Woodlands Omniscience is registered as a Historic 60-card main deck with a 15-card sideboard, and the supplied format-aware validation result says the list passes the active deck-count and sideboard-size contract. Treat this guide as specific to the registered version: 4 Omniscience, 4 Shifting Woodland, 3 God-Pharaoh's Gift, 2 Atraxa, Grand Unifier, 2 Ulamog, the Defiler, 1 Emrakul, the World Anew, and a red-green graveyard-selection shell built from Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Cathartic Pyre, Satyr Wayfinder, Seed of Hope, and Smuggler's Surprise.
Use the current tags `combo` and `ramp`, but pilot the deck as a graveyard-enabled cheat deck rather than a normal fair ramp deck. The list appears designed to load premium permanents or threats into the graveyard, convert Shifting Woodland or other engine pieces into a decisive Omniscience / God-Pharaoh's Gift / giant-creature line, and use selection spells to find the missing resource rather than simply curve out. Card text check required for exact Shifting Woodland, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, A-Haywire Mite, Artillery Enthusiast, and digital Historic variants before relying on non-obvious rules text.
Classify Woodlands Omniscience as a rogue or hybrid combo-ramp strategy, not a stock Historic archetype with fully standardized sideboard rules. Runtime decisions should lean on visible legal actions from Veles first, then this deck plan, because small differences in engine card text, graveyard contents, and available mana can completely change whether the deck is supposed to commit, wait, discard, tutor, or defend.
Validate the mana base as intentionally lean and engine-focused: 2 Cragcrown Pathway, 2 Mountain, 2 Boseiju, Who Endures, 3 Forest, 4 Shifting Woodland, 4 Stomping Ground, and 4 Prismatic Vista give 21 lands, with green as the setup color and red as the discard/removal color. The pilot should flag opening hands that cannot cast green selection early, cannot produce red for Faithless Looting or Cathartic Pyre when those are the hand's only velocity, or rely on Shifting Woodland without enough supporting graveyard and mana context. Boseiju, Who Endures is both a land and interaction slot, so do not spend it as a land automatically when the opponent has visible artifact, enchantment, or land-based pressure and the rest of the hand already functions.
Treat role clarity as the main legality-adjacent concern: the deck contains huge spells and cheat targets that may be uncastable or low-tempo without Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Smuggler's Surprise, or Shifting Woodland access. A decision agent should not assume a visible Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew is castable just because it is in hand; it must inspect the legal action list, available mana, graveyard, and battlefield before choosing a line.
Record opponent information status as unknown at deck-registration time. Until matchup context is supplied by Veles, pilot with broad Historic assumptions only: protect the graveyard plan against visible graveyard hate, respect visible counterspell or removal pressure only when public information supports it, and avoid naming opponent cards in executable policy unless Veles has revealed them or they are prefixed as metagame examples outside `Cards:` fields.
Woodlands Omniscience assembles a graveyard-stocked cheat engine that converts selection spells, Shifting Woodland, Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, and Smuggler's Surprise into battlefield-breaking turns. The deck is not trying to play a fair midrange game or hard-cast every huge spell on curve; it is trying to make the graveyard, land drops, and engine permanents line up so Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew can take over through legal engine actions.
Prioritize green setup before red filtering when the hand has both colors available, because Traverse the Ulvenwald, Malevolent Rumble, Cache Grab, Satyr Wayfinder, Seed of Hope, and Shifting Woodland all point toward the deck's main resource: a graveyard and battlefield that make engine lines legal. Prioritize red filtering when the hand contains stranded payoffs or duplicated expensive cards, because Faithless Looting and Cathartic Pyre can turn uncastable cards into graveyard fuel while digging toward the missing engine piece.
Treat Omniscience as the highest-ceiling payoff, not a card to expose without a follow-up when waiting is legal and survivable. A legal Omniscience line matters most when the hand already contains or can immediately find Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or enough velocity to continue after resolution.
Treat Shifting Woodland as the deck's defining land-engine card, but verify legal actions and visible graveyard contents before committing. Card text check required for exact Shifting Woodland execution; tactically, the pilot should value graveyard diversity, permanent-card quality in the graveyard, and enough untapped mana to activate or exploit the copied engine only when Veles shows the action is legal.
Treat God-Pharaoh's Gift and Smuggler's Surprise as alternate cheat channels when Omniscience is absent, countered, discarded, or too slow. Card text check required for exact Smuggler's Surprise mode and timing rules; use it conditionally as a way to convert large creatures in hand into pressure or protection only when the legal action text supports that line.
Avoid spending interaction merely because it is legal. Cathartic Pyre, Boseiju, Who Endures, A-Haywire Mite, Artillery Enthusiast, Fiery Impulse, Shove Aside, Cinderclasm, Ghost Vacuum, Alpine Moon, and Bojuka Bog all need visible targets or a concrete survival/permission reason; the deck loses equity when it trades setup time for low-impact answers that do not protect the combo turn or prevent lethal pressure.
- Threats: Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, and Emrakul, the World Anew are the main game-ending bodies, and they should be valued as cheat targets, Omniscience follow-ups, graveyard resources, or emergency legal casts only when Veles confirms the action. Do not assume their cast triggers, attack triggers, protection, reshuffle behavior, or exact combat text without a card text check and legal runtime prompt.
- Payoffs: Omniscience is the primary payoff because it can turn expensive hand contents into immediate action chains, while God-Pharaoh's Gift is the repeatable battlefield payoff when creature cards are available in the graveyard. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite from the sideboard is a matchup payoff for creature-board games, but card text check required before relying on exact anthem or shrink outcomes.
- Engines: Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Monster Manual, and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker are the engine module. Shifting Woodland asks for stocked graveyards and mana discipline; God-Pharaoh's Gift asks for creature-card setup; Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion asks for graveyard spell context; Monster Manual asks for high-impact creature cards in hand; Fable of the Mirror-Breaker asks for slower-game filtering and material.
- Velocity: Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Satyr Wayfinder, Seed of Hope, and Cathartic Pyre are the consistency shell. Their tactical job is to find land, fill the graveyard, locate Shifting Woodland or engine permanents, discard expensive payoffs when useful, and avoid keeping hands that only contain finishers with no path to deploy them.
- Interaction: Cathartic Pyre and Boseiju, Who Endures are the main-deck flexible interaction, with A-Haywire Mite and Artillery Enthusiast as narrow or conditional interactive bodies. Sideboard interaction is Ghost Vacuum, Alpine Moon, Fiery Impulse, Shove Aside, A-Haywire Mite, Cinderclasm, and Bojuka Bog; use these to answer visible graveyard pressure, creature pressure, artifact/enchantment pressure, land-based engines, or stack/target interaction only when the legal action and matchup role justify slowing the engine.
- Protection: Smuggler's Surprise and Shove Aside are the named protection module, but exact protection modes require card text checks and legal-action confirmation. Use protection to force through a decisive engine turn, preserve a game-winning threat, or survive removal-heavy pressure rather than to save a replaceable setup creature by default.
- Recursion: God-Pharaoh's Gift, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Shifting Woodland, and possibly Monster Manual form the graveyard or cheat-reuse package. Treat recursion choices as high-impact only when the visible target is Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, or a needed utility creature; otherwise keep digging unless under pressure.
- Mana: Forest, Stomping Ground, Prismatic Vista, Cragcrown Pathway, Mountain, Boseiju, Who Endures, and Shifting Woodland support a green-first setup plan with red for Faithless Looting and Cathartic Pyre. Preserve Shifting Woodland as an engine land when possible, and preserve Boseiju, Who Endures as interaction when other lands already cast the hand.
- Sideboard modules: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Monster Manual shift the deck toward resilient engine play; Ghost Vacuum and Bojuka Bog fight graveyard plans; Alpine Moon fights land engines; Fiery Impulse and Cinderclasm fight creature pressure; Shove Aside protects a commitment turn; A-Haywire Mite adds another small answer; Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite gives a creature-board payoff.
- Omniscience chain: Prioritize Omniscience when the legal action can be followed by Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or additional velocity in the same turn or before the opponent can untap with pressure. Setup means using Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Satyr Wayfinder, Seed of Hope, and Cathartic Pyre to hit land drops, stock the graveyard, and keep at least one expensive payoff accessible in hand, graveyard, or future selection. Execution means commit only after Veles shows the cast or cheat action is legal, then convert free spells into immediate board dominance rather than passing with only Omniscience exposed. Disruption concerns are counterspells, discard, removal on follow-up threats, graveyard hate when the route uses Shifting Woodland, and fast creature clocks; prioritize this path when waiting risks losing the engine window or when the hand already contains a payoff.
- Shifting Woodland engine: Prioritize Shifting Woodland when visible graveyard contents and available mana make an engine-copy line legal and materially better than casting another setup spell. Card text check required for exact Shifting Woodland execution, but tactically it is the deck's land-based bridge to graveyard permanents such as Omniscience or God-Pharaoh's Gift when those cards are visible in the graveyard and Veles exposes the action. Setup means protecting Shifting Woodland as a land drop, filling the graveyard with diverse permanent types when relevant, and avoiding unnecessary Boseiju, Who Endures or Prismatic Vista lines that strand the activation. Disruption concerns are graveyard exile, land interaction, and tapping too low before the decisive prompt; prioritize this route against opponents who answer spells more easily than lands or when Omniscience is already in the graveyard.
- God-Pharaoh's Gift recursion: Prioritize God-Pharaoh's Gift when the graveyard contains Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, Satyr Wayfinder, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, A-Haywire Mite, or Artillery Enthusiast and Veles shows a legal reanimation or token-making action. Card text check required for exact God-Pharaoh's Gift timing and token characteristics, so choose the highest visible strategic target without assuming unsupported trigger or combat outcomes. Setup means discarding or milling expensive creatures with Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, and Cathartic Pyre while keeping enough mana or engine access to deploy God-Pharaoh's Gift. Disruption concerns are graveyard hate, artifact removal, and exile effects; prioritize this path when Omniscience is unavailable or when a repeatable battlefield engine beats one-shot pressure.
- Creature-cheat payoff: Prioritize Smuggler's Surprise or sideboard Monster Manual when expensive creatures are stranded in hand and Veles exposes a legal action that puts Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite onto the battlefield. Card text check required for exact Smuggler's Surprise and Monster Manual modes. Use this path when hand texture is payoff-heavy, graveyard access is under attack, or the opponent is forcing a race before Omniscience can be assembled.
- Hard-cast pressure: Use natural mana to cast Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew only when Veles confirms legality and the game has slowed enough that land drops matter more than further setup. This line is secondary because the deck has limited lands and many expensive cards, but it becomes real after long games with Prismatic Vista, Stomping Ground, Forest, Mountain, Cragcrown Pathway, Boseiju, Who Endures, and Shifting Woodland all contributing mana.
- Incremental bodies: Use Satyr Wayfinder, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Artillery Enthusiast, A-Haywire Mite, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and Monster Manual bodies as pressure only when the opponent is low on life, shields are down, or the board needs blockers while engines assemble. Do not trade away unique engine bodies if the visible graveyard or battlefield indicates they are needed for God-Pharaoh's Gift, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, or Shifting Woodland follow-up lines.
- Burn and removal reach: Use Cathartic Pyre as damage or removal only when the legal target advances survival, clears a blocker for a meaningful attack, or converts into lethal pressure. Card text check required for exact Cathartic Pyre modes, and the default use remains filtering unless a visible target or life-total race makes damage decisive.
- Sideboard value plan: Use Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Monster Manual, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite as slower post-board win paths when opponents overload on graveyard hate, spell interaction, or creature swarms. These cards should shift the deck toward resilient battlefield engines rather than replacing the main combo identity.
- Behind on life: Stabilize before digging if visible attackers threaten lethal or a short clock, using Cathartic Pyre, A-Haywire Mite, Artillery Enthusiast, Fiery Impulse, Cinderclasm, or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite only when Veles shows legal actions and targets. Continue setup only when the next engine action can plausibly win or stabilize faster than interaction.
- Behind on board: Preserve blockers and prioritize engine payoffs that affect the battlefield immediately, especially God-Pharaoh's Gift into a large creature or a legal cheat action for Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Avoid attacks with Satyr Wayfinder or small utility creatures when blocking buys the turn needed for Omniscience or Shifting Woodland.
- Behind on cards: Favor Faithless Looting flashback or filtering, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Seed of Hope, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker lines that rebuild access to engines. Do not discard the last deployable payoff unless the visible hand has another legal route to win.
- Behind on mana: Use Traverse the Ulvenwald, Satyr Wayfinder, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Seed of Hope, Prismatic Vista, and normal land sequencing to recover land drops before holding up narrow interaction. Keep Shifting Woodland as a future engine land when possible, but use it for mana if missing a land drop would prevent all relevant actions.
- Engine removed or graveyard attacked: Pivot from graveyard recursion into hand-based Omniscience, Smuggler's Surprise, Monster Manual, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or hard-cast threats. If Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, and Shifting Woodland lines are all unavailable, win by conserving every large creature as a standalone threat and using interaction only to protect the next legal commitment.
- Combo disrupted mid-turn: Stop spending resources into the same failed line unless Veles shows a new legal payoff action. Reassess visible stack, mana, graveyard, and hand contents, then choose the line that leaves the most future access rather than forcing an unprotected second engine into open interaction.
- Life is a setup buffer, not a payment plan: spend early life only when Stomping Ground untapped or a risky nonblocking line unlocks Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Cathartic Pyre, or a decisive engine action this turn. Preserve life aggressively against visible pressure because Woodlands Omniscience often needs one extra turn to convert a filled graveyard into Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Shifting Woodland, or Smuggler's Surprise.
- Hand cards are fuel and route insurance: discard expensive payoffs such as Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, Omniscience, or God-Pharaoh's Gift only when the visible hand already has a route that benefits from that zone. Keep at least one deployable engine path in hand when graveyard hate is visible or likely post-board.
- Mana is the bottleneck before the engine and optional after the engine: prioritize land drops and cheap dig over speculative interaction until Veles shows a survival threat, a protected combo commitment, or a legal payoff cast. After Omniscience resolves or Shifting Woodland copies an engine, convert hand resources immediately into visible legal threats before passing into interaction.
- Board presence buys time rather than winning by default: Satyr Wayfinder, Artillery Enthusiast, A-Haywire Mite, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, and sideboard Fable of the Mirror-Breaker bodies should block, pressure planeswalkers if present, or enable engine turns only when combat math supports it. Do not trade away A-Haywire Mite if an opposing artifact or enchantment is the visible obstacle to combo execution.
- Graveyard is a premium engine zone: Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, Cathartic Pyre, Seed of Hope, and Traverse the Ulvenwald should build card access, card-type density, and payoff placement for Shifting Woodland and God-Pharaoh's Gift. Treat opposing graveyard exile as a commitment gate: either act before it resolves if legal, or pivot toward hand-based Omniscience, Smuggler's Surprise, Monster Manual, and hard-cast threats.
- Exile is mostly a loss of access unless Veles shows a legal permission action: do not assume cards exiled by opponent interaction can return. Track Faithless Looting flashback and any visible temporary permissions exactly as the rules engine presents them, and avoid lines that exile the last copy of a needed engine unless the resulting legal action wins or stabilizes.
- Lands are both mana and combo infrastructure: Shifting Woodland is often worth more than a normal land once the graveyard contains the right permanent, while Boseiju, Who Endures is interaction that may cost a land drop or colored source. Prismatic Vista fixes and thins only when the required color is known; do not crack it blindly when landfall, graveyard count, or unknown draw sequencing could matter.
- Sacrifice fodder is limited and contextual: A-Haywire Mite, Satyr Wayfinder, Artillery Enthusiast, and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker tokens can become expendable after they have delivered their setup role, but sacrifice or trade them only when Veles shows a legal action with a clear survival, engine, or disruption payoff. Card text check required for exact sacrifice modes on individual cards.
- Tempo is spent to dig until the opponent presents a clock: take slower setup actions when life and board are stable, but switch to Cathartic Pyre, Fiery Impulse, Cinderclasm, Shove Aside, A-Haywire Mite, or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite lines when visible attackers or hate permanents compress the clock.
- Information comes from visible zones and engine prompts: use known graveyard contents, revealed hands, stack objects, and legal-action labels to choose between Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Shifting Woodland, Smuggler's Surprise, and sideboard plans. Never infer exact hidden interaction from archetype alone; use archetype only to price risk when choosing whether to commit.
- Sideboard bullets convert narrow slots into time or alternate engines: Ghost Vacuum and Bojuka Bog answer graveyards, Alpine Moon pressures land engines, Fiery Impulse and Cinderclasm buy time, Shove Aside protects or interacts conditionally, A-Haywire Mite answers artifacts or enchantments, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Monster Manual support grindy pivots, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is a battlefield reset or finisher when legal.
- Green is the first setup color: prioritize opening mana that casts Traverse the Ulvenwald, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, Seed of Hope, and A-Haywire Mite. A hand without early green usually needs a very strong red-filtering reason to keep, and Veles should mulligan hands that cannot cast any setup spell before the opponent's pressure matters.
- Red is the second setup color: Faithless Looting and Cathartic Pyre turn payoff-heavy hands into functional hands, and Stomping Ground, Mountain, Cragcrown Pathway, and Prismatic Vista should be sequenced to unlock red by turn one or two when those cards are present. Do not choose red over green if the hand's only functional plays are green dig spells.
- Utility lands carry opportunity cost: Shifting Woodland should enter as a mana source early when needed, but preserve it as an engine land when the hand already has enough colored mana. Boseiju, Who Endures should be played as a green source when mana development is behind, but held as interaction when the visible opponent permanent is likely to stop Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Shifting Woodland, or graveyard access.
- Prismatic Vista should fix the next two turns, not only the current spell: fetch Forest when green setup is missing, fetch Mountain when Faithless Looting or Cathartic Pyre is the only functional action, and delay cracking only when the current turn has no color need and waiting preserves information for the next draw. Respect life total if Veles models any cost or shock-land decision.
- Stomping Ground decisions are clock-sensitive: choose untapped only when the extra mana creates a meaningful legal play this turn or prevents falling behind. Choose tapped when the turn already has a legal action, when life is under pressure, or when the next turn still casts the important setup spell.
- Cragcrown Pathway should cover the missing color from the current hand: pick green when Traverse the Ulvenwald, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, Seed of Hope, or A-Haywire Mite needs help; pick red when Faithless Looting, Cathartic Pyre, Artillery Enthusiast, or sideboard red interaction needs help. Do not lock into the redundant color unless another land already covers the missing half.
- Keepable mana needs an early action plus a path to engines: prefer two-land hands with green and either Faithless Looting or multiple green setup spells. Mulligan one-land hands unless they include Prismatic Vista or a correct colored land plus multiple one-mana setup actions; mulligan hands with only expensive cards such as Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, and Smuggler's Surprise unless the legal mulligan context demands risk.
- Play lands before drawing when the land choice is already forced by visible hand and legal actions. Delay the land drop until after Faithless Looting, Cathartic Pyre filtering, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Seed of Hope, Satyr Wayfinder, or Traverse the Ulvenwald when the hand contains multiple land choices and the draw or selection can determine whether Shifting Woodland, Boseiju, Who Endures, Prismatic Vista, Stomping Ground, Cragcrown Pathway, Forest, or Mountain is correct.
- Tap sequencing should preserve future colors and utility: spend basic Forest or Mountain before Shifting Woodland when the Woodland activation may become relevant, spend redundant Stomping Ground before Boseiju, Who Endures when Boseiju interaction matters, and avoid using the only red source before Faithless Looting or Cathartic Pyre unless the current green action is decisive. Let Veles exact-payment prompts decide legality, but choose the payment that leaves the most visible follow-up actions.
- Strong keep: keep two or three lands with green mana plus two early graveyard/setup spells, especially Traverse the Ulvenwald, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, Seed of Hope, or Faithless Looting. The ideal hand has Forest, Stomping Ground, Prismatic Vista, or Cragcrown Pathway for green, one red source or Faithless Looting access, and at most one stranded payoff such as Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew.
- Medium keep: keep a hand with two lands, one color, and multiple cheap looks only if the first two turns are legal and likely to find the missing resource. A green-only hand with Traverse the Ulvenwald plus Malevolent Rumble is stronger than a red-only hand with Faithless Looting and Cathartic Pyre, because green finds lands and graveyard structure more reliably.
- Risky keep: keep one-land hands only when the land casts immediate setup and the hand has multiple one-mana or two-mana ways to see more cards. Prismatic Vista plus Faithless Looting and Traverse the Ulvenwald can be acceptable on the draw; Shifting Woodland plus no colored spell is not a functional keep.
- Automatic ship: mulligan hands with no green source and no Faithless Looting, hands with only Shifting Woodland and Boseiju, Who Endures as mana, and hands overloaded with Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, and Smuggler's Surprise without cheap setup. A seven-card hand that cannot take a meaningful legal action by turn two should go back.
- Matchup-dependent keep: keep slower God-Pharaoh's Gift, Monster Manual, or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker hands only when the opponent is not presenting known fast pressure or graveyard hate. Against visible or expected aggression, prioritize hands with Cathartic Pyre, Fiery Impulse, Cinderclasm, Satyr Wayfinder, or A-Haywire Mite over hands that only dig.
- Play/draw adjustment: on the play, keep hands that curve green setup into Malevolent Rumble or Satyr Wayfinder because tempo matters before interaction is held up. On the draw, accept slightly slower Faithless Looting or Cathartic Pyre filtering hands when they have two lands and a clear route to Shifting Woodland, Omniscience, or God-Pharaoh's Gift.
- Trap hand: do not keep a hand because it contains Omniscience plus Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Ulamog, the Defiler unless it also has lands and graveyard or cheat infrastructure. The deck wins by making those cards legal to deploy, not by drawing them early.
- Trap hand: do not overvalue Boseiju, Who Endures or A-Haywire Mite in the opener when the hand lacks development. Interaction that delays the opponent is not a keep if it prevents building toward the deck's own engine.
- Turn 1 priority: cast Traverse the Ulvenwald, Faithless Looting, Seed of Hope, or A-Haywire Mite when legal and purposeful. Choose Traverse the Ulvenwald or Seed of Hope when land development or graveyard texture is missing, choose Faithless Looting when the hand contains excess payoffs, and deploy A-Haywire Mite only when its body or visible artifact/enchantment interaction matters.
- Turn 1 land sequencing: lead Forest, Stomping Ground, Prismatic Vista, or green Cragcrown Pathway when green setup is present. Lead Mountain or red Cragcrown Pathway only when Faithless Looting or Cathartic Pyre is the actual first action, and preserve Shifting Woodland when another land already casts the spell.
- Turn 2 priority: use Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, Cathartic Pyre filtering, or Faithless Looting flashback only if the legal action improves mana, graveyard count, or payoff access. Prefer Malevolent Rumble or Satyr Wayfinder when bodies or mana development matter; prefer Cache Grab when selecting a permanent or loading the graveyard is more important.
- Turn 2 deviation: cast Cathartic Pyre as removal instead of filtering when a visible creature will shorten the clock enough to punish setup. Do not spend Cathartic Pyre on a low-impact target if Veles shows safe setup actions and life total is not under pressure.
- Turn 3 priority: establish the next engine step rather than casting random bodies. Use Traverse the Ulvenwald with delirium only if Veles shows the tutor mode and the target advances the current line; otherwise continue filling with Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, or Faithless Looting.
- Turn 3 commitment gate: consider Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, God-Pharaoh's Gift setup, Smuggler's Surprise, or Shifting Woodland preparation only when the visible board gives enough time or the line immediately stabilizes. Card text check required for exact Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion and Smuggler's Surprise modes; follow only legal engine prompts from Veles.
- Turns 4-5 priority: commit to Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Shifting Woodland, Smuggler's Surprise, or a large creature line when the graveyard, mana, and legal actions align. If the opponent has open visible interaction or graveyard pressure, prefer the line with redundancy, immediate payoff, or the least exposure to losing one permanent.
- Turns 4-5 deviation: pivot to survival when attackers, stack pressure, or hate permanents threaten the engine. Use Cathartic Pyre, Boseiju, Who Endures, A-Haywire Mite, or sideboard interaction before digging if the visible permanent or creature will stop the combo or end the game first.
- Late-game priority: turn every legal big-action prompt into a win or reset attempt, sequencing Omniscience before expensive hand payoffs when legal and using God-Pharaoh's Gift or Shifting Woodland only with a meaningful graveyard target. If multiple payoffs are visible, prefer the one that produces immediate board impact or card access over a delayed engine.
- Late-game deviation: protect remaining resources when the first engine is answered. Flash back Faithless Looting only when discards are acceptable, avoid using Boseiju, Who Endures as a land if its interaction is still needed, and do not exile, sacrifice, or discard the last visible payoff unless Veles shows a replacement line or lethal/stabilizing result.
- **Omniscience:** Treat Omniscience as the cleanest deterministic payoff, not as an early hand keep by itself. Hold it until Veles shows a legal cast, cheat, copy, or graveyard-enabled line that can immediately convert free spells into Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or additional selection. Do not discard the only Omniscience unless the hand has another engine or the discard unlocks a faster Shifting Woodland or God-Pharaoh's Gift path.
- **Shifting Woodland:** Treat Shifting Woodland as both land and combo engine, with the exact activation and copy rules checked through Veles legal actions. Preserve it when another land can cast the current setup spell, because using it as a colorless land too early can strand green or red spells while also exposing the engine land. Activate only when the graveyard contains a meaningful permanent and the resulting legal action advances a win, stabilizes the board, or forces the opponent to answer immediately.
- **God-Pharaoh's Gift:** Use God-Pharaoh's Gift as the graveyard payoff for games where Omniscience is delayed or discarded. Prioritize lines that stock Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, Satyr Wayfinder, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, or other relevant creatures before committing Gift. Do not cast or enable God-Pharaoh's Gift into visible graveyard hate unless the line still produces immediate value or there is no time to wait.
- **Atraxa, Grand Unifier:** Use Atraxa, Grand Unifier as the primary stabilizing payoff and reload spell once free-cast, reanimated, or cheated. Hard-casting should be treated as rare unless Veles shows legal mana; otherwise it is best as a discard, mill, Gift, Omniscience, Shifting Woodland, or Smuggler's Surprise payoff. Against aggressive boards, prioritize Atraxa lines over slower Eldrazi lines when life total, blocker size, and card refill matter.
- **Ulamog, the Defiler:** Use Ulamog, the Defiler as a high-impact finisher when the legal line pressures the opponent immediately or answers a board state through its actual rules text. Card text check required for exact cast and attack triggers, so do not assume a hidden exile count, ward-like protection, or annihilator-style outcome unless Veles exposes it. Prefer Ulamog over Atraxa only when ending the game or removing key resources matters more than gaining cards and stabilizing.
- **Emrakul, the World Anew:** Use Emrakul, the World Anew as the most powerful top-end threat when Veles shows a legal cast or cheat line and the opponent cannot clearly punish a single expensive commitment. Card text check required for exact protection, madness, cast trigger, and control-changing details. Do not build a line around imagined inevitability; choose Emrakul when the visible action text and board state show that the threat meaningfully changes combat or wins quickly.
- **Smuggler's Surprise:** Use Smuggler's Surprise as a flexible bridge between survival, cheat, and surprise payoff lines, but rely on Veles for exact mode and target legality. Card text check required for exact modes, costs, and number of creatures affected. Hold it when the hand contains Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew and mana development can support a decisive instant-speed or end-step deployment; cast earlier only when the selected mode fixes mana, protects a payoff, or prevents lethal pressure.
- **Traverse the Ulvenwald:** Use Traverse the Ulvenwald first as a one-mana land fixer and later as a delirium tutor when Veles exposes the upgraded legal action. Early Traverse should prioritize making turns two and three functional over chasing a payoff. With delirium active, target the creature or land that completes the current route: Shifting Woodland for engine access, Atraxa, Grand Unifier for stabilization, Ulamog, the Defiler or Emrakul, the World Anew for closing, or A-Haywire Mite when a visible artifact or enchantment must be answered.
- **Faithless Looting:** Use Faithless Looting to convert stranded expensive cards into graveyard resources and new looks. Discard payoffs that are better in graveyard-enabled lines than in hand, especially extra Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew when the hand already has an engine route. Do not flash back Faithless Looting automatically; use flashback only when the discard cost is acceptable and the new cards are needed more than the cards in hand.
- **Cache Grab:** Use Cache Grab as a graveyard-loading selection spell that should find a permanent or key resource while improving Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, and delirium texture. Card text check required for exact selection constraints. Favor Cache Grab when the hand needs a permanent engine, land, or payoff and can tolerate putting other cards into the graveyard; avoid it only when milling the last visible answer or losing tempo to pressure is too risky.
- **Malevolent Rumble:** Use Malevolent Rumble as a setup spell that advances mana, board presence, and graveyard count when legal. Card text check required for exact token and selection wording. Prefer it over pure rummaging when a blocker, body, or permanent selection matters, especially against early attackers. Do not treat the generated material as a win condition by itself; its job is to buy time and assemble Omniscience, Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or payoff access.
- **Cathartic Pyre:** Use Cathartic Pyre as the deck's main flexible red interaction and filtering spell. Fire it at a creature when visible pressure shortens the clock or removes a key engine blocker; otherwise use the discard-draw mode to put expensive payoffs into the graveyard and find lands or engines. Do not spend Cathartic Pyre on a low-impact target if the deck is safe to develop, and do not filter away the last interaction when the opponent is representing lethal or graveyard hate.
- **Satyr Wayfinder:** Use Satyr Wayfinder as early glue: it finds lands, fills the graveyard, blocks, and makes later engine decisions stronger. Cast it on turn two when mana is uncertain or the graveyard needs volume for Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or delirium. Do not hold Satyr Wayfinder for value unless the current hand already has perfect lands and needs to conceal information; its body and mill are most valuable before the opponent's clock is established.
- **Seed of Hope:** Use Seed of Hope as cheap early smoothing and graveyard setup when Veles shows legal casting and the hand needs land, life buffer, or selection. Card text check required for exact look count and life-gain condition. It is not a payoff; cast it to fix early sequencing, protect against fast damage, or place useful cards in the graveyard.
- **A-Haywire Mite:** Use A-Haywire Mite as the main-deck answer to visible artifact or enchantment hate, not as generic pressure. Card text check required for the exact Alchemy-adjusted activation and gain-life details. Deploy early only if a blocker, artifact body, or future activation matters; otherwise hold it until the opponent commits a target that would stop Omniscience, Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or graveyard lines.
- **Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion:** Use Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion as a recursion or spell-reuse engine only when Veles exposes a legal line with a meaningful graveyard spell. Card text check required for exact timing, target, and mana-value restriction. Do not cast Jarsyl into removal just because it is available; commit it when it recasts setup, interaction, or selection quickly enough to matter.
- **Artillery Enthusiast:** Use Artillery Enthusiast as a singleton utility creature only after checking legal text and visible role. Card text check required. Treat it as support for board presence, graveyard, or pressure if Veles exposes those functions; do not prioritize it over core setup unless its legal action solves the current board.
- **Boseiju, Who Endures:** Use Boseiju, Who Endures as interaction first and land second when the opponent has visible artifacts, enchantments, or nonbasic lands that disrupt the engine. Play it as a land when missing mana would otherwise prevent development, but preserve channel-style interaction when A-Haywire Mite is unavailable and a hate permanent is likely to decide the game.
- **Prismatic Vista, Stomping Ground, Cragcrown Pathway, Forest, Mountain:** Use the mana base to make green setup reliable before red filtering unless the opening hand demands Faithless Looting or Cathartic Pyre. Prioritize untapped green for Traverse the Ulvenwald, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, and Seed of Hope, then red for Faithless Looting and Cathartic Pyre. Avoid sequencing that leaves Shifting Woodland as the only early mana source unless Veles shows no better legal land path.
- **Remove engine blockers before creatures when the engine is ready:** Spend A-Haywire Mite or Boseiju, Who Endures first on visible artifacts, enchantments, or nonbasic lands that stop graveyard access, Omniscience, Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or a payoff turn. Do not fire these answers at medium-value permanents if the hand already needs them to clear a decisive hate piece.
- **Kill creatures first only when the clock beats setup:** Use Cathartic Pyre or sideboard Fiery Impulse on early attackers that make the next Omniscience, Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or Smuggler's Surprise turn impossible. Against fast creature decks, a two-turn life buffer is worth more than saving Cathartic Pyre as a rummage spell; against slow decks, filtering expensive cards into the graveyard is often the higher-value mode.
- **Preserve flexible interaction when the opponent is representing hate:** Hold Cathartic Pyre, A-Haywire Mite, Boseiju, Who Endures, and post-board Shove Aside until Veles shows a target or protection window that matters. Card text check required for Shove Aside. Do not spend the last answer into open mana or unknown protection unless the current board will become unwinnable without acting.
- **Answer graveyard pressure according to dependency:** If the active route is Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Faithless Looting flashback, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, or delirium Traverse the Ulvenwald, prioritize removing or playing around visible graveyard exile. If the active route is hard-cast Omniscience or Smuggler's Surprise into a creature, graveyard hate becomes lower priority unless it also attacks life total or card selection.
- **Bait with replaceable setup before committing payoffs:** Lead with Satyr Wayfinder, Malevolent Rumble, Cache Grab, Faithless Looting, or Traverse the Ulvenwald when the opponent can interact and the hand has multiple routes. Commit Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew only when the visible exchange leaves a follow-up route or the delay is more dangerous than the interaction.
- **Ignore low-impact permanents when combo pressure is available:** Do not spend Cathartic Pyre, Boseiju, Who Endures, or A-Haywire Mite on small utility creatures, nonlethal attackers, or value engines that do not shorten the clock or disrupt the engine. Use life total, available blockers, and known next-turn mana to decide whether ignoring the permanent preserves a faster win.
- **Adjust by archetype:** Against aggro, removal protects life first and engine setup second. Against control, interaction is for clearing hate and forcing commitment windows, not for trading down on minor threats. Against graveyard decks, sideboard Ghost Vacuum and Bojuka Bog become real interaction, but use them when Veles shows a meaningful graveyard target rather than as automatic early plays. Against artifact, enchantment, or land-reliant decks, A-Haywire Mite, Boseiju, Who Endures, Alpine Moon, and sideboard A-Haywire Mite gain priority over generic filtering.
- **Block to buy the engine turn:** Satyr Wayfinder, Malevolent Rumble tokens if generated, A-Haywire Mite, Artillery Enthusiast, and Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion are expendable when blocking preserves enough life to cast Omniscience, activate Shifting Woodland, resolve God-Pharaoh's Gift, or use Smuggler's Surprise. Do not preserve a small creature for speculative value if the next attack puts the deck below a safe setup threshold.
- **Preserve creatures that are live engine pieces:** Keep Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion out of combat when it can reuse a visible graveyard spell soon, and avoid trading A-Haywire Mite if its activation is needed against a visible artifact or enchantment. Preserve Satyr Wayfinder only when its body is needed for a future God-Pharaoh's Gift or other legal engine line shown by Veles.
- **Treat life total as a combo resource with thresholds:** Above 12 life, prefer development unless the opponent has a large visible attack or haste-like pressure. At 8 to 12 life, trade small creatures aggressively if it protects one more setup turn. At 7 or less, prioritize survival actions, blockers, removal, lifegain from legal Seed of Hope or A-Haywire Mite text if Veles confirms it, and instant-speed Smuggler's Surprise lines over slow selection.
- **Attack only when damage is real and safety is unchanged:** Small attacks from Satyr Wayfinder, Artillery Enthusiast, A-Haywire Mite, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, or tokens are optional pressure, not the main plan. Attack when the creature is not needed to block, activate, or preserve a future engine route; hold back when racing math says one blocker buys the decisive payoff turn.
- **Trade differently by matchup:** Against aggro, trade almost any small creature for a meaningful attacker and keep Cathartic Pyre for the creature that would otherwise end the game. Against control or combo, avoid unnecessary trades that expose Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion or A-Haywire Mite, and use creatures to chip only when the opponent is not pressuring life. Against midrange, trade early bodies for creatures that tax life total, then pivot to Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, Omniscience, Shifting Woodland, or God-Pharaoh's Gift as the trump.
- **Protect payoff creatures after they matter:** Atraxa, Grand Unifier can stabilize through size and card flow, while Ulamog, the Defiler and Emrakul, the World Anew are closing tools; do not send them into combat lines where visible double-blocks, sacrifice effects, or removal windows make the payoff unnecessary to risk. Let Veles legal combat and stack output decide exact attacks, blocks, and protection timing.
- **Do not invent combat tricks:** Use Smuggler's Surprise in combat only when Veles shows a legal mode, target, and timing that changes survival or lethal math. Card text check required for exact combat function. If the visible action text does not establish the trick, choose the line with confirmed blockers, removal, or development instead.
- **Use selection to build both mana and graveyard, not just hand size:** Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, Seed of Hope, Cathartic Pyre, and Traverse the Ulvenwald should advance a named route: find lands, stock graveyard card types for delirium, place Omniscience or creatures for Shifting Woodland or God-Pharaoh's Gift, or locate a payoff. If Veles shows no pressure and mana is short, choose the selection line that most reliably hits land drops before maximizing graveyard value.
- **Sequence land-drop decisions after cheap selection when legal:** Cast Satyr Wayfinder, Seed of Hope, Malevolent Rumble, Cache Grab, or non-delirium Traverse the Ulvenwald before making a land drop if the hand has multiple possible lands and the spell can reveal Boseiju, Who Endures, Prismatic Vista, Shifting Woodland, Stomping Ground, Cragcrown Pathway, Forest, or Mountain. Make the land drop first only when the spell requires that mana, when life total makes Stomping Ground timing important, or when holding a land drop would block a legal play.
- **Prioritize delirium setup when Shifting Woodland or Traverse the Ulvenwald is the route:** Preserve distinct card types in the graveyard and use Faithless Looting or Cathartic Pyre rummage to discard redundant Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew when hand-casting is not near. Do not discard the only payoff if the visible route requires casting it from hand with Omniscience or Smuggler's Surprise.
- **Use Traverse the Ulvenwald as a land finder early and a payoff finder later:** Before delirium or before the fourth land is secure, find the land that enables the next two turns, with Shifting Woodland favored when graveyard setup is already present. With delirium and enough mana, select the creature that fits the current route: Atraxa, Grand Unifier for reload and stabilization, Ulamog, the Defiler for pressure, Emrakul, the World Anew for a closing threat, A-Haywire Mite for a visible artifact or enchantment, or Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion when the graveyard offers a legal reuse line.
- **Treat Faithless Looting as route selection, not automatic velocity:** Keep lands and cheap setup when the hand is short on mana, discard excess legendary or expensive payoffs when Omniscience, Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or Smuggler's Surprise can use them, and preserve interaction when the visible board threatens the setup turn. Flashback Faithless Looting when the graveyard and mana already support the chosen route or when the hand is stalled.
- **Choose Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, and Seed of Hope hits by immediate route:** Take lands when missing the next land drop, take Shifting Woodland when delirium is realistic, take God-Pharaoh's Gift or Omniscience when the hand can deploy or copy them soon, and take Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew when a cheat or free-cast line is visible. Card text check required for exact Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, and Seed of Hope choice restrictions; obey Veles legal candidate output over this priority list.
- **Use Atraxa, Grand Unifier selections to complete the next engine turn:** After Atraxa, Grand Unifier resolves, prefer the card mix that supplies mana, engine, payoff, and protection instead of taking the highest-cost cards by default. If Veles exposes type-bucket choices, choose the missing piece for the current route first and the redundant payoff second.
- **Commit payoffs only when the window is worth the risk:** Cast Omniscience, activate or target Shifting Woodland, deploy God-Pharaoh's Gift, or cast Smuggler's Surprise into a payoff when visible pressure, available mana, known interaction, and redundancy make going now better than waiting. If the opponent has open interaction and the hand has more setup, bait with Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, or Traverse the Ulvenwald first.
- **Use instant-speed actions for survival, hate removal, or decisive setup:** Cathartic Pyre should kill a creature when the next attack blocks the engine turn; otherwise its rummage mode can sculpt the graveyard before a Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or Traverse the Ulvenwald decision. Smuggler's Surprise should be held for a legal window that changes combat, protects a payoff, or puts a creature into play; Card text check required for exact modes.
- **Activate Boseiju, Who Endures and A-Haywire Mite on real blockers to the plan:** Use them against visible artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic-land problems that stop graveyard access, Omniscience, Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or lethal pressure. Do not spend them on low-impact permanents while a payoff route is intact.
- **Let opposing spells resolve when they do not change the route or clock:** Preserve limited interaction if the spell does not add lethal pressure, remove the only engine piece, exile the graveyard, or prevent the next payoff turn. Respond when Veles shows a legal target that would otherwise close the window, such as a graveyard-exile effect, a removal spell on the only relevant engine creature, or a permanent that must be answered before activation timing passes.
- **Handle God-Pharaoh's Gift triggers by current battlefield needs:** When Veles shows a trigger or target choice, choose the graveyard creature that stabilizes or wins now, with Atraxa, Grand Unifier for cards and lifelink-sized stabilization, Ulamog, the Defiler or Emrakul, the World Anew for closing pressure, and smaller creatures only when no payoff is available or a specific utility body is required. Obey actual legal target and token text from Veles.
- **Respect graveyard timing around Shifting Woodland:** Do not exile, shuffle away, or otherwise consume the intended graveyard permanent before a legal Shifting Woodland activation or copy choice. If the activation is already committed and Veles presents a target, choose Omniscience when the plan is to cast payoffs from hand for free, or choose a creature only when its copied characteristics are the visible winning or survival line.
- **Pass priority deliberately after setup resolves:** After a selection spell resolves, reassess legal actions, land drops, graveyard contents, and opponent pressure before continuing. Passing is correct when the hand has no legal improvement, when holding Smuggler's Surprise or Cathartic Pyre is stronger than acting main phase, or when committing Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Shifting Woodland, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew into visible interaction is worse than waiting.
- **Preserve the core route first:** Keep enough graveyard filling, land access, and payoff density for Shifting Woodland, Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Smuggler's Surprise, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, and Emrakul, the World Anew to remain live. Post-board games should change the failure points the deck can answer, not turn the deck into a fair pile with too few enablers.
- **Use Ghost Vacuum for opposing graveyard engines and graveyard combo pressure:** Add role cards when the opposing plan depends on graveyard card identity, graveyard count, escape-style recursion, reanimation, flashback, or death-trigger loops. Ghost Vacuum is bad when the opponent uses the graveyard only incidentally, when spending mana on it delays the first engine turn, or when exiling the deck's own graveyard would break Shifting Woodland, Traverse the Ulvenwald, God-Pharaoh's Gift, or Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion. Card text check required for exact activation timing and any secondary mode; target the opponent's graveyard by default unless Veles shows a survival reason to target self.
- **Use Bojuka Bog as graveyard hate that also changes the mana texture:** Add role cards when a single graveyard reset is stronger than a repeatable artifact and when an entered-tapped land will not cost the key setup turn. Bojuka Bog is bad against fast pressure, low-graveyard decks, or hands that already risk missing red or green timing. Role changes after adding Bojuka Bog: plan land sequencing more conservatively, value Prismatic Vista and Stomping Ground access higher, and do not keep a hand that relies on Bojuka Bog as an untapped colored source.
- **Use Alpine Moon against nonbasic-land engines that matter immediately:** Add role cards when the opponent's visible or known archetype leans on one named nonbasic land as a combo piece, mana engine, creature-land, or lock component. Alpine Moon is bad against basic-heavy decks, broad mana bases where no single land matters, or matchups where naming a land does not buy time for Omniscience or Shifting Woodland. Card text check required for exact land ability changes; name only a land that is already public from battlefield, deck identity, or a known matchup plan.
- **Use A-Haywire Mite as extra artifact/enchantment interaction:** Add role cards when graveyard hate, artifact lock pieces, enchantment hate, or artifact-based pressure can stop the combo route. The sideboard A-Haywire Mite improves hands that need a cheap permanent for delirium while still answering a visible noncreature artifact or enchantment. It is bad when there are no credible artifact or enchantment targets, when one mana body sizing is irrelevant, or when the deck needs raw engine density more than another reactive permanent.
- **Use Fiery Impulse for fast creature starts and must-kill small utility creatures:** Add role cards when early creatures shorten the clock before the deck can set up, when a single low-toughness creature enables the opponent's engine, or when killing a small attacker protects life total for a tapped-land turn. Fiery Impulse is bad when creatures are large, sparse, replaceable, or when the matchup is decided by graveyard hate and stack interaction rather than combat. Card text check required for exact damage scaling; obey Veles target legality and current graveyard count.
- **Use Cinderclasm when the opponent presents multiple small creatures:** Add role cards against token decks, go-wide creature starts, one-toughness boards, and pressure that Cathartic Pyre cannot cover efficiently. Cinderclasm is bad when the opposing board is tall, when it would clear Satyr Wayfinder or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker tokens at a timing that matters more to the deck than to the opponent, or when the opponent can rebuild faster than Woodlands Omniscience can deploy an engine. Card text check required for exact kicked mode and damage amount.
- **Use Shove Aside only when its legal text answers the matchup's actual pressure:** Card text check required. Treat Shove Aside as a narrow sideboard role card until Veles exposes exact action text; add it when the visible role is protection for Omniscience, Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Monster Manual, or a payoff creature, or when it answers a known opposing interaction pattern. It is bad when Veles shows no relevant legal action text, when it cannot protect the active route, or when holding it strands mana that should cast setup spells.
- **Use Fable of the Mirror-Breaker to slow the game down and add a resilient midgame:** Add role cards against discard, removal, counterspell-heavy fair decks, and matchups where looting plus a token body buys time while stocking the graveyard. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker changes the role from maximum-speed combo toward layered setup: treasure-like mana, rummage, and a must-answer permanent can pressure opponents who focus on graveyard or enchantment hate. It is bad against the fastest creature decks when three mana sorcery-speed setup does not affect the board enough, and it is bad when the opponent's hate punishes extra permanents more than extra spells.
- **Use Monster Manual as an alternate cheat engine against Omniscience-specific resistance:** Add role cards when games revolve around countering or removing Omniscience, when artifact engines are harder for the opponent to answer than enchantments, or when the hand often contains Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite without a clean cast route. Monster Manual is bad against artifact removal, very fast pressure, and hands with no creature payoff. Card text check required for exact cost, timing, and any adventure or front-side text.
- **Use Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite as a creature-board payoff, not generic top-end:** Add role cards when the opponent wins through many creatures, when a cheated creature that shrinks the opposing board stabilizes better than Atraxa, Grand Unifier, or when God-Pharaoh's Gift or Monster Manual can access it. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is bad against creature-light control, combo decks that ignore battlefield size, and hands that cannot realistically put a seven-mana creature onto the battlefield. Role changes after adding it: value Smuggler's Surprise, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Monster Manual, and discard outlets more because the sideboard payoff is strongest when cheated, reanimated, or enabled ahead of hard-cast timing.
Fast small-creature pressure
Side in: 1 Fiery Impulse; 1 Cinderclasm; 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Cut: 1 Artillery Enthusiast; 1 Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion; 1 Emrakul, the World Anew
Graveyard-centric opponent
Side in: 2 Ghost Vacuum; 1 Bojuka Bog
Cut: 1 Artillery Enthusiast; 1 Seed of Hope; 1 Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion
Fair interaction and attrition
Side in: 4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker; 2 Monster Manual; 1 Shove Aside
- **Against aggro, favor survival plus one decisive payoff:** Add role cards: Fiery Impulse, Cinderclasm, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, and sometimes A-Haywire Mite if opposing artifacts or enchantments are real. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow singletons, fragile value creatures, and the most expensive payoff when the hand already has another cheat target. Keep enough Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, and Traverse the Ulvenwald to assemble the engine before life total collapses.
- **Against graveyard hate decks, diversify the engine:** Add role cards: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Monster Manual, A-Haywire Mite, Shove Aside, and Alpine Moon only if a land-based hate plan is known. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow graveyard-only value and redundant payoffs that require the graveyard to function. Do not overcommit to Ghost Vacuum in these games unless the opponent also uses the graveyard; answering hate is more important than carrying hate that does not affect their plan.
- **Against control or discard, add threats that generate value across turns:** Add role cards: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Monster Manual, Shove Aside, and sometimes Bojuka Bog if graveyard recursion is part of the opponent's late game. Reduce main-deck emphasis: cheap removal with few targets and low-impact bodies. Force the opponent to answer multiple permanent types so Omniscience, Shifting Woodland, and God-Pharaoh's Gift are not the only must-counter cards.
- **Against land-engine decks, make Alpine Moon precise:** Add role cards: Alpine Moon when one named nonbasic land is the engine, Boseiju, Who Endures remains important from the main deck, and A-Haywire Mite is only for artifact or enchantment support pieces. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal when the battlefield is not the pressure axis. Do not name a land from assumption alone if Veles has not shown the land or the matchup identity is uncertain.
- **Aggro:** Prioritize life total, blockers, and the first engine that actually stabilizes. Keep hands that can cast Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, or Cathartic Pyre early while still reaching Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Smuggler's Surprise, or Omniscience before the opponent's board becomes lethal. Add role cards: Fiery Impulse, Cinderclasm, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, and A-Haywire Mite when opposing artifact or enchantment creatures matter. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Artillery Enthusiast, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Seed of Hope, and the slowest redundant payoff when another Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew route is already present. Do not spend early turns on selection that fails to affect the board if Veles shows legal removal, blocker, or stabilizing cheat actions.
- **Control:** Force varied permanent types and preserve commitment timing. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Monster Manual are role cards because they pressure removal, discard, and counterspell-heavy decks without relying only on resolving Omniscience. Shove Aside is a role card only when Veles exposes relevant legal action text protecting a decisive spell, permanent, or payoff. Favor Faithless Looting flashback, Traverse the Ulvenwald with delirium, and Shifting Woodland lines that turn graveyard setup into must-answer threats. Avoid walking Omniscience into open interaction when a slower Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Monster Manual, or God-Pharaoh's Gift line can demand action first.
- **Combo:** Race with the fastest deterministic engine and interact only when the visible opposing action is more urgent than assembling Woodlands Omniscience. Keep hands that rapidly stock the graveyard with Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, and Satyr Wayfinder while finding Shifting Woodland, Omniscience, or a cheat route to Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew. Add role cards: Shove Aside when it protects the commitment turn, Ghost Vacuum or Bojuka Bog only when the opposing combo uses the graveyard, and Alpine Moon only when a revealed or known nonbasic land is central. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Cathartic Pyre and creature-control cards when the opponent is not pressuring through creatures.
- **Tempo:** Value mana efficiency over perfect setup. Do not keep slow hands that require several tapped or colorless land turns before affecting the game, even if they contain Omniscience. Use Cathartic Pyre, Fiery Impulse, and Cinderclasm to prevent small evasive threats from converting every counterspell into a Time Walk-like exchange. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is strong when the opponent must answer both battlefield pressure and graveyard setup, but it is weak if three mana sorcery-speed development lets the opponent hold up interaction and attack freely. Sequence Traverse the Ulvenwald and Cache Grab before commitment turns when they can find missing land, payoff, or engine redundancy.
- **Midrange:** Grind by making every answer awkward. The best plan is often layered setup: Faithless Looting and Cache Grab stock the graveyard, Malevolent Rumble and Satyr Wayfinder develop material, then Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Monster Manual, Smuggler's Surprise, or Omniscience forces a payoff through attrition. Add role cards: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Monster Manual, Shove Aside, and A-Haywire Mite when opposing permanents constrain the engine. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow removal and fragile singletons that trade down. Do not spend Traverse the Ulvenwald too early on a low-impact creature if delirium is close and the later tutor can find Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, or a needed land.
- **Big mana:** Pressure the setup race and attack the enabling permanent or land if Veles shows one. Alpine Moon is a role card when one nonbasic land visibly anchors the opponent's plan; Boseiju, Who Endures and A-Haywire Mite matter when the opponent depends on artifacts or enchantments. Monster Manual and Omniscience help beat opponents who go over normal creature combat, but only if the hand can present a payoff before the opponent's top-end dominates. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Cathartic Pyre and Cinderclasm effects unless they answer mana creatures or early pressure. Prefer Ulamog, the Defiler and Emrakul, the World Anew lines when the board is about inevitability rather than stabilizing against small attackers.
- **Graveyard decks:** Treat graveyards as both your resource and the opponent's resource. Add role cards: Ghost Vacuum and Bojuka Bog when the opponent's public graveyard is part of their engine, and A-Haywire Mite if their graveyard hate or recursion support is artifact or enchantment based. Reduce main-deck emphasis: the slowest value singleton and creature removal that misses the opponent's plan. Do not fire Bojuka Bog or Ghost Vacuum into a low-value graveyard unless the opponent has a visible pending recursion line, because Woodlands Omniscience may need time to build its own Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, and Traverse the Ulvenwald resources. If opposing hate is the problem, prioritize Boseiju, Who Endures, A-Haywire Mite, Shove Aside, Monster Manual, and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker over extra graveyard hate.
- **Artifact/enchantment decks:** Identify whether the opposing permanent is pressure, hate, mana, or engine before spending the answer. A-Haywire Mite and Boseiju, Who Endures are the cleanest role cards when Veles shows legal actions against artifacts or enchantments, while Shove Aside matters only if it protects the active engine from opposing interaction. Add role cards: A-Haywire Mite, Shove Aside, and sometimes Alpine Moon if a nonbasic land also anchors the plan. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Cathartic Pyre when opposing creatures are not the axis. Preserve A-Haywire Mite if the current permanent is annoying but not decisive and a known hate piece would stop Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Monster Manual, or Shifting Woodland.
- **Go-wide decks:** Turn the matchup into one stabilizing battlefield swing. Cinderclasm and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite are role cards because they punish multiple small creatures better than one-for-one removal. Fiery Impulse and Cathartic Pyre buy time when Veles shows an early creature that will meaningfully shorten the clock. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow graveyard-only value that does not block or interact. Do not attack with Satyr Wayfinder or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker tokens when preserving blockers is necessary to survive to the payoff turn. Smuggler's Surprise and God-Pharaoh's Gift lines gain value when they put a large creature into combat or onto the battlefield at a timing that changes lethal math.
- **Single-threat decks:** Answer or outclass the one threat rather than racing blindly. Cathartic Pyre, Fiery Impulse, Boseiju, Who Endures, A-Haywire Mite, and Shove Aside all depend on visible legal text and target type, so obey Veles legality before assuming an answer exists. Add role cards: Fiery Impulse for cheap creatures, Shove Aside for protection or interaction when its text applies, and A-Haywire Mite for artifact or enchantment threats. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Cinderclasm if the opponent does not present multiple creatures. A fast Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite can be better than spending multiple turns finding a narrow answer.
- **Burn:** Treat every untapped mana and every point of life as decisive. Keep hands with early plays, avoid unnecessary shock or pain choices when Veles offers safer mana, and prefer blockers plus quick payoff over slow card selection. Add role cards: Fiery Impulse, Cinderclasm, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker when it blocks or rummages into action, and Shove Aside only when its legal text interacts with burn or protects a stabilizing play. Reduce main-deck emphasis: the slowest top-end and low-board-impact singletons. Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Smuggler's Surprise are important only if the legal line changes the race before burn range closes; do not assume life gain or protection text without Veles action evidence.
- **Removal-heavy decks:** Make removal line up poorly against engines and graveyard value. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Monster Manual, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Omniscience, and Shifting Woodland are the pressure points because they can turn discarded or killed payoffs into future threats. Add role cards: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Monster Manual, and Shove Aside when it protects a commitment. Reduce main-deck emphasis: small creatures that only trade for removal unless they are needed for Satyr Wayfinder setup, Malevolent Rumble material, or early blocking. Let Atraxa, Grand Unifier reload resources when available, and avoid committing the only payoff into removal when a second payoff can be stocked first through Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, or Traverse the Ulvenwald.
- **General/archetype-only note:** Treat these notes as matchup heuristics until Veles reveals exact opposing cards, colors, graveyards, and legal actions. Revealed cards override archetype assumptions, and runtime legal action text overrides any planned priority target or role-card preference.
- **Fast creature pressure:** Prioritize survival to the first payoff turn over graveyard volume. Add role cards: Fiery Impulse, Cinderclasm, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow singleton setup pieces that do not block, remove, or immediately find a payoff. Priority targets are creatures that shorten the clock below the time needed for Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Monster Manual, Smuggler's Surprise, or Omniscience to matter. Preserve Satyr Wayfinder and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker tokens as blockers when life total is under pressure.
- **Graveyard interaction matchups:** Identify whether the opponent is using graveyards, attacking your graveyard, or both. Add role cards: Ghost Vacuum and Bojuka Bog against opposing graveyard engines; A-Haywire Mite, Boseiju, Who Endures, and Shove Aside when visible hate threatens Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Cache Grab, Faithless Looting, Traverse the Ulvenwald, or Malevolent Rumble. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal that lacks legal targets and slow top-end when the engine is being constrained. Priority targets are graveyard hate permanents before they lock out the payoff turn, not low-value opposing graveyard cards.
- **Artifact/enchantment pressure or hate:** Spend A-Haywire Mite and Boseiju, Who Endures on permanents that stop the combo, accelerate lethal pressure, or deny a committed engine. Add role cards: A-Haywire Mite and Shove Aside, with Alpine Moon only when a revealed nonbasic land is central to the opponent. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Cathartic Pyre when it has no meaningful creature targets. Priority targets are hate pieces that block Omniscience, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Monster Manual, or Shifting Woodland before ordinary value permanents.
- **Control and removal-heavy decks:** Build redundancy before committing the only payoff. Add role cards: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Monster Manual, and Shove Aside. Reduce main-deck emphasis: early creatures that only expose tempo to removal unless they enable Satyr Wayfinder, Malevolent Rumble, or blocking. Priority targets are counterplay windows around Omniscience, Shifting Woodland, Monster Manual, and God-Pharaoh's Gift; do not force Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, or Emrakul, the World Anew into open interaction when a second line can be prepared.
- **Big mana and slower engine decks:** Race toward the most decisive top-end instead of spending turns on low-impact filtering. Add role cards: Alpine Moon if one revealed nonbasic is central, Boseiju, Who Endures or A-Haywire Mite for artifact/enchantment engines, and Monster Manual for a non-graveyard deployment lane. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fiery Impulse, Cinderclasm, and Cathartic Pyre unless they answer visible acceleration or a must-kill creature. Priority targets are mana engines, lock pieces, and any permanent that invalidates a single enormous creature.
- **Mana risk:** The deck needs green early for Traverse the Ulvenwald, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, Seed of Hope, Boseiju, Who Endures, and Shifting Woodland setup, while red enables Faithless Looting and Cathartic Pyre. Avoid opening hands that cannot cast early selection unless the hand already has a clear engine and payoff route. Treat Prismatic Vista, Stomping Ground, Cragcrown Pathway, Forest, Mountain, and Boseiju, Who Endures as sequencing resources, not interchangeable lands.
- **Draw risk:** Hands with Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, Omniscience, or multiple God-Pharaoh's Gift can be powerful but nonfunctional without discard, mill, land development, or a deployment engine. Use Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, and Traverse the Ulvenwald to convert clunky draws into either graveyard fuel or a specific missing piece.
- **Over-sideboarding risk:** The deck loses identity when too many engine cards leave for narrow answers. Add role cards only when they answer revealed pressure, hate, or a faster opposing engine. Keep enough Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Shifting Woodland, and payoff density to actually win after stabilizing.
- **Graveyard risk:** Shifting Woodland and God-Pharaoh's Gift lines can collapse when the graveyard is attacked, exiled, or too thin. Use Monster Manual, Omniscience, Smuggler's Surprise, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and hard-cast or cheated top-end as alternate lanes when graveyard access is constrained.
- **Removal and sweeper risk:** Small setup creatures are expendable, but losing the only battlefield engine or only blocker can change the race. Preserve Shove Aside for high-impact commitments when its legal action text applies, and avoid attacking with necessary blockers into obvious punishment.
- **Closer risk:** The deck can assemble resources without ending the game if payoff timing is too cautious. Commit Atraxa, Grand Unifier to reload when resources are low, prefer Ulamog, the Defiler or Emrakul, the World Anew when inevitability matters, and use Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite only when the board impact is worth the sideboard slot. Card text check required for Artillery Enthusiast and Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion before relying on a specific tactical line.
- **Sequencing risk:** Casting selection in the wrong order can waste delirium, discard outlets, or tutor value. Lead with visible mana constraints, then use Faithless Looting and Cache Grab to stock the graveyard, Malevolent Rumble and Satyr Wayfinder to develop material, and Traverse the Ulvenwald only after checking whether delirium changes the legal search range.
- **Deciding factor:** Record whether the game was decided by early graveyard velocity, mana development, a resolved engine, opposing pressure, graveyard disruption, or a stranded payoff. Name the actual cards involved, especially Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Omniscience, Smuggler's Surprise, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, and Emrakul, the World Anew.
- **Mulligans:** Ask whether the kept hand had a castable early green or red spell, a route to four or more lands, and at least one engine or selection chain. Flag keeps with multiple Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, Omniscience, or God-Pharaoh's Gift but no Faithless Looting, Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Satyr Wayfinder, Seed of Hope, or Traverse the Ulvenwald.
- **Mana:** Check whether Prismatic Vista, Stomping Ground, Cragcrown Pathway, Forest, Mountain, and Boseiju, Who Endures sequencing enabled green setup without cutting off red discard/removal. Note games where Boseiju, Who Endures was held as interaction but the missing land drop mattered more.
- **Velocity:** Count whether the deck saw enough cards before the critical turn. Identify whether Faithless Looting discarded the right clunky cards, Cache Grab and Malevolent Rumble filled the graveyard usefully, Satyr Wayfinder found land or bought time, and Traverse the Ulvenwald was fired before or after delirium mattered.
- **Engine execution:** Record which lane actually mattered: Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Omniscience, Smuggler's Surprise, Monster Manual, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or hard-cast pressure. Mark any game where the pilot prepared one lane while the visible board demanded another.
- **Removal and survival:** Ask whether Cathartic Pyre, Fiery Impulse, Cinderclasm, A-Haywire Mite, Boseiju, Who Endures, Shove Aside, Ghost Vacuum, or Bojuka Bog affected the deciding turn. Note whether removal was spent on pressure, held for hate, or stranded without legal targets.
- **Closing:** Check whether Atraxa, Grand Unifier reloaded, Ulamog, the Defiler or Emrakul, the World Anew ended the game, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite stabilized creature pressure, or God-Pharaoh's Gift produced enough recurring threats. Flag games where the deck stabilized but did not present a fast enough clock.
- **Role and mistakes:** Record whether the pilot correctly played as combo, ramp-control, anti-aggro stabilizer, or graveyard-resilient midrange. Identify visible mistakes: unnecessary attacks with blockers, low-impact selection under lethal pressure, missed sideboard role-card deployment, premature payoff commitment, or passing with relevant legal action text available.
- **Stranded and standout cards:** List overperformers and underperformers by exact card name after each match. Separate stranded top-end from weak tactical choices; a stranded Omniscience or Atraxa, Grand Unifier may indicate mana/velocity problems, not that the payoff is wrong.
- **Quantity pressure:** Is four Omniscience correct when the deck often wins through Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Smuggler's Surprise, or Monster Manual, or did extra copies mainly clog hands without Faithless Looting? If Omniscience was decisive when cast or cheated, preserve density before cutting payoff power.
- **Top-end mix:** Should the split among Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, and Emrakul, the World Anew change based on actual closing failures? Increase reload effects only if games run out of material; increase immediate finishers only if the deck assembles engines but gives opponents too many recovery turns.
- **Graveyard balance:** Did Shifting Woodland and God-Pharaoh's Gift lose primarily to graveyard pressure, insufficient graveyard filling, or slow activation timing? If hate was common, ask whether Monster Manual, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Shove Aside, A-Haywire Mite, Ghost Vacuum, and Bojuka Bog need more sideboard emphasis rather than reducing the main graveyard core.
- **Mana structure:** Did the deck miss early green, early red, or total land count more often? Review whether 2 Cragcrown Pathway, 2 Mountain, 2 Boseiju, Who Endures, 3 Forest, 4 Stomping Ground, 4 Shifting Woodland, and 4 Prismatic Vista support both setup and interaction without too many awkward openings.
- **Aggro plan:** Did Cathartic Pyre, Satyr Wayfinder, Cinderclasm, Fiery Impulse, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite produce enough time against fast pressure? If not, decide whether the issue was removal quantity, sweeper timing, blocker discipline, or keeping hands that were too engine-heavy.
- **Control plan:** Did Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Monster Manual, Shove Aside, Boseiju, Who Endures, and redundant engines beat interaction-heavy opponents? If payoffs were repeatedly stopped, consider whether the list needs more resilient commitment patterns rather than more expensive finishers.
- **Sideboard slots:** Did Alpine Moon, Ghost Vacuum, Bojuka Bog, A-Haywire Mite, Shove Aside, Cinderclasm, Fiery Impulse, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Monster Manual, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite each have clear matchups where they changed outcomes? Reassign slots only after separating narrow-card absence from pilot timing errors.
- **Role conflicts:** Did the deck lose because it tried to be both fast combo and defensive midrange in the same game? Tune only after identifying whether the failed games needed more velocity, more interaction, more alternate engines, or cleaner payoff commitment. Card text check required before tuning around Artillery Enthusiast or Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion.
## Veles Tactical Policy
### Policy: Mulligan For Functional Velocity
Priority: High
Decision families: mulligan
Cards: Faithless Looting; Cache Grab; Malevolent Rumble; Satyr Wayfinder; Traverse the Ulvenwald; Shifting Woodland; Omniscience; God-Pharaoh's Gift
Phase windows: opening hand, mulligan decisions
Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; zone:opening hand
Use when: deciding whether the opening hand can execute a setup chain before pressure or disruption matters.
Avoid when: the hand has no early green or red action, no credible land development, and only expensive payoff cards.
Instructions: Keep hands with lands plus early selection, graveyard fill, or Traverse the Ulvenwald access; ship hands that only contain Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Ulamog, the Defiler, Emrakul, the World Anew, Omniscience, or God-Pharaoh's Gift without a way to cast, discard, mill, or search toward the engine.
Use when: multiple legal setup spells compete before the graveyard, land count, and payoff lane are established.
Avoid when: the visible board requires immediate removal or a sideboard hate answer this turn.
Instructions: Prioritize developing mana and graveyard density before committing expensive engines; prefer spells that both find land and stock the graveyard when land drops are uncertain, and prefer discard outlets when the hand contains stranded top-end.
Phase windows: land play decisions, mana payment prompts
Runtime cues: action:play land; action:activate Prismatic Vista; prompt:pay mana
Use when: choosing land drops or fetch targets that determine access to green setup, red discard/removal, or Shifting Woodland activation.
Avoid when: Veles exposes only one legal mana payment or land action.
Instructions: Secure green early for Cache Grab, Malevolent Rumble, Traverse the Ulvenwald, and Satyr Wayfinder; secure red when Faithless Looting or Cathartic Pyre is a needed bridge; treat Boseiju, Who Endures as a land first when missing development blocks the engine.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Exact Required Mana Payment
Priority: Low
Decision families: mana
Cards: none
Phase windows: mana payment prompts
Runtime cues: action:pay exact mana
Use when: Veles shows exactly one legal mana-payment action and it fully pays the currently selected spell or ability.
Avoid when: multiple source subsets, colors, floating mana choices, or utility-land activations are legal.
Instructions: Choose the single exact payment action shown by the rules engine.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Combo Commitment Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: priority, selection, mana
Cards: Shifting Woodland; Omniscience; God-Pharaoh's Gift; Smuggler's Surprise; Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Ulamog, the Defiler; Emrakul, the World Anew
Phase windows: main phases, end step windows, priority before tapping out
Use when: starting the main engine would spend most mana, expose the graveyard lane, or commit a payoff into possible visible interaction.
Avoid when: the action is a deterministic target step after the commitment has already been selected.
Instructions: Commit when the engine can produce a major immediate swing, waiting risks death or discard, or redundancy protects the line; delay when visible graveyard hate, open interaction, or missing follow-up makes the payoff fragile without pressure to act.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Shifting Woodland Target Execution
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection
Cards: Shifting Woodland; Omniscience; God-Pharaoh's Gift
Use when: a prior policy or model decision has selected the Shifting Woodland line and the legal action text names exactly Omniscience or God-Pharaoh's Gift as the target permanent card in your graveyard.
Avoid when: multiple target cards represent different strategic lanes or the prior commitment did not name the target.
Instructions: Choose the legal target named by the selected line; use Omniscience to enable hand-based payoff casting, and God-Pharaoh's Gift to enable graveyard-recursion pressure only when that target was the chosen commitment.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Omniscience Payoff Casting
Priority: High
Decision families: priority, selection
Cards: Omniscience; Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Ulamog, the Defiler; Emrakul, the World Anew; Faithless Looting; Cache Grab; Traverse the Ulvenwald
Phase windows: post-Omniscience main phases, free-cast prompts
Runtime cues: action:cast Atraxa, Grand Unifier; action:cast Ulamog, the Defiler; action:cast Emrakul, the World Anew
Use when: Omniscience is active or otherwise permits casting expensive spells and multiple payoff or reload actions are legal.
Avoid when: Veles is asking only for a deterministic target or mandatory mana action.
Instructions: Prefer the line that immediately stabilizes or wins from visible resources; use Atraxa, Grand Unifier when more cards are needed, and use Ulamog, the Defiler or Emrakul, the World Anew when pressure, exile, annihilator-style closing, or game-ending board impact is available under legal text.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Graveyard Fill Versus Payoff Preservation
Phase windows: main phases, selection prompts, discard prompts
Runtime cues: action:discard; action:choose card; action:mill; action:put into graveyard
Use when: selection or discard choices decide whether payoffs, lands, or interaction move between hand, graveyard, and library.
Avoid when: the prompt has only one legal card choice.
Instructions: Put expensive payoffs into the graveyard when Shifting Woodland or God-Pharaoh's Gift benefits; keep castable setup, missing lands, and needed interaction in hand; do not discard the only route to a required color or survival spell.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Traverse Search Gate
Priority: Medium
Decision families: selection
Cards: Traverse the Ulvenwald; Forest; Mountain; Boseiju, Who Endures; Shifting Woodland; Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Ulamog, the Defiler; Emrakul, the World Anew
Phase windows: main phases, search prompts
Runtime cues: action:cast Traverse the Ulvenwald; prompt:search library
Use when: Traverse the Ulvenwald can search and the legal choices reveal land-only versus delirium-expanded options.
Avoid when: a no-choice search or exact named search action is the only legal result.
Instructions: Use non-delirium Traverse the Ulvenwald to fix land development; with delirium, choose the creature or land that completes the active lane, survives the current board, or converts Omniscience/Shifting Woodland into a decisive follow-up.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Removal And Survival Gate
Priority: High
Decision families: interaction, priority
Cards: Cathartic Pyre; Fiery Impulse; Cinderclasm; A-Haywire Mite; Boseiju, Who Endures; Shove Aside; Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Phase windows: opponent combat, own main phase, stack windows, end steps
Use when: visible pressure, hate permanents, or stack interaction threatens the next engine turn or lethal survival.
Avoid when: the target choice is deterministic after an already selected spell or ability.
Instructions: Spend interaction to prevent lethal, remove graveyard hate, protect an imminent combo, or buy the exact turn needed for Omniscience, Shifting Woodland, God-Pharaoh's Gift, Smuggler's Surprise, or Monster Manual; avoid low-impact removal when the visible clock allows engine development.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Target Opposing Hate Permanent
Priority: Medium
Decision families: interaction, selection
Cards: A-Haywire Mite; Boseiju, Who Endures
Phase windows: target prompts after selected artifact/enchantment interaction
Use when: the prior selected line is removing an opposing artifact or enchantment hate permanent and the legal action text shows that exact opposing permanent as the only target matching the selected line.
Avoid when: multiple opposing targets change the strategic outcome.
Instructions: Choose the opposing target named by the selected removal line.
Pilot skill floor: no-api
No-API allowed: yes
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Combat Discipline
Priority: Medium
Decision families: combat
Cards: Satyr Wayfinder; Fable of the Mirror-Breaker; Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite; Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Ulamog, the Defiler; Emrakul, the World Anew
Phase windows: declare attackers, declare blockers, combat trick windows
Use when: creatures can attack, block, or stay back while the engine plan is developing.
Avoid when: exactly one legal no-attack or mandatory-block action is exposed and no tactical choice exists.
Instructions: Preserve blockers when life total is the limiting resource; attack with large payoffs when it shortens the clock without exposing lethal return damage; do not trade Satyr Wayfinder or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker material if it is needed to bridge into the next engine turn.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Smuggler's Surprise And Monster Manual Commitment
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority, selection, mana
Cards: Smuggler's Surprise; Monster Manual; Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Ulamog, the Defiler; Emrakul, the World Anew; Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Phase windows: main phases, opponent end step, combat-relevant priority
Use when: a hand-based cheat effect can deploy a payoff and the pilot must decide timing and revealed creature choice.
Avoid when: the target or creature choice is already forced by a previous selected line.
Instructions: Use these effects when they beat discard, dodge sorcery-speed pressure, create a lethal or stabilizing board, or provide a non-graveyard lane through hate; wait when the payoff would enter without affecting the visible race or protection from interaction.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Sideboard Role Selection
Priority: High
Decision families: sideboard
Cards: Ghost Vacuum; Alpine Moon; Fiery Impulse; Shove Aside; A-Haywire Mite; Cinderclasm; Fable of the Mirror-Breaker; Monster Manual; Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite; Bojuka Bog
Use when: choosing a post-board configuration from legal registered cards.
Avoid when: the sideboard plan has already been locked by the manifest or exact executable plan.
Instructions: Add graveyard hate for graveyard mirrors, Alpine Moon for land-centric engines, Fiery Impulse and Cinderclasm for fast creature pressure, Shove Aside for interaction fights, A-Haywire Mite for artifacts/enchantments, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Monster Manual for grindy or graveyard-hostile games, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite for creature boards, and Bojuka Bog when one-shot graveyard disruption matters.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Fable Midrange Pivot
Priority: Medium
Decision families: priority, selection, combat
Cards: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker; Faithless Looting; Cathartic Pyre; Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Ulamog, the Defiler; Emrakul, the World Anew
Phase windows: post-board main phases, chapter selection and discard windows
Runtime cues: action:cast Fable of the Mirror-Breaker; prompt:discard; action:attack
Use when: post-board games slow down, graveyard hate is visible, or a non-all-in engine is needed.
Avoid when: a direct combo commitment is legal and visibly wins or stabilizes this turn.
Instructions: Use Fable of the Mirror-Breaker to filter stranded top-end, pressure planeswalkers or life totals, and build a backup route while preserving the option to return to Omniscience or Shifting Woodland if hate is answered.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Pass With Interaction Or Engine Available
Use when: pass is legal alongside instant-speed action, channel action, activated ability, or castable setup.
Avoid when: Veles exposes only pass or only mandatory procedural actions.
Instructions: Pass only when holding action improves timing, preserves interaction, or avoids tapping out before an opponent commitment; act now when passing risks lethal, loses mana efficiency before a critical turn, or wastes a chance to remove visible hate.
Pilot skill floor: light model
No-API allowed: no
Light-model allowed: yes
### Policy: Procedural Single Pass
Priority: Low
Decision families: priority
Cards: none
Phase windows: priority windows
Runtime cues: action:pass priority
Use when: the only legal action text is pass priority and no other legal spell, ability, target, mana, combat, or selection action is present.
Avoid when: any non-pass legal action is also present.
Instructions: Choose the pass-priority action shown by Veles.
