veles-content/strategies/legacy/legacy_jeskai_control/1/guide.md

Strategy Specifications

Deck Name And Archetype

Jeskai Control is a Legacy blue-white-red control deck with 60 registered main-deck cards and 15 registered sideboard cards. The active validation contract reports the list as format-legal for Legacy under the supplied rule of at least 60 main-deck cards and at most 15 sideboard cards; Veles must still defer all in-game legality to the rules engine for casting, targeting, alternate costs, replacement effects, and priority timing.

The normalized archetype tags are control and control, which should be treated as a single control identity rather than as two separate strategic plans. The deck is not a pure draw-go shell because it uses proactive tap-out or sorcery-speed pressure through Teferi, Time Raveler, Forth Eorlingas!, Stock Up, Flow State, Prismatic Ending, Wrath of the Skies, and sideboard Monastery Mentor, but its default posture remains resource denial, stack interaction, card selection, and delayed win conversion.

The stock/rogue status is hybrid. The core identity is recognizable Jeskai Control, with Brainstorm, Ponder, Swords to Plowshares, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Teferi, Time Raveler, Prismatic Ending, and fetchable blue-white-red mana anchoring the plan; the list also has a distinctive registered package of four Stock Up, four Flow State, four Lorien Revealed, two Erode, two Dress Down, two Wrath of the Skies, and two Forth Eorlingas! that should be respected as intentional rather than trimmed mentally into a generic control deck.

The registered main deck contains 19 lands by card type slot in the submitted list: Island, Mountain, Plains, Scalding Tarn, Tundra, Volcanic Island, Prismatic Vista, Mystic Sanctuary, and Flooded Strand. Lorien Revealed is not to be treated as a land in deck construction, but runtime choices should recognize that its legal action text may offer mana development or card-advantage lines depending on visible engine output. Mana decisions must prioritize access to blue for Brainstorm, Ponder, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Lorien Revealed, Stock Up, Flow State, Dress Down, Erode, Teferi, Time Raveler, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, Surgical Extraction, Consign to Memory, and Monastery Mentor where relevant; white for Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Teferi, Time Raveler, Wrath of the Skies, Forth Eorlingas!, Temporary Lockdown, and Monastery Mentor; and red for Forth Eorlingas!, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Ruination, and red portions of Prismatic Ending when the rules engine exposes that as legal.

The primary role concern is balancing early survival against long-game inevitability. This deck can answer creatures with Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dress Down, Wrath of the Skies, Temporary Lockdown, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, and Erode, but it can lose if it spends stack interaction too freely before identifying the opponent’s actual axis. It can protect a key turn with Force of Will, Force of Negation, Consign to Memory, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, and Hydroblast, but it should not assume a card is pitchable, castable, or relevant unless visible legal actions and public board state confirm the line.

The opponent information status is unspecified beyond the active format and this deck’s own registered cards. Matchup-specific policies must therefore start from public cues such as revealed lands, spells cast, permanents in play, graveyards, exile, stack contents, life totals, hand counts, known revealed cards, and engine-reported legal actions. Veles must not infer hidden cards, sideboard configuration, or archetype certainty from incomplete information, and any metagame examples outside this registered list must be kept out of policy Cards: fields unless prefixed as opponent examples in prose or handled by matchup context.

Thesis

Jeskai Control assembles stable blue-white-red mana, cheap selection, free stack protection, efficient removal, and delayed pressure into a game where the opponent’s highest-impact turns are answered before Forth Eorlingas!, Teferi, Time Raveler, or sideboard Monastery Mentor converts the resource lead. Prioritize seeing enough cards with Brainstorm, Ponder, Lorien Revealed, Stock Up, and Flow State to hit land drops, hold interaction, and choose the correct answer type rather than racing before the board and stack are under control.

The deck wins by trading early on mana efficiency, then turning a small advantage into inevitability through protected planeswalker/value turns, a large Forth Eorlingas!, recursive Mystic Sanctuary loops, or a post-sideboard Monastery Mentor threat backed by cheap spells. Do not treat the list as a tempo deck: early pressure is secondary to keeping life total, mana access, and hand quality high enough that Force of Will, Force of Negation, Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dress Down, Erode, and Wrath of the Skies line up with the opponent’s real axis.

The deck is not trying to spend every answer at the first legal opportunity. Preserve Swords to Plowshares for creatures that immediately threaten life total, combo function, or planeswalker stability; preserve Force of Will and Force of Negation for spells that cannot be cleanly answered after resolution; preserve Dress Down for text-dependent combat, triggered/activated permanent turns, or creature-combo pressure when the rules engine exposes a relevant window. Card text check required for Stock Up, Flow State, and Erode; use them only according to visible legal action text and treat their tactical role as conditional selection, advantage, or interaction until verified.

The highest runtime priority is legal-action discipline. Choose from engine-enumerated actions, reason from visible board state and public information, and never assume hidden cards, unshown modes, pitch availability, fetch targets, or replacement effects. When the choice is between improving hand quality and holding up interaction, prefer holding up interaction if the opponent has a lethal, lock, combo, or protected threat window; prefer selection if the opponent is not pressuring and the current hand lacks the next land, answer class, or win conversion.

Role Package

• Threats: Forth Eorlingas! is the main proactive finisher and should be sized or timed to end the game after the opponent’s board is contained or shields are available. Teferi, Time Raveler is a threat only when it changes the texture of the game: deploy it to constrain opposing instant-speed play, force through sorcery-speed lines, or buy time, not merely because three mana is available. Monastery Mentor is the sideboard threat for games where the opponent is diluted against creatures or where a cheap-spell engine can close before opposing inevitability takes over.

• Payoffs: Forth Eorlingas! is the cleanest payoff for accumulated mana and control; a protected large cast can shift from stabilizing to lethal pressure. Mystic Sanctuary is a recursion payoff when fetchlands and Islands make returning Force of Will, Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Wrath of the Skies, Stock Up, Flow State, or another high-impact spell legal and strategically necessary. Teferi, Time Raveler pays off prior trades by making later stack fights easier and turning windows of safety into durable advantage.

• Engines: Brainstorm plus Flooded Strand, Scalding Tarn, Prismatic Vista, and Mystic Sanctuary is the core hand-sculpting and card-quality engine. Stock Up and Flow State are registered four-copy engines, but Card text check required; when legal actions identify them as card selection or card advantage, use them to rebuild after trades, find missing answer classes, or convert stable board states into inevitability. Lorien Revealed supports the late-game card flow plan and may support mana development when the engine exposes that legal option.

• Velocity: Brainstorm, Ponder, Lorien Revealed, Stock Up, and Flow State are the cards that prevent the deck from drawing the wrong half. Use early velocity to secure lands, white removal, blue pitch resources, and matchup-defining interaction; use late velocity to find Forth Eorlingas!, Teferi, Time Raveler, Mystic Sanctuary recursion, or sideboard bullets.

• Interaction: Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dress Down, Wrath of the Skies, and Erode handle resolved permanents or combat-dependent threats. Force of Will, Force of Negation, Consign to Memory, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, and Hydroblast handle stack or color-specific windows after sideboarding. Temporary Lockdown and Ruination are sideboard swing cards for board compression or mana punishment when public information supports those roles.

• Protection: Force of Will and Force of Negation protect survival, key Teferi, Time Raveler turns, decisive Forth Eorlingas! turns, and post-sideboard Monastery Mentor pressure. Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, and Consign to Memory become protection or disruption only when their legal targets and matchup text are visible.

• Recursion: Mystic Sanctuary is the only explicit registered recursion module. Treat it as a planned resource: fetch basics and Islands carefully, preserve fetchlands when a known top-deck spell matters, and do not spend Sanctuary value on low-impact spells while a higher-impact answer or finisher is likely needed.

• Mana: Island, Plains, Mountain, Tundra, Volcanic Island, Flooded Strand, Scalding Tarn, Prismatic Vista, Mystic Sanctuary, and Lorien Revealed form a mana base that must balance basic resilience with access to white removal, blue permission, and red sideboard or Forth Eorlingas! lines. Prioritize blue early, white against creatures, and red only when the visible hand or matchup requires it.

• Sideboard modules: Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast fight blue stack and permanent battles; Blue Elemental Blast and Hydroblast fight red pressure or red stack threats; Consign to Memory covers engine-exposed colorless or triggered/problem-spell windows; Surgical Extraction attacks graveyard or redundancy lines after a target is public; Temporary Lockdown compresses small permanents; Ruination punishes nonbasic-heavy mana; Monastery Mentor changes the win condition when a compact threat is better than pure control.

Primary Win Conditions

• Forth Eorlingas! is the main closing path once life total and the stack are stable. Set it up by making land drops, trading early with Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dress Down, Erode, Wrath of the Skies, Force of Will, and Force of Negation, then cast Forth Eorlingas! for a size that creates an immediate clock or stabilizing battlefield. Prioritize this line when the opponent is low on visible pressure, when Teferi, Time Raveler limits instant-speed interaction, when the opponent has spent key removal, or when waiting risks drawing too few threats. Protect the turn with blue cards for Force of Will or Force of Negation if the legal action list shows a dangerous response window.

• Teferi, Time Raveler converts control into inevitability by making later turns safer and forcing the opponent to operate on worse timing. Set it up by preserving enough life and board control that Teferi, Time Raveler is not immediately attacked down for free. Execute by using Teferi, Time Raveler when it will bounce or constrain a relevant permanent, protect a decisive Forth Eorlingas!, or turn selection spells into a protected advantage turn. Prioritize this line against stack-heavy, flash, cascade, counterspell, or instant-speed combo patterns; delay it when tapping out exposes a lethal battlefield, protected engine, or unanswered permanent.

• Mystic Sanctuary recursion is the late-game inevitability path when the deck has enough Islands and fetchland access to rebuy the best public spell. Set it up by sequencing Island, Tundra, Volcanic Island, basic Island, and fetchlands so Mystic Sanctuary can legally return a meaningful instant or sorcery. Execute by returning Force of Will, Force of Negation, Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Wrath of the Skies, Stock Up, Flow State, Brainstorm, Ponder, or Forth Eorlingas! according to the visible need. Prioritize removal or sweeper recursion while behind, permission recursion against combo or haymakers, and card-flow recursion only when no immediate threat must be answered. Card text check required for Stock Up and Flow State; treat their recursion value as conditional on the rules engine exposing selection or advantage text.

Secondary Win Conditions

• Monastery Mentor is the post-sideboard pressure plan when one compact threat plus cheap spells is better than pure draw-go control. Set it up by sideboarding it only through exact legal sideboard plans, then holding Brainstorm, Ponder, Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, Consign to Memory, Surgical Extraction, or other cheap legal spells when they can produce pressure while interacting. Execute after the opponent has shown reduced removal, after Teferi, Time Raveler constrains interaction, or when the matchup demands a faster clock. Do not expose Monastery Mentor into an obvious sweeper or removal-heavy board unless waiting is worse.

• Small-creature pressure from Forth Eorlingas! can win without a huge X when the opponent is already resource constrained. Prioritize a modest Forth Eorlingas! if it claims initiative, pressures planeswalkers, blocks profitably, or forces the opponent to answer bodies while you hold Force of Will or Force of Negation. Avoid small Forth Eorlingas! as a casual value play when Wrath of the Skies or Temporary Lockdown will likely be needed soon and your own tokens would be swept away.

• Card-quality attrition wins when Brainstorm, Ponder, Lorien Revealed, Stock Up, Flow State, and Mystic Sanctuary keep finding the correct answer class. Use this path when the opponent cannot quickly end the game and your hand has enough interaction to survive. Card text check required for Lorien Revealed alternate modes, Stock Up, and Flow State; follow visible legal actions for whether they function as land access, selection, or card advantage.

• Ruination can become a sideboard win condition against visible nonbasic-heavy mana if the rules engine shows it as legal and the opponent’s board depends on those lands. Prioritize it only when your own mana can function afterward and the opponent is meaningfully set back; do not fire it into a board where you are dead to creatures or where losing your own nonbasics prevents casting required answers.

Emergency Lines

• When behind on life, stop trying to maximize value and spend Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dress Down, Wrath of the Skies, Temporary Lockdown, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, or legal interaction on the threat that changes the clock fastest. A low-resource stable board is preferable to dying with Brainstorm, Ponder, Stock Up, or Flow State still in hand.

• When behind on board, prioritize sweepers and compression over one-for-one perfection. Wrath of the Skies and Temporary Lockdown should be considered before spot removal if multiple visible permanents are generating pressure, but do not sweep away your own Forth Eorlingas! tokens or Monastery Mentor board unless survival requires it.

• When behind on cards, use Brainstorm, Ponder, Lorien Revealed, Stock Up, Flow State, and Mystic Sanctuary to find a specific missing category rather than generic action. Search first for land if mana is the bottleneck, removal if creatures are lethal, permission if a stack threat wins, or Forth Eorlingas! if the game is stable but lacks a finisher.

• When behind on mana, value legal land-access lines from fetchlands, Lorien Revealed, Brainstorm, Ponder, Stock Up, and Flow State over speculative interaction unless the opponent has an immediate lethal or combo window. Fetch basics when Ruination, Wasteland-like pressure, Blood Moon-like effects, or long-game mana stability matters; fetch duals only when colors are urgently required.

• When win conditions are removed or blanked, switch to recursion and lock texture rather than forcing damage. Rebuy Forth Eorlingas!, Teferi, Time Raveler support spells, removal, or permission with Mystic Sanctuary when legal, protect Monastery Mentor after sideboarding, and let repeated answer-plus-selection turns create another safe closing window.

• When facing graveyard recursion or combo, interact at the first public chokepoint that the rules engine exposes. Surgical Extraction is a sideboard emergency tool only after a legal public target exists; Force of Will, Force of Negation, Consign to Memory, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, and Hydroblast should be reserved for spells or abilities that cannot be safely answered after resolution.

Resource Model

• Life total is a spendable buffer only until the opponent’s visible clock becomes short. Use life to justify passing with Force of Will, Force of Negation, Brainstorm, Ponder, Stock Up, or Flow State available when no resolved permanent threatens lethal soon; stop spending life for patience once Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dress Down, Wrath of the Skies, or Forth Eorlingas! must change the board immediately.

• Hand size is the deck’s main battlefield before the battlefield is stable. Preserve a blue card for Force of Will or Force of Negation when the opponent can present a stack-based win or a must-counter permanent, but convert extra cantrips into specific categories: land, white removal, blue permission, red finisher mana, or a sweeper. Do not protect a speculative card-advantage turn if the visible board already demands removal.

• Mana is the limiting resource because the deck asks for early white, constant blue, and occasional red. Treat early land drops as more important than minor card quality unless the current legal actions show an immediate threat. Lorien Revealed can function as land access when the engine exposes that legal action; Card text check required for Stock Up and Flow State, so use them as selection or advantage only according to visible rules text and legal choices.

• Board presence is intentionally low until Forth Eorlingas!, Teferi, Time Raveler, or sideboard Monastery Mentor changes roles. Avoid trading premium interaction for low-impact permanents if Wrath of the Skies or Temporary Lockdown will later clean them up, but do not save sweepers so long that a single Swords to Plowshares or Prismatic Ending no longer buys a full turn.

• Graveyard value matters through Mystic Sanctuary and sideboard Surgical Extraction. Track which instant or sorcery is publicly available to return, and prefer recurring the answer class that maps to the current loss condition. Surgical Extraction is a resource-conversion card only after a legal public graveyard target exists; do not treat hidden zones as known.

• Exile is mostly a consequence of interaction rather than a renewable resource. Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Temporary Lockdown, Force of Will, Force of Negation, and Surgical Extraction can move cards to exile under engine-defined rules; reason from public exile contents, not assumed deck depletion.

• Lands are both mana and future spell quality. Fetchlands improve Brainstorm and Ponder, enable basic-heavy stability, and help set up Mystic Sanctuary. Keep enough lands available for double-spell turns before committing Teferi, Time Raveler or Forth Eorlingas! into open interaction.

• Sacrifice fodder is not a registered main plan. Do not value Forth Eorlingas! tokens or Monastery Mentor bodies as sacrifice resources unless a visible legal action from the rules engine explicitly asks for a sacrifice.

• Tempo is earned by answering the opponent’s expensive or timing-sensitive play for less mana. Force of Will and Force of Negation are tempo-positive against decisive stack actions; Swords to Plowshares and Prismatic Ending are tempo-positive against creatures or cheap permanents that would otherwise force multiple turns of defense.

• Information is created by cantrips, visible legal actions, public zones, and opponent sequencing. Use Brainstorm and Ponder to delay commitment until more is known when life permits; use Teferi, Time Raveler to reduce opposing timing ambiguity when the board can support it.

• Sideboard bullets convert narrow cards into high-impact mana. Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, Consign to Memory, Surgical Extraction, Ruination, Temporary Lockdown, and Monastery Mentor should be valued by matchup texture and visible targets, not by generic card strength.

Mana Guide

• Prioritize blue mana first because Brainstorm, Ponder, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Lorien Revealed, Stock Up, Flow State, Dress Down, Erode, Teferi, Time Raveler, and sideboard blasts all depend on blue or blue-adjacent sequencing. A keep without reliable blue must have a rules-visible land-access plan or an unusually strong reason to survive on white interaction.

• Secure white mana early when Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Teferi, Time Raveler, Wrath of the Skies, or Temporary Lockdown is needed. Fetch Plains or Tundra when creature pressure is already visible; fetch Island first when stack interaction and cantrips matter more than immediate removal.

• Fetch red only when the hand or matchup needs it. Mountain or Volcanic Island supports Forth Eorlingas!, red sideboard interaction, and some Prismatic Ending ranges, but early red can weaken double-blue or basic-heavy development. Prefer Volcanic Island when blue plus red is required immediately; prefer Mountain when protecting mana from nonbasic punishment matters and white is already covered.

• Sequence fetchlands around Brainstorm and Ponder for maximum correction. When holding Brainstorm with bad extra cards, delay cracking Flooded Strand, Scalding Tarn, or Prismatic Vista until after Brainstorm if life and mana allow. When missing a land drop or a required color, crack before selection if the deck must present that mana this turn.

• Treat Mystic Sanctuary as a late utility land, not an early color fixer. Play or fetch it only when its recursion condition and target matter, or when land count forces it. Preserve fetchlands when possible so Mystic Sanctuary can be timed after a key instant or sorcery reaches the graveyard.

• Keep mana-open discipline strict against unknown or stack-heavy opponents. Passing with blue cards and Force of Will or Force of Negation can be correct when tapping out for Teferi, Time Raveler, Stock Up, Flow State, or Forth Eorlingas! loses to one public class of spell. Tap out only when the board demands it, the opponent is constrained, or waiting gives up more equity.

• Mulligan mana rules are conservative. Keep hands with two lands, blue access, and either white interaction or selection; strongly question one-land hands unless Brainstorm, Ponder, Lorien Revealed, or another legal land-access route is present and the matchup is not punishing stumble. Ship hands with no blue, no legal land access, and no early interaction.

• Play lands before draw or selection when the current turn requires known mana for Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Force backup, Dress Down, or a legal sideboard answer. Delay the land drop until after Brainstorm, Ponder, Stock Up, or Flow State when the hand has multiple possible lands, no immediate mana requirement, and the draw spell can choose whether a fetchland, basic, dual, or Mystic Sanctuary is best.

Mulligan Guide

• Strong keeps start with two lands, blue access, and a live defensive axis. Examples: Island plus Flooded Strand with Brainstorm, Swords to Plowshares, Force of Will, Stock Up, and Lorien Revealed; or Tundra plus Prismatic Vista with Ponder, Prismatic Ending, Force of Negation, Dress Down, and Flow State. Card text check required for Stock Up, Flow State, and Erode, so count them by the rules-engine text shown at runtime.

• Medium keeps have one missing piece but clear correction. A one-land Flooded Strand or Prismatic Vista hand with Brainstorm or Ponder, Swords to Plowshares, Force of Will, and Lorien Revealed can keep on the draw or against slower visible plans, but it is worse on the play when missing a second land blocks Teferi, Time Raveler, Wrath of the Skies, or Forth Eorlingas!.

• Risky keeps rely on free counters without mana development. Force of Will plus Force of Negation protects against one decisive stack action, but a hand with only Island, no Ponder, no Brainstorm, and no white source is fragile against creature pressure. Keep it only when the matchup is stack-centric or the visible pregame context rewards permission over board control.

• Automatic ships include zero-land hands, no-blue hands without Lorien Revealed or a legal land-access action, and hands whose first interaction starts at Teferi, Time Raveler or Wrath of the Skies with no early removal or cantrip. Also ship hands clogged with Forth Eorlingas!, Wrath of the Skies, Mystic Sanctuary, and off-color lands if they cannot cast early blue or white spells.

• Matchup-dependent keeps change by threat speed. Against creature-heavy or permanent-heavy opponents, prioritize Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dress Down, and Wrath of the Skies. Against spell-heavy opponents, prioritize Force of Will, Force of Negation, Brainstorm, Ponder, and enough blue cards to pitch without losing all velocity.

• Play/draw adjustments are conservative. On the play, prefer two real lands and a proactive cantrip because missing turn two is punishing. On the draw, a one-land Brainstorm or Ponder hand with Lorien Revealed and free interaction is more acceptable, but only if the first land casts the selection spell.

• Trap hands look powerful but do not interact on time. Do not keep hands that are mostly Stock Up, Flow State, Forth Eorlingas!, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Wrath of the Skies unless the mana and early answer profile already function. Do not keep Mystic Sanctuary as the only blue source unless the engine confirms it enters and casts the needed spell in time.

Turn Arc

• Turn 1 prioritizes stable mana and information. Lead Island, Tundra, Flooded Strand, Scalding Tarn, or Prismatic Vista into Ponder or Brainstorm when fixing is needed; hold fetchlands with Brainstorm when the hand already has land two and no immediate color requirement. Use Swords to Plowshares only on a visible threat that will materially punish waiting.

• Turn 1 deviations protect survival or stack integrity. Fetch Plains or Tundra when Swords to Plowshares or Prismatic Ending must answer an early creature or permanent. Keep blue open when Force of Will or Force of Negation is the only protection against a decisive stack action. Avoid exposing Volcanic Island unless red mana is needed soon.

• Turn 2 should either answer the board or improve the next two turns. Cast Prismatic Ending, Swords to Plowshares, Dress Down, or Erode when the rules engine shows a legal target that matters now. Otherwise use Brainstorm, Ponder, Stock Up, Flow State, or Lorien Revealed according to visible card text to hit land three, assemble pitch cards, and set up white or red.

• Turn 2 deviations favor patience with sweepers. If Wrath of the Skies is already positioned to clean multiple visible permanents, avoid spending Swords to Plowshares or Prismatic Ending on a low-impact target unless life total, planeswalker pressure, or a must-answer ability demands it.

• Turn 3 is the first commitment check. Teferi, Time Raveler is preferred when it is legal, protected, and meaningfully changes stack timing or bounces a relevant permanent. Wrath of the Skies is preferred when the visible board is wide enough that one-for-one answers fall behind. Hold up Force of Will or Force of Negation when the opponent’s likely next action is more dangerous than your sorcery-speed play.

• Turns 4-5 convert stabilization into advantage. Cast Stock Up, Flow State, or Lorien Revealed when legal text confirms they generate selection or cards and the board is under control. Use Forth Eorlingas! when red and white mana are ready, the opponent is not presenting an immediate lethal counterattack, and making a finisher is better than continuing to trade resources.

• Turns 4-5 deviations preserve double-spell turns. Prefer answer plus cantrip over a single expensive action when the opponent has both board pressure and stack pressure. Use Mystic Sanctuary only when recurring Swords to Plowshares, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Prismatic Ending, Wrath of the Skies, Brainstorm, Ponder, Stock Up, Flow State, Erode, or Forth Eorlingas! is legal and materially better than a fresh draw.

• Late game is about inevitability without tapping out recklessly. Protect Forth Eorlingas!, Teferi, Time Raveler, and recurring Mystic Sanctuary lines with Force of Will or Force of Negation when possible. Keep answering only threats that change the clock, lock resources, or beat your current finisher; let low-impact actions resolve if spending interaction would expose the real endgame.

Card Roles

• Brainstorm is the highest-leverage selection spell because it turns fetchlands into real card quality and protects important cards from discard when the rules engine shows a legal timing window. Cast Brainstorm early only to fix a failing hand, find a missing land or answer, or keep mana from being wasted; otherwise hold it until Flooded Strand, Scalding Tarn, Prismatic Vista, or another shuffle effect can clear unwanted cards. Avoid Brainstorming into a locked top of library unless Mystic Sanctuary, Ponder, Lorien Revealed islandcycling, or a fetchland gives a known way to change the next draws.

• Ponder is the cleaner turn-one setup spell when the hand needs land two, a white source, a blue pitch card, or a specific answer without exposing Brainstorm. Keep with Ponder more often than with blind Brainstorm because Ponder can select and shuffle on its own. Use Ponder before playing a land when the land choice depends on whether the hand needs Tundra, Island, Plains, Volcanic Island, or a fetch target.

• Lorien Revealed is both a blue card and a mana-development tool, so treat it as early fixing before treating it as a late draw spell. Use its visible land-search mode when the hand lacks stable blue-white mana, needs Mystic Sanctuary later, or must guarantee land drops for Teferi, Time Raveler, Wrath of the Skies, Stock Up, Flow State, or Forth Eorlingas!. Cast the spell side only when the board is stable, the engine confirms the legal text and cost, and spending mana on cards is safer than holding interaction. Card text check required for any non-islandcycling mode details shown by the engine.

• Stock Up is a midgame card-advantage or selection piece, but its exact tactical value depends on engine text. Card text check required. Cast Stock Up when the board is controlled, mana is not needed for Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dress Down, Erode, Force backup, or a sideboard interaction spell, and the visible action text indicates it improves future resources. Do not keep slow hands on Stock Up alone; it is support for stabilization, not a substitute for early answers.

• Flow State is a blue spell that likely contributes to selection, velocity, or tactical setup, but the agent must read the exact engine text before assigning a role. Card text check required. Use Flow State when the legal action text clearly advances mana, cards, or answer access without giving up a necessary defensive window. Preserve Flow State as Force of Will or Force of Negation pitch material when the matchup is stack-centric or the current hand already has enough card flow.

• Swords to Plowshares is the cleanest creature answer and should be spent on threats that change the clock, protect a combo, carry important abilities, or pressure Teferi, Time Raveler. Hold Swords to Plowshares against small creatures when Wrath of the Skies or Temporary Lockdown is likely to answer multiple permanents, but fire it immediately when life total, combat math, or a must-answer creature makes waiting unsafe. Do not target a creature just because mana is open; the life gain can matter if the deck is trying to win with Forth Eorlingas! tokens or Monastery Mentor after sideboarding.

• Prismatic Ending is flexible permanent removal and should cover cheap noncreature permanents that Swords to Plowshares cannot touch. Use fetchlands and duals to maximize colors only when the visible target justifies the mana exposure; avoid fetching Volcanic Island solely for Prismatic Ending unless red is needed elsewhere or the target cannot be answered with fewer colors. Keep Prismatic Ending for resolved lock pieces, fast engines, or early threats when Force of Will and Force of Negation cannot interact profitably.

• Erode is an interactive slot whose exact card text must be checked at runtime. Card text check required. Treat Erode as conditional removal or disruption only when the legal action text identifies a relevant target and the resulting exchange matters more than preserving mana for Force, Dress Down, Swords to Plowshares, or Prismatic Ending. Do not assume it answers all artifacts, creatures, lands, or graveyard cards unless the rules engine exposes that legality.

• Dress Down is a timing-sensitive answer, not a generic cantrip. Use Dress Down when the engine shows it can blank a visible creature ability, disrupt an enter-the-battlefield or combat ability, shrink a threat line, protect against a rules-text-dependent attack, or create a favorable window for Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, or Wrath of the Skies. Hold it when no ability-based pressure exists, because cycling it for a card can leave the deck exposed to a later creature text that only Dress Down answers.

• Force of Will is emergency permission for decisive spells and should protect the game state, not small tempo. Pitch a blue card when the opponent’s spell would win, lock resources, overload removal, beat the current hand’s answers, or resolve through a turn where tapped mana prevents a normal answer. Prefer pitching redundant Brainstorm, Ponder, Flow State, Lorien Revealed, Stock Up, Dress Down, Force of Negation, or extra Teferi, Time Raveler over unique answers and win conditions. Avoid using Force of Will on a spell already covered by Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, or Wrath of the Skies unless timing or protection makes the board answer unreliable.

• Force of Negation is stack protection aimed at noncreature pressure and is strongest while preserving mana for board answers. Use it for combo pieces, planeswalkers, lock pieces, card engines, and interaction that would stop Forth Eorlingas!, Teferi, Time Raveler, or a necessary answer. Be cautious on your own turn if the engine requires alternate-cost conditions; do not assume free casting is legal unless the action list presents it.

• Teferi, Time Raveler is a commitment piece that changes stack timing and can convert a resolved board into a safer control posture. Cast Teferi, Time Raveler when it will survive the visible board or when its bounce/static pressure immediately disrupts the opponent’s plan. Do not tap out for Teferi, Time Raveler into an existing creature board that can remove it for free unless the bounce or static ability prevents a more dangerous line.

• Wrath of the Skies is the reset button for wide or permanent-heavy boards, and its exact energy/payment behavior must follow the engine. Use Wrath of the Skies when it answers multiple relevant artifacts, creatures, or enchantments or when one permanent is so dangerous that other removal is unavailable. Avoid spending it before the opponent commits enough material unless life total, Teferi pressure, or a lock permanent makes patience worse.

• Forth Eorlingas! is the primary closing card and should usually wait until mana, board state, and interaction make the attack plan credible. Cast Forth Eorlingas! when the deck has stabilized, can make a meaningful token presence, can pressure planeswalkers or life totals, or can force the opponent to answer while you hold Force backup. Do not fire it for a low-impact value line if the opponent can immediately sweep, race, or punish a tapped-out turn.

• Mystic Sanctuary turns late fetchlands and land sequencing into recursion, so treat it as a spell source when the island count and entry conditions are visible. Use Mystic Sanctuary to rebuy Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Wrath of the Skies, Brainstorm, Ponder, Stock Up, Flow State, Erode, or Forth Eorlingas! only when drawing that card soon is better than a fresh unknown. Avoid playing Mystic Sanctuary early if it enters tapped and costs a critical interaction window.

• Flooded Strand, Scalding Tarn, and Prismatic Vista are selection enablers as much as lands. Hold them for Brainstorm when mana is already stable, but crack them immediately when the turn requires a specific color, a basic against nonbasic punishment, or a land count for Mystic Sanctuary. Prefer basics when the matchup threatens nonbasic lands; choose Tundra or Volcanic Island only when white or red access is tactically necessary.

• Island, Plains, Mountain, Tundra, and Volcanic Island define what the hand can actually cast. Prioritize Island for blue cantrips and Forces, Plains or Tundra for Swords to Plowshares and Prismatic Ending, and Volcanic Island or Mountain only when red is needed for Forth Eorlingas! or sideboard blasts. Do not fetch Mountain early unless the hand already has blue and white covered.

Interaction Priorities

• Priority: Counter spells that beat all visible answers before countering spells that merely trade for removal. Use Force of Will and Force of Negation on combo commitments, prison or mana-denial pieces, planeswalkers or engines that generate repeated cards, and noncreature spells that make Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Wrath of the Skies, or Dress Down too slow. Let low-impact creatures, redundant cantrips, and spells already answered by board interaction resolve when life total and board texture allow.

• Priority: Exile creatures with Swords to Plowshares when the creature is the clock, the combo enabler, the protection piece, or the threat that will kill Teferi, Time Raveler before Teferi changes the stack. Save Swords to Plowshares against disposable attackers if Wrath of the Skies, Temporary Lockdown after sideboarding, or a future Prismatic Ending can convert multiple visible permanents into one card.

• Priority: Spend Prismatic Ending on noncreature permanents, cheap engines, lock pieces, and threats that Swords to Plowshares cannot legally target. Fetch for the third color only when the target’s mana value and impact justify exposing Volcanic Island or delaying basic Island and Plains. Against fair creature decks, avoid using Prismatic Ending on a creature that Swords to Plowshares can answer unless the life gain from Swords to Plowshares would materially extend the opponent’s race.

• Priority: Use Teferi, Time Raveler bounce as interaction when it removes a protected permanent from the battlefield, resets a high-investment threat, opens a safe turn for Forth Eorlingas!, or forces a key spell back through Force of Will or Force of Negation. Do not bounce a low-pressure permanent simply to draw if Teferi, Time Raveler will die to the remaining board.

• Priority: Treat Dress Down as a tactical stop sign for ability-based pressure. Fire it when the visible action window or board state shows creature text is enabling lethal damage, protection, enters-the-battlefield value, combat math, or a target that becomes answerable by Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, or Wrath of the Skies. Cycle-like use is acceptable only when the matchup has few relevant creature abilities or the hand needs to hit land and interaction.

• Priority: Use Wrath of the Skies when one turn converts it into a multi-permanent answer or when the single visible permanent is otherwise game-breaking. Do not delay Wrath of the Skies for theoretical extra value if the current attack step, planeswalker pressure, or lock permanent makes waiting likely to lose.

• Priority: Bait with Brainstorm, Ponder, Flow State, Stock Up, Lorien Revealed, or a small Forth Eorlingas! only when the hand has a second important play or enough mana to punish the response. Do not bait with Teferi, Time Raveler, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Swords to Plowshares, or the only sweeper unless the legal alternatives are worse.

• Priority: Ignore permanents that do not pressure life total, mana, hand quality, Teferi, Time Raveler, or the stack. Against combo, prioritize Force of Will and Force of Negation over removal. Against fair creature decks, protect life total and sweepers over card-flow luxury. Against control, fight over Teferi, Time Raveler, Stock Up, Forth Eorlingas!, and protected endgame cards rather than every cantrip.

Combat And Trading Rules

• Priority: Preserve life total until Forth Eorlingas! can turn the corner. Take small early hits when doing so preserves Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dress Down, or Wrath of the Skies for a higher-impact exchange, but stop taking damage once the visible clock makes a two-turn or one-turn kill plausible.

• Priority: Protect Teferi, Time Raveler when its static effect or bounce will control the next stack exchange. Use Swords to Plowshares, Dress Down, or Prismatic Ending before combat if the legal actions show Teferi, Time Raveler would otherwise die and Teferi is needed to force through Stock Up, Wrath of the Skies, Forth Eorlingas!, or post-board interaction.

• Priority: Attack with Forth Eorlingas! tokens when the attack advances a real clock, pressures a planeswalker, or forces blocks that improve Wrath of the Skies or removal math. Hold tokens back when they are the only shield against lethal or when racing is worse than stabilizing behind card advantage.

• Priority: Do not trade win-condition tokens casually before the deck has another closing plan. Trade Forth Eorlingas! tokens for creatures only when the opposing creature is a must-answer threat, the trade protects Teferi, Time Raveler, or the race math clearly improves.

• Priority: Use Monastery Mentor after sideboarding as a fragile engine, not as a disposable blocker. Attack or block with Monastery Mentor only when lethal, planeswalker control, or survival requires it; otherwise preserve it so Brainstorm, Ponder, Flow State, Stock Up, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, and blasts can generate material.

• Priority: Against wide boards, avoid one-for-one trades unless they buy the exact turn needed for Wrath of the Skies or Temporary Lockdown. Against tall boards, use Swords to Plowshares or Prismatic Ending early enough that combat damage does not force an emergency Force of Will on a later noncreature spell.

• Priority: Against control and combo, combat is secondary until a protected Forth Eorlingas! or Monastery Mentor line appears. Keep mana and blue cards for Force of Will, Force of Negation, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, or Consign to Memory rather than overcommitting attackers into a low-value race.

• Priority: Respect visible board state over archetype labels. If the rules engine exposes lethal attackers, forced blocks, trample-like assignments, or an onboard activation, choose the legal survival line before following the normal control plan.

Selection And Tutor Rules

• Priority: Treat Brainstorm and Ponder as setup spells first, not automatic turn-one actions. Use them early when the hand lacks a land drop, a second blue card for Force of Will, a white source for Swords to Plowshares or Prismatic Ending, or a path to survive the next visible turn; hold them when fetch lands can turn bad cards into new looks.

• Priority: Use fetch lands to improve Brainstorm before using them only for deck thinning. With Flooded Strand, Scalding Tarn, and Prismatic Vista visible, cast Brainstorm when it can hide excess lands, redundant Force of Negation, expensive Lorien Revealed, extra Forth Eorlingas!, or matchup-dead removal, then fetch before the next draw step when the returned cards are not wanted.

• Priority: Use Ponder to choose between land stability and interaction density. Keep a Ponder pile when it contains the needed next land plus relevant interaction, shuffle when all visible cards fail to answer the current pressure, and avoid shuffling away a good future card just because the top card is not immediately castable.

• Priority: Use Lorien Revealed as mana smoothing before treating it as a late-game draw spell. When the hand is short on land, short on blue, or missing Tundra, Volcanic Island, Island, or Mystic Sanctuary access, use the land-search mode if legal rather than waiting for a seven-mana draw turn. Cast Lorien Revealed only when mana is abundant, the stack is safe, and drawing three cards matters more than holding up interaction.

• Priority: Sequence Mystic Sanctuary only when it rebuying a spell changes the next turn. Put Swords to Plowshares, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Prismatic Ending, Wrath of the Skies, Stock Up, or Forth Eorlingas! back on top only when the visible game state makes that card better than drawing a fresh unknown card; do not force Mystic Sanctuary value at the cost of missing a required untapped land.

• Priority: Treat Stock Up as a major selection and refill spell. Card text check required for exact resolution choices; when the rules engine exposes candidate cards, prefer land plus interaction while stabilizing, permission plus card flow against combo and control, and Forth Eorlingas! or Teferi, Time Raveler only when the current hand already protects the tap-out turn.

• Priority: Treat Flow State as conditional card selection until card text is verified. Card text check required; choose lines that preserve land drops and live interaction over speculative value, and do not spend the last mana on Flow State if Swords to Plowshares, Dress Down, Force of Negation, Erode, or a blast after sideboarding is needed for a visible stack or combat window.

• Priority: Use search and selection to assemble answer diversity. Prefer a mix of Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Wrath of the Skies, Dress Down, Force of Will, Force of Negation, and Teferi, Time Raveler over redundant copies of the same answer when the opponent presents multiple permanent types or stack threats.

Priority And Stack Rules

• Priority: Pass priority deliberately when the visible stack is low impact and the hand has better future coverage. Do not spend Force of Will or Force of Negation on a spell that Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dress Down, Wrath of the Skies, Temporary Lockdown, or combat math can answer cleanly after resolution.

• Priority: Fight immediately over spells that remove the ability to interact. Use Force of Will, Force of Negation, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, or Consign to Memory when legal against combo commitments, lock pieces, opposing permission over a protected threat, or engines that will outdraw Stock Up and Lorien Revealed.

• Priority: Use Teferi, Time Raveler as a stack-control commitment gate. Cast Teferi, Time Raveler when resolving it will make the next Stock Up, Wrath of the Skies, Forth Eorlingas!, or sideboard spell safer; avoid tapping out for Teferi if the opponent can win through the current stack or combat before Teferi matters.

• Priority: Keep instant-speed answers available through combat. Hold Swords to Plowshares and Dress Down for declared attackers, blocker text, lethal math, or ability-dependent threats unless main-phase use prevents a known haste, protection, sacrifice, or planeswalker-pressure line exposed by the engine.

• Priority: Use Dress Down at the latest legal window that still stops the relevant creature text. Respond to enters-the-battlefield abilities, combat abilities, protection text, or lethal damage setups when the rules engine shows the window; do not fire Dress Down only to draw a card if the opponent’s next visible creature action is likely to demand it.

• Priority: Treat Erode as interaction only after card text is checked. Card text check required; if the legal action text identifies a target type or stack use, spend Erode on high-impact permanents or spells that other current answers cannot cover, and avoid using it into unknown value when Force of Will, Force of Negation, or Prismatic Ending is the cleaner answer.

• Priority: Resolve Forth Eorlingas! only through a commitment gate. Cast it when the stack is protected, the token output creates a clock or stabilizes combat, and waiting risks falling behind; delay it when holding up Force of Will, Force of Negation, Swords to Plowshares, Dress Down, or sideboard blasts is more important than adding attackers.

• Priority: Use Wrath of the Skies before the opponent’s next combat or activation makes the board unrecoverable. Card text check required for exact payment and affected permanents; choose a value that answers the visible threats without destroying your own critical Teferi, Time Raveler, Forth Eorlingas! tokens, or Monastery Mentor unless survival requires it.

• Priority: Respect graveyard timing after sideboarding. Use Surgical Extraction only when the named card is visible in a graveyard and extracting it disrupts a combo, engine, recursion line, or known top-deck setup; do not cast it only for information when a card or mana would be needed for the current stack.

• Priority: Stack optional payments and triggered decisions around interaction mana. If the engine exposes optional costs, floating mana, or follow-up tax prompts, preserve mana for Force of Negation, Swords to Plowshares, Dress Down, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, or Consign to Memory before choosing low-impact value.

Sideboard Map

• Role: Use sideboarding to sharpen the answer suite without weakening the deck’s core blue density. Force of Will, Force of Negation, Brainstorm, Lorien Revealed, Stock Up, Flow State, Ponder, and Teferi, Time Raveler are the engine that lets Jeskai Control trade early and win late, so sideboard changes should mostly exchange narrow interaction for matchup-specific interaction rather than removing too much card flow.

• Blue Elemental Blast: Bring in against red combo, red prison, fast red creature pressure, and red finishers where one mana can stop a stack threat or destroy a red permanent. It is strongest when the opponent’s decisive spells are red and the game is about surviving the first four turns. It is weak against blue control, nonred creature piles, graveyard decks, and artifact-heavy decks where the target text will not appear often. After sideboarding, treat Blue Elemental Blast as premium one-mana protection for Teferi, Time Raveler, Stock Up, Wrath of the Skies, and Forth Eorlingas! turns, not as a card to spend on the first low-impact red spell.

• Hydroblast: Bring in alongside Blue Elemental Blast when red spells or red permanents define the matchup. It improves hands that already have land and blue cards but need cheap stack coverage. It is bad when red cards are incidental or when the opponent pressures through colorless, white, black, or green permanents. Preserve Hydroblast for the highest-impact red object unless the visible board state makes a smaller red creature lethal before Wrath of the Skies or Temporary Lockdown can stabilize.

• Red Elemental Blast: Bring in against blue control, blue tempo, blue combo, and blue card-flow engines. It is strongest when it can trade up on mana against a protected blue threat, a cantrip-dependent combo turn, or permission fighting over Teferi, Time Raveler, Stock Up, Monastery Mentor, or Forth Eorlingas!. It is weak against decks with few blue spells, creature decks that present mostly nonblue permanents, and graveyard decks where Surgical Extraction or Consign to Memory matters more.

• Pyroblast: Bring in against blue-heavy decks and use it as both permission and permanent interaction when legal action text allows. Two copies make post-board hands better at forcing through Teferi, Time Raveler, Stock Up, Monastery Mentor, and Forth Eorlingas! while still answering opposing blue threats. Pyroblast is bad when the opponent’s blue cards are only support cantrips and the real threats are nonblue permanents. Do not overload on red blasts when doing so leaves too few answers to creatures, graveyards, or colorless engines.

• Consign to Memory: Bring in against colorless, artifact, Eldrazi-style, prison, fast mana, and trigger-driven decks when the legal target text lines up. Card text check required for exact modes and triggered-ability coverage; use it where its cheap interaction covers threats that Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Force of Negation, and Wrath of the Skies do not cover cleanly. It is bad against fair nonartifact creature decks, red burn-style decks, and control mirrors where Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast hit more decisive objects.

• Ruination: Bring in against greedy nonbasic mana, cloudpost-style big mana, lands strategies, and control decks relying on nonbasic-heavy development. It is a commitment card: cast it only when your own Island, Plains, Mountain, Mystic Sanctuary planning, fetch sequencing, and basic count leave you functional afterward. It is bad against basic-heavy aggressive decks, fast combo, and matchups where spending four mana sorcery speed does not affect the current stack or board. After adding Ruination, fetch basic Island, Plains, and Mountain more aggressively and avoid exposing extra Tundra or Volcanic Island unless colored interaction demands it.

• Surgical Extraction: Bring in against graveyard combo, reanimation, recursion engines, lands loops, and decks where a visible graveyard card is a structural choke point. It is strongest after Swords to Plowshares, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, or Prismatic Ending puts the target card into a graveyard. It is bad as pure information, against fair decks without graveyard dependence, and when spending a card does not reduce the opponent’s next legal threat. Use Surgical Extraction only on a visible graveyard card whose removal changes future legal actions or known resource loops.

• Temporary Lockdown: Bring in against low-mana-value creature swarms, artifact creature boards, token pressure, and permanent-heavy starts where many threats cost two or less. It is strongest when Swords to Plowshares and Prismatic Ending are being taxed one-for-one and Wrath of the Skies needs backup. It is bad against large threats, spell combo, planeswalker control, and boards where it would mostly remove your own important permanents while missing the opponent’s threat. After adding Temporary Lockdown, be more willing to preserve Swords to Plowshares for larger creatures and use Prismatic Ending for noncreature permanents that survive Temporary Lockdown.

• Monastery Mentor: Bring in when the opponent reduces creature removal, when games become attrition mirrors, or when you need a faster win condition that turns Brainstorm, Ponder, Stock Up, Flow State, Force of Will, Force of Negation, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, Consign to Memory, and Surgical Extraction into board presence. It is bad against decks keeping efficient creature removal, sweepers, or faster board kills where three mana sorcery-speed pressure is unsafe. Treat Monastery Mentor as a protected finisher, not an early blocker, unless survival requires a body.

Blue Control / Tempo Mirror Side in: 2 Pyroblast; 1 Red Elemental Blast; 1 Monastery Mentor Cut: 2 Wrath of the Skies; 2 Prismatic Ending

• Plan rule: In blue mirrors, increase cheap stack interaction and add Monastery Mentor as a threat that punishes long exchanges. Reduce main-deck emphasis: broad sweepers and sorcery-speed permanent answers when the opponent’s key objects are blue spells, permission, and card selection. Keep enough Swords to Plowshares for visible creatures and do not remove too many blue cards for Force of Will.

Red Aggro / Red Prison Side in: 1 Blue Elemental Blast; 1 Hydroblast; 2 Temporary Lockdown Cut: 2 Dress Down; 2 Force of Negation

• Plan rule: Against red pressure, prioritize one-mana red interaction and broad low-cost permanent cleanup. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Force of Negation when the matchup is driven by creatures and permanents rather than noncreature stack fights, and Dress Down when creature text is less important than removing the creatures. Keep Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Wrath of the Skies, and enough blue cards for Force of Will.

Graveyard Combo / Recursion Engine Side in: 2 Surgical Extraction; 3 Consign to Memory Cut: 2 Wrath of the Skies; 2 Dress Down; 1 Prismatic Ending

• Plan rule: Against graveyard or engine decks, add role cards that interact with the graveyard and unusual spell or trigger axes. Reduce main-deck emphasis: sweepers and creature-text interaction when the opponent is not trying to win through normal combat. Keep Force of Will, Force of Negation, Brainstorm, Ponder, and fast land development because the early turns decide whether Surgical Extraction has a meaningful target.

Nonbasic Big Mana / Lands-Style Mana Engine Side in: 2 Ruination; 3 Consign to Memory; 2 Surgical Extraction Cut: 2 Dress Down; 2 Swords to Plowshares; 2 Wrath of the Skies; 1 Flow State

• Plan rule: Against nonbasic mana engines, pressure the mana base with Ruination while using Consign to Memory and Surgical Extraction to break the engine pieces the rules engine exposes. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature-only answers when the visible threats are mana permanents, lands, triggers, or colorless spells. Fetch basics before committing to Ruination, and do not cast Ruination if it leaves your own hand unable to operate.

Low-Curve Permanent Swarm Side in: 2 Temporary Lockdown; 3 Consign to Memory Cut: 3 Force of Negation; 2 Dress Down

• Plan rule: Against cheap permanent swarms, improve battlefield reset density and reduce narrow stack permission. Temporary Lockdown buys time for Stock Up, Lorien Revealed, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Forth Eorlingas!, while Consign to Memory covers colorless or triggered pieces when legal. Keep all Swords to Plowshares unless the opponent has almost no creatures, because single large follow-up threats often survive the broad reset.

Fast Spell Combo Side in: 2 Pyroblast; 1 Red Elemental Blast; 2 Surgical Extraction; 3 Consign to Memory Cut: 4 Swords to Plowshares; 2 Wrath of the Skies; 2 Prismatic Ending

• Plan rule: Against fast spell combo, maximize stack coverage and graveyard disruption while reducing creature and permanent removal that lacks legal targets. Keep Force of Will and Force of Negation at full strength, use Brainstorm to protect excess interaction from discard when visible, and prefer Teferi, Time Raveler only when resolving it prevents the opponent from using instant-speed interaction on the combo turn.

• Archetype rule: Add blasts only when the opponent’s decisive spells match the blast color. Blue Elemental Blast and Hydroblast answer red; Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast answer blue. Do not dilute the deck with color-hate cards just because the opponent has a splash color.

• Archetype rule: Add Ruination only when the opponent’s mana development is both nonbasic-heavy and strategically important. Fetch basics early, sequence Mystic Sanctuary carefully, and avoid keeping hands that rely on Tundra plus Volcanic Island if Ruination is part of the plan.

• Archetype rule: Add Temporary Lockdown when it answers multiple visible or expected cheap permanents. Avoid it when the opponent’s main threats cost three or more, when the game is about the stack, or when your own Monastery Mentor plan is the more important battlefield commitment.

• Archetype rule: Add Monastery Mentor when the game will contain repeated spell exchanges and the opponent is pressured by a protected creature engine. Avoid it when every turn must preserve mana for Swords to Plowshares, Dress Down, Force of Will, Force of Negation, or sideboard interaction.

Matchup Guidance

• Aggro: Stabilize first, then convert the extra cards from Brainstorm, Ponder, Stock Up, Flow State, and Lorien Revealed into repeated removal and a late Forth Eorlingas! kill. Keep hands with early white mana plus Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, or Wrath of the Skies; hands that only sculpt without answering the board are risky unless Force of Will covers the first explosive turn. Add role cards: Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, Temporary Lockdown when threats are red or cheap permanents. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Force of Negation and Dress Down when the opponent is mostly creatures and combat damage.

• Burn: Preserve life total as a primary resource, and do not let cantrip greed expose the deck to avoidable damage from fetch sequencing. Fetch basics when possible, use Swords to Plowshares on creatures that represent multiple attack steps, and treat Force of Will as costly but acceptable when it stops a high-damage spell or a permanent that will generate repeated damage. Add role cards: Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, and sometimes Temporary Lockdown for cheap permanent pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Dress Down and slow card-advantage lines that do not affect life total before the next combat or spell chain.

• Tempo: Trade efficiently on the first three turns, respect soft pressure from a single backed-up threat, and avoid tapping low for Stock Up, Teferi, Time Raveler, or Forth Eorlingas! unless the legal-action list shows protection or the opponent is constrained. Swords to Plowshares is the cleanest answer to a large creature; Prismatic Ending handles cheap noncreature pressure; Dress Down can buy a combat or blank creature text when the rules engine exposes that line. Add role cards: Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, and Monastery Mentor depending on visible colors and removal patterns. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Wrath of the Skies when the opponent presents one threat at a time.

• Control: Make land drops, preserve blue card density for Force of Will and Force of Negation, and choose fights over engines, planeswalkers, card advantage, and protected win conditions rather than low-impact setup. Teferi, Time Raveler is important when it resolves before a stack fight; Monastery Mentor is best after both players have traded resources or when the opponent must answer it through blast pressure. Add role cards: Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Monastery Mentor, and Consign to Memory when the opponent uses colorless threats or triggered engines. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, and Wrath of the Skies only to the extent legal targets are sparse.

• Combo: Keep interaction-heavy hands, use cantrips to find Force of Will, Force of Negation, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Consign to Memory, or Surgical Extraction, and avoid spending shields on cantrips unless the hand otherwise loses to the next visible attempt. Teferi, Time Raveler is a commitment gate, not a routine curve play; cast it when stopping instant-speed interaction or forcing sorcery-speed play matters before the opponent’s next decisive turn. Add role cards: Surgical Extraction, Consign to Memory, Pyroblast, and Red Elemental Blast when the decisive spells are graveyard, triggered, colorless, or blue. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, and Wrath of the Skies when they lack visible targets.

• Graveyard: Let the first graveyard card matter before spending Surgical Extraction unless the legal action is preventing an immediate deterministic loss or stripping a known recursive engine. Force of Will and Force of Negation should protect the window where Surgical Extraction, Consign to Memory, or Teferi, Time Raveler can break the opponent’s chain. Mystic Sanctuary can rebuy interaction if the game slows, but fetch sequencing must not delay early permission. Add role cards: Surgical Extraction and Consign to Memory. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Wrath of the Skies, Dress Down, and creature-only removal when the opponent’s graveyard engine is the real threat.

• Big mana: Attack the mana engine before fighting payoff spells whenever the visible board shows lands or permanents that will keep generating inevitability. Fetch basics early if Ruination is in the plan, and do not cast Ruination into your own inability to pay for Force of Will backup, Stock Up recovery, or Swords to Plowshares on the next threat. Consign to Memory is high value when it lines up with colorless spells, triggered abilities, or unusual permanent-based pressure. Add role cards: Ruination, Consign to Memory, and Surgical Extraction when specific engine cards enter the graveyard. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Dress Down and excess creature sweepers when large noncreature mana systems are the focus.

• Midrange: Trade one-for-one early, then win by having more live draws through Stock Up, Flow State, Lorien Revealed, Mystic Sanctuary, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Forth Eorlingas!. Use Swords to Plowshares and Prismatic Ending on threats that either snowball or compress your clock; save Wrath of the Skies for boards where it catches multiple permanents or resets a losing battlefield. Dress Down is valuable when creature text is central; otherwise it can cycle-like bridge turns only if the card text check and legal actions support that use. Add role cards: Monastery Mentor against attrition, Pyroblast or Red Elemental Blast against blue midrange, and Temporary Lockdown against cheap permanent clusters. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Force of Negation when games are permanent-heavy and not stack-driven.

• Removal-heavy decks: Do not expose Forth Eorlingas! or Monastery Mentor as the only path to victory when the opponent is representing clean answers and you have no follow-up. Keep developing lands and card flow, force the opponent to spend removal on modest pressure only when that opens a safer Teferi, Time Raveler or larger Forth Eorlingas! turn, and use Brainstorm to hide key threats from discard when visible. Add role cards: Monastery Mentor if the opponent’s removal is stretched by repeated spell tokens, and Pyroblast or Red Elemental Blast if blue card advantage is central. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow removal when the opponent has few creatures.

• Go-wide: Prioritize sweepers and broad permanent answers over perfect one-for-one efficiency. Temporary Lockdown and Wrath of the Skies are the cleanest reset tools when the battlefield is mostly cheap permanents; Prismatic Ending handles the permanent that survives or enables the swarm; Swords to Plowshares should be reserved for the largest or most snowballing creature when a reset is already likely. Add role cards: Temporary Lockdown, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast if the swarm is red, and Consign to Memory if colorless or triggered pieces matter. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Force of Negation when creatures and cheap permanents, not noncreature spells, are killing you.

• Single-threat decks: Preserve exact answers and avoid spending Swords to Plowshares on low-impact creatures if the opponent’s plan clearly concentrates resources into one large threat. Dress Down can create a tactical answer window when creature text is the reason the threat is hard to answer; Prismatic Ending covers cheap noncreature support; Force of Will and Force of Negation should stop the threat only when removal is absent or the spell is not answerable after resolution. Add role cards: Pyroblast or Red Elemental Blast for blue threats, Consign to Memory for colorless or triggered threats, and Monastery Mentor only if racing after answering the first threat is realistic. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Wrath of the Skies when the board rarely contains multiple targets.

• Artifact and enchantment decks: Use Prismatic Ending and Wrath of the Skies as flexible battlefield tools, then use Consign to Memory when the opponent’s important permanents or triggers match its legal interaction window. Erode requires card text check required; when the rules engine presents a legal action, prefer it on the artifact or enchantment that either unlocks the opponent’s mana, protects the engine, or threatens immediate damage. Temporary Lockdown is strong against clusters of cheap permanents but weak against larger permanent engines. Add role cards: Consign to Memory, Temporary Lockdown, and Ruination if the deck’s mana is nonbasic-heavy. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Force of Negation only if the decisive objects are already resolved permanents rather than spells on the stack.

Specific Matchup Notes

• General/archetype-only: Exact opponents are not supplied, so treat these notes as archetype assumptions and let revealed cards, legal actions, public zones, and rules-engine prompts override them. Use Brainstorm, Ponder, Stock Up, Flow State, and Lorien Revealed to update the plan from visible evidence rather than forcing a pregame label.

• Blue stack mirrors: Prioritize land drops, protect card-advantage turns, and fight over Teferi, Time Raveler, Stock Up, Forth Eorlingas!, and opponent spells that invalidate your ability to act at instant speed. Add role cards: Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Monastery Mentor, and Consign to Memory if the revealed threats or triggers match. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of the Skies, and Prismatic Ending when the opponent presents few battlefield targets.

• Red aggressive decks: Preserve life total before card economy when the visible clock is short. Swords to Plowshares should answer the fastest damage source, Prismatic Ending should tag cheap noncreature pressure when legal, and Wrath of the Skies or Temporary Lockdown should be valued highly when they catch multiple permanents. Add role cards: Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, and Temporary Lockdown. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Force of Negation when noncreature stack targets are not the main pressure.

• Graveyard combo or recursion: Hold Surgical Extraction until the graveyard card is public and strategically decisive, unless the engine output shows a legal action that prevents an immediate loss. Force of Will and Force of Negation should cover the turn where Surgical Extraction, Teferi, Time Raveler, or Consign to Memory can break the sequence. Add role cards: Surgical Extraction and Consign to Memory. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Wrath of the Skies and Swords to Plowshares when creatures are not central.

• Nonbasic-heavy big mana or control: Fetch basics early when Ruination is a realistic post-board plan, but do not damage your own ability to cast Prismatic Ending, Forth Eorlingas!, or red blasts. Ruination should be a commitment gate: cast it when the opponent’s visible mana advantage matters more than preserving your own nonbasic setup. Add role cards: Ruination, Consign to Memory, and Surgical Extraction if engine pieces enter the graveyard. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Dress Down and excess sweepers when creature text and boards are not decisive.

• Cheap permanent clusters: Treat Temporary Lockdown, Wrath of the Skies, and Prismatic Ending as the main stabilizers, then use Swords to Plowshares only when a single creature creates a faster clock than the reset can handle. Add role cards: Temporary Lockdown, Blue Elemental Blast or Hydroblast against red boards, and Consign to Memory if colorless or triggered objects are visible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Force of Negation when battlefield permanents, not stack exchanges, are deciding the game.

• Creature-tempo and single-threat pressure: Keep exact removal for threats that compress the clock or carry text that makes later answers unreliable. Dress Down requires card text check required; when the engine presents a legal window, consider it for removing creature text before damage, targeting, or resolution-dependent exchanges. Add role cards: Pyroblast or Red Elemental Blast for blue threats, and Consign to Memory for colorless or triggered threats. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Wrath of the Skies when the opponent rarely commits multiple permanents.

Risk Summary

• Mana risk: The deck needs early blue for Brainstorm, Ponder, Force of Will support, Stock Up, Flow State, and Lorien Revealed, while also needing white for Swords to Plowshares and Prismatic Ending and red for Forth Eorlingas!, Erode, blasts, and Ruination. Fetch basics when Ruination or opposing mana denial matters, but avoid stranding Teferi, Time Raveler, Prismatic Ending, or Forth Eorlingas! behind missing colors.

• Matchup risk: Unknown opponents make overconfident role assignment dangerous. Reclassify the matchup whenever revealed cards show a different pressure axis, especially when the first visible threat suggests graveyard, colorless, cheap permanents, stack combo, or red damage.

• Draw risk: Brainstorm, Ponder, Stock Up, Flow State, and Lorien Revealed can find the right answer, but spending too many early decisions on selection can lose to visible pressure. When under a short clock, prefer legal stabilizing actions over speculative sculpting unless the hand lacks any path to survive.

• Over-sideboarding risk: Adding Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Consign to Memory, Surgical Extraction, Ruination, Temporary Lockdown, or Monastery Mentor without a clear revealed axis can dilute the core control shell. Keep enough Brainstorm, Stock Up, Flow State, Lorien Revealed, and land density to function after sideboarding.

• Graveyard risk: Surgical Extraction is powerful only when the target is public, legal, and strategically meaningful. Do not spend it on a low-impact graveyard card while a faster battlefield, stack, or mana engine is killing you.

• Sweeper/removal risk: Wrath of the Skies and Temporary Lockdown can be awkward against single large threats, and Swords to Plowshares can be wasted on small creatures when a reset is already available. Sequence removal so the next visible attack step is survivable.

• Closer risk: Forth Eorlingas!, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Monastery Mentor are commitment gates, not automatic plays. Commit when shields, mana, and visible pressure make waiting worse or when the opponent is constrained by Teferi, Time Raveler.

• Interaction risk: Force of Will and Force of Negation cost cards or timing flexibility, so use them on spells that cannot be answered cleanly after resolution. Do not counter a minor spell when Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Wrath of the Skies, Temporary Lockdown, or Dress Down can handle the resulting board.

• Sequencing risk: Brainstorm before fetchlands only when card quality or protection matters now; otherwise preserve fetchlands to clear bad cards, enable Mystic Sanctuary, and support future color needs. Mystic Sanctuary should rebuy decisive interaction or card advantage, not delay early survival.

Test Feedback Checklist

• Deciding factor: Record whether the game was won or lost by mana stability, stack control, battlefield cleanup, card velocity, a resolved closer, or a missed timing window. Tie the answer to exact visible cards such as Force of Will, Force of Negation, Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Wrath of the Skies, Teferi, Time Raveler, Forth Eorlingas!, Stock Up, Flow State, or Lorien Revealed.

• Mulligans: Ask whether the opener had enough blue access, an early white source when removal was needed, and a coherent first-three-turn plan. Note whether Brainstorm, Ponder, Lorien Revealed, or fetchlands repaired a marginal keep, or whether the hand needed action instead of more selection.

• Mana: Track every stranded spell by missing color, missing land count, or conflicting fetch priority. Flag cases where preserving basics for Ruination weakened Prismatic Ending, Forth Eorlingas!, Teferi, Time Raveler, Erode, or sideboard blast timing.

• Velocity: Check whether Brainstorm, Ponder, Stock Up, Flow State, and Lorien Revealed found the correct class of card before the opponent’s clock or combo turn mattered. If Stock Up, Flow State, or Erode generated unexpected engine prompts, mark Card text check required and preserve the exact legal-action text.

• Interaction: Review every Force of Will and Force of Negation pitch decision for necessity, alternate answer availability, and follow-up resources. Identify spells that should have resolved because Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dress Down, Wrath of the Skies, Temporary Lockdown, or Teferi, Time Raveler could answer the battlefield later.

• Removal: Ask whether Swords to Plowshares was saved for the fastest lethal pressure or spent on a low-impact creature. Check whether Prismatic Ending, Wrath of the Skies, and Temporary Lockdown were held too long while damage accumulated.

• Engines: Record whether Teferi, Time Raveler changed the stack texture enough to justify the tap-out turn. Record whether Mystic Sanctuary rebought a decisive card or merely delayed stabilization.

• Closing: Ask whether Forth Eorlingas!, Teferi, Time Raveler, or Monastery Mentor was committed at the first safe window, or whether the deck gave the opponent unnecessary draw steps. If Forth Eorlingas! combat or monarchy-like prompts appear, mark Card text check required unless the rules engine fully exposes the consequence.

• Sideboard: Check whether Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, Surgical Extraction, Ruination, Temporary Lockdown, Consign to Memory, and Monastery Mentor matched the opponent’s revealed axis. Record any sideboard card that stayed stranded or any removed main-deck role that was missed.

• Role: Reassess whether the pilot correctly stayed control, became tap-out control, or shifted into closing mode after stabilizing. Note games where selection spells were cast while a visible stabilizer or closer should have been prioritized.

• Mistakes: Capture illegal assumptions, invented hidden cards, ignored visible stack objects, poor fetch sequencing, premature Surgical Extraction, low-impact Dress Down windows, and pass decisions with open mana while interaction was available.

• Overperformers and underperformers: Name exact cards that won exchanges, sat dead, or caused sequencing friction. Separate card quality from matchup context so one bad Ruination, Monastery Mentor, or Wrath of the Skies draw does not overrule a coherent plan.

First Tuning Questions

• Mana quantity: Does the 60 need a different land or cycler balance if Lorien Revealed frequently substitutes for land but hands still miss early white, red, or double-blue requirements? Track whether Island, Plains, Mountain, Tundra, Volcanic Island, Mystic Sanctuary, Prismatic Vista, Flooded Strand, and Scalding Tarn produced stable sequencing.

• Blue density: Are Force of Will and Force of Negation sufficiently supported after sideboarding, especially when nonblue cards like Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Forth Eorlingas!, Wrath of the Skies, Ruination, Temporary Lockdown, Surgical Extraction, and blasts enter the plan?

• Selection mix: Are 2 Ponder, 4 Brainstorm, 4 Stock Up, 4 Flow State, and 4 Lorien Revealed the right velocity package, or does the deck flood on setup while losing to immediate pressure? Card text check required for Flow State and Stock Up before changing quantities based on assumed function.

• Removal spread: Are 4 Swords to Plowshares, 2 Prismatic Ending, 2 Wrath of the Skies, 2 Dress Down, and 2 Erode enough against creature-tempo and cheap permanent clusters? Card text check required for Erode if its actual target range affects this answer.

• Counterspell plan: Are 4 Force of Will plus 3 Force of Negation too many card-disadvantage counters in fair mirrors, or necessary against combo and stack-heavy decks? Compare post-board games where Pyroblast, Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, Hydroblast, and Consign to Memory changed the interaction burden.

• Closer package: Are 2 Forth Eorlingas!, 2 Teferi, Time Raveler, and 1 Monastery Mentor enough to finish stabilized games before opponents rebuild? If games stabilize but time out or lose to topdecks, consider whether the closer plan needs more threat density rather than more answers.

• Ruination conflict: Does Ruination win enough nonbasic-heavy games to justify the strain on Tundra, Volcanic Island, Mystic Sanctuary, and splash requirements? Track whether basic-heavy fetch sequencing makes main-deck cards awkward before Ruination is drawn.

• Graveyard slots: Are 2 Surgical Extraction necessary, or are graveyard matchups better handled by Force of Will, Force of Negation, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Consign to Memory? Count games where Surgical Extraction had a public, decisive target versus games where it was low-impact.

• Cheap-permanent plan: Are 2 Temporary Lockdown and 2 Wrath of the Skies overlapping correctly, or does one answer type miss too many opposing boards? Use visible board outcomes, not theoretical coverage, to decide.

• Role conflict: Does sideboarding into Monastery Mentor or Ruination create a proactive plan that conflicts with holding up Force of Negation, blasts, or removal? Tune only after identifying whether losses came from being too slow, too reactive, or too light on closing power.

Veles Tactical Policy

Policy: Keep Hands With Real Mana And Early Interaction

Priority: High Decision families: mulligan; pregame Cards: Brainstorm; Ponder; Lorien Revealed; Swords to Plowshares; Force of Will; Force of Negation Phase windows: opening hand; mulligan decisions Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; action:keep; action:mulligan Use when: choose keep only when the hand has blue access, a first-three-turn land plan, and either early interaction or selection that can find it. Avoid when: reject one-land hands without Brainstorm, Ponder, Lorien Revealed, or multiple fetchlands unless the legal mulligan context makes fewer cards more dangerous. Instructions: Prioritize functional mana over raw card count; control hands need time, not speculative density. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Fetch Basics Before Ruination Plans

Priority: Medium Decision families: mana Cards: Flooded Strand; Scalding Tarn; Prismatic Vista; Island; Plains; Mountain; Ruination Phase windows: early turns; before sideboard Ruination; opponent end step Runtime cues: action:activate Flooded Strand; action:activate Scalding Tarn; action:activate Prismatic Vista Use when: fetch sequencing is available and the hand or sideboard plan contains Ruination or needs stable colors through opposing nonbasic pressure. Avoid when: the current hand needs immediate Tundra or Volcanic Island colors for a legal spell this turn. Instructions: Build Island first for blue density, add Plains for Swords to Plowshares and Prismatic Ending, and fetch Mountain only when red interaction or Ruination timing requires it. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Execute Mandatory Landcycling For Mana Repair

Priority: Low Decision families: mana; selection Cards: Lorien Revealed Phase windows: main phase; end step; before missed land drops Runtime cues: action:cycle Lorien Revealed; action:landcycling Lorien Revealed Use when: a legal Lorien Revealed land-search action is visible, the hand lacks the next land drop, and no visible stack object requires pitching Lorien Revealed to Force of Will or Force of Negation. Avoid when: the same Lorien Revealed is needed as the only blue card for a current legal Force action. Instructions: Treat this as deterministic mana repair after the decision to fix mana has been made. Pilot skill floor: no-api No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Brainstorm With Shuffle Or Urgency

Priority: Medium Decision families: selection; priority Cards: Brainstorm; Flooded Strand; Scalding Tarn; Prismatic Vista Phase windows: opponent end step; upkeep; main phase under pressure; response windows Runtime cues: action:cast Brainstorm Use when: Brainstorm is legal and there is a shuffle effect, a need to hide cards from discard, or an immediate need to find land, removal, or permission. Avoid when: casting it would use mana needed for a visible Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Erode, Force backup, or blast. Instructions: Avoid spending Brainstorm as generic velocity when hand quality is already sufficient and the opponent is presenting a must-answer stack or board. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Ponder For Missing Category

Priority: Low Decision families: selection; mana Cards: Ponder Phase windows: main phase; early turns; pre-combat when mana remains Runtime cues: action:cast Ponder Use when: Ponder is legal and the current hand lacks a specific category: land, white removal, blue permission, sweeper, or closer. Avoid when: the opponent has a lethal or near-lethal visible board and a legal stabilizing spell is available now. Instructions: Keep piles that solve the next turn cycle; shuffle piles that only add redundant selection without mana or interaction. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Commit Teferi Only When Stack Control Matters

Priority: High Decision families: priority; interaction Cards: Teferi, Time Raveler; Force of Will; Force of Negation; Swords to Plowshares Phase windows: own main phase; post-stabilization; before protected closer turns Runtime cues: action:cast Teferi, Time Raveler Use when: Teferi, Time Raveler is legal and resolving it changes a visible stack fight, protects a follow-up closer, or answers a permanent through its exposed legal ability text. Avoid when: tapping out leaves a visible lethal attack, an unanswered must-counter spell line, or no meaningful Teferi action after resolution. Instructions: Treat Teferi as a commitment gate, not a routine curve play. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Spend Free Permission On Irreplaceable Threats

Priority: High Decision families: interaction; priority Cards: Force of Will; Force of Negation Phase windows: opponent spell on stack; combo turn; early turns while tapped out Runtime cues: action:cast Force of Will; action:cast Force of Negation Use when: the stack contains a spell that cannot be answered later by Swords to Plowshares, Prismatic Ending, Dress Down, Wrath of the Skies, Erode, or Teferi, Time Raveler. Avoid when: the spell is a battlefield permanent already covered by visible removal and pitching a blue card would collapse the hand. Instructions: Preserve card count in fair games; use free permission aggressively against combo, prison, or game-ending stack objects. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Use Swords On Fastest Creature Clock

Priority: Medium Decision families: interaction; priority Cards: Swords to Plowshares Phase windows: combat; end step; response to equipment or pump; before lethal damage Runtime cues: action:cast Swords to Plowshares Use when: Swords to Plowshares is legal and a visible creature represents lethal damage, snowballing damage, or a role that other removal cannot efficiently answer. Avoid when: a sweeper or Dress Down line answers the board this turn and the target is not forcing immediate damage. Instructions: Do not spend the cleanest answer on low-impact creatures while a larger visible threat or protected threat remains. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Choose Exact Swords Target After Selection

Priority: Low Decision families: interaction Cards: Swords to Plowshares Phase windows: target prompt Runtime cues: action:target Swords to Plowshares Use when: exactly one legal target action for Swords to Plowshares is visible and the prior policy has selected casting Swords to Plowshares. Avoid when: multiple legal Swords to Plowshares target actions are visible. Instructions: Submit the only visible target action; do not infer hidden protection or alternate targets. Pilot skill floor: no-api No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sweep Before Damage Becomes Unrecoverable

Priority: Medium Decision families: interaction; priority Cards: Wrath of the Skies; Temporary Lockdown; Dress Down Phase windows: own main phase; pre-combat; opponent combat with instant-speed legal actions Runtime cues: action:cast Wrath of the Skies; action:cast Temporary Lockdown; action:cast Dress Down Use when: the opponent has multiple visible permanents or attackers and spot removal no longer preserves life total or planeswalker stability. Avoid when: the board contains one key creature that Swords to Plowshares or Prismatic Ending can answer while preserving your own closer. Instructions: Card text check required for exact Wrath of the Skies and Dress Down outcomes; follow rules-engine legal prompts over assumed sweeper text. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Commit Forth Eorlingas As Closer After Stabilization

Priority: High Decision families: priority; combat; mana Cards: Forth Eorlingas!; Teferi, Time Raveler; Force of Will; Force of Negation Phase windows: own main phase; post-sweeper; protected tap-out windows Runtime cues: action:cast Forth Eorlingas! Use when: Forth Eorlingas! is legal, the visible board is stable or empty, and the opponent is unlikely to punish a tap-out based on public stack and mana. Avoid when: life total requires holding removal, a must-counter spell is expected from revealed information, or the X value is too small to pressure. Instructions: Card text check required for exact monarchy or token consequences; commit only after the close-the-game role is selected. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Attack Only With Stabilized Token Pressure

Priority: Medium Decision families: combat Cards: Forth Eorlingas!; Monastery Mentor Phase windows: declare attackers; post-stabilization combat Runtime cues: action:attack Use when: attack actions are legal and visible blockers, crack-back damage, and life totals allow pressure without losing the control role. Avoid when: attacking removes needed blockers against a visible short clock or exposes Monastery Mentor before it generates enough spells. Instructions: Combat is judgment-heavy; prefer preserving life total until a closer can race safely. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Answer Noncreature Permanents By Range And Timing

Priority: Medium Decision families: interaction; mana; priority Cards: Prismatic Ending; Erode; Consign to Memory Phase windows: own main phase; opponent stack; end step if legal Runtime cues: action:cast Prismatic Ending; action:cast Erode; action:cast Consign to Memory Use when: a visible permanent or stack object is within the legal action text and will generate more damage, mana, cards, or lock pressure if left alone. Avoid when: the same object can be ignored for one turn while holding permission for a higher-impact stack threat. Instructions: Card text check required for Erode and Consign to Memory exact coverage; trust legal targets over memory. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Mystic Sanctuary Rebuy Requires A Decisive Target

Priority: Medium Decision families: selection; mana Cards: Mystic Sanctuary; Brainstorm; Swords to Plowshares; Force of Will; Force of Negation; Forth Eorlingas!; Stock Up; Flow State Phase windows: land entry trigger; fetchland resolution; late game Runtime cues: action:target Mystic Sanctuary Use when: Mystic Sanctuary target choices are visible and one card directly answers the current stack, stabilizes the board, or closes the game next turn. Avoid when: the target would only add generic card flow while the board demands immediate removal or mana. Instructions: Route target choice through light-model because the best graveyard card depends on hand, board, stack, and next draw. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Red And Blue Blasts Trade On Stack Axis

Priority: Medium Decision families: interaction; priority; sideboard Cards: Pyroblast; Red Elemental Blast; Blue Elemental Blast; Hydroblast Phase windows: opponent spell on stack; permanent target prompt; counter war Runtime cues: action:cast Pyroblast; action:cast Red Elemental Blast; action:cast Blue Elemental Blast; action:cast Hydroblast Use when: a legal blast action targets a visible spell or permanent whose color and impact are confirmed by the rules engine. Avoid when: the target is low impact and Force of Will, Force of Negation, Swords to Plowshares, or Prismatic Ending covers the real threat later. Instructions: Use blasts to win efficient exchanges, especially protecting Teferi, Time Raveler, Forth Eorlingas!, Monastery Mentor, or Ruination. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Surgical Only With Public Target And Payoff

Priority: Medium Decision families: interaction; sideboard Cards: Surgical Extraction Phase windows: graveyard interaction window; response to recursion; after discard or counter resolves Runtime cues: action:cast Surgical Extraction Use when: Surgical Extraction is legal and a public graveyard card is tied to a visible recursion, combo, or redundant threat plan. Avoid when: the target is merely a spent fair card and using Surgical Extraction costs a card without changing the next turn cycle. Instructions: Never infer hidden hand copies; choose based on public graveyard, revealed cards, and legal target text. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Ruination Is A Tap-Out Lock Gate

Priority: High Decision families: sideboard; mana; priority Cards: Ruination; Island; Plains; Mountain; Tundra; Volcanic Island; Mystic Sanctuary Phase windows: own main phase; post-fetch setup; opponent constrained mana turns Runtime cues: action:cast Ruination Use when: Ruination is legal, your basics cover follow-up spells, and the opponent’s visible mana is materially more nonbasic-dependent than yours. Avoid when: casting it strands your own hand, destroys needed Mystic Sanctuary planning, or leaves an immediate board lethal. Instructions: Treat Ruination as a commitment spell; decide with full visible mana, life, stack, and hand context. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard By Opponent Axis

Priority: High Decision families: sideboard Cards: Blue Elemental Blast; Hydroblast; Red Elemental Blast; Pyroblast; Surgical Extraction; Ruination; Temporary Lockdown; Monastery Mentor; Consign to Memory Phase windows: post-game sideboard Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; action:submit sideboard Use when: sideboarding is requested and public game evidence identifies stack combo, red pressure, blue stack fights, graveyard reliance, cheap permanents, nonbasic mana, or grindy control mirrors. Avoid when: adding narrow cards would reduce blue count, early removal, or win conditions below the matchup’s required role. Instructions: Follow exact legal plans from Sideboard Map when present; otherwise add role cards only for observed axes and preserve a coherent 60. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes