buy a turn, but do not choose them over a permanent answer if the opponent can simply redeploy the same threat and you cannot win next turn. Add role cards: Pithing Needle for visible activated-commanders or equipment-like engines; Chain of Vapor for temporary tempo; Dauthi Voidwalker if the threat recurs from graveyard.

- Burn: Treat every life payment as a combo investment with a survival check. Ancient Tomb, Adarkar Wastes, Caves of Koilos, Underground River, Talismans, Toxic Deluge, The One Ring, Bolas's Citadel, Vampiric Tutor, and fetch/shock sequencing can make the opponent's reach lethal, so compare the line against visible open mana and known public resources. Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Bloodchief Ascension, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Walking Ballista, Angel's Grace, Teferi's Protection, and Glacial Chasm can swing the race if legal and protected. Add role cards: Dispel against instant burn; Dovin's Veto against noncreature finishers; Grand Abolisher for the win turn.

- Removal-heavy: Do not rely on a single creature combo piece without protection, recursion, or immediate payoff. Laboratory Maniac, Thassa's Oracle, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Walking Ballista, Esper Sentinel, Spellskite, Orcish Bowmasters, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Delney, Streetwise Lookout, Emeritus of Woe, High Fae Trickster, Hope Estheim, and Y'shtola, Night's Blessed should be deployed according to their immediate value and protection status; Card text check required for Delney, Emeritus of Woe, High Fae Trickster, Hope Estheim, and Y'shtola-specific tactical assumptions. Lead with resilient noncreature engines when possible, force removal on lesser permanents, then commit the creature-based win with Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Mithril Coat, Spellskite, Grand Abolisher, Teferi, Time Raveler, or stack protection available.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- General/archetype-only note: Exact opponents are absent, so treat these notes as matchup heuristics until revealed cards, commanders, public zones, and legal actions identify the real plan. Revealed cards override assumptions, and the agent must not infer hidden interaction, hidden graveyard payoff, or commander text from archetype labels alone.

- Fast combo: Prioritize a protected win window over incremental engines when the opponent can win before Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, The One Ring, or Painful Quandary converts. Add role cards: Dovin's Veto; Dispel; Grand Abolisher; Teferi, Time Raveler; Drannith Magistrate when command-zone or cast-from-outside-hand routes are visible. Priority threats are visible combo enablers, stack-protection permanents, and tutors that resolve into an immediate known win.

- Counterspell/control: Build mana and card advantage first, then force a turn where Grand Abolisher, Teferi, Time Raveler, Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Mindbreak Trap, or Dovin's Veto can protect the decisive spell. Add role cards: Grand Abolisher; Teferi, Time Raveler; Dovin's Veto; Dispel; Chain of Vapor. Priority threats are tax/protection permanents, resolved draw engines that outpace yours, and visible stack pieces that stop Thassa's Oracle, Demonic Consultation, Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood, or Sanguine Bond.

- Graveyard engine: Choose your graveyard posture before committing Entomb, Reanimate, Cabal Ritual threshold planning, or graveyard-dependent commander assumptions. Add role cards: Rest in Peace; Grafdigger's Cage; Dauthi Voidwalker. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Entomb; Reanimate; Cabal Ritual threshold lines when Rest in Peace or Grafdigger's Cage is the chosen answer. Priority threats are visible recursion engines, graveyard payoff permanents, and self-mill loops that can act before your next protected combo turn.

- Creature pressure: Preserve life total enough to keep Ancient Tomb, Talismans, Toxic Deluge, Bolas's Citadel, Vampiric Tutor, and fetch/shock land decisions live. Add role cards: Chain of Vapor for a key attacker, anthem, or hate permanent; Pithing Needle for a visible activated commander or equipment-like engine; Drannith Magistrate when commander recasting is central. Priority threats are haste enablers, protection pieces, and creatures that make Toxic Deluge or Farewell necessary before you can win.

- Stax/prison: Answer the lock piece that blocks the selected win, not the piece that merely slows development. Add role cards: Chain of Vapor; Teferi, Time Raveler; Pithing Needle; Dovin's Veto. Priority threats are effects that stop casting, searching, graveyard use, activated abilities, or stack interaction; use Void Rend, Vindicate, Cyclonic Rift, Fractured Identity, Farewell, Erode, or Morningtide's Light only when legal text confirms the answer covers the visible permanent. Card text check required for Erode and Morningtide's Light.

- Artifact/enchantment engines: Treat Mindcrank, Bloodchief Ascension, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bolas's Citadel, The One Ring, Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithe, and Monologue Tax as your own high-leverage permanents and spend removal on opposing permanents that outpace or invalidate them. Add role cards: Chain of Vapor; Pithing Needle; Dovin's Veto; Teferi, Time Raveler. Priority threats are visible artifact/enchantment engines, activated combo permanents, and hate that prevents the chosen combo line.

- Big mana and extra-turn payoff decks: Do not fight every ramp spell. Add role cards: Dovin's Veto for the payoff spell, Pithing Needle for known activated mana or payoff permanents, and Chain of Vapor when a single hate permanent blocks your same-turn win. Priority threats are the public payoff, the permanent that converts mana into inevitability, and the lock piece that prevents Thassa's Oracle, Demonic Consultation, Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, or Bolas's Citadel from resolving cleanly.

- Go-wide and token decks: Keep removal density high unless the sideboard card directly changes the race. Chain of Vapor can answer a single anthem or hate piece, Drannith Magistrate can matter when commander access fuels the swarm, and Grand Abolisher can protect a sweeper or combo turn through instant interaction. Do not over-sideboard into narrow stack cards if Toxic Deluge, Cyclonic Rift, Farewell, Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Deadly Rollick, Void Rend, and Vindicate are the cards that keep you alive.

- Single-threat commander decks: Treat the commander as the axis only after public information proves it. Add role cards: Drannith Magistrate to delay commander recasts, Pithing Needle for visible activated commander text, Chain of Vapor for tempo, and Dauthi Voidwalker when the threat repeatedly uses the graveyard. Maintain enough unconditional answers for the permanent itself, because sideboard hate that fails to answer the active threat can turn a winnable race into a defensive scramble.

## Risk Summary

- Mana risk: The deck has powerful colorless and pain sources, so opening hands must prove early colored access for interaction and tutors before leaning on Ancient Tomb, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Talismans, or Fellwar Stone. Lands such as Glacial Chasm, Reliquary Tower, Ancient Tomb, and utility duals can create awkward sequencing if the hand needs early white for Swords to Plowshares, blue for Swan Song or Brainstorm, or black for Demonic Consultation and tutors.

- Matchup risk: The deck can misrole itself by playing slow engines into faster combo or rushing fragile creature wins into removal-heavy tables. Use visible clock, known public interaction, and legal-action pressure to decide whether the turn is about survival, resource accumulation, or a protected win.

- Draw risk: Hands with tutors but no protection can look stronger than they are, and hands with engines but no acceleration may lose before value matters. Brainstorm, Frantic Search, Windfall, The One Ring, Rhystic Study, Esper Sentinel, and Bolas's Citadel should be judged by immediate mana, life, and stack context, not by abstract card volume.

- Over-sideboarding risk: Rest in Peace and Grafdigger's Cage can weaken Entomb, Reanimate, Cabal Ritual threshold planning, and any graveyard text from Y'shtola, Night's Blessed if that text matters. Add hate only when the opponent's visible graveyard plan is more dangerous than your loss of graveyard access.

- Sweeper/removal risk: Toxic Deluge, Farewell, Cyclonic Rift, Fractured Identity, Vindicate, Void Rend, Deadly Rollick, Swords to Plowshares, and Path to Exile are limited pressure valves, so using them on low-impact permanents can leave no answer for the actual lock or lethal threat.

- Closer risk: Laboratory Maniac, Thassa's Oracle, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Walking Ballista, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, and Bolas's Citadel each need different protection and resource conditions. Do not expose a closer as a fair permanent when the hand cannot either win immediately, protect it, or recover it.

- Interaction risk: Free or cheap protection can be spent too early on convenience. Save Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Mindbreak Trap, Angel's Grace, Teferi's Protection, and sideboard counters for lethal prevention, win protection, or a visible opponent win attempt unless the board state proves waiting is worse.

- Sequencing risk: Tutor and selection choices lock in later obligations. Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Entomb, Fabricate, and Brainstorm should choose the line that can be executed through current mana, visible hate, public stack context, and known turn order rather than the strongest card in isolation.

## Test Feedback Checklist

- Deciding factor: Identify the turn cycle where the game became favored or lost, and name the exact card, legal action, or missed priority window that caused the shift. Track whether the deciding factor came from a protected combo attempt, a failed setup turn, a removal bottleneck, or an opponent clock that forced premature action.

- Mulligans: Record whether the opener had colored mana, acceleration, interaction, and a credible path to Thassa's Oracle, Demonic Consultation, Bloodchief Ascension plus Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood plus Sanguine Bond, Heliod, Sun-Crowned plus Walking Ballista, or Bolas's Citadel. Flag hands kept because they looked powerful but lacked either early blue/black interaction or enough mana to deploy engines before pressure mattered.

- Mana: Note every game where Ancient Tomb, Glacial Chasm, Reliquary Tower, colorless rocks, pain lands, or tapped duals changed sequencing. Track whether Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Talisman of Dominance, Talisman of Hierarchy, Talisman of Progress, or Monologue Tax accelerated the chosen line or stranded colored interaction.

- Velocity: Check whether Brainstorm, Frantic Search, Windfall, The One Ring, Rhystic Study, Esper Sentinel, Smothering Tithe, and Bolas's Citadel created enough cards or mana before the opponent threatened a win. Mark when drawing cards was worse than tutoring, removing a hate piece, or holding protection.

- Engines: Record which permanent engine actually mattered: Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bolas's Citadel, Painful Quandary, Decorum Dissertation, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, or Y'shtola, Night's Blessed. Card text check required for Y'shtola, Night's Blessed and Decorum Dissertation before assigning causal credit.

- Removal: Review every use of Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Deadly Rollick, Void Rend, Vindicate, Cyclonic Rift, Toxic Deluge, Farewell, Fractured Identity, Erode, and Morningtide's Light. Card text check required for Erode and Morningtide's Light; score removal as correct only when the visible target threatened the selected win, lethal survival, or a lock piece.

- Sideboard: After each sideboarded game, ask whether Dovin's Veto, Dispel, Teferi, Time Raveler, Grand Abolisher, Rest in Peace, Dauthi Voidwalker, Drannith Magistrate, Grafdigger's Cage, Pithing Needle, or Chain of Vapor addressed the actual opposing plan. Track self-conflict from Rest in Peace or Grafdigger's Cage against Entomb, Reanimate, and Cabal Ritual threshold planning.

- Closing: Record whether the deck won through Thassa's Oracle, Laboratory Maniac, Bloodchief Ascension, Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Walking Ballista, Bolas's Citadel, Akroma's Will, or combat pressure. Mark failed close attempts where protection was absent, mana was short, or the closer was exposed as a fair permanent.

- Role and mistakes: Ask whether the pilot correctly chose control, combo, engine, or survival role from visible board state. Flag passes with interaction available, tutors that found a line too slow for the clock, protection spent on nondecisive spells, and stranded cards such as Demonic Consultation without payoff or Reanimate without a target.

- Overperformers and underperformers: Name the cards that changed win probability, not merely cards that resolved. Separately list cards that were stranded, win-more, too slow, self-conflicting, or repeatedly worse than holding mana for Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Mindbreak Trap, Angel's Grace, or Teferi's Protection.

## First Tuning Questions

- Mana base: Does the deck need more reliable early blue and black access, or did Ancient Tomb, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Talismans, and Fellwar Stone already cover speed without causing colored interaction failures? Track games where Swan Song, Brainstorm, Demonic Consultation, Vampiric Tutor, or Dark Ritual was stranded by source sequencing.

- Acceleration density: Are Monologue Tax, Smothering Tithe, Fellwar Stone, Arcane Signet, Sol Ring, and the three Talismans enough fast mana for protected combo turns, or are slow engine hands losing before they convert? Compare wins from early acceleration against losses where rocks did not produce the needed colors.

- Combo package: Which closer was most executable through real legal actions: Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation, Laboratory Maniac plus library-empty lines, Bloodchief Ascension plus Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood plus Sanguine Bond or Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Heliod, Sun-Crowned plus Walking Ballista, or Bolas's Citadel? Reduce emphasis on packages that repeatedly require too many exposed pieces.

- Protection package: Did Fierce Guardianship, Flusterstorm, Swan Song, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Mindbreak Trap, Angel's Grace, Teferi's Protection, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Mithril Coat, and Spellskite protect decisive moments, or were they awkward against the actual threats? Decide whether protection should lean more stack-based, permanent-based, or survival-based.

- Removal spread: Did single-target removal answer the correct permanent types, or were games lost to boards requiring Toxic Deluge, Farewell, Cyclonic Rift, or Fractured Identity? Recheck whether Void Rend, Vindicate, Deadly Rollick, Swords to Plowshares, and Path to Exile covered enough visible threats without overloading on reactive cards.

- Aggro plan: Is the life-cost package from Ancient Tomb, Vampiric Tutor, Toxic Deluge, Bolas's Citadel, pain lands, and fetch/shock sequencing safe against creature pressure? If not, tune toward earlier blockers, cheaper removal, or fewer life-intensive setup lines.

- Control plan: Are Rhystic Study, Esper Sentinel, The One Ring, Painful Quandary, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, and Smothering Tithe strong enough when games slow down, or does the deck need to commit faster to protected combo? Measure whether value permanents drew interaction away from wins or simply consumed setup turns.

- Graveyard tension: Did Entomb and Reanimate justify their slots when sideboard graveyard hate was active, and did Cabal Ritual threshold matter often enough to plan around it? If Rest in Peace or Grafdigger's Cage was frequently correct, evaluate whether graveyard-dependent lines should be lower priority post-board.

- Sideboard slots: Which sideboard cards were decisive rather than merely plausible: Dovin's Veto, Dispel, Teferi, Time Raveler, Grand Abolisher, Rest in Peace, Dauthi Voidwalker, Drannith Magistrate, Grafdigger's Cage, Pithing Needle, or Chain of Vapor? Keep slots that answer observed losses and question slots that never match legal targets or timing windows.

- Role conflicts: Does Y'shtola, Night's Blessed reward a tribal, graveyard, or combo posture strongly enough to shape play, or is the commander secondary to Esper combo-control execution? Card text check required before finalizing commander-centered tuning.

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Opening Hand Role Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan
Cards: Sol Ring; Arcane Signet; Talisman of Dominance; Talisman of Hierarchy; Talisman of Progress; Demonic Tutor; Vampiric Tutor; Thassa's Oracle; Demonic Consultation
Phase windows: pregame mulligan decisions
Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; zone:opening hand
Use when: evaluating keep, free mulligan, or London mulligan bottom choices.
Avoid when: the engine has already advanced past mulligans.
Instructions: Keep hands with two usable mana sources plus acceleration, tutor, draw engine, or interaction; reject hands that cannot cast blue or black spells by turn two unless Sol Ring plus a tutor or engine is visible. Treat Thassa's Oracle without Demonic Consultation, Laboratory Maniac, or tutor support as a fragile future plan, not a keep reason by itself.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Early Mana And Color Setup
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana
Cards: Command Tower; Underground River; Caves of Koilos; Adarkar Wastes; Darkslick Shores; Hallowed Fountain; Sol Ring; Arcane Signet; Fellwar Stone; Talisman of Dominance; Talisman of Hierarchy; Talisman of Progress
Phase windows: turns one to three main phases and fetch decisions
Runtime cues: action:play land; action:activate mana; action:cast Sol Ring
Use when: choosing first land, rock, or color source before committing engines.
Avoid when: a lethal or survival stack decision is pending.
Instructions: Prioritize untapped blue and black access for Brainstorm, Swan Song, Demonic Consultation, Vampiric Tutor, Dark Ritual, and interaction. Use Ancient Tomb aggressively only when the two mana accelerates a protected engine or combo turn and visible pressure does not make the life loss dangerous.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: First Engine Commitment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; mana
Cards: Rhystic Study; Esper Sentinel; Smothering Tithe; The One Ring; Bloodchief Ascension; Mindcrank; Bolas's Citadel; Painful Quandary
Phase windows: own main phase with priority and enough mana
Runtime cues: action:cast Rhystic Study; action:cast Esper Sentinel; action:cast Bloodchief Ascension; action:cast Bolas's Citadel
Use when: selecting the first non-combo permanent that shapes the game.
Avoid when: holding mana is required for visible stack interaction or a same-turn win is available.
Instructions: Cast cheap engines before expensive prison or Citadel lines unless the table is about to win. Prefer Rhystic Study or Esper Sentinel into open mana, Smothering Tithe into draw-heavy boards, and Bloodchief Ascension only when counters can realistically accumulate or Mindcrank is accessible.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Oracle Consultation Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; selection; interaction
Cards: Thassa's Oracle; Demonic Consultation; Laboratory Maniac; Angel's Grace; Fierce Guardianship; Flusterstorm; Swan Song; An Offer You Can't Refuse; Mindbreak Trap
Phase windows: own main phase or protected instant-speed window
Runtime cues: action:cast Thassa's Oracle; action:cast Demonic Consultation; stack:Thassa's Oracle trigger
Use when: deciding whether to begin or finish the library-empty win line.
Avoid when: opponents show untapped interaction, a stax piece blocks the line, or protection is absent and waiting preserves the line.
Instructions: Start the line only when payoff, exile effect, mana, and protection are visible or when waiting is worse because the opponent threatens a win. Resolve Thassa's Oracle trigger sequencing carefully; do not fire Demonic Consultation into a board state where the payoff can be removed and no backup exists.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Oracle Name Execution
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection
Cards: Demonic Consultation; Thassa's Oracle; Laboratory Maniac
Phase windows: during Demonic Consultation name selection after combo commitment
Runtime cues: action:choose card name
Use when: Thassa's Oracle trigger or Laboratory Maniac draw-win setup is already present and the legal action text asks for a card name for Demonic Consultation.
Avoid when: the selected line has not already been committed by a prior policy decision.
Instructions: Choose a card name that is not needed for the already-committed payoff line and is not visible in hand, battlefield, graveyard, exile, or command zone if the engine exposes those zones. If exact library status is not exposed, require light-model review.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Life-Drain Combo Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; mana; interaction
Cards: Exquisite Blood; Sanguine Bond; Bloodthirsty Conqueror; Heliod, Sun-Crowned; Walking Ballista; Bloodchief Ascension; Mindcrank
Phase windows: own main phase, end step setup, or priority window with mana available
Runtime cues: action:cast Exquisite Blood; action:cast Sanguine Bond; action:cast Bloodthirsty Conqueror; action:cast Mindcrank
Use when: deciding whether to expose a two-card drain or damage loop.
Avoid when: one piece is vulnerable and passing with protection or tutoring is stronger from visible state.
Instructions: Commit the loop when both pieces are available or a tutor makes the missing piece immediate, and check visible graveyard hate, replacement effects, and removal mana before tapping out. Treat Heliod, Sun-Crowned plus Walking Ballista as a separate mana-sensitive line requiring enough counters or legal activations.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Tutor Target Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: selection
Cards: Demonic Tutor; Vampiric Tutor; Enlightened Tutor; Mystical Tutor; Entomb; Fabricate
Phase windows: tutor resolution, upkeep setup, end step, or own main phase
Runtime cues: action:search library; action:choose card
Use when: a tutor asks for a card and the game state determines whether combo, protection, removal, or mana is missing.
Avoid when: a previous deterministic no-API policy names the exact legal card and no hidden judgment remains.
Instructions: Find the missing card for the nearest protected win when safe; otherwise find protection against a visible counter-window, removal for a visible hate piece, or mana when color shortage blocks the line. Entomb is conditional because Reanimate and graveyard access must be legal and graveyard hate must be checked.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Reanimate Target Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection; priority
Cards: Reanimate; Entomb; Bloodthirsty Conqueror; Laboratory Maniac; Orcish Bowmasters; Esper Sentinel
Phase windows: graveyard target selection and own main phase priority
Runtime cues: action:target Reanimate
Use when: choosing a creature card in a graveyard for Reanimate.
Avoid when: graveyard hate is active or life payment creates lethal vulnerability.
Instructions: Route the target through light-model because life total, opposing graveyard contents, combo relevance, and removal exposure matter. Prefer a target that immediately advances a committed win or stabilizes a dangerous board; Card text check required for commander-specific graveyard synergies before commander-centered targets are prioritized.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Permission Spending Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Fierce Guardianship; Flusterstorm; Swan Song; An Offer You Can't Refuse; Mindbreak Trap; Dovin's Veto; Dispel
Phase windows: opponent casts spell, counter war, own combo turn
Runtime cues: stack:opponent spell; action:cast Fierce Guardianship; action:cast Flusterstorm; action:cast Swan Song
Use when: deciding whether to counter a spell or protect a combo piece.
Avoid when: the spell is low-impact and preserving permission protects a visible win or survival point.
Instructions: Spend permission on spells that stop a committed win, remove the payoff, win immediately for an opponent, or resolve a hate piece that shuts off the current plan. Prefer narrow counters first when they legally answer the stack object, and preserve free interaction for the decisive counter-war.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Protection Activation And Redirect Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Teferi's Protection; Angel's Grace; Lightning Greaves; Swiftfoot Boots; Mithril Coat; Spellskite; Grand Abolisher; Teferi, Time Raveler
Phase windows: removal stack, lethal combat, combo setup, own main phase protection setup
Runtime cues: action:cast Teferi's Protection; action:cast Angel's Grace; action:activate Spellskite; action:equip Lightning Greaves
Use when: protecting life total, commander, payoff permanent, or a combo turn.
Avoid when: the protected object is not part of survival or a near-term win.
Instructions: Use Teferi's Protection and Angel's Grace for lethal prevention or combo survival, not routine damage. Equip or deploy permanent protection before exposing Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Laboratory Maniac, Walking Ballista, or commander-dependent lines when timing permits.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Removal Target Priority
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction; selection
Cards: Swords to Plowshares; Path to Exile; Deadly Rollick; Void Rend; Vindicate; Cyclonic Rift; Toxic Deluge; Farewell; Fractured Identity; Erode; Morningtide's Light
Phase windows: opponent threat resolution, end step, own main phase sweeper window, combat survival
Runtime cues: action:target Swords to Plowshares; action:cast Toxic Deluge; action:cast Farewell
Use when: selecting removal, bounce, exile, or sweeper lines.
Avoid when: the target does not affect survival, combo access, or a lock piece from visible information.
Instructions: Remove hate pieces before fair threats when they block the chosen win; remove lethal attackers before engines; sweep only when rebuilding is better than one-for-one interaction. Card text check required for Erode and Morningtide's Light before relying on exact permanent-type coverage.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Draw And Wheel Timing
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority; selection
Cards: Brainstorm; Frantic Search; Windfall; The One Ring; Rhystic Study; Esper Sentinel
Phase windows: own main phase, opponent end step, response to discard or wheel opportunity
Runtime cues: action:cast Brainstorm; action:cast Frantic Search; action:cast Windfall; action:activate The One Ring
Use when: choosing whether to dig, wheel, or hold interaction.
Avoid when: drawing gives opponents a fresh grip before you can use the cards or shields are down for a visible opposing win.
Instructions: Use Brainstorm with fetch or shuffle access when possible; use Frantic Search to convert dead cards into mana-positive velocity; cast Windfall when your hand is worse than opponents' public hand sizes or when it digs into a protected win without handing the next player a lethal window.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Survival And Closing
Priority: Medium
Decision families: combat; interaction
Cards: Akroma's Will; Y'shtola, Night's Blessed; Orcish Bowmasters; Delney, Streetwise Lookout; Elesh Norn; Hope Estheim
Phase windows: declare attackers, declare blockers, combat trick windows, precombat main phase
Runtime cues: action:attack; action:block; action:cast Akroma's Will
Use when: combat choices can preserve life, pressure planeswalkers, or close a game.
Avoid when: the only legal attack sacrifices a key combo creature or opens lethal crackback.
Instructions: Treat combat as secondary unless Akroma's Will or a wide protected board threatens a deterministic close. Block to preserve life against commander damage or lethal clocks, and avoid exposing Laboratory Maniac, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, or protected engine creatures to unnecessary combat risk. Card text check required for Y'shtola, Night's Blessed, Hope Estheim, and Decorum Dissertation before tribal combat assumptions.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Pass On Empty Stack
Priority: Low
Decision families: priority
Cards: none
Phase windows: opponent end step or own postcombat main phase with no legal proactive action selected
Runtime cues: action:pass priority
Use when: the stack is empty, no legal action text names a card in hand or battlefield to cast or activate, and no combat declaration is pending.
Avoid when: any legal action text names a registered card that can be cast, activated, equipped, targeted, tutored, or used for interaction.
Instructions: Pass priority exactly when the visible legal action list only advances the turn or phase and no spell, ability, attack, block, or selection choice is offered.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Mana Payment After Spell Selection
Priority: Low
Decision families: mana
Cards: Sol Ring; Arcane Signet; Fellwar Stone; Talisman of Dominance; Talisman of Hierarchy; Talisman of Progress; Command Tower
Phase windows: mana payment prompt after a spell or ability is already selected
Runtime cues: action:pay mana
Use when: exactly one legal payment action is shown by Veles for the already-selected spell or ability.
Avoid when: multiple legal payment actions differ by colored source, life loss, Ancient Tomb use, or preserving interaction mana.
Instructions: Submit the single legal payment action shown by the rules engine. If multiple payments exist, preserve blue interaction and black combo mana through light-model reasoning.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Plan Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Dovin's Veto; Dispel; Grand Abolisher; Teferi, Time Raveler; Drannith Magistrate; Rest in Peace; Dauthi Voidwalker; Grafdigger's Cage; Pithing Needle; Chain of Vapor
Phase windows: between games sideboard lock
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; game:2; game:3; matchup:combo; matchup:control; matchup:graveyard; matchup:artifact; matchup:activated ability; matchup:commander-centric
Use when: the opponent's public plan has revealed a narrow dependency that the registered sideboard can attack without abandoning the fastest live combo.
Avoid when: adding multiple hate cards would slow the deck more than the opposing engine, or when the opponent's revealed pressure demands maindeck removal and sweepers.
Instructions: Select the smallest plan that answers the known axis, preserve a compact win route, and keep every added card within the registered ten-card sideboard. Every removed card must be a registered main-deck card, and the post-board deck must preserve the Commander-family 100-card main deck plus 10-card sideboard contract.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Lock Submission
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Dovin's Veto; Teferi, Time Raveler; Rest in Peace; Drannith Magistrate; Grand Abolisher; Dauthi Voidwalker; Chain of Vapor; Dispel; Pithing Needle; Grafdigger's Cage
Phase windows: between games sideboard lock
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; validation:registered-100-plus-10; validation:swap-preserves-registration
Use when: Veles asks for final between-game sideboarding after Game 1 or revised sideboarding after Game 2.
Avoid when: any proposed addition is absent from the registered sideboard, any proposed removal is absent from the main deck, or the swap count is unbalanced.
Instructions: Submit only exact card names from the registered deck contract. Prefer no change over an invalid plan. Record the matchup reason, self-conflict check, and whether the plan protects Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation, Bloodchief Ascension plus Mindcrank, Exquisite Blood plus Sanguine Bond, Bolas's Citadel, or Walking Ballista.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Narrow Hate Deployment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: sideboard; cast-spell; tutor; sequencing
Cards: Rest in Peace; Grafdigger's Cage; Dauthi Voidwalker; Pithing Needle; Drannith Magistrate; Chain of Vapor
Phase windows: between games sideboard lock; main phase; priority with visible hate or engine
Runtime cues: matchup:graveyard; matchup:commander; matchup:artifact; matchup:activated ability; public-zone:graveyard; visible-permanent:activated-engine
Use when: the opponent has revealed a graveyard route, commander access route, library-to-battlefield route, or activated engine that is more important than your own affected route.
Avoid when: Rest in Peace or Grafdigger's Cage would disable the chosen Entomb, Reanimate, Cabal Ritual threshold, or graveyard-based backup plan without stopping an urgent opposing win.
Instructions: Deploy the narrow card only when it attacks the active opponent plan. Use Pithing Needle from visible information, use Chain of Vapor to create a same-turn combo window, and prefer Dauthi Voidwalker over harder graveyard lock pieces when pressure plus theft equity matters.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Protected Combo Turn After Sideboarding
Priority: Medium
Decision families: sideboard; cast-spell; priority; protection
Cards: Dovin's Veto; Dispel; Grand Abolisher; Teferi, Time Raveler; Chain of Vapor
Phase windows: between games sideboard lock; pre-combo main phase; opponent end step; stack fight
Runtime cues: matchup:control; matchup:spell-combo; prompt:priority; stack:noncreature-spell; visible-permanent:hate
Use when: the game will hinge on resolving or protecting Thassa's Oracle, Demonic Consultation, Bolas's Citadel, Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond, Bloodthirsty Conqueror, Mindcrank, Heliod, Sun-Crowned, or Walking Ballista.
Avoid when: the opponent is applying lethal board pressure and the protection card does not affect survival or a same-turn win.
Instructions: Sequence Grand Abolisher or Teferi, Time Raveler before the commitment turn when possible, hold Dovin's Veto and Dispel for decisive stack exchanges, and use Chain of Vapor only when bouncing a hate permanent opens an immediate winning or stabilizing window.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
