veles-content/strategies/historic/historic_jund_midrange/1/guide.md

Strategy Specifications

Deck Name And Archetype

Jund Midrange is a Historic 60-card main deck with a 15-card sideboard, registered as a midrange and graveyard strategy built around early discard, efficient removal, recursive pressure, and creature-based advantage. The active validation contract reports that the deck passes Historic count requirements: the main deck has 60 cards, the sideboard has 15 cards, and all executable sideboard plans must bring in only registered sideboard names and remove only registered main-deck names.

The deck is best treated as a hybrid Jund shell rather than a stock list: it uses familiar midrange primitives through Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, and Liliana, the Last Hope, but its threat and engine package is specific to Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Malevolent Rumble, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Fear of Missing Out, Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, and Esper Origins. Runtime choices should therefore avoid generic Jund heuristics that assume absent cards, and should instead prioritize whether the visible hand can produce disruption, mana, graveyard material, and a durable clock with the registered cards actually available.

The strategic identity is proactive-interactive midrange with graveyard scaling, not pure control and not all-in graveyard combo. Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf reward games where both players exchange resources and card types enter graveyards, while Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion and Malevolent Rumble make the graveyard and permanent density matter for longer turns. The pilot should trade resources early when the exchange protects a threat, clears a path for damage, or grows future pressure, but should not spend interaction just to appear mana-efficient if a better target is likely and the visible board is not demanding an answer.

The mana base signals three-color pressure with acceleration and fetch-style fixing: Prismatic Vista, Starting Town, Blood Crypt, Stomping Ground, Blooming Marsh, Swamp, Forest, Mountain, Nurturing Peatland, and Arena of Glory must support black one-mana discard, black removal, green setup, red threats, and late-game activated or combat-relevant lines. The pilot should treat early black as a core requirement because Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, and Fatal Push are the deck's most reliable ways to shape the first turns. Green and red are both important, but the exact priority should follow visible hand texture and legal actions rather than fixed color preference.

Legality concerns are mostly runtime and card-text dependent rather than deck-construction dependent. The guide should never assume a spell can be cast from graveyard, a creature has a combat keyword, a trigger is optional, or a sideboard card applies unless the rules engine exposes the legal action or public text supports the choice. Card text check required for Alchemy/Historic-specific details of Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Fear of Missing Out, Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, Esper Origins, Starting Town, Arena of Glory, Professor Dellian Fel, and You Line Up the Shot; all tactical use of these cards should be conditional on engine-offered legal actions.

Opponent information status is unknown at guide load unless a matchup label, revealed cards, public decklist, sideboard stage, or game log slice is provided at runtime. The pilot may reason from broad visible archetype cues, but must not name unobserved opponent cards as if known and must not assume hidden hand contents after discard, surveil, search, or reveal windows expire. When opponent information is incomplete, the default plan is to keep hands and lines that function against a wide field: early discard, efficient removal, pressure that scales through graveyards, and mana that casts spells on time.

Thesis

Jund Midrange assembles early black disruption, cheap removal, graveyard-fed threats, and permanent-based advantage into a pressure deck that wins by making the opponent's first plan fail and then forcing every later draw to answer Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or a planeswalker. The default priority is to trade cards early when the exchange protects a developing clock, grows graveyard pressure, or prevents the opponent from executing a faster engine.

The deck wins by combining one-mana interaction with threats that improve after resources have entered graveyards. Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek are the cleanest ways to choose which opposing card matters before the board develops, while Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, and Liliana, the Last Hope keep creature pressure and small permanents from racing the Jund battlefield. Malevolent Rumble, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Nurturing Peatland, and conditional legal actions from Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion help the deck keep playing after both players are low on cards.

The deck is not trying to play draw-go control, pure graveyard combo, or all-in aggro. Do not pass turns with interaction unused just to preserve theoretical answers if the visible game demands a clock, and do not spend discard/removal merely for mana efficiency if the opponent's exposed plan points to a more important target. The pilot should usually prefer a line that deploys pressure while leaving future interaction live over a line that answers everything but fails to close.

The highest tactical priority is sequencing mana so early black is available without stranding green setup or red pressure. Ignoble Hierarch, Prismatic Vista, Starting Town, Blood Crypt, Stomping Ground, Blooming Marsh, Swamp, Forest, Mountain, Nurturing Peatland, and Arena of Glory must be managed around the actual hand and legal actions. Card text check required for Starting Town and Arena of Glory; use their tactical value only when the engine exposes the relevant mana or combat action.

Role Package

• Threats: Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf are the main pressure cards because they reward exchanges, graveyard filling, and creature combat that forces the opponent to spend real cards. Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion is both a threat and a long-game pressure piece when the engine offers legal graveyard or cast actions. Fear of Missing Out, Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, and Esper Origins are single-copy threats or value permanents whose exact tactical roles require card text checks and should follow visible legal actions.

• Payoffs: Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker convert early trades into late pressure. Favor lines that put relevant card types into graveyards, preserve a surviving payoff, or make removal awkward for the opponent, but never assume a graveyard bonus or trigger beyond what public information and the rules engine expose.

• Engines: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is the clearest main-deck engine because it can turn time and excess resources into board and card quality if left unchecked. Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Malevolent Rumble, Liliana, the Last Hope, and Esper Origins may function as engines depending on visible legal actions; card text check required for Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion and Esper Origins before treating a graveyard or spell-recursion line as available.

• Velocity: Malevolent Rumble is the main deck's proactive smoothing and graveyard-enabling card, so cast it when the hand needs land, pressure, or material and the opponent is not presenting an urgent must-answer board. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Nurturing Peatland provide slower card flow, while Esper Origins should be evaluated from the exact action text shown at runtime.

• Interaction: Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, and Liliana, the Last Hope are the main interaction suite. Use discard to break up fast starts, remove protection or payoff cards before committing a threat, and confirm whether a tap-out line is safe. Use removal to protect life total, preserve planeswalkers, clear blockers for lethal races, or stop engines that will outscale a fair exchange.

• Protection: The main-deck protection plan is proactive, not shield-based: Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek protect threats by taking the answer before committing, while removal protects life total and combat position. Defense Grid is the sideboard protection module when the matchup is about resolving threats or engines through instant-speed interaction.

• Recursion: Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Liliana, the Last Hope, and graveyard-enabled lines are the recursion/value module only when legal actions explicitly support them. Do not assume a card can be replayed, returned, or targeted from a graveyard without a visible engine prompt.

• Mana: Ignoble Hierarch is the acceleration and fixing creature, while the land package supports early black, green setup, red threats, and longer-game utility. Preserve fetch and color choices for the spells actually in hand rather than chasing perfect colors without a payoff.

• Sideboard modules: Opposition Agent attacks search and tutor-style opponents, Culling Ritual addresses low-cost permanent boards, Ghost Vacuum and Surgical Extraction cover graveyard pressure, Professor Dellian Fel and the second Liliana, the Last Hope add grind, Defense Grid fights instant-speed disruption, Rending Volley and You Line Up the Shot add targeted creature interaction, and Witherbloom Command is a flexible utility slot subject to exact legal modes.

Primary Win Conditions

• Barrowgoyf pressure is the default kill when the game starts with discard or removal and both graveyards are developing. Set it up by using Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, Malevolent Rumble, and normal combat trades to put card types and material into public graveyards, then execute by attacking before the opponent can rebuild a stable battlefield. Prioritize this path when the opponent is light on visible blockers, has already spent premium removal, or must answer a different engine such as Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker.

• Pyrogoyf pressure is the red companion kill to Barrowgoyf, especially when the opponent's life total is already pressured by shock lands, Thoughtseize, early attacks, or incidental engine damage shown by the rules engine. Set it up with the same exchange-heavy plan, execute by forcing blocks or removal before the opponent can stabilize, and prioritize it when red mana is easy, the board rewards immediate pressure, or Barrowgoyf alone would be too slow. Card text check required for exact triggered or damage output; use only engine-visible triggers and legal choices.

• Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion is the main snowball win condition when the graveyard contains useful cheap spells and the opponent cannot remove it immediately. Set it up with early discard, Malevolent Rumble, spent interaction, and fetch-land sequencing that leaves colors available for follow-up prompts. Execute only through legal actions exposed by Veles, especially graveyard or cast prompts, and prioritize this path when replaying or copying interaction, discard, or selection from the graveyard would convert a fair board into repeated advantage. Disruption risk is high against open mana, graveyard hate, or known removal, so protect Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion with Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek when the hand allows.

• Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is the primary value-engine win when the opponent is trading one-for-one and cannot punish a three-mana tap-out. Set it up by clearing early creatures with Fatal Push or Abrupt Decay, then execute by taking every engine chapter or transformed-permanent action that improves mana, filtering, pressure, or copied threats according to engine text. Prioritize it when the hand has redundant cards to improve, when Ignoble Hierarch or land sequencing reaches three mana cleanly, or when the opponent's known hand lacks a fast answer.

Secondary Win Conditions

• Ignoble Hierarch turns backup combat into real pressure when one large attacker can safely connect. Use exalted-style or combat-bonus actions only when shown by the engine, and favor single-attacker lines with Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fear of Missing Out, or Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat when the damage race improves without exposing multiple creatures to sweepers or bad blocks.

• Liliana, the Last Hope wins stalled creature games by shrinking small threats, protecting life total, and accumulating planeswalker advantage if the engine exposes loyalty actions that are favorable. Prioritize her when the opponent's board contains small creatures, when a single removal spell does not solve the battlefield, or when recurring creatures or long-game loyalty pressure is more valuable than adding another attacker. Card text check required for exact loyalty modes and ultimate pressure.

• Malevolent Rumble supports secondary wins by finding material, fueling graveyard scaling, and letting the deck convert low-resource hands into threats or lands. Cast it when the current hand lacks pressure, mana, or a next turn, but delay it when the opponent presents a must-answer permanent and removal is available now. Card text check required for exact selection restrictions and any token or mana object created.

• Fear of Missing Out, Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, and Esper Origins are one-copy pressure or value lines that should be treated as opportunistic rather than central. Commit them when their visible legal actions solve the current texture, such as adding a needed attacker, generating card flow, or forcing awkward interaction, but do not build a plan around hidden text or assumed synergies. Card text check required for all three before relying on a specific trigger, combat reward, or chapter outcome.

• Nurturing Peatland is the fallback card-flow win in long games where mana is sufficient and both players are trading topdecks. Preserve it as a land while spells are stranded, then use any engine-visible sacrifice or draw action when flooding, digging for interaction, or needing one more threat matters more than the extra mana source.

Emergency Lines

• When behind on life, prioritize survival over graveyard scaling by using Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, and Liliana, the Last Hope on the threats that most affect the next combat step. Trade Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Ignoble Hierarch, or single-copy creatures if the visible board says blocking preserves a turn, because this deck can still recover with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Malevolent Rumble, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, or topdecked threats.

• When behind on board, stop spending discard on low-impact cards unless it protects a stabilizing play or removes the opponent's follow-up engine. Use discard to clear the card that beats the recovery line, then deploy a blocker, planeswalker, or removal spell in the same turn cycle when legal.

• When behind on cards, convert mana and graveyard access into two-for-one pressure rather than holding perfect answers. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Malevolent Rumble, Liliana, the Last Hope, and Nurturing Peatland are the recovery tools, but each must follow visible legal actions and current threats rather than speculative value.

• When behind on mana, value Ignoble Hierarch, land-finding or selection from Malevolent Rumble, and conservative Prismatic Vista choices over shock-heavy greed. Keep hands and lines that cast black interaction on time, then branch into green or red only when the actual hand needs it.

• When graveyard engines are disrupted, shift to ordinary Jund combat and planeswalker value instead of forcing dead recursion lines. Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf may still be attackers if public graveyards support them, while Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Liliana, the Last Hope, and hard-cast threats can win without a graveyard prompt.

• When primary threats are removed, sequence remaining threats to demand different answers. Lead with the card that best matches the opponent's exposed weakness, preserve discard for the answer that stops the next threat, and avoid overcommitting into visible sweepers or mass removal unless waiting loses the race.

Resource Model

• Life: Spend life to preserve tempo when the play converts directly into board control, discard protection, or a fast threat. Shock lands and Thoughtseize are acceptable early costs against slow or combo-leaning starts, but conserve life against visible creature pressure where Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, and Liliana, the Last Hope must buy combat steps.

• Hand: Treat each card as either disruption, mana development, pressure, or recovery, and avoid holding cards for perfect value when the opponent is developing faster. Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek convert hand resources into information and tempo, while Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Malevolent Rumble, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, and Nurturing Peatland rebuild after trades.

• Mana: Use mana to double-spell before chasing maximum individual-card value. Ignoble Hierarch, Prismatic Vista, Blooming Marsh, Blood Crypt, Stomping Ground, Swamp, Forest, Mountain, Starting Town, Arena of Glory, and Nurturing Peatland should be sequenced to cast black interaction first, then green setup, then red pressure or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker.

• Board: Convert early board presence into forced trades, not reckless racing. Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf reward graveyard density, Ignoble Hierarch rewards one clean attacker, and Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion rewards a stable board where surviving one turn can turn the graveyard into repeated action.

• Graveyard: Treat the graveyard as a resource for threat size, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, and possible sideboard interaction, but do not sacrifice current survival for speculative graveyard growth. Malevolent Rumble, fetch lands, discard, removal, and traded creatures can stock the graveyard naturally; respect visible Ghost Vacuum, opponent graveyard hate, exile effects, and any engine warnings before committing graveyard-dependent lines.

• Exile: Treat exile as a danger zone for lost recursion and a public-information zone for decisions. If a card is exiled by an opponent effect, stop planning around recasting or recurring it unless the rules engine exposes a legal action; if this deck exiles or tracks opponent cards with sideboard tools, use the revealed public information but do not infer hidden copies.

• Lands: Treat lands as both color sources and future options. Prismatic Vista fixes basics and fuels graveyards, shock lands enable untapped color at a life cost, Nurturing Peatland becomes card flow after mana is sufficient, and Arena of Glory or Starting Town may have utility text that must be followed only when engine-visible. Card text check required for exact Arena of Glory and Starting Town utility behavior.

• Sacrifice fodder: Use expendable permanents only when the legal action clearly improves survival, card flow, or a decisive attack. Do not assume tokens or sacrifice synergies from Malevolent Rumble, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Esper Origins, or other cards unless the engine exposes the object and action text.

• Tempo: Spend the first turns preventing the opponent from executing their strongest line while adding a clock. Discard before a key tap-out, remove blockers or must-answer threats before combat, and favor double-spell turns over slow value when the opponent can punish a pass.

• Information: Use Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek to choose the line that beats the known hand, then update plans when new public information appears. Do not name or play around exact hidden cards unless revealed, logged, or strongly implied by public actions.

• Sideboard bullets: Treat Opposition Agent, Culling Ritual, Ghost Vacuum, Professor Dellian Fel, Defense Grid, Liliana, the Last Hope, Rending Volley, Surgical Extraction, Witherbloom Command, and You Line Up the Shot as role-specific tools, not generic upgrades. Bring them in only through exact Sideboard Map plans or matchup guidance, then use them according to visible pressure, opponent graveyard use, stack interaction, creature texture, or small-permanent density.

Mana Guide

• Color priority: Secure black first because Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, Barrowgoyf, and Liliana, the Last Hope make early black access the deck's stabilizing axis. Secure green next for Ignoble Hierarch, Malevolent Rumble, Abrupt Decay, Barrowgoyf, and sideboard cards, then red for Pyrogoyf, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, and red sideboard interaction.

• Opening keeps: Keep hands that produce black on turn one or turn two with a clear reason, have at least two mana sources, and can either interact or deploy pressure. Mulligan hands that cannot cast any early spell, rely on a single fragile mana creature without a second land, or require unknown Starting Town or Arena of Glory text to function.

• Fetch sequencing: Use Prismatic Vista to fetch Swamp when the hand needs discard or Fatal Push, Forest when green setup is stranded, and Mountain only when red is immediately required and black/green are already covered. Fetch before selection when deck thinning or color certainty matters; wait until after draw or selection when the needed color depends on the card found and no spell must be cast first.

• Shock sequencing: Put Blood Crypt or Stomping Ground onto the battlefield untapped when the life payment casts a same-turn discard, removal, threat, or double-spell line that changes the game. Put them in tapped when no immediate mana is needed, when life total is under visible pressure, or when another untapped source already casts the turn.

• Fast-land sequencing: Lead Blooming Marsh early when it casts black or green spells without life loss. Preserve shock lands and Prismatic Vista flexibility when Blooming Marsh already covers the current turn and future red is not yet required.

• Utility-land sequencing: Play Nurturing Peatland when black or green is needed and the long game may require a draw later, but avoid leaning on it for repeated colored mana when life is pressured. Play Arena of Glory only when its visible legal mana text supports the turn or red development is needed; Card text check required before relying on haste, burst mana, or other utility. Play Starting Town as a fixing land only according to engine-visible text; Card text check required for exact color and timing behavior.

• Ignoble Hierarch sequencing: Deploy Ignoble Hierarch early when it enables turn-two three-mana plays, double-spell turns, or cleaner color access, but do not expose it as the only mana source if a removal-heavy opponent can strand the hand. When both discard and Ignoble Hierarch are available on turn one, prefer discard before a key opponent engine or known removal line, and prefer Ignoble Hierarch when acceleration unlocks immediate pressure and the opponent is not threatening a must-take card.

• Play-land timing: Play land before casting spells when the turn needs exact colors, revolt-like engine cues, immediate removal, or a visible landfall/fetch-related legal action. Delay the land until after Malevolent Rumble, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker filtering, Nurturing Peatland draw, or other engine-visible selection when the choice of land depends on new information and no pre-draw mana is required.

• Double-spell planning: Sequence lands to make black plus green or black plus red available by turn two or three whenever possible. The best midgame turns often combine discard plus threat, removal plus threat, or Malevolent Rumble plus one-mana interaction; do not use utility mana in a way that blocks these pairings unless the immediate action is decisive.

• Sideboard mana: Respect sideboard color demands before submitting a plan and while mulliganing post-board. Culling Ritual and Witherbloom Command increase black-green requirements, Rending Volley and You Line Up the Shot require access to their colors on interaction turns, Defense Grid may ask for early generic mana, and Opposition Agent or Professor Dellian Fel should not be kept in hands that cannot realistically cast them on curve.

Mulligan Guide

• Strong keeps: Keep two- or three-land hands with early black, one piece of interaction, and a threat or selection spell. Examples are Blood Crypt plus Blooming Marsh with Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, and Barrowgoyf; Prismatic Vista plus any green source with Inquisition of Kozilek, Ignoble Hierarch, and Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion; or black-green-red access with Malevolent Rumble plus Pyrogoyf.

• Strong keeps on the play: Keep hands that cast Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek before committing Ignoble Hierarch, Barrowgoyf, or Pyrogoyf when the opponent is likely to have a fast engine or cheap removal. On the play, discard into a turn-two threat is often better than threat into discard because it can remove the opponent's best answer before shields are up.

• Strong keeps on the draw: Keep hands with Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, or Inquisition of Kozilek plus stable mana even if the first threat is slower. On the draw, prioritize preventing the opponent's first snowball permanent over curving out with an unprotected Ignoble Hierarch.

• Medium keeps: Keep functional but slower hands when they have color certainty and multiple real spells. Examples include three lands with Malevolent Rumble, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and Abrupt Decay; two lands with Fatal Push, Barrowgoyf, and Pyrogoyf; or Ignoble Hierarch plus three-mana cards when a second land is already present.

• Risky keeps: Treat one-land Ignoble Hierarch hands as matchup- and draw-dependent, not default keeps. Keep only when the one land casts Ignoble Hierarch, the hand has another one-mana spell or Malevolent Rumble to recover, and losing the mana creature would not strand all plays.

• Automatic ships: Mulligan hands with no land, one land and no Ignoble Hierarch, no black source with multiple black one-mana spells, or five-plus lands without Nurturing Peatland or meaningful action. Ship hands that need unknown Starting Town, Arena of Glory, or Esper Origins text to become functional; Card text check required before treating those cards as fixing, acceleration, or engine pieces.

• Trap hands: Do not keep threat-heavy hands that cannot interact before turn three against fast decks. Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker are powerful only if the mana and early exchange let them matter before the opponent's battlefield or combo overwhelms them.

• Matchup-dependent keeps: Keep discard-heavy hands against combo, control, and graveyard setup decks, but require pressure such as Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, or Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat to avoid giving them time to redraw. Against creature swarms, keep removal plus stabilizer hands and value Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, Liliana, the Last Hope, and post-board Culling Ritual more highly.

• Post-board mulligans: Keep sideboard cards only when they answer the visible matchup plan and the hand can cast them. Ghost Vacuum and Surgical Extraction need relevant graveyard pressure, Defense Grid needs a spell-heavy opponent, Opposition Agent needs opposing search or library reliance, and Rending Volley, Witherbloom Command, You Line Up the Shot, Professor Dellian Fel, or the second Liliana, the Last Hope need matchups where their role is concrete.

Turn Arc

• Turn 1: Lead with black interaction when the opponent's first two turns are more dangerous than your acceleration. Cast Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek before Ignoble Hierarch against combo, control, unknown hands, and removal-heavy starts; lead Ignoble Hierarch when acceleration enables a turn-two Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Liliana, the Last Hope, or double-spell turn and the opponent has no visible must-answer setup.

• Turn 1 deviation: Use Fatal Push immediately when a visible creature threatens snowball damage, mana, or a key engine. Hold Fatal Push when no target matters yet and discard can take a higher-impact card.

• Turn 2: Deploy the first graveyard-scaling threat when interaction has already cleared the way. Prefer Barrowgoyf or Pyrogoyf after discard/removal has put card types into graveyards; choose Malevolent Rumble when the hand needs land, permanent pressure, or graveyard fuel and there is no urgent opposing permanent to answer.

• Turn 2 deviation: Keep mana open for Abrupt Decay or Fatal Push when the opponent has shown a permanent that beats your normal curve. Do not cast a small threat into an obvious board state where removing the opponent's engine is the only line that preserves tempo.

• Turn 3: Commit Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Liliana, the Last Hope, Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, or a double-spell sequence according to the known hand and board. Use Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion only when the rules engine exposes legal value from graveyard or future sequencing; Card text check required for exact recursion timing and targets.

• Turn 3 deviation: Prioritize Liliana, the Last Hope against small creatures, recursive pressure, or boards where shrinking/removing a creature protects life total. Prioritize Fable of the Mirror-Breaker when the game is about card quality, future mana, or grinding, but do not assume token or chapter details beyond engine-visible actions.

• Turns 4-5: Convert early trades into a two-spell turn or protected threat. Combine discard plus Barrowgoyf, removal plus Pyrogoyf, Malevolent Rumble plus Fatal Push, or threat plus Abrupt Decay to keep pressure while denying the opponent's best recovery line.

• Turns 4-5 deviation: Use Nurturing Peatland as card flow only after land drops and colors are stable or when flooding is the larger risk than life loss. Use Arena of Glory, Starting Town, Fear of Missing Out, and Esper Origins only according to visible rules text; Card text check required for exact utility and attack-sequencing implications.

• Late game: Favor actions that compound graveyard size, card quality, and recurring pressure over one-for-one trades that do not affect the clock. Preserve removal for blockers, lethal attackers, or engines; use discard later only when the opponent still has unknown cards that can beat the current board or when clearing the way for a decisive attack.

• Late-game deviation: Pivot to racing when Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, or other visible attackers present a short clock and the opponent is low on cards. Pivot to control when life total is under pressure, graveyard payoffs are contained, or the opponent's battlefield demands every removal spell before attacks matter.

Card Roles

• Barrowgoyf: Treat Barrowgoyf as the primary cheap battlefield stabilizer and graveyard-scaling clock. Cast it early when discard, fetch lands, Fatal Push, Malevolent Rumble, or combat trades have begun filling graveyards; hold it briefly when using Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek first will remove a clean answer or enable a safer attack. Its best role is forcing the opponent to answer a growing threat while Jund keeps trading resources. Do not assume its size is lethal without checking visible graveyards and engine-reported power/toughness. Against aggro, value Barrowgoyf as a blocker when its visible stats beat the opposing attackers; against control or combo, deploy it as pressure after stripping interaction.

• Ignoble Hierarch: Use Ignoble Hierarch as acceleration, color smoothing, and occasional exalted pressure, not as a protected engine. Lead on it when a turn-two Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Liliana, the Last Hope, or double-spell turn matters more than immediate discard. Lead on discard instead when the opponent can punish an exposed mana creature or when their unknown hand contains higher-impact cards than your tempo gain. Do not keep one-land hands solely because Ignoble Hierarch exists unless the land casts it and the rest of the hand still functions if it dies. In combat, remember that a single attacker may receive visible bonus damage; do not attack a key creature into bad blocks just to use exalted.

• Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion: Treat Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion as the central graveyard-value bridge, but follow only rules-engine legal actions for exact recursion or casting permissions. Card text check required for exact timing, mana value limits, and target restrictions. Cast Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion when the graveyard already contains useful cheap spells, when discard has reduced removal risk, or when the opponent must answer a different threat first. Avoid running it into open removal if the hand has another pressure line and the graveyard has not yet produced value. Its best partners are Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Fatal Push, Malevolent Rumble, and fetch lands because they create material for graveyard-scaling threats and possible future actions.

• Pyrogoyf: Use Pyrogoyf as the higher-impact threat that turns filled graveyards into damage pressure. Card text check required for exact enter-the-battlefield, damage, and stat text; use only engine-visible triggers and targets. Cast it when card types in graveyards make it a meaningful attacker or when its visible triggered/action text can remove a creature or pressure life total. Do not cast it into a board where a cheaper Barrowgoyf plus removal preserves tempo better. Against creature decks, check whether Pyrogoyf stabilizes the battlefield or only races; against control, it is a must-answer threat after discard clears counters or removal.

• Fable of the Mirror-Breaker: Use Fable of the Mirror-Breaker as the grind engine and card-quality pivot when the game is expected to go long. Card text check required for exact chapter sequencing in Historic if the engine exposes modified text, but the strategic role is to produce material, filter weak cards, and eventually create a value permanent if unanswered. Cast it when you can afford a slower three-mana play and do not need immediate Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, or Liliana, the Last Hope. Do not discard functional lands or interaction automatically; filter away redundant legends, late discard against empty hands, or excess lands only when visible state supports it. Against aggro, it is worse than removal unless the first chapter blocks or accelerates visibly; against control, it is one of the best cards to protect with discard.

• Malevolent Rumble: Use Malevolent Rumble as setup glue: it finds material, fuels graveyards, and supports permanent-heavy development. Card text check required for exact selection restrictions and token or mana details; choose only from engine-listed legal selections. Cast it when the hand needs land, threat density, or graveyard fuel, especially before Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, or Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion. Do not cast it instead of answering a visible snowball permanent. In attrition games, it helps turn spare mana into pressure; in fast matchups, treat it as acceptable only when it finds stabilization or when interaction is already covered.

• Fatal Push: Treat Fatal Push as the premium tempo removal spell and preserve it for creatures that generate mana, snowball damage, enable combo, or block lethal pressure. Use fetch lands such as Prismatic Vista and combat trades as visible revolt enablers only when the engine confirms legal enhanced removal. Do not spend Fatal Push on a low-impact creature when Thoughtseize can take the real payoff or when Abrupt Decay is needed for a noncreature permanent. Against aggressive decks, cast it early to protect life total; against control or combo, hold it unless a creature is part of their engine.

• Thoughtseize: Use Thoughtseize as the broadest information and disruption tool, especially before committing a fragile threat or three-mana engine. Take the card that beats the current plan, not automatically the most expensive card: removal before Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, sweepers before multiple threats, combo pieces before pressure, and cheap engines before slow value. Account for the life loss against aggro; if life is under immediate pressure, removal may be a better turn-one action. Late game, cast Thoughtseize when the opponent has unknown cards that can change combat, stop lethal, or resolve a must-answer spell.

• Inquisition of Kozilek: Use Inquisition of Kozilek as efficient early disruption that preserves life and clears cheap interaction. Its role overlaps with Thoughtseize, but it is better against low-curve aggro, tempo, and cheap combo starts and worse against expensive payoffs. Cast it early when you need to know whether Ignoble Hierarch, Barrowgoyf, or Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion is safe. Do not hold it too long against decks likely to empty their hand; late copies can become dead if the opponent’s remaining cards are outside its legal range.

• Abrupt Decay: Use Abrupt Decay as flexible insurance against cheap permanents that Fatal Push or discard cannot cleanly answer. Card text check required for exact current legality and counterability details if relevant, but the tactical role is answering early creatures, artifacts, enchantments, or planeswalkers within its visible legal target set. Hold it when the opponent’s deck has a known must-answer permanent and your other removal handles creatures. Do not fire it at a replaceable creature if a noncreature engine is likely to appear.

• Liliana, the Last Hope: Use Liliana, the Last Hope as a stabilizer against small creatures and an attrition engine against removal-heavy decks. Card text check required for exact loyalty abilities and graveyard recursion targets; choose only visible legal modes. Cast her when the battlefield can protect her or when her minus/shrink effect removes a key attacker. Avoid tapping out for her into a board that kills her for free unless the loyalty action prevents more damage than the lost tempo costs.

• Fear of Missing Out: Treat Fear of Missing Out as a conditional one-of pressure or filtering piece until card text is verified. Card text check required for exact delirium, attack, discard/draw, and extra-combat implications. Use it only when the engine exposes a clearly legal action that advances pressure or card quality. Do not build a line around unverified extra combat or graveyard thresholds.

• Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat: Treat Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat as a one-of snowball threat whose exact combat and card-access text must be engine-confirmed. Card text check required. Deploy it when discard or removal can clear blockers and when the opponent is unlikely to punish a low-curve creature. Avoid it as the main stabilizer against wide boards unless visible keywords and stats make blocking favorable.

• Esper Origins: Treat Esper Origins as a one-of utility card with unverified text. Card text check required before relying on it for mana, card advantage, graveyard setup, or interaction. Use only engine-visible legal modes and avoid keeping hands that require Esper Origins to be a specific effect.

• Lands: Use Prismatic Vista, Blood Crypt, Stomping Ground, Blooming Marsh, Swamp, Forest, Mountain, and Nurturing Peatland to prioritize early black for Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, and Fatal Push, then red/green for threats and value. Treat Starting Town and Arena of Glory as card-text-dependent utility lands; Card text check required before assuming fixing, haste, counters, or combat bonuses. Use Nurturing Peatland as late flood insurance only after colors and land drops are secure.

Interaction Priorities

• Discard first to protect the next threat, not to maximize mana spent. Use Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek before committing Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Liliana, the Last Hope, or a large Barrowgoyf when the opponent has unknown cards and mana that could answer them. Take cheap removal before a fragile engine, sweepers before adding multiple bodies, combo pieces before pressure, and card-advantage engines before replaceable creatures.

• Remove first when the visible permanent changes the next two turns. Prioritize mana creatures, creatures that snowball cards or damage, combo enablers, and attackers that force bad blocks. Fatal Push should answer the most tempo-relevant legal creature, while Abrupt Decay should be preserved for cheap noncreature engines or creatures outside the current Fatal Push line when possible.

• Exile graveyards only when the target matters now or blocks a known recursion/combo line. Ghost Vacuum and Surgical Extraction are sideboard tools for visible graveyard pressure; use them on named or visible cards that the opponent can reuse, search for, or immediately convert into a win. Do not spend them just to reduce graveyard size if Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, or Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion benefits from graveyards and the opponent has no active graveyard payoff.

• Counter and bounce plans do not exist in the registered deck. If the engine does not expose a legal action from a registered card, do not assume Jund can counter a spell, protect a permanent with a trick, or bounce a threat. Fight stack-based plans by taking the card with Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek, then resolve threats while the path is clear.

• Bait with redundant threats before committing unique engines. Lead with Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, or a second legend when the hand contains a higher-value Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or Liliana, the Last Hope. Against control, one protected engine is worth more than two exposed creatures; against aggro, do not bait if the tempo loss lets the opponent push lethal damage.

• Ignore low-impact permanents when they do not change clock, mana, combo access, or card flow. A small creature that cannot attack profitably into Barrowgoyf or Pyrogoyf is often less important than preserving Fatal Push for a haste threat or Abrupt Decay for a noncreature engine. Do not fire removal just because mana is available.

• Shift priorities by archetype. Against aggro, spend removal early and use discard sparingly when life loss matters. Against combo, discard the engine or payoff before developing a slow threat. Against graveyard decks, value Ghost Vacuum, Surgical Extraction, and Witherbloom Command only after the engine exposes a legal graveyard target. Against creature-light control, preserve discard for windows before key spells and avoid dead removal unless it answers a real permanent.

Combat And Trading Rules

• Attack when pressure advances the race without exposing the only engine piece. Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf are the main combat bodies; send them when they survive visible blocks, force unfavorable trades, or shorten the clock after discard has cleared interaction. Do not attack Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion into a trade unless the graveyard value is already captured or the trade prevents a worse swing back.

• Block to protect life total once the opponent can create a two-turn clock. Preserve life more aggressively below 10, and treat 6 or less as a survival threshold where trading a threat for an attacker is often correct. Above 14, keep pressure if the opponent’s crack-back is small and your hand contains removal or another stabilizer.

• Trade small creatures for tempo, not sentiment. Ignoble Hierarch can trade or chump when mana is no longer the bottleneck, when exalted-style pressure is not decisive, or when blocking preserves enough life to untap into Liliana, the Last Hope, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or removal plus threat. Do not lose Ignoble Hierarch early if it is the only source enabling a three-mana play.

• Preserve graveyard-scaling threats when they dominate combat. A large Barrowgoyf or Pyrogoyf should not be traded for a replaceable creature unless the trade stops lethal, unlocks an attack with another threat, or removes an engine creature. If both sides have large bodies, use discard or removal to break parity before making a trade.

• Use Fatal Push before blockers when it turns a bad block into no block. Removing the best attacker before combat is correct when it saves more life than holding removal for a later creature. Removing a blocker before attacks is correct when it enables a high-damage swing or protects Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat or another snowball threat from combat.

• Protect planeswalkers only when the loyalty engine matters more than damage. Block for Liliana, the Last Hope if her next legal ability stabilizes the board or recovers a key creature. Let her absorb damage instead of sacrificing a major threat when she has already generated value and the creature is needed to close.

• Respect unknown combat tricks without inventing them. If the opponent has open mana and unknown cards, prefer attacks that are still acceptable if a creature dies. Use Thoughtseize before combat in key turns when a trick, removal spell, or sweeper would change attacks. Do not hold back all pressure against an unknown hand unless the visible race already favors waiting.

• Change combat posture by matchup. Against aggro, block earlier, trade often, and keep life outside burn or haste range when possible. Against control, attack patiently with one or two threats and avoid overcommitting into sweepers. Against combo, maximize the clock once discard has disrupted the first attempt. Against graveyard mirrors, avoid trades that fuel the opponent more than your own Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, or Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion plan.

Selection And Tutor Rules

• Use Malevolent Rumble as selection plus graveyard setup, not as a generic draw spell. Cast it early when the hand needs a land, a threat, or graveyard density for Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, and Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion; delay it when the current turn already has a clean discard-removal-threat sequence and tapping two mana would forfeit pressure or interaction.

• Take the permanent that fixes the next two turns from Malevolent Rumble. Prefer a needed land when missing the next land drop, Ignoble Hierarch when acceleration unlocks multiple spells, Barrowgoyf or Pyrogoyf when the battlefield needs size, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker when the opponent is low on interaction, and Liliana, the Last Hope when a visible small-creature board or creature recursion plan matters. Do not take a flashy permanent over the land that makes the hand function.

• Sequence Prismatic Vista before color-locked spells when mana certainty matters. Fetch the basic that enables the current hand’s legal actions: usually Swamp for Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, and Fatal Push; Forest for Malevolent Rumble and Ignoble Hierarch; or Mountain when red access is required for Pyrogoyf, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or sideboard removal. Preserve life against aggro when shock lands are not necessary.

• Use Fable of the Mirror-Breaker rummage to convert matchup-wrong cards into action. Discard excess lands, duplicate legends, dead removal against creature-light decks, or slow cards under immediate pressure; keep lands when Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, double-spell turns, or activated/optional costs require mana. Do not discard the only cheap interaction before seeing whether the opponent’s next play must be answered.

• Treat Nurturing Peatland as a late-game redraw, not an automatic sacrifice. Keep it while land drops, colored requirements, or multi-spell turns matter; cash it in when flooding, when life loss is acceptable, or when a fresh card is worth more than another land. Do not sacrifice it before combat or stack decisions if the extra mana could change legal actions.

• Use Liliana, the Last Hope recursion only when the returned creature is the best next threat or engine. Prioritize Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion when graveyard value is ready, Barrowgoyf or Pyrogoyf when board size is needed, and Ignoble Hierarch only when mana is the bottleneck. Card text check required for exact loyalty mode availability at runtime; follow the rules engine’s legal choices.

• Respect true-tutor limits. This deck has Prismatic Vista as basic-land search and Malevolent Rumble as top-card selection, but no broad library tutor for arbitrary nonlands. Do not plan around finding a specific one-of unless the engine exposes a legal search, reveal, or selection action that can actually choose it.

Priority And Stack Rules

• Spend discard before committing a key permanent when the opponent’s hand is unknown. Cast Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek before Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Liliana, the Last Hope, or a lethal-sized threat if a visible legal discard action can clear removal, counterplay, sweeper, combo, or card-advantage engines. Let discard wait only when tempo or life total makes board interaction urgent.

• Hold instant-speed removal for the window that changes the game state most. Use Fatal Push or Abrupt Decay before combat to remove a must-answer attacker or blocker, in response to a pump/equip/ability when the target remains legal, or on end step when waiting preserved information without losing value. Do not fire removal into open protection assumptions unless the rules engine exposes a real stack object or legal response.

• Let low-impact spells resolve when the answer is needed for a higher-impact permanent. Abrupt Decay is the only main-deck catchall for many cheap noncreature permanents, so avoid spending it on a replaceable creature if Fatal Push, combat, or Liliana, the Last Hope can cover that creature. Against combo or graveyard decks, answer the engine piece, not the setup spell, unless setup immediately enables a win.

• Use graveyard timing deliberately. Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Barrowgoyf, and Pyrogoyf reward stocked graveyards, while sideboard Ghost Vacuum, Surgical Extraction, and Witherbloom Command can disrupt opposing graveyards. Exile or remove graveyard cards only when a visible target is about to be reused, searched, or converted into advantage; avoid shrinking your own threat plan without a concrete payoff.

• Treat optional payments and triggers as board-state decisions. Pay or accept optional value only when the mana, life, or card cost does not block a better legal action this turn. Decline optional costs if they prevent casting Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Malevolent Rumble, or a needed threat in the same turn cycle.

• Use combat priority windows to convert interaction into damage or survival. Remove a blocker before attackers only when it unlocks a meaningful attack; remove an attacker before blockers when it prevents a bad block or lethal pressure; use sideboard Rending Volley or You Line Up the Shot only on legal targets that matter to the race or engine. Card text check required for exact sideboard removal target restrictions.

• Do not invent stack interaction. The registered main deck has discard and removal, not counterspells or bounce. If the engine offers only pass actions while an opposing spell is on the stack, pass unless a visible legal action from Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, Ghost Vacuum, Surgical Extraction, Rending Volley, You Line Up the Shot, Witherbloom Command, or another registered card can legally affect that spell’s result.

• Prioritize end-step actions when sorcery-speed development is already planned. If removal or graveyard interaction can wait without changing combat or letting a trigger resolve, use the opponent’s end step to preserve information and mana. Break this rule when a visible trigger, attack, sacrifice outlet, or recursion line will make the target disappear or the damage irreversible.

Sideboard Map

• Use sideboarding to sharpen role, not to dilute the graveyard-midrange shell. Keep the core of Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, Malevolent Rumble, and enough lands unless the matchup makes a specific axis low-impact. Ignoble Hierarch is more valuable when speed, double-spelling, and three-mana permanents matter; it is less valuable when sweepers and removal make small creatures fragile.

• Bring Opposition Agent against search, tutor, fetch-heavy, and combo decks where stopping a library action is worth holding up three mana. It is also a flash threat against control when the opponent may pass with mana open. It is bad against low-curve aggro that never searches and against board states where spending three mana without affecting combat risks death. Card text check required for exact Historic implementation and search-control details.

• Bring Culling Ritual against artifact, enchantment, token, and cheap-permanent boards where a sweeper can recover tempo and unlock a follow-up spell. It is strongest when the opponent commits multiple permanents with mana value two or less and your own board is either expendable or already behind. It is bad when your Ignoble Hierarch, Barrowgoyf, graveyard setup, or token pressure would be damaged more than the opponent’s position. Card text check required for exact mana production and destroyed-permanent limits.

• Bring Ghost Vacuum against graveyard recursion, reanimation, escape, delirium-style engines, and decks using the graveyard as a second hand. It changes role from threat maximization to containment: use it to stop the card about to matter, not to empty graveyards blindly when Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, and Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion still need graveyard density. It is bad against creature-light control with no graveyard payoff and against aggro when immediate board impact matters more.

• Bring Professor Dellian Fel when grindy creature mirrors reward additional creature value or when the opponent is light on instant-speed removal. Card text check required; treat it as conditional until the rules engine exposes legal actions and visible text. It is bad when the opponent is faster, when graveyard hate weakens recursive plans, or when a four-mana-style value card would fall behind tempo.

• Bring Defense Grid against permission-heavy control, flash decks, and spell-based combo where forcing action on main phases makes discard and threats safer. It is bad against creature aggro, tap-out midrange, and decks where your own instant-speed Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, Rending Volley, You Line Up the Shot, Ghost Vacuum, or Surgical Extraction must stay flexible. Card text check required for exact cost-taxing behavior.

• Bring the sideboard Liliana, the Last Hope against small-creature decks, attrition mirrors, and matchups where recurring Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Barrowgoyf, or Pyrogoyf is decisive. It is bad against combo decks that ignore the battlefield and against large-creature boards where the loyalty modes do not answer the visible threat. Card text check required for exact mode legality at runtime.

• Bring Rending Volley against white or blue creature decks where one mana cleanly answers a key creature. Card text check required for exact target restrictions. It is bad against nonwhite/nonblue threats, creature-light control, and decks where Fatal Push or Abrupt Decay already covers the important targets.

• Bring Surgical Extraction against graveyard combo, reanimation, decks relying on one named card across zones, and matchups where discard plus extraction can remove a known engine. It is bad as generic disruption when no relevant card is in a public graveyard, and it should not be spent on a replaceable card unless removing all copies changes the opponent’s visible line. Card text check required for exact cost and zone-viewing implementation.

• Bring Witherbloom Command against small permanents, graveyard-sensitive decks, land-light pressure, and matchups where modal flexibility matters. Card text check required; choose modes only from legal engine output and visible targets. It is bad when every mode is low impact or when sorcery-speed interaction cannot answer the threat that matters.

• Bring You Line Up the Shot against creature decks where its legal target and effect line up with combat math. Card text check required for exact target and damage/fight/shrink behavior. It is bad against creature-light opponents, protected targets, or boards where spending a card does not change attacks, blocks, or lethal pressure.

Creature Swarm Or Tokens Side in: 2 Culling Ritual; 1 Witherbloom Command; 1 You Line Up the Shot Cut: 1 Esper Origins; 1 Fear of Missing Out; 1 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker; 1 Inquisition of Kozilek

• Add role cards: Culling Ritual, Witherbloom Command, Liliana, the Last Hope, and You Line Up the Shot to stabilize the battlefield before large Barrowgoyf or Pyrogoyf attacks matter. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slower one-of value cards and narrow discard when the opponent empties hand quickly.

Graveyard Recursion Or Reanimator Side in: 2 Ghost Vacuum; 1 Surgical Extraction; 1 Witherbloom Command Cut: 1 Esper Origins; 1 Fear of Missing Out; 1 Abrupt Decay; 1 Inquisition of Kozilek

• Add role cards: Ghost Vacuum, Surgical Extraction, and Witherbloom Command to attack the graveyard while keeping pressure on board. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow threats or interaction that does not touch the graveyard, unless the opponent’s visible battlefield requires it.

Permission Control Or Spell Combo Side in: 1 Defense Grid; 3 Opposition Agent; 2 Professor Dellian Fel Cut: 4 Fatal Push; 1 Abrupt Decay; 1 Fear of Missing Out

• Add role cards: Defense Grid, Opposition Agent, and Professor Dellian Fel to make discard-backed threat deployment harder to answer. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal when the opponent shows few legal targets. Keep Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek because the matchup is decided by clearing interaction before Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or a large threat resolves.

Search Or Tutor Combo Side in: 3 Opposition Agent; 1 Surgical Extraction; 1 Defense Grid Cut: 2 Fatal Push; 1 Abrupt Decay; 1 Fear of Missing Out; 1 Inquisition of Kozilek

• Add role cards: Opposition Agent, Surgical Extraction, and sometimes Defense Grid when the opponent’s plan depends on search, graveyard access, or stack timing. Reduce main-deck emphasis: removal that cannot interact with the combo’s visible permanents or creatures.

White Or Blue Creature Pressure Side in: 1 Rending Volley; 1 You Line Up the Shot; 1 Witherbloom Command; 1 Culling Ritual Cut: 1 Esper Origins; 1 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker; 1 Inquisition of Kozilek; 1 Thoughtseize

• Add role cards: Rending Volley, You Line Up the Shot, Liliana, the Last Hope, and Witherbloom Command to keep tempo while Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf become larger than opposing attackers. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow value cards and discard that misses board pressure after the opponent has deployed threats.

Matchup Guidance

• Aggro: Stabilize first, then turn the corner with oversized Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf. Keep hands with early black mana, Fatal Push, Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek, and a two-mana threat; avoid hands that only develop with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker or Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion after taking repeated attacks. Use discard to take the card that beats your current removal, not automatically the most expensive card. Add role cards: Culling Ritual, Liliana, the Last Hope, Witherbloom Command, You Line Up the Shot, and sometimes Rending Volley when its target restriction is live. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, Esper Origins, and slower value cards when the visible game is about life total.

• Burn: Protect life total as a resource but do not overpay life for perfect colors unless the hand needs it immediately. Thoughtseize is still useful when it takes a high-damage spell or a card that invalidates blocking, but repeated shockland damage from Blood Crypt or Stomping Ground can make the discard exchange poor. Prioritize Fatal Push on creatures that represent multiple damage steps, then race with Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf once the board is contained. Add role cards: Witherbloom Command if its legal modes affect life total, small permanents, or graveyards; You Line Up the Shot if it changes combat. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow nonblocking value engines when under immediate pressure. Card text check required for exact Witherbloom Command modes.

• Go-wide decks: Spend early removal to prevent snowballing, but preserve Culling Ritual lines when the visible board suggests a broad reset is worth more than one-for-one play. Do not expose Ignoble Hierarch to combat if it is needed to cast Culling Ritual, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or double-spell turns. Liliana, the Last Hope is strongest when her legal mode can shrink or recur through stalled boards; do not assume a mode is legal without engine output. Add role cards: Culling Ritual, Witherbloom Command, Liliana, the Last Hope, and You Line Up the Shot. Reduce main-deck emphasis: discard after the opponent has emptied hand and one-of value creatures that do not block profitably.

• Tempo: Force the opponent to answer cheap threats while you trade mana efficiently. Lead with discard when it clears a counter, bounce, or protection spell before committing Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or a graveyard-sized threat. Keep Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, and target-specific sideboard removal for threats that carry the opponent’s clock; do not spend removal on low-impact bodies if a single evasive or protected threat is winning. Add role cards: Rending Volley against legal white or blue creature targets, Defense Grid against heavy permission, and You Line Up the Shot when combat math matters. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slower cards that lose to a single protected threat.

• Control: Become a discard-backed threat deck and make each resolved permanent matter. Mulligan hands that do nothing before turn three unless they have discard plus resilient pressure. Use Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek to clear the specific answer to the next threat, then deploy Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker on turns where the opponent cannot easily answer and progress. Add role cards: Defense Grid, Opposition Agent, Professor Dellian Fel, and the sideboard Liliana, the Last Hope when attrition is expected. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push and Abrupt Decay only when the opponent shows few permanent targets. Card text check required for Professor Dellian Fel and Defense Grid.

• Combo: Treat the matchup as disruption plus clock, not pure attrition. Keep hands with Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek and a fast threat; hands with only removal and slow value should be suspect unless the combo is creature-based. Take the engine card, protection card, or payoff according to visible hand and known public information; when unsure, take the card that lets the opponent act before your next discard or lethal attack. Add role cards: Opposition Agent for search-dependent lines, Surgical Extraction when a key card is in a public graveyard, Ghost Vacuum for graveyard combo, and Defense Grid against stack-dependent combo. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal that has no visible target or combo relevance.

• Big mana: Apply pressure early and use discard to break the first payoff turn. Ignoble Hierarch is valuable because it accelerates Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and double-spell pressure; do not trade it off unless the life total demands it. Use Thoughtseize to take sweepers, payoff threats, or mana engines according to the visible hand; use Abrupt Decay only on legal permanents that materially delay mana or stabilize pressure. Add role cards: Opposition Agent if the opponent searches, Defense Grid if the opponent uses permission, and Professor Dellian Fel if the game becomes creature-value attrition. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow creature removal against decks with few early bodies.

• Midrange mirrors: Preserve card quality and graveyard density while denying the opponent’s best exchange. Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf are primary battlefield anchors, but avoid running them into obvious removal when Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker can improve the exchange first. Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion is a high-priority threat when the graveyard contains useful spells, but do not assume recursion legality or timing beyond current legal actions. Add role cards: Professor Dellian Fel, sideboard Liliana, the Last Hope, Witherbloom Command, and selective Ghost Vacuum if the opponent’s graveyard matters more than yours. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow discard on empty-hand boards and removal that cannot answer the visible threat.

• Removal-heavy decks: Diversify threats and avoid committing every creature into the same answer pattern. Use Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Malevolent Rumble, and recursive or value-oriented lines to keep pressure flowing after one-for-one removal. Ignoble Hierarch can be held or deployed based on whether acceleration changes the turn cycle; do not expose it for no gain when mana is already sufficient. Add role cards: Professor Dellian Fel, sideboard Liliana, the Last Hope, and sometimes Defense Grid if removal is paired with permission. Reduce main-deck emphasis: excess Fatal Push when the opponent has few creatures.

• Graveyard decks: Disrupt the graveyard without starving your own Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, and Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion unless the opposing graveyard line is more urgent. Use Ghost Vacuum on the card about to be used, the card named by a public engine, or the card that unlocks the opponent’s next legal action. Use Surgical Extraction only when a relevant card is in a public graveyard and removing all copies changes the opponent’s plan. Add role cards: Ghost Vacuum, Surgical Extraction, and Witherbloom Command. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow value cards that do not affect the graveyard race.

• Artifact/enchantment decks: Identify whether the opponent is an engine deck, a go-wide deck, or a single-permanent deck before spending Abrupt Decay or Witherbloom Command. Abrupt Decay should answer the permanent that enables the next damaging turn, not the first legal target by default. Culling Ritual is strong only when the visible permanent spread makes it a real reset or mana swing; do not fire it into your own important permanents unless the opponent’s board is more damaged. Add role cards: Culling Ritual, Witherbloom Command, and Opposition Agent if search is part of the engine. Card text check required for exact legal modes and permanent limits.

• Single-threat decks: Save the clean answer for the threat that actually ends the game. Use discard to strip protection or backup threats before using Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, Rending Volley, or You Line Up the Shot. If the single threat is larger than your removal range, race with Barrowgoyf or Pyrogoyf only when combat math supports it; otherwise build toward edict-like, shrink, or modal answers only if legal actions show them. Add role cards: Rending Volley for legal white or blue targets, You Line Up the Shot for legal combat-relevant targets, and Liliana, the Last Hope when her legal mode affects the threat.

Specific Matchup Notes

• General/archetype-only notes: Revealed cards, public deck information, and rules-engine legal actions override these assumptions. Use Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek to identify the opponent’s actual role before committing Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or graveyard-dependent pressure.

• Fast creature starts: Prioritize survival over value when the opponent presents early damage. Use Fatal Push on the creature that changes the next combat step, use Abrupt Decay on a legal permanent that supports repeated attacks, and block with Barrowgoyf or Pyrogoyf when preserving life matters more than keeping a larger future threat. Add role cards: Culling Ritual, Rending Volley, You Line Up the Shot, and the sideboard Liliana, the Last Hope when legal targets support them. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow discard after the opponent is empty-handed.

• Control and permission: Lead with discard when possible, then commit one hard-to-ignore threat at a time. Priority targets are sweepers, clean answers to Barrowgoyf or Pyrogoyf, permission for Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and graveyard hate that blanks Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion. Add role cards: Defense Grid, Opposition Agent, Professor Dellian Fel, and the sideboard Liliana, the Last Hope. Card text check required for Defense Grid and Professor Dellian Fel before assuming exact tactical impact.

• Combo and big mana: Keep hands that combine discard with a clock, because removal-only hands may give the opponent too many setup turns. Priority targets are the visible engine card, payoff card, search card, or protection card that acts before your next meaningful decision. Add role cards: Opposition Agent, Surgical Extraction, Ghost Vacuum, and Defense Grid according to the revealed combo axis. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push and Abrupt Decay only when the opponent shows legal creature or permanent targets that matter.

• Graveyard mirrors: Use graveyard hate only when the opposing graveyard line is more urgent than your own Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, and Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion development. Priority targets are cards about to be recast, reanimated, extracted, or used by a public engine. Add role cards: Ghost Vacuum, Surgical Extraction, and Witherbloom Command. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow cards that do not affect the graveyard race or battlefield.

• Artifact, enchantment, and token engines: Decide whether the opponent’s board is wide, engine-based, or centered on one permanent before spending modal answers. Culling Ritual should be held for a visible swing unless immediate survival requires it, and Abrupt Decay should answer the permanent that unlocks the opponent’s next high-impact turn. Add role cards: Culling Ritual, Witherbloom Command, and Opposition Agent if public information shows search.

Risk Summary

• Mana risk: The deck needs early black for Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, and Fatal Push, green for Ignoble Hierarch and Malevolent Rumble, and red for Pyrogoyf and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. Mulligan hands that cannot cast an early spell unless the hand has a clear legal setup path through Prismatic Vista, Starting Town, or shock lands.

• Matchup risk: The deck can misrole itself by playing pure attrition against combo or pure racing against aggro. Let revealed cards determine whether discard, removal, graveyard pressure, or battlefield stabilization is the active priority.

• Draw risk: Threat-heavy hands without interaction can lose to faster linear decks, while interaction-heavy hands without Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or Malevolent Rumble can fail to close. Prefer hands with a first play, a second-turn plan, and either pressure or card flow.

• Over-sideboarding risk: Adding too many reactive sideboard cards can weaken graveyard density, threat count, and proactive pressure. Preserve enough main-deck threats and enablers that Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Barrowgoyf, and Pyrogoyf remain functional.

• Graveyard risk: Opposing graveyard hate can shrink threats and reduce Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion value. Do not assume graveyard access unless the engine exposes the relevant legal action and public zone contents support it.

• Sweeper/removal risk: Committing multiple creatures into a likely sweeper or removal chain can waste the deck’s pressure advantage. Use discard first when possible, and diversify with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Malevolent Rumble, planeswalker pressure, or held follow-up threats.

• Closer risk: The deck can stabilize without ending the game if Ignoble Hierarch and interaction are drawn instead of pressure. Prioritize converting stabilized boards into attacks with Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, copied value from Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or legal Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion follow-up actions.

• Interaction risk: Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, Rending Volley, Witherbloom Command, and You Line Up the Shot are target- and text-dependent. Card text check required whenever the exact mode, target class, or damage/removal condition is not visible from the legal action label.

• Sequencing risk: Casting Malevolent Rumble, discard, or a threat in the wrong order can expose the wrong card to removal or miss the best graveyard setup. When unsure, use discard before commitment, use selection before redundant land decisions, and avoid spending mana that a current stack or combat decision may require.

Test Feedback Checklist

• Deciding factor: Record whether the game was decided by early discard, removal timing, graveyard pressure, mana failure, sideboard impact, or failure to close after stabilization. Tie the note to exact cards such as Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker.

• Mulligans: Record whether the opener had black interaction, green setup, red pressure, and a turn-two plan. Flag keeps where Ignoble Hierarch, Malevolent Rumble, or Prismatic Vista made the hand functional, and flag losses where a hand kept lands plus spells but could not cast the right early spell.

• Mana: Track whether Starting Town, Blood Crypt, Stomping Ground, Blooming Marsh, Arena of Glory, Swamp, Forest, Mountain, Nurturing Peatland, or Prismatic Vista constrained sequencing. Note every game where shock-land life loss changed combat math or where Arena of Glory produced pressure that mattered.

• Velocity: Check whether Malevolent Rumble, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Esper Origins, and Nurturing Peatland found enough action. If the deck ran out of threats after trading resources, record which card-flow piece was absent or too slow.

• Engine use: Record whether Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion had a meaningful legal graveyard action when cast. Do not credit Jarsyl for theoretical value unless the rules engine exposed the action and the chosen line affected the game.

• Removal timing: Record the highest-impact visible target killed by Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, Rending Volley, Witherbloom Command, or You Line Up the Shot. Flag any game where removal was spent on a low-pressure target and a later creature or engine card decided the game.

• Sideboard impact: Record which sideboard cards were drawn, cast, stranded, or clearly unnecessary. Track Opposition Agent, Culling Ritual, Ghost Vacuum, Professor Dellian Fel, Defense Grid, sideboard Liliana, the Last Hope, Rending Volley, Surgical Extraction, Witherbloom Command, and You Line Up the Shot separately.

• Closing: Record whether stabilized games ended through Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or repeated Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion value. Flag games where the deck controlled the board but gave the opponent too many draw steps.

• Role accuracy: Note whether the pilot correctly played beatdown, stabilizer, or attrition role after Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek revealed information. Mark any game where the pilot kept reacting after it needed to attack, or attacked when survival was the real axis.

• Stranded cards: List cards stuck in hand and why: no target, wrong mana, graveyard too small, opponent empty-handed, legal action unavailable, or card text uncertainty. Use Card text check required for Professor Dellian Fel, Defense Grid, or any sideboard mode whose exact runtime action label is ambiguous.

• Overperformers and underperformers: Identify cards that changed win probability in actual engine output, not just cards that looked strong in theory. Separate main-deck notes from sideboard notes so future quantity changes are grounded in observed games.

First Tuning Questions

• Card quantities: Is Fear of Missing Out, Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, Esper Origins, or main-deck Liliana, the Last Hope earning its single slot, or would the deck benefit from more copies of a proven pressure, card-flow, or interaction card already in the registered 75?

• Threat density: Are four Barrowgoyf, four Pyrogoyf, and four Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion enough closers when graveyard hate appears, or do post-board games need more resilient pressure from Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, Professor Dellian Fel, or planeswalker pressure?

• Mana base: Does the deck lose more games to color access, tapped sequencing, or shock-land life loss? If early black is late too often, reassess the balance among Blood Crypt, Blooming Marsh, Swamp, Prismatic Vista, and Starting Town; if red pressure is delayed, reassess Stomping Ground, Blood Crypt, Mountain, and Arena of Glory.

• Aggro plan: Are Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, main-deck Liliana, the Last Hope, and blockers enough before sideboard games, or does the sideboard need more low-cost creature interaction beyond Rending Volley, You Line Up the Shot, Witherbloom Command, and Culling Ritual?

• Control plan: Does Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Defense Grid, Opposition Agent, sideboard Liliana, the Last Hope, and Professor Dellian Fel create enough pressure through removal and permission? If games stall, identify whether the problem is too few threats, too little card flow, or overloading on narrow disruption.

• Graveyard plan: Does opposing graveyard hate shrink Barrowgoyf and Pyrogoyf often enough to require a less graveyard-dependent configuration? Track whether Ghost Vacuum, Surgical Extraction, and Witherbloom Command help win graveyard mirrors without weakening your own Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion lines.

• Sideboard slots: Which sideboard card is most often stranded: Opposition Agent, Culling Ritual, Ghost Vacuum, Professor Dellian Fel, Defense Grid, Rending Volley, Surgical Extraction, Witherbloom Command, or You Line Up the Shot? Convert repeated stranded-card evidence into a concrete slot review.

• Role conflicts: Does the deck ever draw discard plus slow value when it needed removal, or removal plus no clock when it needed to race combo? Use those losses to decide whether future tuning should favor proactive threats, cheaper interaction, graveyard hate, or more flexible modal cards.

Veles Tactical Policy

Policy: Opening Hand Keep Gate

• Priority: High
• Decision families: mulligan
• Cards: Thoughtseize; Inquisition of Kozilek; Fatal Push; Ignoble Hierarch; Malevolent Rumble; Barrowgoyf; Pyrogoyf; Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion
• Phase windows: pregame
• Runtime cues: opening hand; mulligan prompt; visible hand and lands
• Use when: evaluating an initial seven or post-mulligan hand before keep/take-a-mulligan.
• Avoid when: the engine has already advanced beyond the mulligan decision.
• Instructions: Keep hands with castable early black interaction or green setup plus a turn-two play; mulligan hands with lands and spells that cannot cast their first two relevant actions. Value Ignoble Hierarch plus a real follow-up, but do not keep mana-only hands with no interaction, pressure, or selection.
• Pilot skill floor: medium
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: London Bottom Discipline

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: mulligan, selection
• Cards: none
• Phase windows: pregame
• Runtime cues: action:bottom; London mulligan bottom prompt
• Use when: Forge exposes exact cards to put on the bottom after a mulligan.
• Avoid when: fewer bottom choices are available than required by the prompt.
• Instructions: Bottom redundant lands first when the remaining hand still casts black and green early spells; bottom narrow interaction before core mana, discard, selection, and first threat. Preserve one cheap play and one credible clock whenever possible.
• Pilot skill floor: medium
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Early Mana Setup

• Priority: High
• Decision families: mana, priority
• Cards: Prismatic Vista; Starting Town; Blood Crypt; Stomping Ground; Blooming Marsh; Swamp; Forest; Mountain; Nurturing Peatland; Arena of Glory
• Phase windows: turns 1-3 main phases, fetch decisions, land-play decisions
• Runtime cues: land play; fetch; available mana; legal spell colors
• Use when: choosing the first land, fetch land, or shock-land payment for a hand with multiple legal color paths.
• Avoid when: a stack tax, removal window, or lethal combat decision requires mana preservation.
• Instructions: Prioritize untapped black for Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, and Fatal Push; prioritize green when Ignoble Hierarch or Malevolent Rumble is the hand's setup card; prioritize red when Pyrogoyf, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat is the next pressure play. Use life-total context before shocking.
• Pilot skill floor: medium
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: First Enabler Deployment

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: priority, mana
• Cards: Ignoble Hierarch; Malevolent Rumble; Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
• Phase windows: early main phases with empty or low-pressure board
• Runtime cues: legal cast actions for setup cards
• Use when: choosing between developing mana, filling graveyard, or casting a two/three-mana value permanent.
• Avoid when: a visible opposing threat must be removed before it attacks or enables a combo.
• Instructions: Lead with Ignoble Hierarch when acceleration changes next-turn double-spell or three-drop access. Cast Malevolent Rumble when the hand needs graveyard material, land smoothing, or threat selection. Commit Fable of the Mirror-Breaker when the board is stable enough for delayed value.
• Pilot skill floor: medium
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Discard Before Commitment

• Priority: High
• Decision families: interaction, priority, selection
• Cards: Thoughtseize; Inquisition of Kozilek
• Phase windows: precombat main phase, turn one, pre-threat turns, known-combo windows
• Runtime cues: legal cast Thoughtseize; legal cast Inquisition of Kozilek; opponent hand reveal prompt
• Use when: discard is legal before committing Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or multiple threats into unknown interaction.
• Avoid when: life total or board state requires immediate removal or blocker deployment.
• Instructions: Use discard to clear the opponent's most relevant visible answer, combo piece, sweeper, or card-advantage engine. Take the card that changes the next full turn cycle most, not the card with the highest raw cost.
• Pilot skill floor: high
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Removal Timing Gate

• Priority: High
• Decision families: interaction, priority
• Cards: Fatal Push; Abrupt Decay; Liliana, the Last Hope; Rending Volley; Witherbloom Command; You Line Up the Shot; Culling Ritual
• Phase windows: opponent main phase, combat, end step, own main phase before attacks
• Runtime cues: legal removal action; visible creature, permanent, or board-wide removal targets
• Use when: multiple legal removal targets or timings exist.
• Avoid when: the only legal target is not pressuring life, mana, combo, planeswalker loyalty, or combat math.
• Instructions: Kill mana engines and must-answer threats before spending removal on replaceable attackers. Preserve instant-speed removal for combat or stack-sensitive windows unless sorcery-speed pressure forces action. Card text check required for any sideboard removal mode whose Forge label is ambiguous.
• Pilot skill floor: high
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Exact Fatal Push Target Execution

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: interaction
• Cards: Fatal Push
• Phase windows: any legal instant window
• Runtime cues: action:target Fatal Push
• Use when: exactly one legal Fatal Push target action is present and the current selected line is to cast Fatal Push.
• Avoid when: two or more Fatal Push target actions are legal.
• Instructions: Select the single exposed Fatal Push target action. Do not infer Revolt, mana value, or target legality beyond the rules-engine action text.
• Pilot skill floor: low
• No-API allowed: yes
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Graveyard Threat Commitment

• Priority: High
• Decision families: priority, mana, selection
• Cards: Barrowgoyf; Pyrogoyf; Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion; Malevolent Rumble
• Phase windows: main phases after discard/removal decisions
• Runtime cues: legal cast threat; graveyard card types; visible graveyard hate; opponent open mana
• Use when: choosing whether to cast a graveyard-scaling threat or wait for setup/protection.
• Avoid when: a known exile effect, visible graveyard hate activation, or lethal opposing attack makes the threat ineffective this turn.
• Instructions: Commit Barrowgoyf or Pyrogoyf when graveyards already make it a relevant blocker or clock. Cast Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion when a legal graveyard action is likely to matter soon or pressure must start now; do not rely on theoretical graveyard value not exposed by Forge.
• Pilot skill floor: high
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Jarsyl Graveyard Action Selection

• Priority: High
• Decision families: selection, priority
• Cards: Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion; Thoughtseize; Inquisition of Kozilek; Fatal Push; Abrupt Decay; Malevolent Rumble
• Phase windows: Jarsyl-trigger or graveyard-cast prompt windows
• Runtime cues: legal graveyard cast actions; source Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion
• Use when: Forge exposes one or more legal cards to cast from the graveyard through Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion.
• Avoid when: the prompt is not sourced to Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion or target legality is unclear.
• Instructions: Choose removal when a visible threat must die, discard when opponent hand information or disruption matters before combat, and Malevolent Rumble when the board is stable and more material is needed. Respect exile-on-resolution or other Forge-displayed consequences.
• Pilot skill floor: high
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Single Jarsyl Graveyard Cast Execution

• Priority: Low
• Decision families: selection
• Cards: Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion
• Phase windows: Jarsyl-trigger prompt
• Runtime cues: action:cast; source Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion
• Use when: exactly one legal graveyard cast action is exposed for Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion.
• Avoid when: two or more legal graveyard cast actions are exposed.
• Instructions: Select the single legal graveyard cast action shown by the engine. Do not choose targets or modes without a later explicit legal-action prompt.
• Pilot skill floor: low
• No-API allowed: yes
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Selection Spell Pick

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: selection, mana
• Cards: Malevolent Rumble; Esper Origins; Fable of the Mirror-Breaker; Nurturing Peatland
• Phase windows: main phases, selection prompts, discard/draw prompts, land-sacrifice draw windows
• Runtime cues: reveal choices; discard choices; draw/sacrifice action; card selection prompt
• Use when: the engine asks which card to take, discard, keep, or convert into a new card.
• Avoid when: mana or combat must be held up for an active stack or lethal prevention window.
• Instructions: Select the card that fixes the current bottleneck: land when missing colors, interaction when behind, threat when stabilized, and graveyard material when Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, or Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion needs fuel. Card text check required for Esper Origins if exact mode text is not visible.
• Pilot skill floor: medium
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Combat Role Gate

• Priority: High
• Decision families: combat, priority
• Cards: Barrowgoyf; Pyrogoyf; Ignoble Hierarch; Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion; Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat
• Phase windows: declare attackers, declare blockers, combat trick windows
• Runtime cues: attackers prompt; blockers prompt; visible power/toughness; exalted or combat modifiers shown by Forge
• Use when: choosing attacks, blocks, or whether to hold creatures back.
• Avoid when: exactly one legal no-attack or mandatory-block action is exposed and no other combat choices exist.
• Instructions: Attack when the deck is the beatdown and the swing does not lose the only stabilizing blocker. Block to preserve life against faster decks, especially with graveyard threats that can trade up. Do not attack with Ignoble Hierarch when its mana is needed and damage is not decisive.
• Pilot skill floor: high
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Exact No-Block Execution

• Priority: Low
• Decision families: combat
• Cards: none
• Phase windows: declare blockers
• Runtime cues: action:no blockers
• Use when: exactly one legal action contains no blockers and no legal block action is present.
• Avoid when: any legal block action is present.
• Instructions: Choose the exposed no-block action. Do not evaluate combat math in this no-API path.
• Pilot skill floor: low
• No-API allowed: yes
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Tap-Out Value Gate

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: priority, mana
• Cards: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker; Liliana, the Last Hope; Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat; Professor Dellian Fel; Defense Grid
• Phase windows: own main phase with three or more mana, post-board setup turns
• Runtime cues: legal cast planeswalker, saga, creature, or artifact action; opponent open mana; known hand from discard
• Use when: deciding whether to spend most or all mana on a value permanent.
• Avoid when: instant-speed removal or discard must be held for a known opposing play this turn.
• Instructions: Tap out when the permanent advances pressure or attrition before the opponent can punish it. Prefer discard first when available and opponent hand is unknown. Card text check required for Professor Dellian Fel and Defense Grid when exact current text is not visible.
• Pilot skill floor: medium
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Graveyard Hate Commitment

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: interaction, selection, priority
• Cards: Ghost Vacuum; Surgical Extraction; Witherbloom Command
• Phase windows: post-board main phases, graveyard response windows, opponent graveyard setup turns
• Runtime cues: legal graveyard hate action; target card in graveyard; opponent graveyard count
• Use when: opponent graveyard contents are public and a legal hate action is exposed.
• Avoid when: using hate would materially weaken your own Barrowgoyf, Pyrogoyf, or Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion plan without stopping a visible opposing payoff.
• Instructions: Aim graveyard hate at recursive engines, combo pieces, or cards the opponent is currently trying to use. Do not fire Surgical Extraction on a low-impact card just because a target exists.
• Pilot skill floor: high
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard Role Selection

• Priority: High
• Decision families: sideboard, pregame
• Cards: Opposition Agent; Culling Ritual; Ghost Vacuum; Professor Dellian Fel; Defense Grid; Liliana, the Last Hope; Rending Volley; Surgical Extraction; Witherbloom Command; You Line Up the Shot
• Phase windows: between games, sideboard lock prompt
• Runtime cues: sideboard plan candidates; matchup label; previous game public results
• Use when: choosing a legal sideboard plan or generated sideboard swaps.
• Avoid when: the candidate plan violates registered 60/15 preservation or names unavailable copies.
• Instructions: Add graveyard hate for graveyard engines, Defense Grid and pressure for permission-heavy opponents, Culling Ritual for small-permanent boards, extra removal for creature pressure, and Opposition Agent for search-heavy plans. Keep enough threats after boarding to close stabilized games.
• Pilot skill floor: high
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Opposition Agent Timing Gate

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: interaction, priority
• Cards: Opposition Agent
• Phase windows: opponent search windows, opponent end step, own main phase if pressure is required
• Runtime cues: legal cast Opposition Agent; opponent search effect on stack; open mana
• Use when: Opposition Agent is legal and the opponent may search or already has a search effect exposed by the stack.
• Avoid when: casting it main phase gives up a stronger immediate removal, discard, or threat line without a visible search incentive.
• Instructions: Hold Opposition Agent for a visible search window when possible. Cast it proactively only when the matchup or revealed hand indicates search is central and waiting risks missing the window.
• Pilot skill floor: high
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Priority Pass With Interaction Available

• Priority: High
• Decision families: priority, interaction
• Cards: Fatal Push; Abrupt Decay; Thoughtseize; Inquisition of Kozilek; Rending Volley; You Line Up the Shot; Witherbloom Command; Surgical Extraction
• Phase windows: every priority window, especially combat and opponent main phase
• Runtime cues: action:pass; legal interaction actions also present
• Use when: pass is legal and at least one interaction action is also legal.
• Avoid when: the stack or board has no visible object that the legal interaction can affect.
• Instructions: Pass only after checking whether the opponent's current spell, attacker, graveyard action, or permanent will create more damage than saving the interaction. Prefer acting before damage or resolution when waiting loses the target or changes lethal math.
• Pilot skill floor: high
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Empty-Stack Pass Execution

• Priority: Low
• Decision families: priority
• Cards: none
• Phase windows: priority windows with no stack object
• Runtime cues: action:pass
• Use when: exactly one legal action contains pass, the stack is empty, no attack/block prompt is active, and no other legal non-mana action is present.
• Avoid when: any legal cast, activate, attack, block, target, mode, or sideboard action is present.
• Instructions: Select the exposed pass action. This policy executes only a single-action no-choice priority pass.
• Pilot skill floor: low
• No-API allowed: yes
• Light-model allowed: yes