# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Vivi Ornitier is a Commander Izzet combo-control strategy built around the registered commander `Vivi Ornitier`, cheap spell velocity, stack interaction, and storm-style payoff turns. The deck should be treated as a rogue/hybrid commander build rather than a stock archetype: it uses familiar blue-red control and spell-chain principles, but several registered cards such as `Vivi Ornitier`, `Airship Engine Room`, `Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor`, `Emeritus of Conflict`, `Cool but Rude`, `Flow State`, `Irma, Part-Time Mutant`, `Will of the Jeskai`, and `Prismari, the Inspiration` require runtime card-text verification before the agent assumes exact abilities.

Format validation passes under the active Veles Commander contract: the registered main deck contains 100 cards, the deck is singleton outside basic lands, and the only duplicated names are `Island` and `Mountain` at 9 copies each. The registered Veles policy sideboard contains exactly 10 cards: `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Hydroblast`, `Abrade`, `By Force`, `Aetherize`, `Dispel`, `Negate`, `Grafdigger's Cage`, and `Brotherhood's End`. Treat those cards as legal sideboard-policy options only when the Veles match configuration exposes sideboarding actions.

Color identity and mana plan are blue-red, with `Command Tower`, `Exotic Orchard`, `Shivan Reef`, `Stormcarved Coast`, `Training Center`, `Thriving Bluff`, `Thriving Isle`, `Path of Ancestry`, `Fiery Islet`, `Spectacle Summit`, `Scalding Tarn`, `Island`, and `Mountain` supporting normal Izzet sequencing. The agent should flag hands that cannot produce both blue and red by the early turns unless they contain compensating acceleration from `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, or `Thought Vessel`, because the spell suite asks for early blue selection and red interaction/payoffs.

The core role is control-first until a visible payoff window opens, then combo-pressure once mana, spell count, graveyard, or copied-spell infrastructure is assembled. Primary structural anchors include `Vivi Ornitier`, `Goblin Electromancer`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Underworld Breach`, `Grapeshot`, `Crackle with Power`, `Ral, Crackling Wit`, `Haughty Djinn`, and `Sword of Feast and Famine`, but the agent must not commit to a deterministic line unless Forge exposes the legal actions, costs, targets, and stack state.

Legality concerns are mainly runtime, not deck registration: the agent must respect commander tax, color availability, exact target legality, graveyard permissions, replacement effects, and sideboard configuration from the rules engine. Mana concerns are practical: many decisive turns require holding up interaction while chaining spells, so spending `Sol Ring`, signet mana, Treasures from `Storm-Kiln Artist`, or untap-combat resources from `Sword of Feast and Famine` should be evaluated against stack protection and follow-up spell count.

Opponent information status is unspecified. Until matchup data is visible, classify opposing decks only from public commander, revealed cards, battlefield, graveyard, exile, and logged actions; do not infer hidden staples or protection. In policy fields later, opponent-only examples must be prefixed with `opponent:` if named as cards, and tactical choices must remain conditional on legal actions and visible public information.

## Thesis
Vivi Ornitier assembles a blue-red combo-control board where cheap selection, mana rocks, cost reduction, and spell-copy engines turn ordinary cantrips and interaction into a decisive spell-chain turn. The deck wins by converting a protected engine state into `Grapeshot`, `Crackle with Power`, copied spells from `Thousand-Year Storm`, damage or loyalty pressure from `Ral, Crackling Wit`, graveyard recursion through `Underworld Breach`, or a backed-up combat line using `Sword of Feast and Famine`, `Commander's Plate`, `Conqueror's Flail`, or `Red Mage's Rapier` when the board makes attacking safer than passing.

Prioritize survival and information before the payoff turn. Early turns should produce blue mana, sculpt with `Brainstorm`, `Consider`, `Opt`, `Ponder`, `Preordain`, and `Faithless Looting`, deploy efficient mana from `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, or `Thought Vessel`, and hold cheap interaction when the visible opponent can race or disrupt the commander. Midgame priority is to land one protected engine at a time: `Vivi Ornitier`, `Goblin Electromancer`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Rhystic Study`, `Wan Shi Tong, Librarian`, or `Will of the Jeskai` after checking card text and current legality.

Win only when the legal-action set supports the whole line. Do not assume a spell-chain is deterministic just because a payoff is in hand; verify available mana, commander tax, graveyard permissions, target legality, storm/copy objects, replacement effects, and whether the stack is clear or protected by `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Swan Song`, `Spell Pierce`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Deflecting Swat`, `Narset's Reversal`, or `Long River's Pull`. Spend protection aggressively when losing the engine would end the winning turn, but avoid fighting over low-impact threats when the deck can rebuild with card selection.

This deck is not trying to play generic creature curve-out, prison, or fair equipment Voltron as Plan A. `Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer`, `Faerie Mastermind`, `Haughty Djinn`, `Spark Double`, and equipment can pressure planeswalkers or life totals, but they should not pull the pilot away from preserving cards, mana, and stack leverage for the spell turn. Treat unfamiliar registered cards such as `Vivi Ornitier`, `Airship Engine Room`, `Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor`, `Emeritus of Conflict`, `Cool but Rude`, `Flow State`, `Irma, Part-Time Mutant`, `Overpowering Attack`, `Will of the Jeskai`, and `Prismari, the Inspiration` as Card text check required before relying on exact abilities.

## Role Package
- Threats: `Vivi Ornitier` is the command-zone anchor and should be deployed when the pilot can either gain immediate value or protect it from visible removal; Card text check required for exact triggered, activated, or combat implications. `Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer` pressures early only when attacks are legal and not throwing away future mana or card access. `Faerie Mastermind`, `Haughty Djinn`, `Snapcaster Mage`, `Spark Double`, `Prismari, the Inspiration`, `Irma, Part-Time Mutant`, and `Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor` are secondary bodies whose value depends on visible card text, board texture, and whether they contribute to the next spell-chain turn.

- Payoffs: `Grapeshot` is the clean storm payoff when spell count and target legality are visible. `Crackle with Power` is the big-mana finisher when the deck has enough red mana, Treasures, untap resources, or cost support. `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Ral, Crackling Wit`, `Overpowering Attack`, and `Will of the Jeskai` are payoff or multiplier pieces, with Card text check required where exact abilities are not known. `Sword of Feast and Famine`, `Commander's Plate`, `Conqueror's Flail`, and `Red Mage's Rapier` create combat-conversion wins or protection turns rather than replacing the spell plan.

- Engines: `Rhystic Study`, `Wan Shi Tong, Librarian`, `Stormchaser's Talent`, `Airship Engine Room`, `Emeritus of Conflict`, `Goblin Electromancer`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Underworld Breach`, and `Vivi Ornitier` are the cards most likely to make small spells snowball. Commit these when the agent can defend them, immediately use them, or force the table to answer the wrong threat.

- Velocity: `Brainstorm`, `Consider`, `Faithless Looting`, `Opt`, `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Frantic Search`, `Windfall`, `Big Score`, `Gamble`, `Flashback`, and `Sink into Stupor` find land drops, protection, and payoff pieces. Use `Gamble` only when the target card is worth discard risk or the hand/graveyard state makes the downside acceptable; Card text check required for `Flashback` if the legal action text is not explicit.

- Interaction: `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Pongify`, `Chaos Warp`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Vandalblast`, `Blasphemous Act`, `Abandon Attachments`, `Cool but Rude`, `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Spell Pierce`, `Swan Song`, `Long River's Pull`, and `Narset's Reversal` manage creatures, artifacts, stack threats, and tempo. Prefer interaction that preserves the future combo turn unless a visible threat will end the game or remove the engine.

- Protection and recursion: `Fierce Guardianship`, `Deflecting Swat`, `Essence Flux`, `Splash Portal`, `Bulk Up`, `Conqueror's Flail`, `Commander's Plate`, `Snapcaster Mage`, and `Underworld Breach` protect, rebuy, or extend key turns. Use blink/protection only when the target and result are legal and visible; do not assume a saved permanent returns with the same tactical role without rules-engine confirmation.

- Mana: `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, `Thought Vessel`, `Goblin Electromancer`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Big Score`, `Frantic Search`, `Command Tower`, `Exotic Orchard`, `Shivan Reef`, `Stormcarved Coast`, `Training Center`, `Thriving Bluff`, `Thriving Isle`, `Fiery Islet`, `Path of Ancestry`, `Spectacle Summit`, `Scalding Tarn`, `Island`, and `Mountain` support the double task of casting setup spells while holding interaction.

- Sideboard modules: `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Hydroblast`, `Dispel`, and `Negate` tune stack fights; `Abrade`, `By Force`, and `Brotherhood's End` answer artifacts or small boards; `Aetherize` punishes creature combat; `Grafdigger's Cage` pressures graveyard and library-cast strategies while requiring care because it may also constrain this deck's own `Underworld Breach` or `Snapcaster Mage` lines.

## Primary Win Conditions
- Spell-chain storm is the cleanest kill when mana, cards, and legal spell sequencing line up. Set up with `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, `Thought Vessel`, `Goblin Electromancer`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, and `Thousand-Year Storm`; sculpt with `Brainstorm`, `Consider`, `Opt`, `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Faithless Looting`, and `Frantic Search`; then execute by chaining cheap spells into `Grapeshot` only after verifying storm count, target legality, replacement effects, and whether copies are visible through the rules engine. Prioritize this path when the pilot can hold or represent `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Swan Song`, `Spell Pierce`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Deflecting Swat`, `Narset's Reversal`, or `Long River's Pull`, or when waiting gives opponents a clearer window to remove the engine.

- `Crackle with Power` is the big-mana finisher when the deck has Treasures, cost reduction, untap mana, or enough lands to make X lethal or board-breaking. Set up with `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Big Score`, `Frantic Search`, mana rocks, and land drops; execute only after checking exact red mana, target count, damage allocation, and whether one large spell is safer than a longer `Grapeshot` chain. Prioritize this path against boards where creature combat is poor, graveyard lines are constrained, or opponents are tapped low enough that a single protected spell can end the game.

- `Underworld Breach` recursion converts the graveyard into a second hand when the pilot has enough cards to exile and enough mana to replay velocity or payoff spells. Set up by trading resources, looting with `Faithless Looting`, casting normal cantrips, and preserving `Grapeshot`, `Brainstorm`, `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Frantic Search`, or interaction in graveyard-relevant positions. Execute only when the legal actions show the intended graveyard spells are castable; disruption includes graveyard hate, insufficient escape fodder, stack counters, and self-locks from `Grafdigger's Cage` if sideboarded.

- Commander-centered engine wins start with `Vivi Ornitier` when command-zone access, mana, and protection make it worth exposing the commander. Card text check required for exact `Vivi Ornitier` abilities, but the tactical rule is to deploy it when it immediately improves a spell turn, threatens future mana or damage, or forces opponents to spend removal before `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, or `Underworld Breach`. Do not cast `Vivi Ornitier` into obvious removal without value unless commander tax is acceptable and the hand has another engine.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Combat pressure wins games when the spell finish is delayed but the board can safely attack. `Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer`, `Faerie Mastermind`, `Haughty Djinn`, `Snapcaster Mage`, `Spark Double`, `Prismari, the Inspiration`, `Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor`, `Irma, Part-Time Mutant`, and `Vivi Ornitier` can convert chip damage into a shorter burn clock, but attack only when blockers, crack-back damage, and visible removal do not punish the line. Card text check required for unfamiliar creature abilities before relying on evasion, counters, copies, or triggers.

- Equipment pressure is a backup conversion plan, not the default plan. Use `Commander's Plate`, `Conqueror's Flail`, `Red Mage's Rapier`, and `Sword of Feast and Famine` when the equipped creature is likely to connect, protect a key turn, or force interaction before a spell finish; avoid spending a whole turn equipping when the opponent can win on board or when the same mana can sculpt or protect the combo. `Conqueror's Flail` can matter before a decisive main-phase chain if the rules engine confirms its current restriction text and equipped status.

- Value-control wins by burying slower opponents under cards and selective denial. `Rhystic Study`, `Wan Shi Tong, Librarian`, `Stormchaser's Talent`, `Ral, Crackling Wit`, `Will of the Jeskai`, `Faerie Mastermind`, and `Windfall` can create enough resources that ordinary burn, creatures, and copied spells finish later. Card text check required for `Wan Shi Tong, Librarian`, `Stormchaser's Talent`, `Ral, Crackling Wit`, and `Will of the Jeskai`; use them when the board is stable or when resolving them draws removal away from the primary payoff.

- Reset-then-rebuild lines are valid when behind but not dead. `Cyclonic Rift`, `Blasphemous Act`, `Pongify`, `Chaos Warp`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Vandalblast`, `Abandon Attachments`, and `Cool but Rude` can buy the turn needed to untap into engines or a burn finish. Do not fire a reset for style points; use it when it changes the clock, removes a lock piece, opens attacks, or protects the next spell-chain turn.

## Emergency Lines
- When behind on life, preserve life before maximizing value. Spend `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Pongify`, `Chaos Warp`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Blasphemous Act`, or `Aetherize` if sideboarded to stop lethal or a short visible clock, and accept a smaller future combo if surviving this turn is the gating condition.

- When behind on board, trade tempo for a rebuild window. Bounce or destroy the permanent that blocks the deck's next legal plan, use `Propaganda` to tax attacks when it changes combat math, and avoid tapping out for `Thousand-Year Storm` or `Crackle with Power` setup if the opponent can kill before those cards matter.

- When behind on cards, prioritize cheap selection and high-leverage draw over speculative protection. Cast `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Consider`, `Opt`, `Brainstorm`, `Faithless Looting`, `Frantic Search`, `Big Score`, or `Windfall` to find mana and interaction, but use `Windfall` only after checking visible hand sizes and whether it helps opponents more than it rescues this deck.

- When behind on mana, stop planning multi-spell kills until land drops and rocks are recovered. Keep hands and lines that produce blue and red, cast `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, or `Thought Vessel` before luxury threats, and use `Goblin Electromancer` or `Storm-Kiln Artist` as recovery engines only when they are likely to survive or immediately refund mana.

- When engines or win conditions are removed, pivot to whichever axis remains visible. If `Grapeshot` is unavailable, look for `Crackle with Power`, combat equipment, or `Thousand-Year Storm` value; if graveyard recursion is locked, stop investing in `Underworld Breach` and win from hand; if `Vivi Ornitier` is too expensive, use normal control tools and secondary threats until commander tax becomes acceptable.

## Resource Model
- Life is a timer, not a resource to spend freely, because this deck often needs one untap step to convert setup into a spell-chain kill. Preserve life with `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Pongify`, `Chaos Warp`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Blasphemous Act`, `Propaganda`, or sideboard `Aetherize` when visible attacks shorten the clock below the time needed to resolve `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Underworld Breach`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Crackle with Power`, or commander-centered lines.

- Hand size is the deck's most important engine fuel because cheap spells become mana, storm count, copy triggers, graveyard fodder, and protection density. Prioritize hands and turns that turn `Brainstorm`, `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Consider`, `Opt`, `Faithless Looting`, `Frantic Search`, `Big Score`, `Windfall`, `Rhystic Study`, `Faerie Mastermind`, `Wan Shi Tong, Librarian`, `Ral, Crackling Wit`, and `Will of the Jeskai` into a protected critical mass; card text check required for unfamiliar draw engines before assuming exact trigger or loyalty behavior.

- Mana is both setup and payoff because the deck wins by chaining multiple cheap spells or resolving one large spell. `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, `Thought Vessel`, `Goblin Electromancer`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, and `Vivi Ornitier` should be valued by whether they increase the next decisive turn, not merely by whether they can be cast now; card text check required for exact `Vivi Ornitier` mana or spell-synergy text.

- Board material is a conversion layer, not the primary win condition. Creatures such as `Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer`, `Faerie Mastermind`, `Snapcaster Mage`, `Haughty Djinn`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Spark Double`, `Prismari, the Inspiration`, `Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor`, and `Irma, Part-Time Mutant` should be protected or risked according to whether they enable a spell turn, pressure a vulnerable opponent, hold equipment, or must block to preserve life.

- Graveyard cards become a second hand only when `Underworld Breach`, `Snapcaster Mage`, or `Faithless Looting` flashback lines are legal and funded. Trade early spells into the graveyard when they improve selection or answer threats, but avoid exiling essential payoffs or protection for escape costs unless the current line already wins or stabilizes; stop valuing graveyard setup if `Grafdigger's Cage` is sideboarded in by this deck or a visible graveyard-hate effect constrains casting.

- Exile is mostly a cost and constraint zone unless a visible effect grants permission to play from it. Track every exiled `Grapeshot`, `Crackle with Power`, counterspell, or engine piece as a lost route, and do not plan around recasting exiled cards unless the rules engine exposes legal actions for that zone.

- Sacrifice fodder and discard fodder are real costs for `Big Score`, `Faithless Looting`, `Frantic Search`, `Gamble`, and any visible sideboard or opponent pressure. Discard redundant lands, dead interaction, or delayed payoffs before unique finishers, protection, or mana engines; card text check required before using unfamiliar permanents as sacrifice or discard resources.

- Information is protection because the deck must choose the right turn to commit. Use public mana, visible stack actions, known revealed cards, opponent hand size, graveyards, commander tax, and prior decisions to decide whether to hold `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Swan Song`, `Spell Pierce`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Deflecting Swat`, `Narset's Reversal`, or `Long River's Pull` for the combo turn instead of spending them on low-impact threats.

- Sideboard bullets convert narrow matchups into fewer dead cards. `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Hydroblast`, `Abrade`, `By Force`, `Aetherize`, `Dispel`, `Negate`, `Grafdigger's Cage`, and `Brotherhood's End` should be treated as precision tools after boarding, not generic value cards; use them when their visible target class or matchup pressure is present.

## Mana Guide
- Keep opening hands that produce both blue and red by turn two or have `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, or `Thought Vessel` plus a clear path to the missing color. Mulligan hands with only colorless utility, only one land without cheap selection, or no early blue source for `Brainstorm`, `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Consider`, `Opt`, `Spell Pierce`, `Swan Song`, `Counterspell`, or `Arcane Denial` unless the legal commander/matchup context makes the risk necessary.

- Prioritize blue early and red on the combo turn. Blue mana finds lands and protects engines; red mana powers `Faithless Looting`, `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Vandalblast`, `Grapeshot`, `Crackle with Power`, `Blasphemous Act`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, and large finish turns. When choosing colors from `Command Tower`, `Exotic Orchard`, `Shivan Reef`, `Stormcarved Coast`, `Training Center`, `Path of Ancestry`, `Thriving Bluff`, or `Thriving Isle`, preserve the color that keeps both selection and interaction live.

- Sequence tapped or conditional lands when the turn has no urgent one-mana play. Play `Thriving Bluff`, `Thriving Isle`, `Path of Ancestry`, `Spectacle Summit`, or any land entering tapped before passing only if it does not strand `Opt`, `Consider`, `Spell Pierce`, `Swan Song`, or removal; card text check required for `Spectacle Summit` and `Airship Engine Room` before relying on their exact timing, colors, or utility.

- Use utility lands only after color stability is secured. `Fiery Islet`, `Fountainport`, `Reliquary Tower`, `Secret Tunnel`, `Scalding Tarn`, and `Airship Engine Room` should be evaluated by visible legal actions each turn: make colored mana first, then spend utility activations when they do not block interaction, commander tax, or the next spell-chain threshold.

- Cast mana rocks before luxury engines when the hand is mana constrained. `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, and `Thought Vessel` usually precede `Rhystic Study`, equipment, or expensive payoff setup if doing so unlocks `Vivi Ornitier`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Big Score`, `Crackle with Power`, or double-spell turns earlier.

- Delay the land drop before selection when the choice can change. Cast `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Brainstorm`, `Consider`, `Opt`, or `Faithless Looting` before playing a land if the deck is choosing between a fetch, tapped land, utility land, or color source; play the land first when the spell needs that mana, when holding up interaction matters, or when the hand already has only one legal land line.

- Preserve exact mana for stack fights and optional costs. Before committing to `Underworld Breach`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Crackle with Power`, or equipment lines, count remaining blue for counters, red for payoff spells, generic for tax effects, and visible costs from the rules engine; do not spend the last blue or red on low-impact actions if that prevents the protected decisive turn.

## Mulligan Guide
- Strong keeps have two or three lands, both colors by turn two, and either acceleration or selection plus interaction. Keep `Command Tower` plus `Island` with `Sol Ring`, `Ponder`, `Swan Song`, and `Vivi Ornitier`; keep `Training Center` plus `Mountain` with `Arcane Signet`, `Preordain`, `Counterspell`, and `Storm-Kiln Artist`; keep `Shivan Reef`, `Island`, `Izzet Signet`, `Brainstorm`, `Faithless Looting`, and `Underworld Breach` if the hand can develop without discarding the only payoff.

- Medium keeps need a clear fix before turn three. Keep one blue source plus `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Consider`, or `Opt` when the hand has two total lands and a castable rock; keep red-light hands only if `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, `Command Tower`, `Exotic Orchard`, or `Path of Ancestry` is present or selection can find red before `Lightning Bolt`, `Faithless Looting`, `Grapeshot`, or `Storm-Kiln Artist` matters.

- Risky keeps require matchup or table-speed justification. A one-land `Island` hand with `Brainstorm`, `Ponder`, `Opt`, `Sol Ring`, and `Rhystic Study` is keepable on the draw only if missing land risk is acceptable; a two-land hand with only `Mountain` plus utility land and no blue selection is usually too slow unless it has `Sol Ring` into `Arcane Signet` or `Izzet Signet`.

- Automatic ships fail either mana, action density, or protection. Ship zero-land hands, one-land hands without `Sol Ring` or one-mana selection, all-payoff hands such as `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Crackle with Power`, `Blasphemous Act`, `Prismari, the Inspiration`, and `Big Score` without early mana, and reactive-only hands that cannot develop before holding `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Fierce Guardianship`, or `Deflecting Swat`.

- Matchup-dependent keeps change with pressure and stack density. Against fast creature pressure, value `Lightning Bolt`, `Pongify`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Propaganda`, and `Blasphemous Act` higher than slow engines; against blue or combo-heavy tables, keep hands with early blue and `Spell Pierce`, `Swan Song`, `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Narset's Reversal`, `Fierce Guardianship`, or `Deflecting Swat`.

- Play/draw changes the tolerance for cantrip hands. On the play, prefer a hand that casts `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer`, `Ponder`, or `Preordain` immediately; on the draw, accept slower two-land selection hands if they already contain both colors or a credible path to `Vivi Ornitier` and protection.

- Trap hands look powerful but strand the real plan. Do not keep hands with `Underworld Breach` but no graveyard fuel, `Thousand-Year Storm` but no ramp or cheap spells, `Grapeshot` without storm setup, `Crackle with Power` without mana acceleration, or `Commander's Plate`, `Conqueror's Flail`, `Sword of Feast and Famine`, and `Red Mage's Rapier` without a creature or commander plan; card text check required for exact `Vivi Ornitier`, `Airship Engine Room`, `Cool but Rude`, `Flashback`, `Flow State`, `Emeritus of Conflict`, `Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor`, `Irma, Part-Time Mutant`, and `Will of the Jeskai` opening-hand roles.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1 should establish mana, selection, or a cheap pressure piece. Prefer `Sol Ring`, `Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer`, `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Brainstorm`, `Consider`, `Opt`, or `Faithless Looting` when legal; hold `Spell Pierce` or `Swan Song` only when an opponent can present a decisive early spell and this deck already has a turn-two plan.

- Turn 1 deviations protect color and future interaction. Play `Island` before `Mountain` when the hand needs selection or counters; play `Command Tower`, `Training Center`, `Shivan Reef`, `Stormcarved Coast`, or `Exotic Orchard` when it keeps both colors open; use `Scalding Tarn` timing according to visible shuffle value with `Brainstorm` and the rules engine's legal actions.

- Turn 2 should accelerate or hold up the first meaningful answer. Cast `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, `Thought Vessel`, `Goblin Electromancer`, `Faerie Mastermind`, `Stormchaser's Talent`, or `Harmonic Prodigy` when it improves turn-three development; leave `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Swan Song`, `Spell Pierce`, `Pongify`, `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, or `Into the Flood Maw` up when visible threats or stack plays would punish tapping out.

- Turn 3 should deploy the commander or a durable engine only with a reason. Cast `Vivi Ornitier` when mana is stable, commander tax is still low, and at least one follow-up spell or protection line is visible; otherwise develop `Rhystic Study`, `Propaganda`, `Haughty Djinn`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Conqueror's Flail`, `Commander's Plate`, or `Sword of Feast and Famine` only if the board and stack do not demand interaction first.

- Turns 4-5 are the first commitment window. Start chaining cheap spells with `Vivi Ornitier`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Ral, Crackling Wit`, `Underworld Breach`, or `Thousand-Year Storm` only after counting mana, graveyard fuel, known disruption, and available protection; if behind, spend `Cyclonic Rift`, `Chaos Warp`, `Pongify`, `Vandalblast`, `Blasphemous Act`, or `Propaganda` to survive instead of forcing a fragile payoff.

- Turns 4-5 deviations should convert resources without exposing the finisher. Use `Frantic Search`, `Big Score`, `Windfall`, `Faithless Looting`, `Snapcaster Mage`, `Wan Shi Tong, Librarian`, or `Gamble` to find mana, protection, or a payoff when the hand lacks a decisive line; card text check required before relying on `Flashback`, `Cool but Rude`, `Bulk Up`, `Abandon Attachments`, `Overpowering Attack`, `Prismari, the Inspiration`, `Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor`, `Irma, Part-Time Mutant`, or `Emeritus of Conflict` as exact bridge pieces.

- Late game should either win through a protected spell turn or reset the board before trying again. Aim for `Crackle with Power`, `Grapeshot`, copied spells through `Thousand-Year Storm`, or repeated graveyard casting with `Underworld Breach` only when legal actions show the required costs and targets; if the table has stabilized, preserve `Narset's Reversal`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Deflecting Swat`, `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, or `Long River's Pull` for the decisive stack fight rather than trading them for low-impact spells.

## Card Roles
- `Vivi Ornitier` is the central command-zone engine, so cast it when the same turn or next turn contains cheap spells, mana, or protection instead of exposing it into open removal for no follow-up. Card text check required for exact triggered output, but treat visible legal spell chains as the cue to turn it from setup piece into win engine.

- `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, `Thought Vessel`, and cost support from `Goblin Electromancer` are the acceleration package. Prioritize them before medium engines when they let you hold `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Swan Song`, `Spell Pierce`, `Fierce Guardianship`, or `Deflecting Swat` during the first real commitment turn.

- `Brainstorm`, `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Consider`, `Opt`, `Faithless Looting`, `Frantic Search`, `Big Score`, and `Windfall` are velocity, storm count, and resource smoothing. Use one-mana selection early to hit land and color requirements, but preserve enough cheap spells for `Vivi Ornitier`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Underworld Breach`, `Grapeshot`, or `Crackle with Power` turns when mana and protection are already assembled.

- `Gamble`, `Snapcaster Mage`, and `Underworld Breach` are high-leverage graveyard and access tools, not casual value buttons. Use `Gamble` when the desired card materially changes the game and discard risk is acceptable; use `Snapcaster Mage` for a specific visible instant or sorcery that answers the board or extends the winning turn; commit `Underworld Breach` only after checking graveyard size, mana, storm count, and visible graveyard hate.

- `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Ral, Crackling Wit`, and `Thousand-Year Storm` are engine permanents that turn normal spells into explosive turns. Deploy one when opponents are unlikely to remove it before value or when protection is available; avoid stacking multiple fragile engines into a board wipe unless the same turn can produce a decisive `Grapeshot`, `Crackle with Power`, or overwhelming copied-spell sequence.

- `Grapeshot` and `Crackle with Power` are primary finishers. Hold `Grapeshot` until storm count and target legality produce meaningful kills or board control; hold `Crackle with Power` until mana math is explicit from legal actions, because premature use usually trades a finisher for one opponent or one creature instead of ending the game.

- `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Pongify`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Chaos Warp`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Vandalblast`, and `Blasphemous Act` are the main board-control suite. Spend cheap removal early on commanders, hate pieces, or lethal pressure; save `Cyclonic Rift`, `Vandalblast`, and `Blasphemous Act` for boards that cannot be raced or for a reset immediately before a protected spell turn.

- `Spell Pierce`, `Swan Song`, `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Long River's Pull`, `Narset's Reversal`, `Fierce Guardianship`, and `Deflecting Swat` protect the combo turn and stop opposing wins. Trade them for table-critical threats, graveyard hate against `Underworld Breach`, removal aimed at `Vivi Ornitier` or an active engine, or stack actions that would invalidate a committed finisher; do not spend premium free interaction on low-impact value spells unless falling behind on tempo is otherwise fatal.

- `Rhystic Study`, `Faerie Mastermind`, `Propaganda`, `Haughty Djinn`, `Wan Shi Tong, Librarian`, and `Prismari, the Inspiration` provide slower advantage or stabilizing pressure. `Rhystic Study` and `Faerie Mastermind` are best before the table empties hands; `Propaganda` buys time against combat decks; `Haughty Djinn` can become a backup threat while discounting or scaling with the graveyard, but card text check required for exact runtime math on the unknown or newer cards in this group.

- `Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer`, `Commander's Plate`, `Conqueror's Flail`, `Red Mage's Rapier`, `Sword of Feast and Famine`, `Secret Tunnel`, and `Bulk Up` are combat-adjacent pressure and protection tools. Use them when a creature can safely connect or when they protect a decisive commander plan; do not let equipment sequencing consume mana needed for counters, removal, or storm setup unless combat damage is the current route to victory. Card text check required for exact `Red Mage's Rapier` and `Bulk Up` roles.

- `Essence Flux`, `Splash Portal`, `Spark Double`, and `Stormchaser's Talent` are synergy pieces whose exact use depends on visible targets. Use blink or copy effects only when legal targets preserve or multiply an engine, dodge removal, or reset a meaningful permanent; card text check required for `Splash Portal` and `Stormchaser's Talent` before assuming they protect, recur, or copy a specific object.

- `Airship Engine Room`, `Flashback`, `Abandon Attachments`, `Cool but Rude`, `Emeritus of Conflict`, `Flow State`, `Irma, Part-Time Mutant`, `Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor`, `Overpowering Attack`, and `Will of the Jeskai` need card text checks before deterministic tactical automation. When these appear as legal actions, prefer lines that are consistent with the visible role suggested by cost, type, target text, and current board state, but do not assume hidden combo text, protection text, or lethal math without engine-confirmed options.

- `Command Tower`, `Exotic Orchard`, `Training Center`, `Shivan Reef`, `Stormcarved Coast`, `Fiery Islet`, `Scalding Tarn`, `Path of Ancestry`, `Thriving Bluff`, `Thriving Isle`, `Spectacle Summit`, `Fountainport`, `Reliquary Tower`, `Secret Tunnel`, `Island`, and `Mountain` define color reliability and late-game utility. Lead on untapped blue when cantrips or counters matter, prioritize red when removal or `Faithless Looting` unlocks the hand, and treat utility-land activations or sacrifice lines as secondary to casting commander, protection, and engine spells on curve.

## Interaction Priorities
- Stop opposing wins before protecting value engines. Use `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Long River's Pull`, `Swan Song`, `Spell Pierce`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Deflecting Swat`, or `Narset's Reversal` on stack actions that win immediately, remove a committed `Vivi Ornitier` engine turn, shut off `Underworld Breach`, or invalidate a lethal `Grapeshot` or `Crackle with Power` line.

- Remove hate pieces before medium threats. Prioritize `Pongify`, `Chaos Warp`, `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Vandalblast`, or `Blasphemous Act` against visible graveyard hate, rule-setting permanents, tax effects, silence-style effects, commanders that create deterministic wins, and artifacts that stop spell chains; ignore small value creatures when life is stable and they do not disrupt the next engine turn.

- Bounce or reset boards when one-for-one answers no longer buy a turn. Save `Cyclonic Rift` for overloaded or decisive tempo turns when the table has multiple blockers, hate permanents, or lethal pressure; use `Into the Flood Maw` or `Sink into Stupor` only after checking exact legal targets and card text, because tempo bounce is strongest when it opens a protected commitment window.

- Treat artifact removal as matchup-dependent. Use `Vandalblast` early only on a single must-answer artifact, but hold it against artifact-combo or artifact-ramp tables until overload or a multi-card reset is visible; add `By Force`, `Abrade`, or `Brotherhood's End` only when opposing artifacts matter more than generic stack interaction.

- Trade burn for tempo, not face damage, until a kill is explicit. `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, and `Grapeshot` should remove commanders, mana creatures, hatebears, planeswalkers, or lethal attackers before they chip opponents, unless storm count or copied-spell math already presents a confirmed kill.

- Protect commitment turns with bait sequencing. Lead with `Rhystic Study`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Ral, Crackling Wit`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Haughty Djinn`, or `Thousand-Year Storm` only when losing it is acceptable or protection remains; bait counters with medium engines before resolving `Underworld Breach`, `Crackle with Power`, or a commander-driven spell chain.

- Do not invent discard or exile plans. This list has no normal hand-attack package, so discard decisions should come only from legal engine prompts such as `Faithless Looting`, `Frantic Search`, `Big Score`, `Windfall`, `Gamble`, or unknown-card text; exile decisions are primarily graveyard-resource costs for effects such as `Underworld Breach` and must follow engine-provided legal choices.

- Change removal posture by archetype. Against creature combat decks, value `Propaganda`, `Blasphemous Act`, spot removal, and bounce over slow draw; against blue control, preserve `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Dispel`, `Negate`, and free protection for stack fights; against graveyard decks, prioritize `Grafdigger's Cage` and counters over racing; against artifact decks, elevate `Vandalblast`, `Abrade`, `By Force`, and `Brotherhood's End`.

## Combat And Trading Rules
- Preserve engines over incidental combat damage. Do not attack with `Vivi Ornitier`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Goblin Electromancer`, or `Faerie Mastermind` into open trades unless the creature is expendable, protected, or the attack enables a decisive equipment or commander-damage plan.

- Use combat pressure when spell-combo is delayed. `Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer`, `Haughty Djinn`, `Prismari, the Inspiration`, `Wan Shi Tong, Librarian`, `Spark Double`, and equipped creatures can pressure life totals while holding counters, but attacks should not tap mana or expose bodies needed for blocking, storm setup, or protection unless the board state favors racing.

- Equip only when the equipped creature can matter immediately. `Commander's Plate`, `Conqueror's Flail`, `Red Mage's Rapier`, and `Sword of Feast and Famine` justify mana when they protect `Vivi Ornitier`, force through a meaningful hit, or shut off interaction for a combo turn; postpone equipment when the same mana keeps up `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Swan Song`, `Spell Pierce`, or removal.

- Block to protect engine time, not pride. Trade small creatures for attackers when life loss would put the deck under a one-turn clock or force premature use of `Blasphemous Act`; avoid blocking with cost reducers and spell engines if a removal spell, `Propaganda`, bounce, or a future sweeper answers the pressure with less strategic damage.

- Respect life thresholds as commitment gates. Above roughly 20 life, prefer preserving cards and mana for a protected spell turn; between 10 and 20, answer repeat attackers and commanders before slow engines; below 10, prioritize survival actions, blockers, `Propaganda`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Pongify`, `Chaos Warp`, `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, or `Blasphemous Act` before cantrip value.

- Use `Secret Tunnel` as a finishing or trigger tool only when legal text supports the line. Card text check required for exact targeting and unblockable conditions, but treat it as combat utility rather than mana fixing when a protected attacker or equipped creature creates a meaningful clock.

- Treat pump and blink effects as protection only with confirmed legal text. `Bulk Up`, `Essence Flux`, and `Splash Portal` may change combat or dodge removal, but require runtime legality and card text checks before assuming they save a creature, reset a permanent, or win combat.

- Change combat posture by matchup. Against go-wide decks, block conservatively until `Blasphemous Act`, `Aetherize`, `Brotherhood's End`, or `Cyclonic Rift` can swing tempo; against control, attack with resilient or expendable creatures while holding stack protection; against combo, combat is secondary unless it creates lethal pressure before the opposing engine turn.

## Selection And Tutor Rules
- Sequence cheap selection before irreversible choices when it can change them. Cast `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Opt`, `Consider`, or `Brainstorm` before the land drop when the hand lacks a required color, a second or third land, or protection for a planned `Vivi Ornitier` turn; make the land drop first when the cantrip line already needs untapped mana this turn.

- Use `Ponder` and `Preordain` to find mana early and permission late. Keep lands, `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, or `Thought Vessel` in opening development hands; later, look for `Counterspell`, `Swan Song`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Deflecting Swat`, `Underworld Breach`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Grapeshot`, or `Crackle with Power` according to whether the visible problem is survival, protection, engine setup, or payoff.

- Treat `Brainstorm` as a setup spell, not a random draw spell. Prefer casting it with `Scalding Tarn` or another legal shuffle effect available; without shuffle, put back expensive payoffs, duplicate mana rocks, or reactive cards that are dead against the visible table, while keeping the card that solves the next turn cycle.

- Use graveyard-feeding selection only when the graveyard is an asset. `Faithless Looting`, `Consider`, `Frantic Search`, `Big Score`, and `Windfall` can stock `Underworld Breach`, `Snapcaster Mage`, `Haughty Djinn`, and spell-count payoffs, but do not discard the only protection spell or only payoff unless the replacement line is already visible.

- Cast `Gamble` only with a plan for the discard risk. Search for `Underworld Breach`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Counterspell`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Blasphemous Act`, `Grapeshot`, or `Crackle with Power` only when the chosen card is worth risking or when `Underworld Breach`, `Snapcaster Mage`, or graveyard access can still use it after discard.

- Use wheel effects as commitment tools, not default card draw. Cast `Windfall` when the hand is low-impact, opponents have large hands, or the deck needs a spell-count and graveyard burst; avoid it when it refills control or combo opponents before this deck can use the new cards.

- Resolve unusual selection cards conservatively. `Flashback`, `Stormchaser's Talent`, `Airship Engine Room`, `Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor`, `Emeritus of Conflict`, `Flow State`, `Cool but Rude`, `Will of the Jeskai`, `Wan Shi Tong, Librarian`, and `Ral, Crackling Wit` require card text check required before assuming draw, loot, copy, mana, or recursion modes.

## Priority And Stack Rules
- Hold priority discipline around commitment turns. Before casting `Underworld Breach`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Ral, Crackling Wit`, `Crackle with Power`, or `Grapeshot`, check visible mana, known counters, graveyard hate, lethal pressure, and whether at least one protection or bounce line remains.

- Fight only over stack objects that change the game. Use `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Long River's Pull`, `Swan Song`, `Spell Pierce`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Deflecting Swat`, or `Narset's Reversal` for opposing win attempts, hate pieces, sweepers that erase the engine, or interaction aimed at a committed combo turn; let minor ramp, draw, and medium creatures resolve when conserving protection matters more.

- Respect spell-copy timing and target legality. `Narset's Reversal`, `Deflecting Swat`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Grapeshot`, and `Crackle with Power` can create complex stack choices, so choose only legal targets shown by Veles and never assume a copied spell may retarget unless the rules engine offers that action.

- Use instant-speed removal at the last responsible window. Cast `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Pongify`, `Chaos Warp`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Sink into Stupor`, or `Cyclonic Rift` after opponents commit attacks, equipment, targets, or mana when waiting gains information; act earlier only to stop a must-answer static effect or prevent a combo piece from untapping.

- Spend free interaction as a scarce shield. `Fierce Guardianship` and `Deflecting Swat` are strongest when `Vivi Ornitier` is online or a payoff is on the stack; do not use them on low-impact spells unless the visible board shows that passing loses the game.

- Treat optional payments and triggers as resource gates. Pay for `Rhystic Study`-style taxes from opponents only when Veles presents the payment and mana is not needed for interaction; accept or decline optional triggers from `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Faerie Mastermind`, `Prismari, the Inspiration`, or `Vivi Ornitier` according to legal prompt text and visible downside.

- Preserve graveyard timing for recursive turns. With `Underworld Breach` or `Snapcaster Mage`, prioritize casting mana-positive or card-neutral spells before payoffs, keep enough cards in graveyard for required costs, and stop if Veles shows that a necessary target or cost is no longer legal.

- Use combat priority windows defensively. After attackers, after blockers, and before damage, consider `Essence Flux`, `Splash Portal`, `Bulk Up`, `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Pongify`, `Cyclonic Rift`, or `Aetherize` only if legal text and visible combat math show survival, a protected engine, or a decisive tempo swing; card text check required for exact blink, pump, and bounce effects.

## Sideboard Map

- Version note: Policy-Compiled Guide 2026-06-17.

- Sideboard principle: use the ten-card Veles policy sideboard as matchup shaping, not as a generic power upgrade. The main deck already needs a critical mass of cheap spells, mana, protection, and payoffs for `Vivi Ornitier`, `Underworld Breach`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Grapeshot`, and `Crackle with Power`, so every sideboard change should answer a visible archetype pressure point without lowering spell velocity too far. This Commander-family configuration must remain exactly 100 main-deck cards and exactly 10 registered sideboard cards, with every exchange preserving the registered inventory.

- `Pyroblast` role: add it against blue control, blue combo, blue tempo, and tables where the decisive opposing cards are blue stack interaction or blue engines. It is bad when the opposing deck has few blue spells or when creature combat and artifacts are the actual problem. Its role changes from protection on combo turns to disruption when an opponent is representing a blue win attempt.

- `Red Elemental Blast` role: add it beside `Pyroblast` when blue permission or blue engines are the expected bottleneck. It is weak against nonblue creature decks and should not be treated as a generic answer. With `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, or `Underworld Breach`, it can become both cheap protection and storm count, but only if Veles presents a legal blue target or stack object.

- `Hydroblast` role: add it against red fast starts, red removal-heavy decks, red artifact-combo shells, and red sweepers that threaten `Vivi Ornitier`, `Goblin Electromancer`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, or `Veyran, Voice of Duality`. It is bad against low-red control and green-white board decks. Its role changes from survival spell early to combo-turn shield later.

- `Abrade` role: add it when a deck shows important artifacts or small creatures that must be answered before a combo turn. It is bad when the opponent presents few artifacts and creatures are either too large or not strategically relevant. Prefer it over slower answers when the visible table has artifact mana, artifact hate, or a creature that must die before `Vivi Ornitier` can safely stay in play.

- `By Force` role: add it against artifact-dense mana, treasure, equipment, or artifact-combo decks. It is bad against creature decks with only incidental artifacts and against permission decks where sorcery-speed artifact removal will be stranded. When added, treat it as a commitment setup spell: clear artifact pressure before committing `Underworld Breach`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, or `Crackle with Power` unless Veles shows a more urgent stack decision.

- `Aetherize` role: add it against go-wide attackers, commander-damage decks, and creature boards that can force this deck to spend removal inefficiently. It is bad against noncombat combo, planeswalker control, and decks that attack with only one low-impact creature. Its role changes from life-preserving reset to tempo punishment when opponents attack into open mana while this deck is preparing a spell-chain turn.

- `Dispel` role: add it against instant-heavy control, counterspell fights, instant-speed removal, and stack-based combo interaction. It is bad against permanent-heavy decks and sorcery-speed engines. Use it as the cheapest shield for `Vivi Ornitier`, `Underworld Breach`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Grapeshot`, or `Crackle with Power`, but only for legal instant targets shown by Veles.

- `Negate` role: add it against noncreature combo, board wipes, graveyard hate, planeswalkers, enchantment engines, and control decks where `Counterspell`, `Swan Song`, `Arcane Denial`, `Spell Pierce`, and `Fierce Guardianship` need redundancy. It is weaker against creature-heavy pressure unless the matchup revolves around a small number of noncreature payoffs. Its role is broad protection before the combo turn and broad interruption during opposing setup turns.

- `Grafdigger's Cage` role: add it against graveyard recursion, library-cast engines, and creature-cheat strategies when the opposing deck relies on those zones more than this deck does. It is bad when this deck needs maximum `Underworld Breach` and `Snapcaster Mage` access and the opponent does not use graveyard or library permission. If added, treat it as an anti-opponent lock piece and do not assume it is free; verify whether it constrains this deck's own legal graveyard lines at runtime.

- `Brotherhood's End` role: add it against small creature swarms, artifact clusters, mana-rock starts, and boards where three damage or artifact clearing buys the turn needed to assemble `Vivi Ornitier` plus protection. It is bad when this deck's own small engine creatures are required and the opposing board is too large or nonartifact. Its role changes from sweeper to artifact reset according to visible permanents and legal mode text.

Blue Control / Counterspell Table
Side in: Pyroblast; Red Elemental Blast; Dispel; Negate
Cut: Blasphemous Act; Propaganda; Vandalblast; Lightning Strike

- Add role cards: `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Dispel`, and `Negate` increase the chance that `Vivi Ornitier`, `Underworld Breach`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, or a lethal `Crackle with Power` resolves through stack pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature sweepers, combat deterrents, and narrow damage spells lose value when the key fight is on the stack. Keep `Cyclonic Rift`, `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Swan Song`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Deflecting Swat`, and `Narset's Reversal` as the main interactive spine.

Red Aggro / Red Removal Pressure
Side in: Hydroblast; Aetherize; Brotherhood's End
Cut: Windfall; Rhystic Study; Gamble

- Add role cards: `Hydroblast` protects engines from red interaction, `Aetherize` punishes attacks, and `Brotherhood's End` can reset small creatures or artifacts if Veles offers the right mode. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow card-advantage permanents and high-risk selection are less important than surviving to a protected commander or sweeper turn. Keep `Lightning Bolt`, `Pongify`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Propaganda`, `Cyclonic Rift`, and `Blasphemous Act` when creature pressure is visible.

Artifact Mana / Artifact Combo
Side in: Abrade; By Force; Brotherhood's End; Negate
Cut: Bulk Up; Commander's Plate; Red Mage's Rapier; Overpowering Attack

- Add role cards: `Abrade`, `By Force`, and `Brotherhood's End` attack artifact density while `Negate` covers noncreature payoff spells. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature-combat enhancements and equipment pressure are secondary when the opponent's mana or engine artifacts define the game. Preserve cheap cantrips and protection because the deck still wins by converting time into a spell-chain finish.

Creature Swarm / Combat-Centric Table
Side in: Aetherize; Brotherhood's End; Abrade
Cut: Spell Pierce; Gamble; Windfall

- Add role cards: `Aetherize` and `Brotherhood's End` buy large tempo swings, while `Abrade` handles a key small creature or artifact that survives the broad plan. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow early permission and risky tutor lines lose value when the visible board demands survival. Keep `Propaganda`, `Blasphemous Act`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Pongify`, and `Chaos Warp` available for board management.

Graveyard / Library-Permission Combo
Side in: Grafdigger's Cage; Negate; Dispel
Cut: Snapcaster Mage; Faithless Looting; Windfall

- Add role cards: `Grafdigger's Cage` pressures opposing graveyard or library permission, while `Negate` and `Dispel` protect the hate piece or stop the opposing payoff. Reduce main-deck emphasis: graveyard-value cards become less reliable when this deck voluntarily uses a cage effect. Keep `Underworld Breach` only when the matchup still requires explosive closing speed and Veles confirms legal lines are not blocked by the current battlefield.

Blue-Red Spell Combo Mirror
Side in: Pyroblast; Red Elemental Blast; Hydroblast; Dispel; Negate
Cut: Blasphemous Act; Propaganda; Commander's Plate; Red Mage's Rapier; Overpowering Attack

- Add role cards: color blasts and cheap permission maximize stack density while minimizing clunky combat cards. Reduce main-deck emphasis: equipment, pump, and creature-sweeper cards rarely decide a mirror where both decks race to protect a spell-chain turn. Prioritize holding mana over tapping low for `Rhystic Study` or `Ral, Crackling Wit` when the opponent can attempt a win on the next turn cycle.

Nonblue Permanent-Heavy Midrange
Side in: Abrade; Aetherize; Negate
Cut: Spell Pierce; Red Mage's Rapier; Gamble

- Add role cards: `Abrade` answers utility artifacts or small must-kill creatures, `Aetherize` punishes attack commitments, and `Negate` covers planeswalkers, sweepers, and noncreature engines. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow permission and fragile combat pressure lose value when the table asks Veles to answer mixed permanents, then win with a protected spell chain.

## Matchup Guidance

- Aggro decks: protect life total first, then pivot into a protected spell-chain turn once the board is contained. Keep hands with early blue or red mana, at least one cheap selection spell such as `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Opt`, `Consider`, or `Brainstorm`, and either interaction or acceleration from `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, or `Thought Vessel`. Spend `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Pongify`, `Into the Flood Maw`, and `Chaos Warp` on creatures that shorten the clock or stop blocks; avoid firing them at low-impact bodies when `Propaganda`, `Aetherize`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Brotherhood's End`, or `Blasphemous Act` can answer a wider board. Role cards are `Hydroblast`, `Aetherize`, and `Brotherhood's End`, with `Abrade` when a small creature or artifact is the pressure point. Reduce slow raw-card engines and risky one-card setup when the opening hand lacks defense.

- Control decks: fight over the engine turn, not every early resource exchange. Develop mana with `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, `Thought Vessel`, land drops, and cheap cantrips while holding `Spell Pierce`, `Swan Song`, `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Deflecting Swat`, `Narset's Reversal`, `Dispel`, or `Negate` for spells that stop `Vivi Ornitier`, `Underworld Breach`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Grapeshot`, or `Crackle with Power`. Role cards are `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Dispel`, and `Negate` against blue or noncreature-heavy tables. Reduce creature sweepers, combat-only enhancements, and damage removal unless a commander or planeswalker is visibly pressuring the game.

- Combo decks: identify whether the opposing combo is stack-based, graveyard-based, artifact-based, or creature-based before spending interaction. Hold `Counterspell`, `Swan Song`, `Arcane Denial`, `Spell Pierce`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Narset's Reversal`, `Deflecting Swat`, and `Negate` for the first visible payoff or protection spell rather than routine setup, unless the setup card is the only legal way the opponent can continue. Role cards are `Dispel` for instant-speed combo fights, `Negate` for noncreature payoffs, `Grafdigger's Cage` for graveyard or library-permission lines, and `Abrade`, `By Force`, or `Brotherhood's End` for artifact engines. Reduce creature combat equipment and slow table-tax permanents when the opponent can win without attacking.

- Tempo decks: trade mana efficiently and refuse exchanges that strand the deck with expensive payoffs in hand. Prioritize cheap plays, untapped blue mana, and action density over greedy keeps with only `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Prismari, the Inspiration`, `Crackle with Power`, or `Blasphemous Act`. Use `Into the Flood Maw`, `Pongify`, `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Spell Pierce`, `Swan Song`, and `Arcane Denial` to break their pressure-plus-protection pattern. Role cards are `Dispel`, `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, or `Hydroblast` according to opposing colors. Reduce high-cost setup that cannot be protected in the same turn cycle.

- Midrange decks: answer the permanent that converts time into inevitability, then go over the top with spell velocity. Keep `Rhystic Study`, `Faerie Mastermind`, `Stormchaser's Talent`, `Ral, Crackling Wit`, `Will of the Jeskai`, `Wan Shi Tong, Librarian`, and `Big Score` when the table is not immediately threatening lethal pressure, but do not let value engines delay a necessary `Cyclonic Rift`, `Blasphemous Act`, `Chaos Warp`, or `Pongify`. Role cards are `Negate` for planeswalkers and noncreature engines, `Abrade` for artifact creatures or utility artifacts, and `Aetherize` if attacks decide combat. Reduce narrow stack taxes if the opponent wins through battlefield attrition.

- Big mana decks: disrupt the payoff window and build toward a faster protected kill. Treat early ramp as important only when Veles shows that stopping it materially changes the opponent's next turn; otherwise save `Counterspell`, `Swan Song`, `Arcane Denial`, `Spell Pierce`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Narset's Reversal`, and `Negate` for the payoff spell. Pressure with `Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer`, `Vivi Ornitier`, `Haughty Djinn`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, or equipment only when doing so does not expose the engine turn. Role cards are `Negate`, `By Force`, `Abrade`, and `Brotherhood's End` when the ramp is artifact-heavy. Reduce small burn aimed at life totals unless it contributes to a deterministic `Grapeshot` or `Crackle with Power` finish.

- Graveyard decks: stop the graveyard engine without forgetting that this deck also uses graveyard resources. Role cards are `Grafdigger's Cage`, `Negate`, and `Dispel` when opposing recursion or library permission is central. Reduce `Snapcaster Mage`, `Faithless Looting`, and speculative `Underworld Breach` lines if `Grafdigger's Cage` is on the battlefield and Veles shows those lines are constrained. Use `Counterspell`, `Swan Song`, `Arcane Denial`, and `Spell Pierce` on enablers only when the payoff is already present or the enabler immediately creates a lethal or locking state.

- Artifact or enchantment decks: separate mana artifacts from payoff artifacts before choosing removal. Use `Vandalblast`, `Abrade`, `By Force`, `Brotherhood's End`, `Cyclonic Rift`, and `Chaos Warp` to break clusters, but preserve single-target interaction for permanents that block `Underworld Breach`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Vivi Ornitier`, or lethal damage. Role cards are `Abrade`, `By Force`, `Brotherhood's End`, and `Negate`. Reduce combat buffs and equipment if the opposing engine ignores combat. For enchantments, rely on `Chaos Warp`, `Cyclonic Rift`, stack interaction, and winning before the lock deepens.

- Go-wide creature decks: make them commit before spending the broad answer unless life total or commander damage forces action now. `Propaganda`, `Aetherize`, `Brotherhood's End`, `Cyclonic Rift`, and `Blasphemous Act` are the main stabilizers; `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Pongify`, and `Into the Flood Maw` should buy time against lords, token engines, or attackers that create lethal math. Role cards are `Aetherize`, `Brotherhood's End`, and `Abrade` for artifact-token support. Reduce one-for-one permission that cannot stop the board already in play.

- Single-threat decks: answer the threat cleanly and avoid overcommitting sweepers. Save `Pongify`, `Chaos Warp`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, and `Swan Song` for the commander, aura or equipment payoff, or protection spell that makes the threat hard to answer. `Commander's Plate`, `Conqueror's Flail`, `Sword of Feast and Famine`, `Red Mage's Rapier`, `Bulk Up`, `Overpowering Attack`, and `Secret Tunnel` can become a pressure plan if the opposing threat is contained. Role cards are `Aetherize` against attack-committed lines, `Abrade` against equipment, and color blasts when the threat or protection is blue or red. Reduce full sweepers unless multiple bodies appear.

- Burn decks: preserve life and do not pay life casually for marginal velocity. Fetch or pain-land choices from `Scalding Tarn`, `Fiery Islet`, and `Shivan Reef` should be made with lethal ranges in mind, and `Rhystic Study`, `Windfall`, or slow equipment lines should not delay stabilizing interaction. Role cards are `Hydroblast`, `Dispel`, `Negate`, `Aetherize`, and `Brotherhood's End` according to whether burn is spell-heavy, creature-heavy, or artifact-assisted. Reduce slow value permanents and risky tutor decisions when the hand lacks immediate protection.

- Removal-heavy decks: force them to answer redundant engines while protecting the one that matters. Do not expose `Vivi Ornitier`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Goblin Electromancer`, `Haughty Djinn`, `Spark Double`, or `Prismari, the Inspiration` without a reason to accept removal; use `Essence Flux`, `Splash Portal`, `Deflecting Swat`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Swan Song`, `Counterspell`, `Dispel`, and `Negate` only when the protected permanent or spell is tied to the next decisive turn. Role cards are `Dispel`, `Negate`, `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, or `Hydroblast` according to removal colors. Reduce fragile combat enhancement unless the route to victory is commander damage or an equipped protected threat.

## Specific Matchup Notes

- General/archetype-only note: exact opponents are not supplied, so revealed cards, commander identity, public zones, and Veles legal-action output override all matchup assumptions. Use this section as priority targeting and likely sideboard-role guidance, not as hidden-information certainty.

- Blue control: protect the first decisive engine turn instead of fighting every card. Priority targets are opposing counters on `Underworld Breach`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Crackle with Power`, `Grapeshot`, `Vivi Ornitier`, or a protected `Storm-Kiln Artist` turn; lower priority is routine card draw if the hand already has pressure. Role cards are `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Dispel`, and `Negate`. Reduce creature removal with no visible targets and slow combat-only enhancement.

- Red removal or burn: preserve life and protect the creature that turns spells into lethal pressure. Priority targets are burn pointed at `Vivi Ornitier`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Goblin Electromancer`, or `Haughty Djinn`, plus damage engines that compress the clock. Role cards are `Hydroblast`, `Dispel`, `Negate`, and `Brotherhood's End` when small creatures or artifacts matter. Reduce painful velocity from `Fiery Islet` or `Shivan Reef` when life total is already under pressure.

- Creature swarm: make the opponent commit enough battlefield material before using the reset, unless current attacks threaten lethal or commander damage. Priority targets are anthem effects, haste engines, token engines, and protection that stops `Blasphemous Act`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Aetherize`, or `Brotherhood's End`. Role cards are `Aetherize`, `Brotherhood's End`, and `Abrade` when artifacts or small creatures are visible. Reduce narrow permission after the battlefield is already the losing axis.

- Artifact engine: separate mana acceleration from payoff before spending removal. Priority targets are artifacts that produce multiple mana, protect an opposing combo, prevent graveyard or spell-chain wins, or threaten immediate lethal; do not spend `Vandalblast`, `Abrade`, `By Force`, or `Brotherhood's End` on a low-impact artifact if `Underworld Breach` or `Thousand-Year Storm` is close to resolving. Role cards are `Abrade`, `By Force`, `Brotherhood's End`, and `Negate`. Reduce single-target burn aimed at life totals.

- Graveyard or recursion: respect that this deck also wants graveyard access through `Snapcaster Mage`, `Faithless Looting`, `Flashback`, and `Underworld Breach`. Priority targets are recursive payoffs, reanimation spells, escape-style engines, and cards that convert a stocked graveyard into immediate board or combo presence. Role cards are `Grafdigger's Cage`, `Negate`, and `Dispel`. Reduce graveyard-dependent lines when `Grafdigger's Cage` is visible under your control or another public effect blocks the line.

- Big mana or ramp: distinguish ramp that merely advances mana from payoff spells that win or lock the game. Priority targets are noncreature haymakers, artifact mana clusters that create a decisive jump, and protection for a major payoff. Role cards are `Negate`, `By Force`, `Abrade`, and `Brotherhood's End` when artifact acceleration is central. Reduce small burn and combat enhancement unless they create a fast protected clock.

- Enchantment or planeswalker engines: this sideboard does not contain a clean enchantment removal card, so prioritize stack interaction and tempo. Priority targets are the engine spell on the stack, planeswalkers that generate repeated cards or mana, and lock pieces that prevent `Underworld Breach`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, or `Vivi Ornitier` from functioning. Role cards are `Negate` and, when blue is involved, `Pyroblast` or `Red Elemental Blast`. Preserve `Chaos Warp` and `Cyclonic Rift` for resolved permanents.

- Single large threat or commander-damage deck: answer the protected threat, not the filler around it. Priority targets are the commander, evasion or protection equipment, aura-equivalent pressure, and stack protection on the decisive attack. Role cards are `Aetherize`, `Abrade`, `Negate`, and color blasts when the threat or protection is red or blue. Reduce sweepers unless multiple attackers force them.

- Blue-red spell combo mirror: every mana and stack exchange matters. Priority targets are `Underworld Breach`, storm payoffs, copied spells, cost reducers, and protection on the opponent's decisive turn. Role cards are `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Hydroblast`, `Dispel`, and `Negate`. Reduce creature sweepers, combat equipment, and pump unless Veles shows a credible commander-damage route.

- Nonblue creature-midrange: win by stabilizing the board, then overpowering with spell velocity. Priority targets are utility creatures, artifact engines, and attacks that force this deck below safe life thresholds before it can chain spells. Role cards are `Abrade`, `Aetherize`, `Brotherhood's End`, and sometimes `Negate` for planeswalkers or sweepers. Reduce narrow color blasts and stack-only cards unless public information shows the game will turn on a noncreature spell.

## Risk Summary

- Mana risk: the deck needs early blue and red while also supporting colorless artifacts and expensive closers. Keep decisions should punish hands that cannot cast cheap selection plus interaction, and runtime sequencing should avoid using `Shivan Reef`, `Fiery Islet`, or `Scalding Tarn` life payments casually against pressure.

- Matchup risk: the deck can misidentify whether it is the control deck or the combo deck. Against faster boards, `Propaganda`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Blasphemous Act`, `Pongify`, and `Into the Flood Maw` buy the turn needed to win; against slow decks, over-answering minor threats may leave `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Underworld Breach`, or `Crackle with Power` unprotected.

- Draw risk: cantrip-heavy hands can look functional while lacking a payoff, protection, or stabilizer. `Brainstorm`, `Consider`, `Opt`, `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Faithless Looting`, `Frantic Search`, and `Windfall` should improve a defined plan, not replace the need for mana, interaction, or a closer.

- Over-sideboarding risk: adding too many reactive sideboard cards can dilute storm density and commander pressure. Use `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Hydroblast`, `Dispel`, `Negate`, `Abrade`, `By Force`, `Aetherize`, `Grafdigger's Cage`, and `Brotherhood's End` only when visible colors, commanders, or public game actions make their role live.

- Graveyard risk: `Grafdigger's Cage` and opposing graveyard hate may restrict `Snapcaster Mage`, `Flashback`, and `Underworld Breach` lines. Check visible static effects before committing discard, tutor, or storm sequencing that assumes graveyard access.

- Sweeper/removal risk: `Blasphemous Act`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Brotherhood's End`, and `Aetherize` can conflict with your own creature-engine board. Before casting them, compare survival needs against losing `Vivi Ornitier`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Goblin Electromancer`, or `Haughty Djinn`.

- Closer risk: `Grapeshot`, `Crackle with Power`, commander damage, and combat equipment require different setup. Do not pivot into `Commander's Plate`, `Conqueror's Flail`, `Red Mage's Rapier`, `Sword of Feast and Famine`, `Bulk Up`, `Overpowering Attack`, or `Secret Tunnel` unless the visible board and legal actions support a damage route.

- Interaction risk: free or cheap protection can be spent too early. Save `Deflecting Swat`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Swan Song`, `Spell Pierce`, `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, and `Narset's Reversal` for spells that decide the turn cycle, stop a protected kill, or defend the committed engine.

- Sequencing risk: storm and spell-copy turns punish premature land use, tutor use, and mana spending. Resolve selection before irreversible commitments when legal, float or preserve mana only when Veles shows legal follow-up actions, and treat unfamiliar cards such as `Vivi Ornitier`, `Airship Engine Room`, `Emeritus of Conflict`, `Cool but Rude`, `Flow State`, `Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor`, `Irma, Part-Time Mutant`, `Wan Shi Tong, Librarian`, `Will of the Jeskai`, and `Prismari, the Inspiration` as Card text check required if their exact text is not available at runtime.

## Test Feedback Checklist

- Deciding factor: identify whether the game was won or lost by spell volume, commander pressure, a copied-spell engine, protected interaction, battlefield stabilization, or failure to close after a stable turn. Note whether `Vivi Ornitier`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Underworld Breach`, `Crackle with Power`, `Grapeshot`, or equipment damage was the actual path that mattered.

- Mulligans: record whether the opening hand had both early colored mana and a plan before the first selection spell. Flag keeps that relied on `Brainstorm`, `Ponder`, `Preordain`, `Opt`, `Consider`, `Faithless Looting`, or `Frantic Search` to find both mana and payoff.

- Mana: check whether `Command Tower`, `Exotic Orchard`, `Shivan Reef`, `Stormcarved Coast`, `Training Center`, `Thriving Bluff`, `Thriving Isle`, `Path of Ancestry`, `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, or `Thought Vessel` enabled the intended turn, or whether color strain delayed protection or payoff.

- Velocity: ask whether cheap card flow improved a defined plan or merely spent mana without changing the game. Mark turns where `Windfall`, `Big Score`, `Faithless Looting`, `Frantic Search`, or repeated cantrips stocked the graveyard for `Snapcaster Mage`, `Flashback`, and `Underworld Breach`, and mark turns where that graveyard was not exploitable.

- Engine timing: identify the exact turn the pilot committed to `Vivi Ornitier`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Rhystic Study`, `Ral, Crackling Wit`, `Prismari, the Inspiration`, or `Haughty Djinn`. Ask whether waiting one turn for `Swan Song`, `Spell Pierce`, `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Deflecting Swat`, or `Narset's Reversal` would have changed the outcome.

- Removal and reset use: evaluate whether `Lightning Bolt`, `Lightning Strike`, `Pongify`, `Chaos Warp`, `Into the Flood Maw`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Vandalblast`, or `Blasphemous Act` hit the permanent or stack state that actually mattered. Flag removal spent on low-impact targets before a commander, combo piece, protection permanent, or lethal attacker appeared.

- Combat and closing: record whether damage lines with `Commander's Plate`, `Conqueror's Flail`, `Red Mage's Rapier`, `Sword of Feast and Famine`, `Bulk Up`, `Overpowering Attack`, `Secret Tunnel`, or `Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer` were real closers or distractions from spell-combo setup.

- Sideboard impact: ask whether each used sideboard card had a live target or timing window. Review `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Hydroblast`, `Abrade`, `By Force`, `Aetherize`, `Dispel`, `Negate`, `Grafdigger's Cage`, and `Brotherhood's End` for drawn-but-dead, decisive, or overreactive roles.

- Role accuracy: decide whether the pilot correctly chose control, combo, or pressure for the matchup and board state. Flag turns where the deck protected life total when it should have forced a win, or chased storm while `Propaganda`, `Cyclonic Rift`, or `Blasphemous Act` was needed to survive.

- Mistakes and stranded cards: list cards that stayed uncast because of mana, timing, missing targets, rules restrictions, or Card text check required uncertainty. Pay special attention to `Airship Engine Room`, `Emeritus of Conflict`, `Cool but Rude`, `Flow State`, `Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor`, `Irma, Part-Time Mutant`, `Wan Shi Tong, Librarian`, `Will of the Jeskai`, and `Prismari, the Inspiration`.

- Overperformers and underperformers: name the exact cards that changed decisions, not only final board states. Separate cards that were strong because they resolved from cards that were strong because they forced the opponent to respect open mana.

## First Tuning Questions

- Mana base: is the deck losing more to color access, total mana, or life paid to `Shivan Reef`, `Fiery Islet`, `Scalding Tarn`, and other painful sequencing? If early blue-red access is unreliable, test whether more untapped dual access is worth more than utility lands such as `Fountainport`, `Reliquary Tower`, or `Secret Tunnel`.

- Acceleration package: are `Sol Ring`, `Arcane Signet`, `Izzet Signet`, `Thought Vessel`, `Goblin Electromancer`, and cost-reduction or mana-generation creatures enough to support `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Crackle with Power`, `Prismari, the Inspiration`, and large storm turns? If expensive closers strand often, tune toward either more mana or fewer top-end commitments.

- Engine density: does the deck find a real payoff often enough after early selection? If games stall after cantrips, reassess the balance between `Vivi Ornitier`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Harmonic Prodigy`, `Veyran, Voice of Duality`, `Underworld Breach`, `Ral, Crackling Wit`, `Haughty Djinn`, and slower value pieces.

- Protection density: are `Swan Song`, `Spell Pierce`, `Counterspell`, `Arcane Denial`, `Fierce Guardianship`, `Deflecting Swat`, `Narset's Reversal`, `Dispel`, and `Negate` enough to force through the decisive engine? If combo turns fail to one answer, tune toward more protection or lower-commitment win lines.

- Removal balance: is the deck losing to wide boards, single commanders, artifacts, or stack interaction? If wide boards dominate, prioritize plans involving `Propaganda`, `Cyclonic Rift`, `Blasphemous Act`, `Aetherize`, and `Brotherhood's End`; if artifacts dominate, test whether `Vandalblast`, `Abrade`, `By Force`, and `Chaos Warp` are enough.

- Graveyard tension: does `Grafdigger's Cage` win enough post-board games to justify weakening `Snapcaster Mage`, `Flashback`, `Faithless Looting`, and `Underworld Breach` lines? If self-hate appears frequently, define stricter matchup rules for when `Grafdigger's Cage` is worth the conflict.

- Closing plan: are wins coming from `Grapeshot`, `Crackle with Power`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, commander damage, creature combat, or opponent concessions to protected engines? If closers are split too thinly, tune toward the path that converts the most stable boards into actual wins.

- Role conflict: does equipment pressure with `Commander's Plate`, `Conqueror's Flail`, `Red Mage's Rapier`, and `Sword of Feast and Famine` support the spell plan, or does it consume mana that should protect engines? If combat plans underperform, reduce emphasis on damage-only lines in pilot policy before changing cards.

- Sideboard slots: which sideboard cards were repeatedly live across matchups, and which required too narrow a board state? Reevaluate `Pyroblast`, `Red Elemental Blast`, `Hydroblast`, `Abrade`, `By Force`, `Aetherize`, `Dispel`, `Negate`, `Grafdigger's Cage`, and `Brotherhood's End` by actual drawn-game impact, not theoretical coverage.

## Veles Tactical Policy

### Policy: Opening Hand Functional Core
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan; pregame
Cards: Vivi Ornitier; Sol Ring; Arcane Signet; Izzet Signet; Thought Vessel; Brainstorm; Ponder; Preordain; Consider; Opt; Faithless Looting
Phase windows: opening hand; mulligan decisions
Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; visible:opening hand
Use when: deciding keep or mulligan from the complete visible opening hand.
Avoid when: runtime has already moved past opening hand selection.
Instructions: Keep hands with two or more mana sources, at least one blue source or selection spell, and either acceleration, protection, or a defined engine path. Ship hands that cannot cast early spells, cannot access blue-red mana, or contain only expensive payoffs without selection or ramp.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Early Commander And Engine Setup
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana; priority; selection
Cards: Vivi Ornitier; Goblin Electromancer; Storm-Kiln Artist; Harmonic Prodigy; Veyran, Voice of Duality; Rhystic Study; Stormchaser's Talent
Phase windows: turns 1-4 main phases; early priority windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Vivi Ornitier; action:cast Goblin Electromancer; action:cast Storm-Kiln Artist; action:cast Rhystic Study
Use when: choosing the first proactive permanent that makes later spell chains stronger.
Avoid when: an opposing lethal clock, must-answer permanent, or open interaction makes tapping out materially unsafe.
Instructions: Develop the cheapest engine that leaves the next turn functional. Prefer mana and spell-scaling permanents before expensive payoff turns; preserve interaction if the visible opponent board can punish a tapped-out commander or engine.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Mana Rock Sequencing
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana
Cards: Sol Ring; Arcane Signet; Izzet Signet; Thought Vessel
Phase windows: precombat main; postcombat main
Runtime cues: action:cast Sol Ring; action:cast Arcane Signet; action:cast Izzet Signet; action:cast Thought Vessel
Use when: a listed mana artifact is legal to cast and the turn has no mandatory interaction prompt.
Avoid when: casting the artifact prevents a required counterspell, removal spell, or commander-protection action this turn.
Instructions: Deploy acceleration before optional cantrips when the extra mana changes the same turn or next turn. Prefer color-fixing rocks when colored mana is constrained; prefer `Sol Ring` when color is already covered.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Cantrip Land And Payoff Selection
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection; mana
Cards: Brainstorm; Ponder; Preordain; Consider; Opt; Faithless Looting; Frantic Search
Phase windows: main phases; end steps with instant-speed selection
Runtime cues: action:cast Brainstorm; action:cast Ponder; action:cast Preordain; action:cast Consider; action:cast Opt
Use when: selection is legal and the hand needs land drops, protection, engine density, or a payoff.
Avoid when: casting selection consumes mana needed for visible stack interaction or a required defensive spell.
Instructions: Select for the next bottleneck, not generic card quantity. Prioritize missing land or color first, protection before a commitment turn second, and payoff or recursion third.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combo Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority; mana; selection
Cards: Thousand-Year Storm; Underworld Breach; Storm-Kiln Artist; Veyran, Voice of Duality; Harmonic Prodigy; Grapeshot; Crackle with Power
Phase windows: main phases with priority; storm or recursion setup turns
Runtime cues: action:cast Thousand-Year Storm; action:cast Underworld Breach; action:cast Grapeshot; action:cast Crackle with Power
Use when: choosing whether to start the decisive spell-chain or wait.
Avoid when: visible mana, hand, graveyard, storm count, or protection is insufficient to advance after the first engine spell.
Instructions: Commit only when the visible resources support follow-up spells, protection, or immediate payoff. Account for graveyard access, floating mana, cost reducers, treasure-like mana if exposed by the engine, and opposing open interaction before starting.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Grapeshot Finish
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Grapeshot
Phase windows: main phase payoff resolution; stack target prompts
Runtime cues: action:target opponent Grapeshot
Use when: the legal action text targets an opponent with `Grapeshot` and visible copied or pending damage is enough to reduce that opponent to 0 or less life.
Avoid when: visible prevention, redirection, replacement, or target restriction text changes the damage outcome.
Instructions: Select the opponent target when lethal damage is visible from the legal action text and public life totals. Do not infer hidden prevention or unshown replacement effects.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Deterministic Crackle Finish
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; mana; priority
Cards: Crackle with Power
Phase windows: main phase payoff casting; target prompts
Runtime cues: action:target opponent Crackle with Power
Use when: the legal action text targets an opponent with `Crackle with Power` and visible X, mana paid, and public life total show lethal damage.
Avoid when: the legal action text does not expose enough damage or target information to prove lethal.
Instructions: Choose the opponent target only when lethal is visible from public numbers. Route all X-size, multi-target, and nonlethal allocation choices through reasoning.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Permission Spending Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Counterspell; Arcane Denial; Spell Pierce; Swan Song; Fierce Guardianship; Deflecting Swat; Narset's Reversal; Dispel; Negate; Pyroblast; Red Elemental Blast; Hydroblast
Phase windows: stack interaction windows; opponent main phases; combo protection windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Counterspell; action:cast Arcane Denial; action:cast Swan Song; action:cast Fierce Guardianship; action:cast Deflecting Swat
Use when: a legal stack-interaction action is available against a visible spell or ability.
Avoid when: the visible stack object is low impact and spending permission would expose a higher-value engine or survival window.
Instructions: Counter or redirect spells that stop the decisive engine, remove the commander or payoff, create lethal pressure, or resolve an opposing win. Preserve narrow permission for the card type or color it can actually answer.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Removal And Bounce Targeting
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Lightning Bolt; Lightning Strike; Pongify; Chaos Warp; Into the Flood Maw; Cyclonic Rift; Vandalblast; Blasphemous Act; Abrade; By Force; Brotherhood's End
Phase windows: priority windows; combat setup; emergency main phases
Runtime cues: action:cast Lightning Bolt; action:cast Pongify; action:cast Chaos Warp; action:cast Cyclonic Rift; action:cast Blasphemous Act
Use when: removal, bounce, artifact hate, or sweepers are legal against visible permanents.
Avoid when: the target choice depends on unknown hidden cards rather than visible board pressure or engine disruption.
Instructions: Spend spot interaction on permanents that threaten lethal, stop the combo, lock mana, or invalidate commander turns. Save sweepers for boards where the reset changes survival or opens a winning follow-up.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Commander Protection Equipment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: mana; combat; priority
Cards: Commander's Plate; Conqueror's Flail; Red Mage's Rapier; Sword of Feast and Famine
Phase windows: main phases; equip windows; precombat
Runtime cues: action:equip Commander's Plate; action:equip Conqueror's Flail; action:equip Red Mage's Rapier; action:equip Sword of Feast and Famine
Use when: an equip action is legal and the equipped creature can attack, survive, protect a combo turn, or pressure planeswalkers.
Avoid when: equip mana prevents casting interaction, selection, or a more important engine spell this turn.
Instructions: Use equipment to protect a key creature or create a credible combat clock, not as automatic mana spending. `Conqueror's Flail` is most important when it can constrain opposing interaction during a future spell-chain.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Combat Pressure And Safe Attacks
Priority: Medium
Decision families: combat
Cards: Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer; Vivi Ornitier; Haughty Djinn; Commander's Plate; Red Mage's Rapier; Sword of Feast and Famine; Bulk Up; Overpowering Attack; Secret Tunnel
Phase windows: beginning of combat; declare attackers; combat tricks
Runtime cues: prompt:declare attackers; action:cast Bulk Up; action:activate Secret Tunnel
Use when: deciding attacks, pump, evasion, or equipment-pressure lines from visible attackers and blockers.
Avoid when: combat requires predicting hidden tricks or sacrificing a core engine for nonlethal damage.
Instructions: Attack when damage advances commander pressure, resource triggers, planeswalker pressure, or lethal setup without exposing the only engine. Hold creatures back when life total, blocker duty, or combo continuity matters more than chip damage.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Flicker And Protection Targeting
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction; priority
Cards: Essence Flux; Splash Portal; Snapcaster Mage; Spark Double
Phase windows: stack response windows; main phase target prompts
Runtime cues: action:cast Essence Flux; action:cast Splash Portal; action:target Snapcaster Mage; action:target Spark Double
Use when: a blink, copy, or recursion-related target prompt is legal.
Avoid when: the target choice depends on evaluating several visible creatures or future spell access.
Instructions: Route target selection through light-model unless the legal action exposes an exact single target that preserves a commander, reuses a known spell, or copies the already selected engine plan. Do not assume enter-the-battlefield text for uncertain cards; use Card text check required where needed.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Wheel And Refill Timing
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection; priority
Cards: Windfall; Big Score; Rhystic Study; Faerie Mastermind; Wan Shi Tong, Librarian; Ral, Crackling Wit
Phase windows: main phases; opponent draw windows where legal
Runtime cues: action:cast Windfall; action:cast Big Score; action:cast Rhystic Study; action:cast Faerie Mastermind
Use when: choosing between refill, draw-engine deployment, and holding cards.
Avoid when: the current hand already contains a protected win attempt or when refilling opponents is visibly dangerous.
Instructions: Refill when hand size, mana, and graveyard conversion improve the next turn cycle. Prefer persistent draw engines in slower games and burst draw when digging for protection or payoff this turn.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Defensive Survival Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction; combat; priority
Cards: Propaganda; Cyclonic Rift; Blasphemous Act; Aetherize; Brotherhood's End; Lightning Bolt; Lightning Strike; Pongify; Chaos Warp
Phase windows: opponent combat; precombat main; emergency priority windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Aetherize; action:cast Cyclonic Rift; action:cast Blasphemous Act; prompt:declare blockers
Use when: visible attackers, board damage, or next-turn pressure can kill the pilot before a combo turn.
Avoid when: life total and blockers can absorb the visible attack without losing the engine or payoff path.
Instructions: Choose survival over setup when the visible board threatens lethal or leaves no next turn. Prefer the cheapest answer that preserves a future protected combo or stabilizing draw engine.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Sideboard Configuration Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Pyroblast; Red Elemental Blast; Hydroblast; Abrade; By Force; Aetherize; Dispel; Negate; Grafdigger's Cage; Brotherhood's End
Phase windows: pregame sideboarding; between games
Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; match_context:post-board; opponent_archetype; public_game_history
Use when: sideboard choices are requested from the registered ten-card sideboard inventory.
Avoid when: no matchup evidence, public game history, commander identity, or opponent archetype context supports changing the baseline configuration.
Instructions: Add narrow cards only for matchups with visible targets, color identity, stack fights, artifact density, graveyard reliance, or combat pressure they can answer. Respect anti-synergy: `Grafdigger's Cage` can conflict with `Snapcaster Mage`, `Flashback`, and `Underworld Breach`, so require opposing graveyard or library-permission pressure before using it. Preserve spell velocity unless the added card directly improves the axis that decides the game.
Pilot skill floor: medium
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Exact Sideboard Lock Submission
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Pyroblast; Red Elemental Blast; Hydroblast; Abrade; By Force; Aetherize; Dispel; Negate; Grafdigger's Cage; Brotherhood's End; Blasphemous Act; Propaganda; Vandalblast; Lightning Strike; Windfall; Rhystic Study; Gamble; Bulk Up; Commander's Plate; Red Mage's Rapier; Overpowering Attack; Spell Pierce; Snapcaster Mage; Faithless Looting
Phase windows: sideboard plan submission
Runtime cues: action:submit sideboard plan; validation:registered_110; validation:balanced_exchange
Use when: the selected configuration names only registered sideboard cards as additions and only registered main-deck cards as removals, with equal counts.
Avoid when: any card name, count, or zone origin is absent from the registered inventory, or when the exchange would break the 100-card main deck plus 10-card sideboard contract.
Instructions: Submit the already selected legal plan without changing card names or counts. Do not invent extra exchanges during the submission step. If Veles reports a validation error, prefer the closest listed concrete plan whose names and counts validate exactly.
Pilot skill floor: low
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes

### Policy: Narrow Interaction Deployment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: sideboard; priority; selection; mana
Cards: Pyroblast; Red Elemental Blast; Hydroblast; Dispel; Negate; Abrade; By Force; Aetherize; Brotherhood's End; Grafdigger's Cage
Phase windows: opening hand; main phases; combat; opposing combo turns; protected engine turns
Runtime cues: legal_action:cast Pyroblast; legal_action:cast Red Elemental Blast; legal_action:cast Hydroblast; legal_action:cast Dispel; legal_action:cast Negate; legal_action:cast Abrade; legal_action:cast By Force; legal_action:cast Aetherize; legal_action:cast Brotherhood's End; legal_action:cast Grafdigger's Cage
Use when: the sideboard card answers a visible spell, permanent, attack, graveyard engine, artifact cluster, or protected combo window that is likely to decide the game.
Avoid when: the card has no legal target, the visible threat is low-impact, or spending the card now exposes `Vivi Ornitier`, `Underworld Breach`, `Thousand-Year Storm`, `Storm-Kiln Artist`, `Grapeshot`, or `Crackle with Power` to the actual decisive interaction.
Instructions: Treat blasts and cheap counters as shields for decisive spell-chain turns or as interruption for opposing win attempts. Treat artifact and creature answers as time-buying tools that create a safer window for the engine turn. Treat `Grafdigger's Cage` as symmetrical pressure and re-check Veles legal actions before relying on graveyard lines.
Pilot skill floor: high
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
