veles-content/strategies/oathbreaker/oathbreaker_ral_zarek_no_hands/1/guide.md

# Strategy Specifications
## Deck Name And Archetype
Ral Zarek No Hands. Format: Oathbreaker. Main deck count: 60. Sideboard count: 0. Tags: midrange. Commander: Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer // Pox. This is a deterministic Veles scaffold created from the sourced decklist; replace it with a human-approved deep guide when available.

## Thesis
Ral Zarek No Hands oathbreaker command-zone strategy; exact Strategy Specification pending runtime support. Pilot this list as a midrange strategy and validate all tactical assumptions against legal actions and revealed game state.

## Role Package
- Core role: Ral Zarek No Hands oathbreaker command-zone strategy; exact Strategy Specification pending runtime support.
- Primary tags: midrange.
- Mechanical tags: decklist-driven mechanics.
- Main cards to classify during guide refinement: Waste Not, Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer, Pox, Doomsday Confluence, Jecht, Reluctant Guardian // Braska's Final Aeon, Vicious Rumors, Burglar Rat, Elderfang Disciple, The Raven Man, Tinybones, Trinket Thief, Words of Waste, Tinybones, Bauble Burglar, Liliana's Specter, Entropic Battlecruiser, Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead, Arbiter of Woe, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Liliana of the Veil.
- Sideboard cards to map during guide refinement: none listed.

## Primary Win Conditions
- Use the cards most aligned with midrange to execute the sourced archetype plan.
- Treat these repeated nonland cards as likely primary plan anchors until the deep guide replaces this scaffold: Waste Not, Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer, Pox, Doomsday Confluence, Jecht, Reluctant Guardian // Braska's Final Aeon, Vicious Rumors, Burglar Rat, Elderfang Disciple, The Raven Man, Tinybones, Trinket Thief, Words of Waste, Tinybones, Bauble Burglar, Liliana's Specter, Entropic Battlecruiser, Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead, Arbiter of Woe, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Liliana of the Veil.

## Secondary Win Conditions
- Convert leftover material, chip damage, resilient permanents, graveyard resources, or command-zone access into a backup plan when the primary line is disrupted.
- Prefer lines that preserve the deck's stated concept rather than generic value plays.

## Emergency Lines
- When behind on board, spend interaction or blockers to preserve life before pursuing slow engines.
- When low on cards, prioritize legal actions that convert board material or graveyard resources into velocity.
- When mana constrained, sequence lands and cheap plays before committing to multi-spell plans.

## Resource Model
- Track life, cards, mana, board material, graveyard, exile, tempo, and information each turn.
- Spend life only when it preserves a higher-value plan, protects a key engine, or enables a decisive tempo swing.
- Do not cash in material without checking whether the deck needs it for sacrifice, convoke, commander tax, recursion, or combat pressure.

## Mana Guide
- Validate color requirements from the decklist before keeping hands.
- Strategically relevant lands to review: 1 Castle Locthwain.
- Account for the land drop before evaluating every turn.
- Draw or scry before land only when the card selection can materially change the land choice.

## Mulligan Guide
- Keep hands with functional mana, early plays, and at least one card that advances the deck's stated role.
- Treat hands with only payoffs, only reactive cards, or unsupported colors as risky.
- Ship hands that cannot act before turn 3 unless the matchup is slow and the hand has a proven engine.
- For commander-like profiles, account for command-zone access separately from hand quality.

## Turn Arc
- Turn 1: establish mana, protection, or the cheapest role-advancing play.
- Turn 2: add pressure, selection, ramp, or interaction according to matchup role.
- Turn 3: commit the first meaningful engine/payoff or hold interaction if the opponent threatens a faster axis.
- Turns 4-5: convert early setup into pressure, stabilization, or combo assembly.
- Late game: preserve inevitability pieces and avoid low-impact actions that do not close or stabilize.

## Card Roles
- Repeated nonland cards that must receive exact roles in the final guide: singleton profile; classify every nonland by function.
- Current main-deck review set: Waste Not, Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer, Pox, Doomsday Confluence, Jecht, Reluctant Guardian // Braska's Final Aeon, Vicious Rumors, Burglar Rat, Elderfang Disciple, The Raven Man, Tinybones, Trinket Thief, Words of Waste, Tinybones, Bauble Burglar, Liliana's Specter, Entropic Battlecruiser, Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead, Arbiter of Woe, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Liliana of the Veil.
- Discuss when to cast, hold, protect, trade, or sideboard around each of these cards in the final guide.

## Interaction Priorities
- Answer opposing cards that invalidate the deck's primary axis first.
- Ignore threats that are slower than the deck's own clock unless life total or combo timing makes them decisive.
- Save stack interaction for payoffs, sweepers, hate pieces, or combo cards that change the game immediately.

## Combat And Trading Rules
- Trade when it improves the next-turn board or protects a more important engine.
- Avoid equal trades that leave a smaller opposing creature to keep dealing damage unless life total, pump, recursion, or removal timing makes the trade correct.
- Preserve creatures needed for sacrifice, convoke, commander damage, tribal scaling, or engine loops.

## Selection And Tutor Rules
- Early selection should find mana and the deck's first role-advancing card.
- Midgame selection should find interaction, engine pieces, or finishers according to matchup role.
- Tutors should get the card that changes the current game state, not the abstract strongest card.

## Priority And Stack Rules
- Use instant-speed windows to protect key cards, remove must-answer threats, or force through a decisive action.
- Let low-impact spells resolve when interaction must be preserved for a higher-value target.
- Do not use optional payments or abilities before checking whether that mana is needed for a pending tax, response, or follow-up.

## Sideboard Map
- Sideboard cards requiring exact matchup mapping: no sideboard listed.
- Side in cards only when they answer the opponent's primary axis or improve the deck's role.
- Side out cards that are too slow, low impact, redundant, or poorly aligned with the post-board role.

## Matchup Guidance
- Vs aggro: stabilize first, then turn the corner with the deck's highest-impact pressure or lifegain/removal package.
- Vs control: protect engines, diversify threats, and avoid overextending into sweepers.
- Vs combo: identify the decisive window and hold disruption for the payoff or enabler that matters.
- Vs midrange: trade resources only when the deck has a stronger reload or inevitability plan.
- Vs graveyard/artifact/enchantment decks: deploy hate only when it disrupts their active axis without derailing yours.

## Specific Matchup Notes
- No exact opponent list is embedded in this scaffold. Override these notes with revealed cards, known archetype identity, and sideboarded game evidence.

## Risk Summary
- Main risks to validate: mana consistency, role confusion, over-sideboarding, insufficient closing power, weak interaction windows, and card-specific sequencing mistakes.
- For singleton and Arena-only profiles, also verify Forge card/rules coverage before using the deck as a default playtest target.

## Test Feedback Checklist
- Record what decided the game, mulligan quality, mana performance, card velocity, engine assembly, removal quality, sideboard impact, closing power, matchup role, pilot mistakes, stranded cards, and overperforming or underperforming packages.
- For each loss, name one primary cause and one secondary cause.
- For each win, name the card or package that most contributed.

## First Tuning Questions
- Which cards from this main-deck review set are actual plan anchors: Waste Not, Ral Zarek, Guest Lecturer, Pox, Doomsday Confluence, Jecht, Reluctant Guardian // Braska's Final Aeon, Vicious Rumors, Burglar Rat, Elderfang Disciple, The Raven Man, Tinybones, Trinket Thief, Words of Waste, Tinybones, Bauble Burglar, Liliana's Specter, Entropic Battlecruiser, Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal // Temple of the Dead, Arbiter of Woe, Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Liliana of the Veil?
- Which sideboard cards are narrow, broad, or currently unneeded: none listed?
- Does the mana support the deck's most important early and double-pip plays?
- Does the deck stabilize but fail to close, or close quickly but fail under interaction?