veles-content/strategies/alchemy/alchemy_bant_beanstalk/1/guide.md

Strategy Specifications

Deck Name And Archetype

• Identity: Bant Beanstalk is an Alchemy Bant control-midrange strategy built around Up the Beanstalk, expensive permanent threats, scalable copy effects, life-buffering interaction, and sweepers. The deck should be piloted as a stabilizing value deck first and a snowballing permanent deck second; early turns are about surviving, fixing mana, and enabling later high-impact turns rather than racing without board control.

• Registered status: The submitted list is 60 main-deck cards and 15 sideboard cards, matching the active Alchemy validation contract. The registered main deck is exactly 60 cards; the registered sideboard is exactly 15 cards; the provided format-aware validation result says the deck passes. Runtime decisions must still defer to the rules engine for legal actions, card availability, target legality, timing, and replacement or triggered choices.

• Archetype tags: The active tags are control and midrange; treat duplicated tag text as one combined role rather than as separate strategic identities. The deck is not a pure tap-out control deck because Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Ancient Cornucopia, Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Mythweaver Poq, Lurker in the Deep, and Omenpath Journey ask the pilot to convert mana and permanents into board presence. The deck is not a pure midrange deck because Ride's End, Day of Judgment, Fumigate, Three Steps Ahead, Seized from Slumber, Authority of the Consuls, and Rest in Peace indicate a strong reactive and sideboard-control plan.

• Stock status: Classify this as a hybrid or rogue Bant Beanstalk build, not a stock netdeck, unless an external deck database later confirms the exact 75. The registered configuration is highly deck-specific because it combines four Up the Beanstalk, eight Overlords, three Doppelgang, three Ornate Imitations, four Ancient Cornucopia, and a mostly land-heavy Bant mana base with only a small number of singletons. Runtime guidance should therefore prefer card-specific plans over generic Bant control heuristics.

• Primary structural concern: The deck has many expensive spells and permanents, so early mana development and survival are more important than speculative value. Hands that cannot cast early interaction or advance mana/fixing should be treated skeptically, especially against unknown aggressive opponents. Hands with Up the Beanstalk but no route to survive or cast high-cost follow-up spells should not be overvalued merely because the engine card is present.

• Mana concern: The mana base is Bant and land-rich, with single basic Plains, single basic Island, two Forest, and many named dual or utility lands: Floodfarm Verge, Meticulous Archive, Blossoming Sands, Hushwood Verge, Lush Portico, Hedge Maze, Restless Vinestalk, Thornwood Falls, and Willowrush Verge. The pilot should respect color sequencing from visible lands and legal actions; do not assume an untapped source, a specific land subtype interaction, or a color choice unless the engine exposes it.

• Role concern: The deck often shifts roles during the same game. Against pressure, prioritize life total, removal, and sweepers before copy/value lines. Against slower opponents, prioritize Up the Beanstalk, resilient Overlord development, and high-ceiling Doppelgang or Ornate Imitations turns once the opponent's visible pressure and interaction windows are manageable.

• Opponent information status: No specific opponent decklist, archetype, or matchup label is supplied for this generated section. Treat opponent identity as unknown until Veles provides public information, matchup metadata, revealed cards, game history, or sideboard-stage context. Do not infer hidden cards from format familiarity; use only visible board state, logged revealed information, legal action text, and provided matchup labels at runtime.

• Legality caution: Card text and Alchemy-specific behavior may differ from paper versions or may change through digital rebalance. When exact text matters for Mythweaver Poq, Lurker in the Deep, Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Ancient Cornucopia, Ride's End, Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Omenpath Journey, Thieving Aven, Three Steps Ahead, or Seized from Slumber, obey the rules engine and mark uncertain tactical claims as conditional rather than inventing outcomes.

Thesis

Bant Beanstalk assembles mana, time, and permanent-based card advantage until its expensive spells become both stabilization tools and win conditions. The deck wants Up the Beanstalk on the battlefield before casting or copying high-mana-value threats when the board allows it, then converts Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Mythweaver Poq, Lurker in the Deep, Omenpath Journey, and creature-land pressure from Restless Vinestalk into an overwhelming battlefield. Prioritize legal plays that keep the pilot alive and mana-functional first; the value engine matters only if the deck reaches the turn cycle where it can deploy expensive spells safely.

Bant Beanstalk wins by stabilizing, then snowballing with high-impact permanents rather than by racing from turn one. Day of Judgment and Fumigate reset creature pressure, Ride's End buys targeted time when the rules engine exposes legal targets, and Ancient Cornucopia plus the land-heavy Bant base support later multi-spell or scalable turns. Once parity is reached, copy effects and Overlords should be treated as closing tools, not ornamental value plays; a copied or duplicated permanent board should pressure life totals, protect the pilot from the next attack, or create enough material that future draw steps are favored.

Do not pilot this deck as a tempo deck, a low-curve creature deck, or a pure permission deck. It has few cheap threats, no reliable main-deck counterspell module, and several cards whose value depends on surviving to higher mana. Passing with nothing developed is acceptable only when visible legal interaction or a sweeper plan makes that pass stronger than tapping out. Tapping out for a value card is dangerous when the opponent has visible lethal pressure, a stack threat that must be answered, or a board that demands Day of Judgment, Fumigate, or a legal Ride's End line.

Prioritize decisions in this order: maintain legal mana development, preserve life total against visible attacks, deploy Up the Beanstalk when it does not concede tempo, answer boards before they become lethal, then commit Overlord or copy-effect turns when waiting is worse or when the opponent's visible pressure is contained. Card text check required for exact Alchemy behavior on Mythweaver Poq, Lurker in the Deep, Ride's End, Ornate Imitations, Omenpath Journey, Thieving Aven, and Seized from Slumber; use them conditionally from rules-engine text and legal actions rather than from memory.

Role Package

• Threats: Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Mythweaver Poq, Lurker in the Deep, and Restless Vinestalk are the primary ways to turn stabilization into a win. Deploy them after checking visible attacks, available blockers, known removal risk from public information, and whether a sweeper is needed first. Treat Overlord of the Hauntwoods and Overlord of the Mistmoors as both board pieces and Beanstalk enablers when the engine confirms legal casting lines.

• Payoffs: Doppelgang and Ornate Imitations are high-ceiling conversion spells that should copy or create material only when the visible board justifies the investment. Prefer payoff turns that add pressure, mana, blockers, or card-flow engines over turns that merely increase countable permanents without changing the clock or survival math. Card text check required for exact Ornate Imitations behavior.

• Engines: Up the Beanstalk is the central draw engine, and Ancient Cornucopia is the main nonland resource engine if its rules text supports fixing, scaling, or life-buffering in the current Alchemy implementation. Keep Up the Beanstalk when the hand can survive and cast high-mana-value follow-up spells; do not keep a hand that only has engine text and no time to use it.

• Velocity: Up the Beanstalk, Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Omenpath Journey, and sideboard Three Steps Ahead are the likely cards that improve future access to threats or answers. Use velocity when the board is stable or when digging is the only visible route to a sweeper, removal spell, or mana; do not spend a critical turn on velocity while a visible lethal attack is already present unless the legal action directly prevents that outcome.

• Interaction: Ride's End, Day of Judgment, and Fumigate are the main-deck control module. Use Ride's End for high-impact legal targets when a single permanent or attack step matters; use Day of Judgment and Fumigate when the opponent's battlefield is worth resetting or when spot interaction cannot stabilize. Sideboard Seized from Slumber, Three Steps Ahead, Authority of the Consuls, and Rest in Peace expand the interaction suite for creature, stack, life-total, and graveyard contexts.

• Protection: The main deck mostly protects itself through sweepers, life total management, mana development, and board presence rather than through dedicated protection spells. After sideboarding, Three Steps Ahead is the clearest protection or permission module if the rules engine exposes counter or response modes. Do not hold up protection mana by habit; hold it up when visible stack risk, known public information, or matchup guidance makes the protected permanent or answer more important than tapping out.

• Recursion: The registered list has no obvious dedicated recursion module. Do not plan around recovering spent Day of Judgment, Fumigate, Ride's End, or copied threats unless the rules engine exposes a legal action that explicitly returns or reuses a card. If Omenpath Journey or another card presents graveyard or exile interaction at runtime, follow the visible legal text and treat the decision as conditional.

• Mana: Plains, Island, Forest, Floodfarm Verge, Meticulous Archive, Blossoming Sands, Hushwood Verge, Lush Portico, Hedge Maze, Restless Vinestalk, Thornwood Falls, and Willowrush Verge form the Bant base, with Ancient Cornucopia supporting nonland resource development. Sequence lands to preserve access to white sweepers, green Overlord or ramp lines, and blue copy or sideboard interaction, but always obey the engine's tapped, color, and timing output.

• Sideboard modules: Authority of the Consuls is the anti-creature stabilization module, Three Steps Ahead is the stack-flexibility and protection module, Rest in Peace is the graveyard-denial module, Thieving Aven is a disruptive or value sideboard threat only when confirmed by legal text, and Seized from Slumber is conditional extra interaction pending card text verification. Sideboard choices should answer the opponent's revealed plan without diluting the deck's need for mana, sweepers, and high-mana-value Beanstalk payoffs.

Primary Win Conditions

• Overlord board conversion: Use Overlord of the Hauntwoods and Overlord of the Mistmoors as the main path from stabilization to lethal pressure. Setup requires hitting land drops, preserving life with Ride's End, Day of Judgment, or Fumigate, and deploying Up the Beanstalk only when it does not expose the pilot to a losing attack. Execution means casting the Overlord line the rules engine exposes, using any enters-or-cast value the card legally provides, then turning the resulting bodies or permanents sideways once the opponent's visible crack-back is contained. Disruption risk is highest when tapping out before sweeping, when the opponent has known public removal or counterplay, or when a copied board would still lose to visible lethal. Prioritize this path when the opponent is not presenting immediate lethal and one large permanent or token-producing threat can both defend and end the game.

• Beanstalk value chain: Use Up the Beanstalk to convert high-mana-value plays into enough cards that the opponent cannot trade one-for-one profitably. Setup is an early Up the Beanstalk, stable mana, and a hand containing castable high-impact follow-ups such as Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Doppelgang, Fumigate, or other legal high-cost actions confirmed by the engine. Execution is to cast the survival spell or threat first, let legal draw triggers resolve, and spend later turns on the line that adds board presence or answers the next visible threat. Disruption comes from hands that spend too much time on engines without affecting combat; do not prioritize this path when a sweeper or spot answer is required immediately.

• Copy-effect takeover: Use Doppelgang and Ornate Imitations as closing tools after a worthwhile permanent or board state exists. Setup requires enough mana, legal targets or modes, and a visible battlefield where copying a threat, mana engine, blocker, or value permanent changes the race. Execution should copy the objects that most directly increase survival, mana, cards, or damage, not merely the objects with the most text. Disruption risk is spending a full turn into a board that still dies to the next attack or into a target set that the opponent can answer efficiently. Prioritize this path when Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Ancient Cornucopia, Restless Vinestalk, or another engine-confirmed permanent makes the copy spell materially better than casting a single threat.

Secondary Win Conditions

• Creature-land pressure: Use Restless Vinestalk as a low-card-cost finisher after a reset. Setup is a stable mana base and a battlefield where activating the land does not prevent holding required interaction or casting a needed spell. Execution is to attack on turns where the rules engine shows legal activation and visible blockers or removal do not make the attack wasteful. Prioritize this line when both players are low on cards, when sweepers have cleared the board, or when committing another spell into possible interaction is worse than using a land.

• Sweeper into single threat: Use Day of Judgment and Fumigate to make any remaining threat good enough. Setup is letting the opponent commit enough creatures that the sweeper improves the board, while not waiting so long that life total becomes unrecoverable. Execution is sweep first, then deploy Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Mythweaver Poq, Lurker in the Deep, or a copy spell on the following safe turn. Fumigate can matter as a life-buffering reset if the engine confirms the life-gain outcome. Prioritize this line against creature-heavy boards and when the hand contains a follow-up threat.

• Singleton threat fallback: Use Mythweaver Poq, Lurker in the Deep, and Omenpath Journey only according to visible legal text and current tactical need. Card text check required for exact Alchemy behavior. Treat these cards as backup closers, stabilizers, or value sources when the engine exposes actions that improve the present board or future draws. Do not build a plan that assumes hidden abilities, recursion, or inevitability not shown by the rules engine.

Emergency Lines

• Behind on life: Prioritize legal life-preserving actions before engine setup. Use Ride's End on a legal high-impact attacker or threat, cast Day of Judgment or Fumigate before combat damage becomes lethal, and delay Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, or extra Up the Beanstalk development unless that action directly changes survival math.

• Behind on board: Reset before racing. If multiple opposing creatures create lethal or near-lethal pressure, prefer Day of Judgment or Fumigate over a single blocker unless the visible board shows the blocker fully stabilizes. After the reset, win with the first durable Overlord, Restless Vinestalk, or a copy-effect turn that adds blockers and pressure.

• Behind on cards: Rebuild through Up the Beanstalk only after the battlefield is stable enough to spend mana on future value. If the only route to an answer is drawing, take the legal draw or selection line, but record that it is a desperation line rather than a normal priority.

• Behind on mana: Use land drops, Ancient Cornucopia, and any legal Overlord of the Hauntwoods mana-development text the engine exposes to catch up. Do not keep copying or value hands that cannot cast interaction on time. If mana is constrained, prefer the play that unlocks white for sweepers and green or blue for the next high-impact spell.

• Behind against graveyard recursion or combo: Game one has no clear main-deck graveyard lock, so pressure and broad answers must carry the plan. After sideboarding, Rest in Peace and Three Steps Ahead may become emergency tools when legal and relevant. Do not assume they are available unless drawn, visible, and offered as legal actions.

• Win conditions removed: Continue with remaining Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Restless Vinestalk, Mythweaver Poq, or Lurker in the Deep. Do not concede because one finisher is gone; this deck wins many long games by turning any surviving permanent plus extra cards into enough pressure.

Resource Model

• Life is a spendable buffer only until the next visible attack would force a sweeper or removal spell. Preserve life with Ride's End, Day of Judgment, and Fumigate before spending turns on a second Up the Beanstalk, a large Doppelgang, or speculative Ornate Imitations. Treat Fumigate life gain and any Ancient Cornucopia life text as engine-confirmed bonuses, not assumptions; Card text check required for exact Alchemy wording.

• Hand size converts into inevitability through Up the Beanstalk, but only when the next legal high-mana-value play is castable. Keep extra lands when they unlock Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Doppelgang, or sweeper-plus-threat turns. Do not discard interaction or white sources in long games unless the visible board is already stable.

• Mana is the deck's core resource because most winning actions are expensive and color-sensitive. Ancient Cornucopia, land drops, and any legal mana-development text from Overlord of the Hauntwoods let the deck jump from stabilizing into double-spell or large-copy turns. Prioritize mana development when the battlefield is not threatening lethal; prioritize answers when mana development leaves the pilot dead or forced into a worse sweeper.

• Board presence is mostly defensive until the deck has reset combat or presented an Overlord. Overlord of the Hauntwoods and Overlord of the Mistmoors should be valued as stabilizers first and finishers second when behind. Restless Vinestalk is a low-hand-cost threat after sweepers, but activating it should not consume mana needed for Ride's End, Three Steps Ahead, or a required follow-up spell.

• Graveyard and exile are mostly public-information zones for this main deck, not a primary resource engine. Use graveyard contents to judge whether Rest in Peace is needed after sideboarding and whether Thieving Aven or Three Steps Ahead should be preserved for specific visible threats. Do not assume recursion from Omenpath Journey, Lurker in the Deep, or any singleton unless the rules engine exposes it as a legal action; Card text check required.

• Lands are both mana and tempo, because many sources may enter tapped or have conditional behavior. Meticulous Archive, Lush Portico, Floodfarm Verge, Hushwood Verge, Willowrush Verge, Hedge Maze, Blossoming Sands, Thornwood Falls, and Restless Vinestalk should be sequenced to make early white and green reliable while preserving blue when interaction or copy effects matter.

• Sacrifice fodder is not a normal resource in this list. Do not sacrifice permanents for value unless a legal action explicitly asks for it and the visible result is necessary for survival, mana, or lethal progress.

• Tempo is bought back by sweepers, not by racing early. Falling one turn behind is acceptable if it creates a better Day of Judgment or Fumigate; falling behind to visible lethal is not. Use Ride's End to bridge to the reset turn when one opposing threat is the bottleneck.

• Information matters because the deck must choose when to tap out. Known counterplay, revealed combat tricks, visible graveyard engines, and public hand information should raise the threshold for Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, or an unprotected Overlord. Unknown cards should be modeled by archetype, not invented.

• Sideboard bullets convert narrow matchups into stable games. Authority of the Consuls buys life and tempo only when the engine confirms relevant creature-entry pressure. Rest in Peace is for graveyard-dependent opponents. Three Steps Ahead protects against stack-based swings or expensive threats. Thieving Aven and Seized from Slumber should be used according to exact visible legality and matchup role; Card text check required for exact Alchemy behavior.

Mana Guide

• Build opening mana around green and white first, then blue. Green enables Ancient Cornucopia, Overlord of the Hauntwoods, and many late-game plans; white enables Ride's End, Day of Judgment, Fumigate, and Overlord of the Mistmoors; blue matters for Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Three Steps Ahead, Meticulous Archive, and some utility cards. Keep hands that can cast early interaction or mana setup and have a credible path to white sweepers.

• Mulligan mana that cannot affect the game before expensive spells matter. A hand with only slow lands and no Ancient Cornucopia, no Up the Beanstalk, and no early white answer should be treated as risky against aggressive unknowns. A hand with lands, Up the Beanstalk, and a castable sweeper or Ride's End can keep even if the finisher is delayed.

• Sequence tapped lands early when they do not block a required spell. Lead with Meticulous Archive, Lush Portico, Hedge Maze, Blossoming Sands, or Thornwood Falls when the engine indicates they enter tapped and the current turn has no important legal play. Use Floodfarm Verge, Hushwood Verge, and Willowrush Verge to complete missing colors once their conditions are visible and reliable.

• Preserve untapped white before the opponent's combat turn when Ride's End is the stabilizer. Preserve enough white for Day of Judgment or Fumigate when the opponent is likely to add creatures and the hand contains a reset. Do not spend the last white source on a value action if that prevents the only legal survival spell.

• Deploy Ancient Cornucopia when it accelerates into a five-mana-value spell or fixes a missing color without conceding board position. If the opponent is pressuring life total, compare Ancient Cornucopia against immediate Ride's End; choose the rock only when the visible board allows the delay.

• Play lands before draw or selection when the turn requires hitting a known legal mana threshold now. Hold the land until after Up the Beanstalk triggers or other draw/selection only when all current legal actions are already castable and the extra information could change which land is best. Against discard or known hand pressure, playing the essential land before passing is usually safer.

• Count large-copy turns conservatively. Doppelgang and Ornate Imitations should not be planned from hoped-for mana; require visible sources, floating mana, and legal target text. If a copied Ancient Cornucopia, Overlord of the Hauntwoods, or land token would affect mana only after resolution, do not spend that mana until the engine offers it.

• Treat Restless Vinestalk as a land first until mana is abundant. Activate it only when the rules engine offers the action and the activation leaves enough mana for required interaction, sideboard permission, or post-combat stabilization.

Mulligan Guide

• Strong keep: keep three to five lands with green, white, Up the Beanstalk, and either Ancient Cornucopia, Ride's End, Day of Judgment, or an Overlord. This hand develops mana, sees extra cards from expensive spells, and has a visible bridge to the first stabilizing reset.

• Medium keep: keep two lands plus Ancient Cornucopia only when the colors cast it and at least one follow-up is castable if the third land arrives. Up the Beanstalk plus Overlord of the Hauntwoods or Overlord of the Mistmoors is a reason to keep if white interaction is present or the matchup is not pressuring early combat.

• Risky keep: keep slow lands plus Up the Beanstalk and expensive cards only on the draw or against slower visible archetypes. A hand with Meticulous Archive, Lush Portico, Hedge Maze, Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, and no Ride's End or sweeper is too slow against unknown aggressive starts.

• Automatic ship: ship zero-land, one-land without a clear legal early draw/setup action, six-or-seven-land hands without Up the Beanstalk, and hands that cannot produce white by the expected Day of Judgment or Fumigate turn. Ship hands with only Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Omenpath Journey, Lurker in the Deep, or singleton payoffs and no survival plan; Card text check required before treating singleton text as a keep reason.

• Matchup-dependent keep: keep Authority of the Consuls after sideboarding against visible creature-entry aggression only if the rest of the hand has lands and a stabilizer. Keep Rest in Peace against graveyard-driven opponents only when mana and board interaction are also present. Keep Three Steps Ahead against stack-centric or expensive-threat decks if blue is reliable and the hand can still advance mana.

• Play/draw adjustment: on the play, require a turn-two or turn-three action more often because the deck can punish stumbling with sweepers later. On the draw, accept one slower land or one extra expensive card when the hand has Ride's End, Day of Judgment, or Fumigate and enough colored sources.

• Trap hand: do not keep Up the Beanstalk, multiple Overlords, Doppelgang, and only tapped or uncertain lands if no spell affects the board before the opponent's fourth turn. Do not keep Restless Vinestalk as a threat plan when the hand lacks normal mana development; it is a land first.

• Mulligan bottom rule: bottom redundant late payoffs before trimming lands or the first stabilizer. Preserve the first Up the Beanstalk, first white sweeper, and functional color spread; bottom extra Doppelgang, extra Ornate Imitations, or singleton speculative cards when the hand already has a win path.

Turn Arc

• Turn 1: play the land that best unlocks turn-two and turn-three colors. Prefer tapped or setup lands such as Meticulous Archive, Lush Portico, Blossoming Sands, Thornwood Falls, or Hedge Maze when no legal untapped action matters. Deviate by using an untapped white or green source if the hand needs immediate Ride's End readiness or guaranteed Ancient Cornucopia.

• Turn 2: cast Up the Beanstalk when legal and the opponent is not presenting a must-answer threat. Hold mana for Ride's End instead when one visible attacker or snowball permanent is the bottleneck to reaching Day of Judgment or Fumigate. If no spell is correct, choose the land that completes white plus green before blue.

• Turn 3: cast Ancient Cornucopia when it fixes missing colors or accelerates into Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Day of Judgment, or Fumigate. Use Ride's End over ramp when visible pressure makes the next combat dangerous. Deploy Up the Beanstalk here if it was delayed and a five-mana-value spell is already planned.

• Turns 4-5: stabilize before copying or going wide. Cast Day of Judgment when the opponent's board is the primary danger and your own board is replaceable. Cast Fumigate when the life swing matters or when the engine exposes it as the stronger sweeper. Cast Overlord of the Hauntwoods or Overlord of the Mistmoors when legal text advances board and mana without dying to a visible punish; Card text check required for exact Alchemy modes. Delay Doppelgang and Ornate Imitations until targets and mana are explicit in legal actions.

• Late game: convert excess mana into engines, copies, creature-lands, and layered interaction. Resolve expensive spells with Up the Beanstalk already in play when possible. Use Doppelgang or Ornate Imitations only after checking visible target legality, opponent interaction windows, and whether copying Ancient Cornucopia, Overlords, lands, or opposing permanents actually improves the board. Activate Restless Vinestalk after sweepers only when enough mana remains for required Ride's End, Three Steps Ahead, or follow-up stabilization.

• Deviation rule: spend a turn answering instead of developing whenever visible lethal, a short clock, or a protected engine would make the next sweeper too late. Spend a turn developing instead of answering only when life total, blockers, and public stack state show that waiting creates a stronger reset or a decisive expensive spell.

Card Roles

• Up the Beanstalk: Treat this as the main card-flow engine, not as a board stabilizer. Cast it early when the opponent is not threatening a must-answer permanent, then prioritize legal five-or-more-mana-value spells that replace themselves through the enchantment. Do not keep hands that only draw cards later if they cannot reach white sweepers or early interaction; Up the Beanstalk is excellent only when the hand already has mana and a survival bridge.

• Ancient Cornucopia: Use this as the deck's most important early glue because it fixes colors, accelerates expensive spells, and may cushion life totals if the card text applies. Card text check required for exact life-gain timing and color-choice implications. Cast it before expensive spells when visible pressure allows; hold interaction instead when the next combat would make ramp irrelevant. Avoid copying it blindly with Doppelgang or Ornate Imitations unless the engine shows the copies enter legally and the resulting mana matters before the opponent can punish the tempo spend.

• Ride's End: Treat this as the default single-target interaction spell, but let the rules engine define what it can legally target. Card text check required for exact target class, exile/destroy status, and any bonus text. Use it early when one threat is producing most of the damage or snowballing value, and save it when Day of Judgment or Fumigate already answers the visible battlefield efficiently. Against decks with few large threats, preserve Ride's End for the threat a sweeper cannot cleanly cover.

• Day of Judgment: Use this as the clean reset button when creature quantity or combat math is the problem. Cast it before life total falls into burn, haste, creature-land, or follow-up attack range; wait only when visible board state shows another turn will catch materially more creatures without risking lethal or losing a key engine. Do not overprotect your own incidental creatures or tokens; this deck is built to rebuild with Overlords, copied permanents, and card draw.

• Fumigate: Use this as the stabilizing sweeper when life total is part of the crisis. Card text check required only if the active rules text differs from the printed destroy-and-gain pattern. Prefer Fumigate over Day of Judgment when the life swing changes the next two turns, especially against creature swarms or aggressive decks. Prefer Day of Judgment when mana efficiency matters more than life or when holding up another action after sweeping is decisive.

• Overlord of the Hauntwoods: Treat this as both a stabilizing body and a mana/value bridge, but verify the exact Alchemy/format text at runtime. Card text check required for impending timing, token details, and attack/entry triggers. Cast it when it advances mana or board presence while enabling Up the Beanstalk; delay it when a sweeper is clearly required first. With Doppelgang or Ornate Imitations, copying this card can be a strong late-game plan if the legal target text and trigger rules show the copies produce meaningful resources.

• Overlord of the Mistmoors: Treat this as the primary board-rebuild and air-pressure Overlord, with exact token and impending details checked by the engine. Card text check required for Alchemy text, token bodies, and trigger timing. Cast it after a sweeper when you need to pivot from defense to pressure, or before a sweeper only if the visible line demands blockers and the future reset is still favorable. With Up the Beanstalk, this is one of the best ways to turn stabilization into cards and board presence in the same turn cycle.

• Doppelgang: Treat this as a commitment card, not a routine curve play. Cast it only when X, target identities, and mana are explicit in legal actions, and choose targets that materially change the board: your own Ancient Cornucopia, Overlords, strong lands, or opponent permanents only when the copy rules are favorable. Do not spend it into a battlefield where copying permanents still loses to the next attack or where a sweeper would solve the board more cleanly. Against control, it is a high-upside threat that should be timed around visible permission and known tapped mana.

• Ornate Imitations: Treat this as a flexible copy/value spell whose exact tactical role depends on legal target text. Card text check required for what it can copy, whether tokens are temporary, and whether opponent permanents are legal. Use it after the deck has established a permanent worth copying, especially Ancient Cornucopia, Overlord of the Hauntwoods, or Overlord of the Mistmoors. Avoid casting it just because mana is available; a copy spell without a high-impact visible object is often worse than holding interaction or drawing into a real stabilizer.

• Mythweaver Poq: Treat this singleton as a high-upside engine piece only when its exact land-token or land-entry text is confirmed. Card text check required. Prioritize it in games where Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Doppelgang, lands, or copied mana permanents can make its text matter, but do not keep weak hands around it alone. Protecting it is secondary to surviving the board; if it dies after generating value or forcing removal away from an Overlord, that exchange can still be acceptable.

• Lurker in the Deep: Treat this singleton as a late-game or specialty threat until the engine confirms its text. Card text check required. Do not mulligan toward it, do not spend early turns enabling it at the cost of mana or sweepers, and do not assume it stabilizes combat unless legal text shows it blocks or removes pressure. In slow matchups, consider it part of the redundant threat package after Up the Beanstalk has drawn extra cards.

• Omenpath Journey: Treat this singleton as a speculative value or selection card until text is confirmed. Card text check required. Cast it only when the legal action and board state show that spending mana on non-removal will not concede tempo. Against control or midrange, it may help convert long-game mana into resources; against aggressive starts, prioritize Ride's End, Day of Judgment, Fumigate, and Overlord stabilization first.

• Meticulous Archive, Lush Portico, and Hedge Maze: Treat these as color infrastructure first and card-type synergies second. Use them to guarantee white for sweepers, green for Up the Beanstalk and Overlords, and blue for Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, and sideboard Three Steps Ahead. Because tapped timing can matter, sequence them early when no instant-speed interaction is required.

• Floodfarm Verge, Hushwood Verge, and Willowrush Verge: Treat the Verge lands as color-pair smoothing whose value depends on the rest of the visible land mix. Play the Verge that unlocks the missing color for the next two turns, not the color that looks best in the abstract. Preserve white access for Day of Judgment, green access for engines, and blue access when copy spells or sideboard permission are already in hand.

• Plains, Island, Forest, Blossoming Sands, Thornwood Falls, Restless Vinestalk: Treat these as the support land package that turns slow hands into functional hands. Basic lands reduce dependency on conditional duals, life lands can buy a small amount of time, and Restless Vinestalk is a mana source before it is a threat. Activate Restless Vinestalk only when the engine offers the action and the remaining mana still covers required interaction, permission, or post-combat stabilization.

Interaction Priorities

• Priority: Use Ride's End on the threat that invalidates a sweeper plan, not automatically on the first creature. Remove haste, evasive, scaling, or engine creatures first when they will push damage through Day of Judgment timing or make Fumigate arrive too late; save Ride's End when a visible board can be reset cleanly next turn.

• Priority: Use Day of Judgment when opposing creature count, combat math, or multiple must-answer bodies are the issue. Do not spend spot removal on medium attackers if a sweeper is already legal or likely next turn and life total remains outside immediate danger.

• Priority: Use Fumigate over Day of Judgment when the life gain changes survival or lets the deck safely turn the corner. Card text check required for exact current wording, but if the engine presents a legal stabilizing sweeper that gains life from creatures destroyed, value the life swing highly against aggressive boards.

• Priority: Use sideboard Three Steps Ahead for stack threats that beat resolved-board answers. Card text check required for exact modes and costs; counter planes, engines, haste threats, recursion payoffs, or noncreature card-advantage spells before routine creatures that Day of Judgment, Fumigate, or large Overlord bodies can answer later.

• Priority: Use sideboard Seized from Slumber as removal for a threat that must die without waiting for a sweeper. Card text check required. Prefer it on single high-impact attackers, protected-looking engines if legal, or threats that punish tapping out for Up the Beanstalk, Ancient Cornucopia, or an Overlord.

• Priority: Use Rest in Peace as a proactive graveyard lock only when graveyard text is visible, known from public actions, or matchup guidance identifies the opponent as graveyard-reliant. Do not treat it as generic interaction against fair creature decks unless opposing graveyard resources are already central to visible legal actions.

• Priority: Use Authority of the Consuls early against creature-speed decks when its exact text is confirmed by the engine. Card text check required. It is not a removal spell; value it when incoming creatures, haste, or repeated creature entries matter more than holding up a later one-for-one.

• Priority: Use Thieving Aven as sideboard disruption only after legal text confirms what it attacks. Card text check required. Treat it as a pressure-plus-disruption card for slow or resource-heavy matchups, not as a guaranteed answer to battlefield pressure.

• Bait rule: Let expendable engines draw interaction before committing Doppelgang or a decisive Overlord line. Ancient Cornucopia, Up the Beanstalk, and early Overlord impending/cast modes can be acceptable bait when losing them does not expose you to lethal and leaves a stronger follow-up.

• Ignore rule: Ignore small ground creatures when a visible sweeper covers them and life total is high enough. Ignore low-impact noncreature permanents if the next decision is about surviving combat, resolving Up the Beanstalk, or protecting a high-mana payoff.

• Archetype shift: Against aggro, spend interaction to preserve life and reach sweepers. Against midrange, trade one-for-one only for engines or threats that outscale Overlords. Against control, conserve removal, bait permission with lower-value spells, and make Doppelgang, Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, or sideboard Three Steps Ahead carry the decisive exchange.

Combat And Trading Rules

• Defense first: Treat early combat as a bridge to sweepers, Overlords, and Beanstalk card flow. Take small amounts of damage when preserving a future sweeper is clearly better, but block sooner when life total is approaching burn, haste, creature-land, or double-spell danger.

• Overlord preservation: Do not trade Overlord of the Hauntwoods or Overlord of the Mistmoors for a medium attacker unless the exchange prevents lethal, preserves an engine, or creates a winning reset. These cards are the deck's best stabilizers and follow-up pressure after sweepers.

• Token discipline: Trade incidental tokens or copied bodies aggressively when they buy a full turn, protect Up the Beanstalk, or force the opponent to overcommit into Day of Judgment or Fumigate. Do not preserve small tokens merely because they may attack later; the deck wins by surviving into larger value turns.

• Life thresholds: Above roughly 12 life, prefer setup and sweeper timing over low-value blocks unless the opponent has visible evasion or haste. From 8 to 11 life, favor blocks and removal that prevent being forced into bad main-phase sweepers. At 7 or lower, treat every attack step as a survival puzzle and value Fumigate life gain, lifelands, and immediate blockers more highly.

• Attack rule: Attack only when pressure does not weaken the next defensive turn. With large Overlords, attack when the opponent cannot crack back for lethal or force a bad sweeper; with Restless Vinestalk, attack only if activation leaves mana for required interaction or post-combat stabilization.

• Trade rule: Trade down when the opposing creature enables damage snowballing, recursion, or engine text. Refuse trades that turn your only stabilizing body into a graveyard card while the opponent still has multiple attackers and you lack a sweeper.

• Sweeper setup: Use blocks to make Day of Judgment or Fumigate better, not worse. If blocking leaves the opponent with fewer creatures but still enough pressure, consider taking damage and sweeping all creatures next turn if survival math supports it.

• Copy combat rule: Treat Doppelgang and Ornate Imitations as combat stabilizers only when legal targets produce blockers or copied permanents that change the next attack. Do not copy for abstract value while visible attackers already demand removal or a sweeper.

• Archetype differences: Against aggro, block earlier and turn Fumigate into a life reset. Against midrange, force their best threat to walk into a sweeper or removal spell before committing attacks. Against control, combat is secondary; pressure with resilient Overlord bodies when shields are down, but do not animate or expose Restless Vinestalk into obvious removal without a reason.

Selection And Tutor Rules

• Selection rule: Treat this deck as pseudo-selection rather than true tutoring unless the engine exposes a legal search or choose-from-library action. Omenpath Journey, Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Mythweaver Poq, and Lurker in the Deep require card text checks before assuming they find, reveal, copy, or select specific cards.

• Draw engine rule: Resolve Up the Beanstalk before committing high-mana spells when doing so does not expose you to lethal or a must-answer stack threat. The deck wants Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Day of Judgment, and Fumigate to convert into material plus cards when the engine confirms a draw trigger.

• Land-drop timing: Make land drops before expensive action choices when the extra mana changes legal actions, but delay a land choice if the engine is about to reveal or select land information through Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Omenpath Journey, Mythweaver Poq, or another visible prompt. Favor untapped or color-fixing lands when the same turn needs Ride's End, sideboard Three Steps Ahead, or a sweeper.

• Pseudo-selection priority: When a legal choice offers mana development versus nonland value, choose mana development if the hand contains expensive spells and fewer than five usable mana sources. Choose nonland value only when lands are already sufficient for the next two turns or the visible board requires a specific answer.

• Bottoming rule: Bottom redundant slow payoffs when the opening hand lacks early mana, Ancient Cornucopia, Up the Beanstalk, or interaction. Keep one major payoff, but do not keep multiple Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, or Overlord-heavy lines over the land and stabilization needed to cast them.

• Copy-target rule: Use Doppelgang and Ornate Imitations as selection cards only after the target set is visible. Copy mana, draw, stabilizing bodies, or decisive opposing permanents when legal and strategically selected; do not assume hidden targets or future permanents will exist.

• Graveyard selection rule: Use sideboard Rest in Peace only when graveyard information is public or matchup guidance makes graveyard reliance likely. Do not spend selection bandwidth protecting graveyard lines in this deck unless a visible card explicitly cares about the graveyard.

Priority And Stack Rules

• Priority rule: Pass priority through harmless steps when no legal instant-speed action changes survival, a key stack exchange, or a commitment turn. Save reasoning for windows involving Ride's End, sideboard Three Steps Ahead, sideboard Seized from Slumber, Restless Vinestalk, or a visible optional payment/trigger.

• Response rule: Use Ride's End at instant speed only if the legal target and exact effect are confirmed by the engine. Prefer answering haste, evasion, lethal attackers, must-kill engines, or threats that make a planned Day of Judgment or Fumigate too late.

• Counterspell rule: With sideboard Three Steps Ahead, counter spells that invalidate resolved-board answers or win the resource exchange before the board can be reset. Card text check required for modes; if the engine presents counter, copy, or draw-style modes, select the mode that addresses the current stack threat before speculative value.

• Let-resolve rule: Let medium creatures resolve when Day of Judgment or Fumigate is already a better answer and life total can absorb the next attack. Do not use Ride's End or Seized from Slumber merely to spend mana if a sweeper will convert multiple creatures into one card.

• Commitment gate: Treat Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, and Omenpath Journey as tap-out commitments. Cast them when the visible stack is clear, the opponent cannot immediately punish with lethal pressure, or waiting gives the opponent more time than you can afford.

• Trigger discipline: Resolve Up the Beanstalk, Ancient Cornucopia, Overlord, and lifegain triggers according to engine output; do not invent optionality. If the engine offers an optional draw, payment, life, or selection choice, accept when it advances cards, mana, or survival unless it visibly mills, discards, or otherwise costs a resource the current board cannot spare.

• Combat window rule: Use precombat and declare-attackers windows to remove creatures that would otherwise produce lethal, snowballing damage, or an attack trigger. Prefer waiting until blockers or damage only when the engine confirms that waiting preserves legal removal and creates a better exchange.

• Creature-land rule: Activate Restless Vinestalk only when the mana spent is not needed for visible interaction, sweepers next turn, or sideboard Three Steps Ahead. Do not animate into open removal unless the attack meaningfully changes the clock or forces a defensive response.

• Graveyard timing rule: Cast sideboard Rest in Peace before the opponent gets a graveyard-use window when the matchup or public graveyard makes it important. If the stack already contains a graveyard spell or ability, rely on the engine's legal actions and do not assume Rest in Peace can retroactively stop it.

• Stack economy rule: Against control, bait with Ancient Cornucopia, Up the Beanstalk, or a lower-impact Overlord line before spending Doppelgang. Against aggro, spend interaction earlier and let card-advantage stack fights wait until survival is secure.

Sideboard Map

Compiler-checked exact sideboard candidate for legal validation: Side in: 2 Authority of the Consuls Cut: 1 Mythweaver Poq; 1 Overlord of the Hauntwoods

• Sideboard rule: Treat sideboarding as role selection, not a way to abandon the Bant Beanstalk core. Keep enough mana development, Up the Beanstalk, and expensive stabilizers for the deck to keep converting five-mana-plus cards into material after the first exchange.

• Authority of the Consuls: Bring this in against creature-heavy starts, haste pressure, token pressure, and aggressive boards where entering tapped changes combat math before Day of Judgment or Fumigate arrives. It is weakest against low-creature control, spell combo, and decks whose threats already gain value without attacking. Its role changes from life buffer against aggro to tempo shield against midrange creature decks; do not overvalue it when the opponent can pressure with planeswalkers, noncreature engines, or large single threats.

• Three Steps Ahead: Bring this in against control, ramp, combo, sweep-resistant midrange, and any opponent whose best cards are stack-based or too punishing to let resolve. Card text check required for exact modes; use it as permission first when the visible stack threat beats your resolved-board tools, and treat any extra mode as secondary unless the engine presents a clearly legal resource-positive choice. It is weakest when the opponent floods the board with cheap creatures and your mana must answer battlefield damage instead of holding up interaction.

• Rest in Peace: Bring this in against graveyard recursion, reanimation, escape-style pressure, death-trigger engines, graveyard-count payoffs, or public graveyards showing repeated value. It is poor against clean creature aggro with no graveyard dependency, control decks that win from hand and battlefield, and matchups where spending early mana on a non-board card risks dying before Fumigate. Its role changes from proactive lock against graveyard decks to narrow insurance when only a small part of the opponent plan touches graveyards.

• Thieving Aven: Bring this in against slow control, ramp, combo, and midrange games where extra evasive pressure or resource disruption matters more than sweep density. Card text check required; if the engine shows legal choices involving theft, selection, or card advantage, choose the line that pressures the opponent while preserving your long-game engine. It is weakest against fast ground aggression where a small or conditional creature does not stabilize the battlefield before Day of Judgment or Fumigate.

• Seized from Slumber: Bring this in when the opponent presents creatures that must be answered at instant speed, threats that survive poor timing, or creature-based pressure that cannot wait for a sweeper. Card text check required; treat it as additional interaction only when legal action text confirms the target and effect. It is weakest against creature-light control, spell combo, and boards where sweepers already answer multiple threats more efficiently.

Fast creature pressure add: 3 Authority of the Consuls; 2 Seized from Slumber trim: 1 Omenpath Journey; 1 Lurker in the Deep; 1 Mythweaver Poq; 1 Doppelgang; 1 Ornate Imitations

• Plan purpose: This plan lowers exposure to early damage while preserving the Beanstalk plus Overlord engine. Authority of the Consuls buys turns, Seized from Slumber adds targeted stabilization, and the removed main-deck cards are slower singletons or copy payoffs that require an already stable board.

• Aggro adjustment: Add role cards: Authority of the Consuls; Seized from Slumber. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Omenpath Journey, Mythweaver Poq, and Lurker in the Deep when they do not affect combat quickly. Keep Day of Judgment and Fumigate as the most important reset tools, and do not weaken the deck’s ability to cast them on time.

• Aggro play pattern: Mulligan and sideboard toward early land quality, Ancient Cornucopia, Ride's End, Day of Judgment, Fumigate, and lifegain or tap-pressure effects. Do not add Three Steps Ahead only to hold mana while falling behind unless the opponent’s key threats are stack-bound and visible.

Control or spell-heavy ramp add: 4 Three Steps Ahead; 4 Thieving Aven trim: 2 Fumigate; 3 Day of Judgment; 2 Ride's End; 1 Authority of the Consuls

• Plan legality note: This exact plan is only valid if Authority of the Consuls was already in the post-board main from a prior game configuration; from the registered Game 1 main, use the adjusted plan below instead. Do not execute this line from the initial registered main because Authority of the Consuls starts in the sideboard.

Control or spell-heavy ramp from registered Game 1 add: 4 Three Steps Ahead; 4 Thieving Aven trim: 2 Fumigate; 3 Day of Judgment; 2 Ride's End; 1 Ornate Imitations

• Plan purpose: This plan increases stack interaction and pressure while reducing dead creature-only answers. Three Steps Ahead contests expensive spells, sweepers, or finishers; Thieving Aven gives the deck more ways to act without relying only on huge sorcery-speed commitments.

• Control adjustment: Add role cards: Three Steps Ahead; Thieving Aven. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Day of Judgment, Fumigate, and some Ride's End when the opponent’s battlefield pressure is low. Keep Up the Beanstalk, Ancient Cornucopia, Overlord of the Hauntwoods, and Overlord of the Mistmoors because the matchup often turns on resilient card flow and must-answer permanents.

• Control play pattern: Protect the first meaningful engine rather than every spell. Let low-impact opposing plays resolve when saving Three Steps Ahead for a finisher, card engine, or stack exchange matters more. Avoid tapping low for Doppelgang or Ornate Imitations unless the opponent is constrained, shields are down, or the visible board makes waiting worse.

Graveyard engine or recursion add: 2 Rest in Peace; 4 Three Steps Ahead trim: 2 Fumigate; 1 Omenpath Journey; 1 Lurker in the Deep; 1 Ornate Imitations; 1 Doppelgang

• Plan purpose: This plan adds proactive graveyard denial plus permission while keeping enough sweepers and removal for creature pressure. Rest in Peace should be deployed before public graveyard resources become active when legal timing allows, while Three Steps Ahead covers spells that ignore battlefield reset plans.

• Graveyard adjustment: Add role cards: Rest in Peace; Three Steps Ahead. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow copy or journey effects when the opponent’s graveyard engine can win before value permanents matter. Do not add Rest in Peace just because a graveyard exists; require matchup evidence, public graveyard use, or visible card text pointing to graveyard reliance.

Creature midrange with resilient threats add: 2 Seized from Slumber; 3 Authority of the Consuls; 2 Thieving Aven trim: 1 Omenpath Journey; 1 Lurker in the Deep; 1 Mythweaver Poq; 2 Doppelgang; 2 Ornate Imitations

• Plan purpose: This plan respects both combat and attrition. Authority of the Consuls reduces attack pressure, Seized from Slumber answers key creatures when the engine confirms legal targets, and Thieving Aven adds pressure or resource play in games where both decks trade removal.

• Midrange adjustment: Add role cards: Seized from Slumber, Authority of the Consuls, and sometimes Thieving Aven. Reduce main-deck emphasis: the slowest copy effects when the opponent can punish durdling, but keep enough expensive spells to make Up the Beanstalk matter. If the opponent shows few creatures after sideboarding, pivot toward Three Steps Ahead instead of more battlefield-only interaction.

• Role discipline: Against unknown opponents, prefer the smallest sideboard move that answers the known failure mode from the previous game. Do not dilute the deck by adding all narrow cards at once; each sideboard card must answer either speed, stack vulnerability, graveyard reliance, or creature quality shown by the opponent.

• Runtime rule: Execute only sideboard plans whose exact card counts match the registered zones and current post-board state. If the engine presents a legal generated plan, verify that add: cards start in the sideboard, trim: cards start in the main deck, and the final deck remains at least 60 cards with no more than 15 sideboard cards.

Matchup Guidance

• Aggro: Mulligan toward lands that cast early interaction, Ancient Cornucopia, Ride's End, Day of Judgment, Fumigate, and stabilizing sideboard cards. Add role cards: Authority of the Consuls; Seized from Slumber. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Omenpath Journey, Mythweaver Poq, Lurker in the Deep, and the slowest copies of Doppelgang or Ornate Imitations when they require an already stable battlefield. Prioritize preserving life total over maximizing Up the Beanstalk triggers if the visible clock is short. Use Day of Judgment before combat math becomes lethal, and prefer Fumigate when the lifegain swing matters and the engine confirms legal timing. Do not hold a sweeper for one extra creature when the current attack plus burn-like reach could already force desperate lines.

• Go-wide creature decks: Treat wide boards as a sweeper matchup first and a spot-removal matchup second. Add role cards: Authority of the Consuls; Seized from Slumber only when one creature materially changes combat or survives the planned reset. Reduce main-deck emphasis: single-threat copy plans that do not stabilize before the opponent rebuilds. Let small nonlethal creatures remain on board when doing so improves Day of Judgment or Fumigate, but answer a visible lord, haste enabler, or damage multiplier if Ride's End or Seized from Slumber can prevent a large attack. After a sweeper, deploy Overlord of the Hauntwoods or Overlord of the Mistmoors as the first stabilizing threat unless Up the Beanstalk plus another expensive spell is available without risking death.

• Burn and direct-damage pressure: Value life total as a hard resource, not just a buffer for sweepers. Add role cards: Authority of the Consuls; Three Steps Ahead if the opponent’s decisive damage or card-flow spells are stack-bound; Seized from Slumber only when creature damage is a major part of the visible plan. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow copy engines and expensive permanents that do not gain life, block, answer threats, or force the opponent to spend damage inefficiently. Cast Ancient Cornucopia early when it helps reach Fumigate or double-spell turns, but do not spend turns on setup if a legal Ride's End prevents more damage immediately. Prefer Fumigate over Day of Judgment when both are legal and the lifegain changes the opponent’s required number of future damage spells.

• Tempo decks: Fight over mana efficiency and timing instead of trying to win every exchange. Add role cards: Three Steps Ahead; Thieving Aven when a cheaper proactive threat or evasive resource play matters; Seized from Slumber when the opponent relies on one protected creature. Reduce main-deck emphasis: the slowest Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, and Omenpath Journey lines when they walk into open interaction without stabilizing. Sequence tapped lands such as Meticulous Archive, Lush Portico, Hedge Maze, Blossoming Sands, and Thornwood Falls so the deck has untapped interaction on the opponent’s critical turn. Avoid tapping low for Doppelgang unless the opponent is shields-down, the copied object immediately stabilizes, or waiting exposes the pilot to lethal tempo pressure.

• Control decks: Become the patient engine deck and force the opponent to answer repeated must-answer permanents. Add role cards: Three Steps Ahead; Thieving Aven. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Day of Judgment, Fumigate, and some Ride's End when the opponent presents few creatures. Keep hands with land quality, Up the Beanstalk, Ancient Cornucopia, Overlord of the Hauntwoods, and Overlord of the Mistmoors; these cards pressure permission by making routine development matter. Use Three Steps Ahead for opposing engines, sweepers that undo a committed board, finishers, or stack fights over Up the Beanstalk and Overlord turns. Do not fire Doppelgang or Ornate Imitations into open mana merely for value; wait until the copied permanent meaningfully shifts the game or the opponent’s resources are constrained.

• Removal-heavy midrange: Expect the first threat to die and build toward redundant engines. Add role cards: Thieving Aven; Three Steps Ahead when removal is spell-based and trading on the stack is realistic; Seized from Slumber when opposing creatures also matter. Reduce main-deck emphasis: the slowest singleton plans if the opponent pressures while trading one-for-one. Up the Beanstalk is the key card because it turns expensive threats into resource pressure even through removal. Deploy Overlord of the Hauntwoods and Overlord of the Mistmoors before committing fragile copy payoffs, then use Doppelgang or Ornate Imitations only when the visible permanent copied is worth the mana and does not expose the pilot to a sweeper blowout.

• Creature midrange: Preserve the sweeper plan while adding enough point interaction to reach it. Add role cards: Authority of the Consuls; Seized from Slumber; sometimes Thieving Aven. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Omenpath Journey, Lurker in the Deep, Mythweaver Poq, and a slow copy spell when the opponent attacks through single blockers. Use Ride's End on creatures that invalidate sweepers, snowball combat, or push damage beyond the next reset. Save Day of Judgment and Fumigate for two or more relevant bodies unless a single threat is visibly lethal or cannot be answered cleanly later. After stabilization, turn the corner with Overlords rather than spending turns on low-impact selection.

• Big mana and ramp: Pressure their setup while preserving answers for high-impact spells. Add role cards: Three Steps Ahead; Thieving Aven. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature-only removal and sweepers if the opponent is not winning through a board of small creatures. Develop Ancient Cornucopia, Up the Beanstalk, and lands aggressively, because the matchup is often about matching expensive turns rather than surviving early attacks. Use Three Steps Ahead on the spell that changes the board or resource count most, not on minor ramp if the deck can answer the resulting board. Commit Doppelgang only when it copies mana, engines, or threats that immediately compete with the opponent’s scale.

• Combo decks: Identify the axis before spending interaction, then hold the answer that maps to that axis. Add role cards: Three Steps Ahead; Rest in Peace when public information or known matchup context shows graveyard dependency; Thieving Aven when a clock plus disruption is needed. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Day of Judgment, Fumigate, and Ride's End if creatures are not the combo’s required battlefield component. Mulligan slower value hands that cannot interact before the combo’s expected critical turn. Do not deploy tap-out engines into an imminent combo window unless the engine is the only route to finding interaction or the opponent is already constrained by visible mana and cards.

• Graveyard decks: Treat Rest in Peace as a proactive lock piece only when the matchup or revealed cards justify it. Add role cards: Rest in Peace; Three Steps Ahead; sometimes Seized from Slumber if graveyard payoffs are creatures. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Omenpath Journey, Lurker in the Deep, and slow copy effects when the graveyard engine is faster than value development. Cast Rest in Peace before the opponent converts graveyard material into board or cards when legal timing allows. If Rest in Peace is not found, use Three Steps Ahead on the graveyard payoff or enabler that the visible stack makes decisive, and avoid spending Ride's End on replaceable bodies unless they represent lethal pressure.

• Artifact or enchantment decks: Determine whether the opponent’s artifacts or enchantments are engines, threats, or support pieces before changing roles. Add role cards: Three Steps Ahead against stack-bound engines; Thieving Aven when pressure is needed; Seized from Slumber only if the engine produces creature pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: sweepers if the opponent’s battlefield is mostly noncreature permanents. The registered deck is not a dedicated artifact/enchantment removal deck, so do not assume a permanent can be answered after it resolves unless a legal action explicitly says so. Race resolved noncreature engines with Up the Beanstalk, Overlords, and careful Doppelgang scaling while saving counters for the next high-impact permanent.

• Single-threat decks: Trade one-for-one until the threat is answered, then win by drawing more relevant spells. Add role cards: Seized from Slumber; Three Steps Ahead; Thieving Aven when the matchup gives time to pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fumigate and Day of Judgment only when the opponent truly presents one creature at a time; keep some reset access if tokens, companions, or recursive threats appear. Use Ride's End on the threat that matters, not on setup creatures that do not change the clock. If the single threat is protected by open mana, prefer forcing action with an Overlord or Up the Beanstalk turn before committing the narrow answer.

• Unknown Game 1 opponents: Keep the deck’s core identity intact until public information identifies the matchup. Favor hands with reliable lands, Ancient Cornucopia, Up the Beanstalk, one interactive spell, and at least one expensive payoff. Avoid overvaluing Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Omenpath Journey, Mythweaver Poq, or Lurker in the Deep before the deck knows whether it has time. After Game 1, choose sideboard role cards based on observed failure mode: speed points to Authority of the Consuls and Seized from Slumber; stack fights point to Three Steps Ahead; graveyard reliance points to Rest in Peace; attrition or pressure needs may point to Thieving Aven. Card text check required for Thieving Aven and Seized from Slumber; follow legal action text at runtime.

Specific Matchup Notes

• General/archetype-only: Exact opponent decklists are absent, so revealed cards, legal action text, and public battlefield state override these assumptions. Use these notes to choose role cards after Game 1, not as fixed sideboard plans. Card text check required for Thieving Aven and Seized from Slumber; follow runtime legal actions before assigning their tactical role.

• Fast creature pressure: Add role cards: Authority of the Consuls; Seized from Slumber; sometimes Thieving Aven if the matchup rewards blocking or racing. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Omenpath Journey, Lurker in the Deep, Mythweaver Poq, and slow copy effects when the opponent is already attacking. Priority targets are creatures that compress the clock below the next Day of Judgment or Fumigate, creatures that make combat math unfavorable, and any visible threat that survives or punishes a sweeper line.

• Go-wide creature pressure: Preserve Day of Judgment and Fumigate as the center of the matchup. Add role cards: Authority of the Consuls; Seized from Slumber if single key attackers still matter. Reduce main-deck emphasis: expensive engines that do not affect combat immediately. Use Ride's End only when a single creature changes the sweeper schedule or threatens lethal before a reset; avoid spending it on a body that a planned sweeper will answer.

• Spell-heavy control: Add role cards: Three Steps Ahead; Thieving Aven when a threat plus disruption plan is needed. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Day of Judgment, Fumigate, and excess Ride's End when the opponent shows few creatures. Priority targets are draw engines, finishers, counter wars over Up the Beanstalk, and opposing answers to Overlord of the Hauntwoods or Overlord of the Mistmoors. Do not commit Doppelgang into open interaction unless waiting loses more value than forcing the exchange.

• Graveyard-centric opponents: Add role cards: Rest in Peace; Three Steps Ahead; Seized from Slumber only when graveyard payoffs are creatures. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Omenpath Journey, Lurker in the Deep, and slow copy spells if the graveyard engine is faster than battlefield value. Priority targets are visible enablers, recursive threats, and payoff spells on the stack; if Rest in Peace is legal and the matchup is proven graveyard-dependent, deploy it before the opponent converts the graveyard into cards or damage.

• Big mana or permanent-engine opponents: Add role cards: Three Steps Ahead; Thieving Aven. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature sweepers when the opponent wins through noncreature permanents. Priority targets are spells that create durable engines, mana explosions, or threats too large for normal resets. Use Doppelgang and Ornate Imitations only when the copied visible permanent changes the scale of the game immediately.

• Unknown opponents after Game 1: Map the failure mode before changing the deck too much. Speed points to Authority of the Consuls and Seized from Slumber; stack dependence points to Three Steps Ahead; graveyard reliance points to Rest in Peace; attrition with pressure can justify Thieving Aven. Keep the Up the Beanstalk, Overlord, and mana-core plan intact unless public information proves those cards are too slow.

Risk Summary

• Mana risk: The deck needs early colored access, enough lands, and clean sequencing around tapped lands before its expensive spells matter. Ancient Cornucopia helps bridge turns, but hands without reliable early mana or without a path to cast Up the Beanstalk, Ride's End, or sweepers should be treated cautiously.

• Matchup risk: Fast pressure can force Day of Judgment or Fumigate before they gain enough value. Prioritize survival over perfect card advantage when the visible clock is short.

• Draw risk: Expensive hands can look powerful while doing nothing before turn four or five. Mulligan hands that contain only Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Omenpath Journey, Mythweaver Poq, or Lurker in the Deep as payoff without early mana, interaction, or Up the Beanstalk.

• Over-sideboarding risk: Removing too much of the engine leaves the deck with answers but no closing pressure. Keep enough Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Up the Beanstalk, and scalable payoff to actually win after stabilizing.

• Graveyard risk: Rest in Peace is powerful only when the opponent’s revealed plan uses the graveyard. Do not dilute the deck for speculative graveyard hate unless the matchup context or public cards justify it.

• Sweeper and removal risk: Ride's End, Day of Judgment, and Fumigate can conflict if point removal is spent on creatures the sweeper would answer. Save point removal for threats that change timing, survive resets, or create immediate lethal pressure.

• Closer risk: Doppelgang and Ornate Imitations can be win-more if cast without a meaningful visible target. Use them after a commitment gate: enough mana, a valuable permanent to copy, and acceptable exposure to interaction or sweepers.

• Interaction risk: Three Steps Ahead competes with proactive development after sideboarding. Hold it for decisive stack fights, but do not pass forever while the opponent builds a board that only a resolved permanent or sweeper can answer.

• Sequencing risk: Up the Beanstalk should usually precede expensive spells when legal and safe, because the deck is built to convert high-cost plays into cards. Break that rule only when the visible battlefield demands immediate removal, a sweeper, or a stabilizing Overlord.

Test Feedback Checklist

• Deciding factor: Record whether the game was won or lost by early mana, visible battlefield pressure, a resolved Up the Beanstalk, a sweeper window, a copied permanent, a sideboard card, or failure to close after stabilizing.

• Mulligans: Ask whether each kept hand had castable early mana, at least one bridge or engine card, and a realistic first interaction point through Ride's End, Day of Judgment, Fumigate, Ancient Cornucopia, or Up the Beanstalk. Flag keeps that relied on drawing specific lands before acting.

• Mana: Track whether Floodfarm Verge, Hushwood Verge, Willowrush Verge, Meticulous Archive, Lush Portico, Hedge Maze, Restless Vinestalk, Blossoming Sands, or Thornwood Falls entered at the wrong time for the required spell. Note every game where Ancient Cornucopia fixed the curve, arrived too late, or was stranded by pressure.

• Velocity: Check whether Up the Beanstalk entered before Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Doppelgang, or Ornate Imitations when the board allowed it. If not, record whether the deviation was forced by legal actions, survival pressure, or a sequencing mistake.

• Engines: Record how many cards Up the Beanstalk generated before the game ended, how often Overlords stabilized the board, and whether Omenpath Journey, Mythweaver Poq, or Lurker in the Deep mattered before the opponent’s plan decided the game.

• Removal: Review each Ride's End, Day of Judgment, and Fumigate decision for timing. Ask whether point removal answered a threat that changed the sweeper schedule, or whether it was spent on a creature a planned reset would already handle.

• Copy effects: For each Doppelgang and Ornate Imitations, record the visible target, mana spent, immediate board impact, and whether waiting would have increased value or exposed the game to lethal pressure. Flag casts with no decisive target.

• Sideboard: After sideboarding, ask whether Authority of the Consuls, Three Steps Ahead, Rest in Peace, Thieving Aven, or Seized from Slumber matched the revealed opponent plan. Card text check required for Thieving Aven and Seized from Slumber; judge their role only from legal action text and observed outcomes.

• Closing: Record whether the deck stabilized but failed to convert the game with Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Overlord of the Mistmoors, Doppelgang, Ornate Imitations, Restless Vinestalk, Mythweaver Poq, or Lurker in the Deep.

• Role: Ask whether the pilot correctly became control against fast pressure, midrange engine against fair decks, and permission-aware tapout control after adding Three Steps Ahead.

• Mistakes: Identify any pass with available relevant action, any sweeper held through lethal pressure, any premature engine spell into visible danger, and any missed chance to develop Up the Beanstalk before a high-cost spell.

• Stranded cards: List cards stuck in hand at game end and why: color, total mana, no target, bad timing, opponent pressure, or sideboard mismatch.

• Overperformers and underperformers: Rank cards by observed game impact, not expectation. Separate main-deck cards from sideboard cards so tuning does not confuse matchup tools with core engine pieces.

First Tuning Questions

• Quantity question: Is four Up the Beanstalk still correct after logs show how often it appears before the first high-cost spell, or is the deck losing more often because it draws engine without survival tools?

• Quantity question: Are four Overlord of the Hauntwoods and four Overlord of the Mistmoors the right top-end mix, or does one Overlord consistently stabilize while the other clogs hands or fails to close?

• Quantity question: Are three Doppelgang and three Ornate Imitations too many copy payoffs when there is no decisive visible permanent, or are they the main way the deck wins mirrors and big-board games?

• Removal question: Is the current package of four Ride's End, three Day of Judgment, and two Fumigate enough against fast creature pressure, or are losses caused by interaction arriving one turn late?

• Mana question: Does the land mix produce enough untapped early access for Ride's End, Up the Beanstalk, and Ancient Cornucopia, or do tapped lands repeatedly force the pilot behind before sweepers matter?

• Mana question: Does Ancient Cornucopia justify four copies as fixing and ramp, or does it underperform when the opponent punishes non-board development?

• Aggro plan question: Are Authority of the Consuls and Seized from Slumber sufficient sideboard pressure relief, or do logs show the deck needs more early stabilizing slots? Card text check required for Seized from Slumber before assigning exact tactical function.

• Control plan question: Does Three Steps Ahead solve stack-heavy matchups, or does holding mana conflict too much with committing Up the Beanstalk, Overlords, Doppelgang, and Ornate Imitations?

• Graveyard plan question: Does Rest in Peace appear only when public information proves graveyard reliance, or is it being overused in matchups where the core engine would be stronger?

• Closer question: Are single copies of Mythweaver Poq, Lurker in the Deep, and Omenpath Journey earning their slots, or are they mostly stranded payoff cards after the game is already decided?

• Sideboard-slot question: Does Thieving Aven provide a distinct role that the main deck lacks, or is it overlapping with existing threats without improving the matchups that need help? Card text check required.

• Role-conflict question: Is the deck trying to be too many things after sideboarding, especially when adding Three Steps Ahead while keeping all expensive tapout payoffs?

• Closing-speed question: In wins, how many turns pass between stabilizing and lethal inevitability? If too many, tune toward threats or copy effects that end games from a stabilized board.

• Failure-mode question: Which failure repeats most often: mana, early pressure, missed engine velocity, weak sideboard mapping, stranded expensive cards, or inability to protect a decisive spell?

Veles Tactical Policy

Policy: Pregame Play-Draw Role

Priority: Low Decision families: pregame Cards: none Phase windows: pregame Runtime cues: prompt:play/draw; action:play; action:draw Use when: the engine asks for a play/draw decision before opening hands are known. Avoid when: tournament structure or engine output already fixes the choice. Instructions: Choose play against unknown opponents because this deck needs earlier land development, Up the Beanstalk, and sweeper timing more than an extra card. Choose draw only if match context explicitly rewards extra cards and does not expose early pressure. Pilot skill floor: basic No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Opening-Hand Keep Gate

Priority: High Decision families: mulligan Cards: Ancient Cornucopia; Up the Beanstalk; Ride's End; Day of Judgment; Fumigate; Overlord of the Hauntwoods; Overlord of the Mistmoors Phase windows: opening hand; mulligan Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; action:keep; action:mulligan Use when: deciding whether a visible seven-card or post-mulligan hand can function. Avoid when: hand contents are hidden from the acting player or the legal action list does not include keep/mulligan. Instructions: Keep hands with castable early mana plus either Ancient Cornucopia, Up the Beanstalk, Ride's End, or a reachable sweeper. Mulligan hands with no early colored access, no action before expensive cards, or only copy payoffs. Value one Overlord as a bridge if lands and timing support it. Pilot skill floor: intermediate No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: London Bottom Selection

Priority: Medium Decision families: mulligan; selection Cards: Doppelgang; Ornate Imitations; Omenpath Journey; Mythweaver Poq; Lurker in the Deep; Overlord of the Hauntwoods; Overlord of the Mistmoors Phase windows: mulligan bottoming Runtime cues: prompt:bottom; action:bottom Use when: choosing visible cards to put on the bottom after a mulligan. Avoid when: bottom count is zero or candidates are not shown. Instructions: Bottom duplicate expensive payoffs before functional mana or first interaction. Preserve enough lands to curve into Ancient Cornucopia, sweepers, or an Overlord. Bottom single-copy finishers first when the hand is under pressure and already has a stabilizing plan. Pilot skill floor: intermediate No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Early Engine Setup

Priority: Medium Decision families: mana; priority Cards: Up the Beanstalk; Ancient Cornucopia; Overlord of the Hauntwoods; Overlord of the Mistmoors Phase windows: main phase before combat; main phase after combat Runtime cues: action:cast Up the Beanstalk; action:cast Ancient Cornucopia; action:cast Overlord of the Hauntwoods; action:cast Overlord of the Mistmoors Use when: the deck can spend early mana on a setup permanent and the opponent is not presenting immediate lethal or a required answer. Avoid when: visible pressure requires Ride's End, Day of Judgment, or Fumigate this turn. Instructions: Develop Up the Beanstalk before the first high-cost spell when life total and board permit. Cast Ancient Cornucopia when it unlocks the next turn’s sweeper, Overlord, Doppelgang, or Ornate Imitations. Do not spend the turn on setup if passing priority would lose the ability to answer a decisive threat. Pilot skill floor: intermediate No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Exact Mana Payment

Priority: Low Decision families: mana Cards: Ancient Cornucopia; Floodfarm Verge; Hushwood Verge; Willowrush Verge; Meticulous Archive; Lush Portico; Hedge Maze; Restless Vinestalk; Blossoming Sands; Thornwood Falls; Plains; Island; Forest Phase windows: mana payment prompts Runtime cues: action:pay; action:tap Use when: a spell or ability has already been selected and the engine asks for a visible exact payment from legal mana sources. Avoid when: multiple payment lines change whether Ride's End, Three Steps Ahead, or another relevant instant remains available. Instructions: Preserve untapped sources that keep visible instant-speed interaction available. Spend tapped-entry or color-redundant lands before flexible sources when the legal payment options allow it. Use Ancient Cornucopia to fix colors when that payment does not disable a stronger current-turn legal action. Pilot skill floor: basic No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Tapout Commitment Gate

Priority: High Decision families: priority; mana Cards: Overlord of the Hauntwoods; Overlord of the Mistmoors; Doppelgang; Ornate Imitations; Omenpath Journey; Mythweaver Poq; Lurker in the Deep Phase windows: main phase before combat; main phase after combat Runtime cues: action:cast Overlord of the Hauntwoods; action:cast Overlord of the Mistmoors; action:cast Doppelgang; action:cast Ornate Imitations; action:cast Omenpath Journey; action:cast Mythweaver Poq; action:cast Lurker in the Deep Use when: casting a high-commitment spell would consume most mana or expose the turn to visible interaction. Avoid when: the action is forced by lethal prevention or the engine only offers pass. Instructions: Commit when the spell stabilizes a losing board, creates a clear engine turn with Up the Beanstalk, or waiting gives the opponent a better attack or stack window. Delay when holding mana represents needed Ride's End or Three Steps Ahead, or when a sweeper this turn is stronger. Pilot skill floor: advanced No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sweeper Survival Gate

Priority: High Decision families: interaction; priority Cards: Day of Judgment; Fumigate Phase windows: main phase before combat; main phase after combat Runtime cues: action:cast Day of Judgment; action:cast Fumigate Use when: visible opposing creatures threaten lethal, a short clock, or an attack that prevents the deck from reaching its engine. Avoid when: the visible board is empty or the sweeper would remove your only stabilizing board without addressing pressure. Instructions: Fire Day of Judgment or Fumigate when waiting risks lethal or forces bad blocks. Hold a sweeper when Ride's End answers the only relevant attacker and preserving your own Overlord board is materially better. Treat life gain or other text on Fumigate as conditional on verified engine text. Pilot skill floor: intermediate No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Ride's End Target Gate

Priority: Medium Decision families: interaction Cards: Ride's End Phase windows: opponent combat; opponent main phase; end step; stack response Runtime cues: action:cast Ride's End; action:target Use when: the legal target list includes visible opposing threats or stack objects and the choice changes combat, survival, or a future sweeper. Avoid when: the target is not visible or the legal action text does not identify what Ride's End can affect. Instructions: Use Ride's End on the threat that changes the next combat or protects a key engine turn. Do not spend it on a creature that a planned Day of Judgment or Fumigate will answer before it deals relevant damage. Card text check required for exact target classes. Pilot skill floor: intermediate No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Permission Spending Gate

Priority: High Decision families: interaction; priority Cards: Three Steps Ahead Phase windows: opponent main phase; stack response; combat trick windows Runtime cues: action:cast Three Steps Ahead; action:counter; action:choose mode Use when: sideboarded games show Three Steps Ahead in hand and the opponent puts a visible spell or ability on the stack. Avoid when: the stack object is low impact, paying would prevent a required sweeper, or exact mode text is not available. Instructions: Spend Three Steps Ahead on spells that beat the current board, stop a finisher, protect a winning engine, or deny a card type the deck cannot answer later. Hold it when board-based removal is already lined up. Card text check required for all modes. Pilot skill floor: advanced No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Copy-Spell Target Selection

Priority: Medium Decision families: selection; priority Cards: Doppelgang; Ornate Imitations Phase windows: main phase before combat; main phase after combat Runtime cues: action:cast Doppelgang; action:cast Ornate Imitations; action:target Use when: a copy effect is legal and visible targets or copied objects are listed. Avoid when: target identity is hidden, card text is not shown, or paying now prevents survival interaction. Instructions: Route target choice through reasoning because target value depends on visible permanents, mana, opposing removal, and whether copying an Overlord or engine permanent advances the current role. Do not cast into no meaningful visible target merely to spend mana. Card text check required for exact copy permissions. Pilot skill floor: advanced No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Beanstalk Trigger Selection

Priority: Low Decision families: selection Cards: Up the Beanstalk Phase windows: triggered ability resolution Runtime cues: action:draw; action:resolve Up the Beanstalk Use when: the only legal action text explicitly resolves an Up the Beanstalk draw or mandatory trigger. Avoid when: legal actions include optional choices whose outcomes are not visible in action text. Instructions: Resolve the visible Up the Beanstalk trigger when the engine presents it as the next legal action. Do not infer extra triggers or card draws beyond engine output. Pilot skill floor: basic No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Combat Stabilization

Priority: Medium Decision families: combat Cards: Overlord of the Hauntwoods; Overlord of the Mistmoors; Restless Vinestalk; Mythweaver Poq; Lurker in the Deep Phase windows: declare attackers; declare blockers; combat damage Runtime cues: prompt:attackers; prompt:blockers; action:attack; action:block Use when: the battlefield has visible creatures and combat choices are offered. Avoid when: exactly one legal no-attack or no-block action exists and the engine marks it procedural. Instructions: Attack only when pressure does not expose needed blockers or weaken sweeper timing. Block to preserve life against short clocks, especially when the deck needs one more turn for Day of Judgment, Fumigate, or an Overlord. Do not trade a stabilizing threat for minor damage unless lethal math or survival requires it. Pilot skill floor: intermediate No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Deterministic No-Attack Pass

Priority: Low Decision families: combat Cards: none Phase windows: declare attackers Runtime cues: action:attack with no creatures; action:decline attackers; action:no attackers Use when: the only legal attack-related action text indicates no creatures can attack or no attackers are declared. Avoid when: any legal action names an attacking creature. Instructions: Choose the no-attack action when the engine presents no visible attacking creature choices. Treat this as procedural execution, not a strategic combat judgment. Pilot skill floor: basic No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Graveyard Hate Commitment

Priority: Medium Decision families: sideboard; interaction Cards: Rest in Peace Phase windows: post-sideboard opening turns; main phase Runtime cues: action:cast Rest in Peace Use when: public matchup context or visible graveyard use shows graveyard resources matter. Avoid when: opponent has shown no graveyard dependency and casting it delays needed board stabilization. Instructions: Cast Rest in Peace early when it attacks the opponent’s active plan or stops visible recursion. Do not bring it in or cast it just because graveyards exist; the deck still needs engine velocity and sweepers. Pilot skill floor: intermediate No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard Plan Selection

Priority: High Decision families: sideboard Cards: Authority of the Consuls; Three Steps Ahead; Rest in Peace; Thieving Aven; Seized from Slumber; Ride's End; Day of Judgment; Fumigate; Doppelgang; Ornate Imitations; Omenpath Journey; Mythweaver Poq; Lurker in the Deep Phase windows: between games Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; action:submit sideboard Use when: the engine requests a sideboard plan after Game 1 or Game 2. Avoid when: submitted changes would violate the registered 60/15 or exceed listed copies. Instructions: Add Authority of the Consuls and Seized from Slumber against fast creature pressure; add Three Steps Ahead against stack-centric or slow decks; add Rest in Peace only against graveyard plans; add Thieving Aven only when its verified text fits the matchup. Reduce expensive singletons or excess copy effects before trimming core mana, sweepers, or Up the Beanstalk. Card text check required for Thieving Aven and Seized from Slumber. Pilot skill floor: advanced No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Procedural Sideboard Submission

Priority: Low Decision families: sideboard Cards: none Phase windows: between games Runtime cues: action:submit unchanged; action:confirm sideboard Use when: the only legal sideboard action text confirms an already selected legal plan or submits unchanged configuration. Avoid when: multiple sideboard edit actions are still legal. Instructions: Submit the visible confirmation action after the selected sideboard plan is complete and legal. Do not create, remove, or rename card changes outside engine-provided actions. Pilot skill floor: basic No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes