veles-content/strategies/pauper/jund_gardens/1/guide.md

Strategy Specifications

Deck Name And Archetype

• Deck: Jund Gardens is registered here as a Pauper Jund artifact-sacrifice midrange/control deck. Treat the name as a strategy label, not proof that Khalni Garden or any token land is present; this exact list contains Slagwoods Bridge, Drossforge Bridge, Twisted Landscape, Vault of Whispers, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest, and the pilot must not assume Garden tokens unless Veles exposes a legal token-producing action from the actual game state.

• Format: Pauper. This document validates the submitted registration structure and tactical identity, but it is not a standalone legality certificate. Current Pauper ban and card-legality checks can change, so sanctioned legality should be verified against the active rules engine, card database, or official Wizards banned/restricted source before results are treated as formal. Reference point for current-list review: Wizards banned and restricted list.

• Count validation: The main deck contains exactly 60 cards and the sideboard contains exactly 15 cards. The main deck totals 4 Cleansing Wildfire, 3 Lembas, 4 Fanatical Offering, 3 Krark-Clan Shaman, 4 Refurbished Familiar, 3 Nihil Spellbomb, 4 Slagwoods Bridge, 4 Twisted Landscape, 4 Ichor Wellspring, 2 Vault of Whispers, 4 Writhing Chrysalis, 4 Gixian Infiltrator, 1 Makeshift Munitions, 3 Swamp, 4 Drossforge Bridge, 1 Mountain, 2 Forest, 4 Cast Down, and 2 Eviscerator's Insight. The sideboard totals 1 Troublemaker Ouphe, 2 Breath Weapon, 3 Faerie Macabre, 2 Terminate, 2 Duress, 3 Weather the Storm, and 2 Ancient Grudge.

• Construction validation: No nonbasic card exceeds four registered copies across the submitted main deck and sideboard. Basic lands are present as Swamp, Mountain, and Forest. The list has no companion, commander, attraction, sticker, ante, or manual-dexterity construction component by registered card name. If Veles or Forge rejects any card name, rarity, legality, or implementation, trust that engine output over this guide.

• Archetype tags: Use midrange, control, artifact, sacrifice, and graveyard as the operative tags. The deck is not a pure aggro deck because many early cards develop mana, artifacts, and cards rather than raw damage. The deck is not a pure control deck because it must eventually convert Writhing Chrysalis, Refurbished Familiar, Gixian Infiltrator, artifact value, and Makeshift Munitions into pressure.

• Stock / rogue / hybrid status: Treat this as a stock-derived hybrid Jund Gardens or Gardens-adjacent shell with list-specific mana and artifact choices. The familiar core is artifact material plus sacrifice draw, Krark-Clan Shaman board control, Refurbished Familiar disruption, and Writhing Chrysalis as a large stabilizing threat. The rogue or list-specific concern is that the submitted registration leans on Bridges, Twisted Landscape, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, and Cleansing Wildfire rather than an explicit Khalni Garden package.

• Mana identity: The registered deck is black-red-green. Black supports Fanatical Offering, Refurbished Familiar, Nihil Spellbomb activation lines if legal, Gixian Infiltrator, Cast Down, Eviscerator's Insight, Duress, and Terminate. Red supports Cleansing Wildfire, Krark-Clan Shaman, Makeshift Munitions, Breath Weapon, Terminate, and Ancient Grudge. Green supports Writhing Chrysalis, Troublemaker Ouphe, Weather the Storm, and Ancient Grudge flashback lines only when rules-engine actions confirm them.

• Role concerns: The pilot must classify each game as stabilize, grind, or pressure before spending sacrifice material. Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, and artifact lands are resources for cards, mana smoothing, graveyard interaction, Krark-Clan Shaman, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, and Makeshift Munitions; do not cash them in without a visible tactical payoff. Cleansing Wildfire is a mana-and-card-plan card unless the rules engine exposes a meaningful opposing-land target; do not assume it is land destruction.

• Opponent information status: No specific opponent decklist, matchup, game number, play/draw status, known hand, or sideboarded state is supplied in this batch. At runtime, use only visible battlefield, stack, graveyards, exile, revealed cards, public logs, match history, and Veles-provided archetype context. Do not infer hidden hand contents, hidden library order, sideboard cards, or exact removal from archetype alone.

Thesis

• Jund Gardens assembles indestructible Bridge mana, expendable artifacts, sacrifice draw, sweepers, and midrange threats into a grinding control shell. The normal plan is to develop Slagwoods Bridge, Drossforge Bridge, Vault of Whispers, Twisted Landscape, and basic lands, use Cleansing Wildfire on your own legal land target when that line produces mana/cards rather than exposing you, then convert Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, artifacts, Map-like material if produced by legal card text, and disposable creatures into cards or damage through Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Krark-Clan Shaman, and Makeshift Munitions.

• Jund Gardens wins by surviving the first pressure wave, denying clean combat, and turning material loops into inevitability. Writhing Chrysalis and Refurbished Familiar are the main stabilizing threats, Gixian Infiltrator turns repeated sacrifice into a real clock, Krark-Clan Shaman resets grounded creature boards, and Makeshift Munitions converts late excess permanents into reach only when Veles exposes legal activation and payment actions.

• Jund Gardens is not trying to race from turn one or spend every artifact at the first legal opportunity. Preserve artifacts when they represent future Krark-Clan Shaman sweeps, Fanatical Offering costs, Eviscerator's Insight costs, Gixian Infiltrator growth, Refurbished Familiar affordability, Makeshift Munitions reach, or Ancient Grudge flashback context after sideboard.

• Prioritize survival and mana integrity before value when under pressure. Use Cast Down, Krark-Clan Shaman, sideboard Breath Weapon, sideboard Terminate, and sideboard Weather the Storm to reach the stage where artifact cards and sacrifice engines dominate. Against slower decks, prioritize discard pressure from Refurbished Familiar, graveyard pressure from Nihil Spellbomb or Faerie Macabre, and card flow from Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, and Eviscerator's Insight.

• Respect runtime legality above deck theory. If the engine does not offer the expected target, sacrifice, trigger, activation, flashback, or payment action, choose among the visible legal actions instead of assuming card text or hidden rules outcomes.

Role Package

• Threats: Writhing Chrysalis is the premier board-stabilizing finisher when green mana and timing are available; use it to halt attacks, pressure planes of combat, and force removal before committing smaller engines into danger. Refurbished Familiar is a disruptive evasive threat whose value rises when artifacts reduce or support its deployment; prioritize it against decks with few expendable cards or when an opposing hand is already constrained. Gixian Infiltrator is a scalable sacrifice payoff; deploy it before sacrifice chains when the visible board allows it to survive, but do not expose it as the only blocker against a lethal crack-back.

• Payoffs: Krark-Clan Shaman is both interaction and payoff for artifact density; hold enough artifacts to make its sweep size match the actual opposing board, and avoid sacrificing critical mana artifacts or Bridges unless the rules engine and current state make that legal and necessary. Makeshift Munitions is a late-game conversion engine and reach card; use it after the game becomes about excess permanents, small opposing creatures, or closing life totals, not as an early mana sink that consumes needed artifacts. Refurbished Familiar also functions as a payoff for building artifact count because it converts setup into pressure plus discard.

• Engines: Ichor Wellspring is premium sacrifice material because it replaces itself and rewards being moved to the graveyard by legal costs or effects. Lembas is velocity, life buffer, and artifact material; use the life-gain mode when survival or racing matters, and treat its graveyard replacement behavior as engine text only when the rules engine shows it. Fanatical Offering and Eviscerator's Insight are the main card-conversion spells; prefer sacrificing artifacts or creatures whose current board job is finished, especially Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb after graveyard value is no longer needed, or expendable permanents created by legal effects.

• Velocity: Cleansing Wildfire is a mana-smoothing and card-flow spell in this exact shell, especially with indestructible Bridges if the engine offers that target and resolves the line favorably. Twisted Landscape supports color fixing and land development; decide between using it and casting a spell by comparing next-turn color access, not only current mana efficiency. Lembas, Ichor Wellspring, Fanatical Offering, and Eviscerator's Insight keep cards moving while feeding sacrifice synergies.

• Interaction: Cast Down is the main clean removal spell and should answer threats that beat Krark-Clan Shaman, race Writhing Chrysalis, or force bad blocks. Krark-Clan Shaman handles wide grounded boards when artifact count is sufficient. Nihil Spellbomb is maindeck graveyard interaction and a card-flow artifact; preserve it against visible graveyard dependence, but cash it in for cards or sacrifice value when graveyards are not tactically relevant.

• Protection: The deck protects itself through redundant material, life padding, and board resets rather than counterspells. Lembas and Weather the Storm buy turns, Breath Weapon and Krark-Clan Shaman punish small-creature swarms, Duress can preempt removal or combo after sideboard, and Faerie Macabre protects against graveyard turns without needing battlefield commitment when its legal action is exposed.

• Recursion: This list has limited true recursion by registered card name. Treat Ancient Grudge as conditional graveyard recursion only if the engine exposes a legal flashback or graveyard-cast action, and treat Lembas graveyard replacement text as relevant only when Veles shows the resulting zone movement or library shuffle. Do not assume repeated loops from graveyard material unless public game state confirms them.

• Mana: Slagwoods Bridge, Drossforge Bridge, Vault of Whispers, Twisted Landscape, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest must support black card draw/removal, red sweepers and Cleansing Wildfire, and green Writhing Chrysalis or sideboard cards. Preserve black for Cast Down, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, and Refurbished Familiar; preserve red for Krark-Clan Shaman, Cleansing Wildfire, Makeshift Munitions, Breath Weapon, Terminate, and Ancient Grudge; preserve green for Writhing Chrysalis, Troublemaker Ouphe, Weather the Storm, and legal Ancient Grudge flashback lines.

• Sideboard modules: Troublemaker Ouphe is an anti-artifact permanent for matchups where opposing artifacts matter more than your own artifact activations; confirm the card text and board impact at runtime before harming your own plan. Breath Weapon is the small-creature sweeper module. Faerie Macabre is graveyard disruption. Terminate is extra hard removal. Duress is stack-adjacent hand disruption before key opposing turns. Weather the Storm is the anti-burn and anti-race life module. Ancient Grudge is artifact removal with conditional graveyard value if legal actions expose it.

Primary Win Conditions

• Writhing Chrysalis battlefield takeover: Set up green mana with Slagwoods Bridge, Twisted Landscape, Forest, or a legal Cleansing Wildfire line, then cast Writhing Chrysalis when it stabilizes combat or pressures a slow opponent. Execute by preserving it through the first opposing answer window when possible, using Cast Down or Krark-Clan Shaman to clear creatures that race around it, and converting any engine-provided expendable material only when the legal action is visible. Prioritize this path when life total is under pressure, the opponent is creature-based, or your hand lacks enough draw engines to play a long attrition game.

• Artifact-sacrifice card advantage into inevitability: Build around Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, artifact lands, Fanatical Offering, and Eviscerator's Insight to turn expendable permanents into cards and future actions. Execute by sacrificing artifacts whose current job is finished, especially Ichor Wellspring or a no-longer-needed Nihil Spellbomb, while keeping enough artifacts for Refurbished Familiar, Krark-Clan Shaman, and Makeshift Munitions. Prioritize this path against removal-heavy, midrange, or control opponents where the game is decided by material and not by immediate survival.

• Refurbished Familiar pressure plus discard: Use early artifacts from Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Vault of Whispers, Drossforge Bridge, and Slagwoods Bridge to make Refurbished Familiar legally castable at a favorable point. Execute by deploying it when the discard pressure matters or when evasive damage starts a clock, then protect the tempo gained by removing blockers or threats with Cast Down. Prioritize this path when the opponent has few cards in hand, is holding up reactive play, or your board already contains enough artifacts to make the Familiar efficient without consuming a better sacrifice line.

• Gixian Infiltrator sacrifice-pressure kill: Deploy Gixian Infiltrator before a planned sequence of Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Krark-Clan Shaman, Nihil Spellbomb, or Makeshift Munitions actions if the visible board suggests it can survive and attack. Execute by letting legal sacrifice events grow or enable it only when those events also advance cards, removal, or lethal pressure; do not sacrifice key mana or defense just to enlarge it. Prioritize this path when the opponent is light on removal, ground stalls can be broken by a large attacker, or your hand already contains sacrifice outlets and replaceable permanents.

Secondary Win Conditions

• Makeshift Munitions reach: Treat Makeshift Munitions as a late-game conversion engine rather than the default early play. Execute by turning excess artifacts, tokens, or doomed permanents into damage only when Veles exposes legal activation and payment actions, especially to finish the opponent, shrink a board, or punish removal. Prioritize it when combat is stalled, the opponent is at a low life total, or your draw engines have produced more material than you can profitably attack with.

• Krark-Clan Shaman reset into one-sided rebuild: Use Krark-Clan Shaman to reset wide creature boards when the artifact count and legal sacrifice actions match the damage needed. Execute by preserving the Shaman until it meaningfully changes the battlefield, then rebuild with Writhing Chrysalis, Refurbished Familiar, Ichor Wellspring, and draw spells. Prioritize this line when behind on board but not dead to a single large creature, and avoid it when sacrificing artifacts would cut off necessary colors or leave you unable to recover.

• Cleansing Wildfire mana-and-card acceleration: Use Cleansing Wildfire as a setup line when the engine offers a legal target that improves mana or replaces itself without sacrificing a needed land function. Execute by fixing toward black for Cast Down and sacrifice draw, red for Krark-Clan Shaman or Makeshift Munitions, and green for Writhing Chrysalis. Prioritize this line when the hand has payoffs but lacks color certainty; deprioritize it when immediate removal or blockers are required.

• Fallback evasive and chip damage: Win through repeated attacks from Refurbished Familiar, pressure from Gixian Infiltrator, and small damage from Makeshift Munitions when the opponent answers Writhing Chrysalis. Execute by trading cards for tempo only when the damage clock shortens meaningfully or forces awkward blocks. No registered creature-land plan exists in this list, so do not preserve lands for creature-land attacks unless a runtime effect creates that legal action.

Emergency Lines

• When behind on life: Stabilize before drawing extra cards. Prioritize Cast Down, Krark-Clan Shaman, Writhing Chrysalis, Lembas, and post-board Weather the Storm over speculative sacrifice value; use Fanatical Offering or Eviscerator's Insight only when the sacrifice also improves survival, finds interaction, or uses a doomed permanent.

• When behind on board: Identify whether the problem is wide, tall, evasive, or graveyard-based before spending interaction. Use Krark-Clan Shaman or post-board Breath Weapon for wide small-creature boards, Cast Down or Terminate for single high-impact creatures, and Nihil Spellbomb or Faerie Macabre only when public graveyard pressure is the actual cause.

• When behind on cards: Convert replaceable artifacts into cards instead of forcing attacks. Prioritize Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, and legal Nihil Spellbomb card-flow lines; avoid sacrificing lands or defensive creatures unless the visible game state makes the exchange necessary.

• When behind on mana or colors: Use Twisted Landscape, legal Cleansing Wildfire, and conservative land sequencing to restore access before committing color-intensive plans. Preserve black for removal and draw, red for sweepers and artifact conversion, and green for Writhing Chrysalis or post-board stabilization.

• When engines are removed: Shift to honest midrange. Use Writhing Chrysalis and Refurbished Familiar as standalone threats, use Cast Down to protect the race, and treat Makeshift Munitions as a topdecked finisher only if the board contains expendable permanents.

• When graveyard recursion or combo threatens: Do not spend Nihil Spellbomb or Faerie Macabre for minor value if public graveyard cards show an imminent payoff. Hold graveyard hate until the engine exposes the relevant legal action window, then choose the action that disrupts the visible payoff rather than an assumed hidden card.

Resource Model

• Life: Spend life as a buffer only when the exchange preserves board control or unlocks a stronger next turn. Against fast creature decks, treat life as the scarce resource and prefer Cast Down, Krark-Clan Shaman, Writhing Chrysalis, Lembas, and post-board Weather the Storm over speculative Fanatical Offering or Eviscerator's Insight lines.

• Hand: Convert hand size into board presence when a threat or answer changes the next combat step. Keep reactive cards in hand when the opponent's visible board or open mana makes a future Cast Down, Terminate, Duress, Faerie Macabre, or Ancient Grudge window more valuable than spending mana now.

• Mana: Treat mana as a three-color sequencing puzzle with black as the default interaction color, red as the sweeper and artifact-conversion color, and green as the stabilizing threat color. Do not sacrifice, tap, or expose a source if doing so cuts off a known next-turn Writhing Chrysalis, Krark-Clan Shaman, Cast Down, Fanatical Offering, Makeshift Munitions, or sideboard card.

• Board: Treat permanents as material only after their current battlefield job is finished. Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Vault of Whispers, Drossforge Bridge, and Slagwoods Bridge can support artifact count, sacrifice costs, affinity-style discounts, and Krark-Clan Shaman math, so sacrifice them only when the legal action clearly converts them into cards, damage, sweep equity, or survival.

• Graveyard: Use graveyards as public tactical information, not as an automatic resource. Hold Nihil Spellbomb or post-board Faerie Macabre when the opponent has visible graveyard payoff pressure; cash them in only when the engine presents a relevant legal disruption or when graveyard pressure is low and the card-flow action is materially useful.

• Exile: Treat exile as final public accounting unless a visible effect grants permission from exile. Do not infer that exiled cards are accessible, gone permanently for all rules purposes, or strategically irrelevant beyond what Veles state and legal actions show.

• Lands: Treat lands as both mana and future conversion pieces. Twisted Landscape and Cleansing Wildfire can help fix or develop mana when legal actions support that line, but sacrificing or targeting lands is wrong if the visible game requires untapped colors, an immediate answer, or enough mana for multiple spells.

• Sacrifice fodder: Rank sacrifice material by current job: spent token or low-impact artifact first, Ichor Wellspring when card conversion matters, Nihil Spellbomb only when graveyard hate is not needed, then excess artifacts that do not cut off Refurbished Familiar, Krark-Clan Shaman, or Makeshift Munitions. Avoid sacrificing Gixian Infiltrator, Writhing Chrysalis, or stabilizing creatures unless the legal line wins, prevents lethal, or uses a doomed creature.

• Tempo: Spend tempo to stabilize before grinding. When under pressure, prioritize legal actions that change attacks, blocks, or life-total pressure this turn over slow card advantage; when stable, use Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, and Cleansing Wildfire to pull ahead.

• Information: Act only on legal actions, visible board state, public zones, revealed cards, and known matchup context. Use Duress post-board to convert uncertainty into a specific plan, but do not assume hidden cards after the revealed window expires.

• Sideboard bullets: Treat sideboard cards as narrow resource converters. Breath Weapon converts mana into anti-wide tempo, Weather the Storm converts storm context into life, Ancient Grudge and Troublemaker Ouphe convert slots into artifact pressure, Terminate upgrades single-threat removal, Duress attacks noncreature plans, and Faerie Macabre protects graveyard windows.

Mana Guide

• Color priority: Secure black early for Cast Down, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Nihil Spellbomb card-flow lines, and Refurbished Familiar. Secure red for Cleansing Wildfire, Krark-Clan Shaman, Makeshift Munitions, Breath Weapon, and Ancient Grudge. Secure green for Writhing Chrysalis, Weather the Storm, Troublemaker Ouphe, and the green side of Ancient Grudge if the engine exposes that use.

• Opening mana keeps: Keep hands that have at least two functional mana sources or one source plus a legal fixing plan and a clear first two turns. Mulligan hands that cannot cast early interaction, cannot develop a legal artifact or draw engine, or rely on drawing an exact color before doing anything meaningful.

• Tapped-land sequencing: Lead on Drossforge Bridge or Slagwoods Bridge when the current turn has no urgent untapped play and the hand wants artifact count or future colors. Prefer an untapped Swamp, Mountain, Forest, or Vault of Whispers when a same-turn legal Cast Down, Nihil Spellbomb, Fanatical Offering, Cleansing Wildfire, or sideboard action matters.

• Utility-land sequencing: Use Twisted Landscape as fixing when the hand is color-constrained and the visible board allows a slower turn. Do not spend it merely because the action is available if keeping it produces current mana, preserves land count, or supports a stronger two-spell turn later.

• Cleansing Wildfire sequencing: Use Cleansing Wildfire to fix or replace resources only when the engine offers a legal target and the resulting line does not damage your immediate survival. Prefer this setup when missing a key color for Writhing Chrysalis, Krark-Clan Shaman, or black interaction; delay it when the opponent's board requires removal first.

• Play-land timing before draw: Play a land before drawing when the legal line requires exact mana this turn, when you must represent or cast interaction, or when missing a land drop would prevent a known follow-up. Hold the land until after Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, or Nihil Spellbomb draw actions when hand size is not constrained and the draw could change which color or land type should be played.

• Payment choices: Preserve the rarest next-turn color when Veles offers multiple legal payment plans. Spend generic or redundant artifact mana first when it keeps black for Cast Down, red for Krark-Clan Shaman or Makeshift Munitions, and green for Writhing Chrysalis or Weather the Storm.

• Sideboard mana: After sideboarding, adjust keeps to the bullet actually drawn. A hand with Weather the Storm needs credible green timing, Breath Weapon and Ancient Grudge need red access, Terminate needs black-red access, Duress needs early black, and Troublemaker Ouphe needs green without delaying survival.

Mulligan Guide

• Strong keep: Keep two or three functional mana sources plus an early artifact or card-flow piece and a stabilizing play. Examples: Drossforge Bridge, Swamp, Ichor Wellspring, Fanatical Offering, Cast Down, Refurbished Familiar, Writhing Chrysalis; or Slagwoods Bridge, Vault of Whispers, Lembas, Cleansing Wildfire, Krark-Clan Shaman, Cast Down, Gixian Infiltrator.

• Medium keep: Keep slower hands when the mana is real and the hand has a clear turn-two or turn-three branch. Examples: Twisted Landscape, Drossforge Bridge, Forest, Ichor Wellspring, Eviscerator's Insight, Refurbished Familiar, Writhing Chrysalis is acceptable if the opponent is not presenting immediate speed; Swamp, Slagwoods Bridge, Nihil Spellbomb, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, Cast Down, Cleansing Wildfire is acceptable because it has interaction and redraws.

• Risky keep: Keep one-land hands only when the land casts a relevant early spell and the hand has multiple legal redraw or fixing paths. A one-land Vault of Whispers hand with Nihil Spellbomb, Lembas, Ichor Wellspring, and no second mana is a gamble, not a default keep; a one-land Drossforge Bridge hand with no one-mana action and no Twisted Landscape is usually too slow.

• Automatic ship: Mulligan hands with no lands, hands with only off-color mana for all early spells, and hands that cannot affect the game before turn three. Ship hands that are all payoff and no engine, such as Writhing Chrysalis, Writhing Chrysalis, Refurbished Familiar, Eviscerator's Insight, Fanatical Offering, Cast Down, one unusable land.

• Matchup-dependent keep: Keep Krark-Clan Shaman plus artifacts more highly against wide creature decks, but do not keep a hand that cannot supply red or sacrifice material. Keep Nihil Spellbomb more highly against visible graveyard decks, but avoid hands where Nihil Spellbomb is the only early action against fast combat pressure.

• Post-board keep: Value the sideboard card only when the mana and matchup make it castable in time. Weather the Storm requires credible green and time; Breath Weapon needs red before wide boards snowball; Terminate needs black-red; Duress needs early black; Faerie Macabre can justify a slower keep only when graveyard pressure is central; Ancient Grudge and Troublemaker Ouphe need artifact targets to matter.

• Play/draw adjustment: On the play, prefer hands that develop mana and artifacts before the opponent establishes pressure. On the draw, require either early Cast Down, Krark-Clan Shaman, Nihil Spellbomb in the right matchup, or a strong card-flow engine, because the opponent gets the first tempo claim.

• Trap hand: Do not keep a hand because it has many powerful names if it lacks sacrifice fodder, colors, or time. Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Refurbished Familiar, Writhing Chrysalis, Krark-Clan Shaman, Mountain, Forest is a trap when black mana and expendable material are missing.

Turn Arc

• Turn 1: Prefer a tapped bridge land when no same-turn action matters, especially Drossforge Bridge or Slagwoods Bridge for color setup and artifact count. Lead Swamp, Vault of Whispers, Mountain, or Forest instead when the hand has a legal Nihil Spellbomb, urgent sideboard one-drop, or a plan that needs untapped mana immediately.

• Turn 1 deviation: Use Twisted Landscape planning early when the hand is missing a key color, but do not spend fixing tempo if a visible fast board requires immediate Cast Down, Krark-Clan Shaman, or Lembas development. Against graveyard decks, prioritize a legal Nihil Spellbomb line before low-impact tapped setup.

• Turn 2: Prefer establishing the engine with Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Gixian Infiltrator, or Cleansing Wildfire when the board is not threatening. Prefer Cast Down over setup when a visible creature will dominate combat, enable an opposing engine, or push life total into a short clock.

• Turn 2 deviation: Use Cleansing Wildfire as fixing only when the legal target and resulting mana improve turns three and four. Delay it when spending the turn on card replacement fails to answer a creature that Cast Down can remove or fails to establish red for Krark-Clan Shaman in time.

• Turn 3: Convert expendable artifacts into cards when the battlefield allows it. Strong turn-three patterns include Ichor Wellspring plus Fanatical Offering, Lembas into sacrifice draw, Gixian Infiltrator plus an artifact-leaving line if legal, or holding mana for Cast Down while developing a cheap artifact.

• Turn 3 deviation: Deploy Krark-Clan Shaman when its presence changes combat or threatens a future sweep, not merely because it is castable. Hold or sequence sacrifice actions so the engine does not consume the artifact needed for Refurbished Familiar, Nihil Spellbomb, or a relevant Krark-Clan Shaman activation window.

• Turns 4-5: Turn the corner with Writhing Chrysalis, Refurbished Familiar, larger Gixian Infiltrator pressure, or a two-spell turn that combines removal with card flow. Use Eviscerator's Insight and Fanatical Offering after stabilizing unless sacrificing a doomed or low-impact permanent is the line that prevents a worse attack.

• Turns 4-5 deviation: Fire Krark-Clan Shaman or Cast Down before value when visible attacks threaten lethal, a short clock, or a board state that will invalidate later card advantage. Use Makeshift Munitions only when the legal action converts expendable material into meaningful damage, removal, or reach without sacrificing a necessary stabilizer.

• Late game: Prioritize inevitability through repeated card conversion, clean removal, and durable threats. Preserve Nihil Spellbomb for relevant graveyard windows, keep enough artifacts for sacrifice and pressure lines, and choose attacks that maintain blockers unless the visible board shows a clear race advantage or lethal setup.

Card Roles

• Cleansing Wildfire: Use Cleansing Wildfire primarily as fixing, ramp, and redraw by targeting your own indestructible artifact land when the engine offers that legal target. Prefer targets like Drossforge Bridge, Slagwoods Bridge, or Vault of Whispers when the land survives or the exchange still improves colors; avoid targeting an opponent land unless the visible land is strategically important and the replacement basic does not help them more than the disruption helps you.

• Lembas: Cast Lembas early when you need smoothing, artifact count, or sacrifice fodder, and hold it when spending mana on food-like value would leave a must-answer creature unchecked. It is excellent material for Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Gixian Infiltrator, and Makeshift Munitions after its entry value is gained; do not cash it in merely to use mana if the artifact body is needed for affinity, sacrifice, or a future Krark-Clan Shaman line.

• Fanatical Offering: Treat Fanatical Offering as the main instant-speed conversion spell for artifacts, expendable creatures, or doomed permanents. Prioritize sacrificing Ichor Wellspring, spent Lembas, redundant Nihil Spellbomb, tokens, or a creature already losing combat; avoid sacrificing Krark-Clan Shaman, Gixian Infiltrator, or a needed artifact land unless survival, lethal, or a decisive card-flow turn requires it.

• Krark-Clan Shaman: Use Krark-Clan Shaman as a board-control card first and a body second. Deploy it against wide creature pressure when red mana and sacrifice material are available, but do not expose it early into removal if the current battlefield does not require the sweep threat. Preserve expendable artifacts for its activation when small creatures matter; avoid sweeping away your own Gixian Infiltrator or stabilizing blockers unless the damage math or survival need justifies it.

• Refurbished Familiar: Cast Refurbished Familiar when artifact count makes it efficient or when discard pressures an opponent already low on cards. It is a stabilizer and evasive threat in attrition games, but do not force it ahead of removal when a visible attacker will shorten the clock. Against graveyard or artifact decks, its body matters less than sequencing Nihil Spellbomb, Cast Down, Ancient Grudge, or Troublemaker Ouphe in time.

• Nihil Spellbomb: Play Nihil Spellbomb early when graveyard access is central or when you need a cheap artifact for count and sacrifice. Hold activation until the opponent commits relevant graveyard value, unless cycling it is necessary to hit land, find removal, or unlock a lethal/stabilizing turn. Do not sacrifice or crack it for low-impact redraw when the opponent’s public graveyard already threatens recursion, delve, flashback, reanimation, or threshold-style pressure.

• Ichor Wellspring: Use Ichor Wellspring as the cleanest sacrifice target in the deck. Cast it to bridge into Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Krark-Clan Shaman, Makeshift Munitions, or Gixian Infiltrator growth, and prefer sacrificing it over lands or active creatures. The common mistake is leaving it unused while passing with sacrifice spells stranded; the opposite mistake is sacrificing it before you know whether mana, removal, or graveyard hate is the real bottleneck.

• Writhing Chrysalis: Treat Writhing Chrysalis as the main battlefield stabilizer and late-game pressure card. Cast it when it blocks profitably, creates material, or turns the corner; hold it only when interaction must be represented or when mana colors are not secure. Card text check required for exact token and growth details, so choose lines from visible engine output rather than assuming a specific trigger outcome.

• Gixian Infiltrator: Develop Gixian Infiltrator when you expect repeated sacrifices or artifact conversions over the next turn cycle. It rewards normal deck actions from Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Krark-Clan Shaman, Nihil Spellbomb, and Makeshift Munitions, but it should not be treated as mandatory early pressure against removal-heavy decks. In combat, attack only when growing it or trading damage does not give up a needed blocker.

• Makeshift Munitions: Use Makeshift Munitions as a late-game reach and board-control engine, not as a low-impact mana sink. Commit it when you have expendable artifacts, tokens, or spent value permanents and the visible board makes repeated damage relevant. Avoid sacrificing mana-critical artifact lands or unique engine pieces unless the damage removes a key threat, protects survival, or creates lethal.

• Cast Down: Save Cast Down for creatures that dominate combat, enable an opposing engine, or shorten the clock beyond your card-advantage plan. Cast it early against must-answer threats, but hold it when Krark-Clan Shaman can cover the board or when a larger creature is likely from public archetype cues. Do not spend it just to use mana if blocking, sweeping, or racing is already favorable.

• Eviscerator's Insight: Use Eviscerator's Insight as the slower sacrifice-draw complement to Fanatical Offering. Prefer sacrificing Ichor Wellspring, spent Lembas, tokens, or low-value permanents, and use bargain or graveyard-related modes only when the engine’s legal action text confirms them. Card text check required for exact additional-cost and graveyard-use details; keep tactical choices conditional on visible legal actions.

• Drossforge Bridge: Prioritize Drossforge Bridge as black-red fixing, artifact count, and a strong Cleansing Wildfire target. It supports Cast Down, Fanatical Offering, Krark-Clan Shaman, Makeshift Munitions, Terminate, Breath Weapon, Duress, and Ancient Grudge lines; avoid tapping it casually when both black interaction and red sweeper mana may be needed.

• Slagwoods Bridge: Use Slagwoods Bridge to secure red-green access for Cleansing Wildfire, Krark-Clan Shaman, Writhing Chrysalis, Weather the Storm, Breath Weapon, and Ancient Grudge. It is one of the best setup lands when black is already covered, but hands relying on it alone may fail to cast black interaction on time.

• Twisted Landscape: Treat Twisted Landscape as flexible fixing first and a land drop second. Plan its use around missing colors, especially early black for Cast Down and Fanatical Offering, red for Krark-Clan Shaman, and green for Writhing Chrysalis or Weather the Storm. Do not spend its fixing tempo when a current legal spell already stabilizes the board.

• Vault of Whispers: Value Vault of Whispers as untapped black artifact mana that enables early Nihil Spellbomb, Cast Down, Duress, Fanatical Offering, and artifact-count plays. Preserve it when black is scarce; sacrifice it only when the land is redundant and the sacrifice line materially advances survival, lethal, or a decisive draw turn.

• Swamp: Use Swamp to anchor early black decisions. It makes one-mana and two-mana interaction reliable, protects against awkward bridge-only openings, and lets Twisted Landscape fetch other colors later. In sideboard games, early Swamp increases the reliability of Duress, Terminate, and black sacrifice-draw turns.

• Mountain: Use Mountain when red timing matters more than artifact count. It supports Krark-Clan Shaman, Cleansing Wildfire, Makeshift Munitions, Breath Weapon, Terminate, and Ancient Grudge; prioritize fetching or playing it when wide boards or artifact removal windows are expected.

• Forest: Use Forest to make green payoffs and sideboard life-gain live. It supports Writhing Chrysalis, Weather the Storm, Ancient Grudge flashback if legal, and green branches from Twisted Landscape planning. Do not over-prioritize it over black or red if the hand needs removal before stabilizing.

Interaction Priorities

• Priority: Remove the card that changes the next combat step or engine turn, not the card that is merely cast first. Use Cast Down and post-board Terminate on creatures that invalidate blocking, generate repeated advantage, enable a combo, or create a two-turn clock; let small attackers trade with tokens, Refurbished Familiar, Gixian Infiltrator, or Writhing Chrysalis when life is stable.

• Priority: Use Krark-Clan Shaman as the first answer to wide creature boards when the rules engine shows a legal sweep line and your sacrificed artifacts are expendable. Prefer feeding it Ichor Wellspring, spent Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb with no important graveyard target, or redundant artifacts; avoid sacrificing mana-critical Drossforge Bridge, Slagwoods Bridge, or Vault of Whispers unless the wipe prevents lethal or wins the board.

• Priority: Hold Nihil Spellbomb activation for graveyard cards that matter now or will matter before your next turn. Exile first against reanimation, flashback, delve, recursion, or graveyard-count threats; cycle only when the opponent’s graveyard is low-impact and you need land, removal, or a stabilizer. Against decks where the graveyard is incidental, Nihil Spellbomb becomes sacrifice fuel and redraw rather than a protected lock piece.

• Priority: Post-board graveyard interaction splits by timing: Faerie Macabre is for windows where mana or stack exposure matters, while Nihil Spellbomb is for visible, repeatable graveyard pressure. Use Faerie Macabre on named graveyard targets only when the legal action text confirms the target cards; do not spend it on filler cards unless the opponent’s public line depends on graveyard quantity.

• Priority: Against artifact engines, answer the permanent that produces repeated mana, cards, or lethal pressure before cosmetic artifact count. Use Ancient Grudge, Troublemaker Ouphe, Cast Down, Terminate, Krark-Clan Shaman, or Makeshift Munitions according to legal actions and visible targets. Card text check required for exact Troublemaker Ouphe and Breath Weapon modes, so rely on engine-listed actions before assuming which artifacts or creatures they affect.

• Priority: Use Duress to take the card that beats your current hand, not the highest-cost spell by default. Take sweepers or removal when protecting Gixian Infiltrator, Writhing Chrysalis, or Makeshift Munitions matters; take combo pieces, card draw, or artifact hate when your board is already stable. If the revealed hand contains no immediate problem, choose the card that blocks your next two-turn plan.

• Bait: Lead with Lembas, Ichor Wellspring, Nihil Spellbomb, or Refurbished Familiar when you can afford the exchange and want opposing removal or permission spent before Writhing Chrysalis, Makeshift Munitions, or a key sacrifice-draw turn. Do not bait with Gixian Infiltrator if it is your only blocker or your best clock against a slow opponent.

• Ignore: Ignore creatures that are blanked by a visible blocker, artifacts that do not affect mana/cards/damage, and graveyard cards without a legal or likely payoff. Preserve Cast Down, Terminate, Ancient Grudge, and Nihil Spellbomb for cards that change the game’s resource axis.

Combat And Trading Rules

• Priority: Stabilize before racing when life is under pressure or the opponent can present lethal across two attacks. Keep Writhing Chrysalis, Refurbished Familiar, and grown Gixian Infiltrator back when they block profitably; attack only when damage advances a clock without opening a lethal or high-risk crack-back.

• Priority: Trade expendable bodies and artifacts for time when your hand contains Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Ichor Wellspring, Krark-Clan Shaman, or Makeshift Munitions. A creature or artifact that replaces itself or fuels sacrifice is easier to spend than a color source, a unique engine, or the only blocker for a large attacker.

• Priority: Preserve Gixian Infiltrator when future sacrifice triggers can make it dominate combat. Do not attack it into obvious trades when your next legal lines include Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Nihil Spellbomb, Ichor Wellspring, Krark-Clan Shaman, or Makeshift Munitions; do trade it when survival or removing an evasive clock matters more than future growth.

• Priority: Treat Writhing Chrysalis as both stabilizer and turn-corner threat. Block with it when it absorbs the opponent’s best attack or forces an unfavorable exchange; attack with it when the remaining blockers and removal keep life safe. Card text check required for exact token and growth details, so do not assume unshown combat math beyond visible power, toughness, counters, and legal actions.

• Priority: Use Makeshift Munitions to finish damaged creatures, punish chump blocks, or convert stalled artifacts into lethal reach. Avoid sacrificing lands or engine artifacts for small damage unless it removes a must-answer creature, prevents lethal, or creates exact lethal shown by legal actions.

• Life thresholds: Above roughly 12 life, prefer card advantage and development unless the opponent’s board shows a fast clock. From 8 to 12, favor blocks and removal that reduce next-turn attack power. Below 8, preserve blockers, represent Cast Down or Terminate when legal, and treat Weather the Storm as a stabilization card only if the engine exposes a meaningful life-gain action.

• Archetype shift: Against aggro and go-wide decks, block earlier, value Krark-Clan Shaman and Breath Weapon, and trade cards for life. Against control, attack with resilient pressure, protect sacrifice engines, and avoid overcommitting into sweepers. Against combo or graveyard decks, shorten the clock while preserving Nihil Spellbomb, Faerie Macabre, Duress, and relevant removal for the decisive window.

Selection And Tutor Rules

• Selection: Treat this deck as a pseudo-selection deck, not a true tutor deck. It finds specific effects by drawing extra cards with Ichor Wellspring, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, and Cleansing Wildfire, while Twisted Landscape and Cleansing Wildfire mainly fix mana when the rules engine exposes legal land-search actions.

• Scry: Use Lembas scry to solve the next bottleneck, not to chase abstract value. Keep lands when missing the next color or a third/fourth mana source; keep Cast Down, Krark-Clan Shaman, or post-board Breath Weapon when under creature pressure; keep Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Ichor Wellspring, or Refurbished Familiar when stable and resource-light; bottom slow duplicates when the visible board requires immediate interaction.

• Draw timing: Draw before committing flexible plays when the new card can change land drop, removal target, or sacrifice sequencing. If you have not made a land drop and can legally cash in Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, or Nihil Spellbomb, prefer drawing first unless waiting protects a response window or sacrifice target.

• Sacrifice selection: Spend artifacts and creatures that replace themselves or have low current board value before sacrificing colored mana sources or unique engines. Ichor Wellspring is the preferred sacrifice object when legal because it converts sacrifice into cards; spent Lembas, low-impact Nihil Spellbomb, and expendable bodies are next. Preserve Drossforge Bridge, Slagwoods Bridge, and Vault of Whispers unless sacrificing a land prevents lethal, enables a decisive Krark-Clan Shaman sweep, or wins immediately.

• Land search: Use Twisted Landscape and Cleansing Wildfire search choices to complete functional colors first: black for Cast Down, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Refurbished Familiar, and Nihil Spellbomb redraws; red for Cleansing Wildfire, Krark-Clan Shaman, Makeshift Munitions, Breath Weapon, Terminate, and Ancient Grudge; green for Writhing Chrysalis, Weather the Storm, Troublemaker Ouphe, and Ancient Grudge flashback if the engine confirms it. Card text check required for exact Twisted Landscape search restrictions, so choose only among legal basics or land options shown by Forge.

• Cleansing Wildfire: Target your own indestructible artifact land only when the legal action exists and the exchange advances mana, cards, or color access. Prefer Drossforge Bridge or Slagwoods Bridge when destroying it will not reduce available colors in a damaging way; target an opposing land only when the visible land matters more than your own ramp/draw plan.

• Graveyard selection: Use Nihil Spellbomb and Faerie Macabre on graveyard cards whose names are visible and whose removal changes the next stack, combat, or recursion window. Do not exile the opponent’s graveyard just to use mana if the graveyard threat is likely to grow before your next priority.

Priority And Stack Rules

• Priority: Pass through empty priority windows when no legal instant-speed action improves survival, mana, cards, or pressure. Explain the pass by naming what you are declining, especially unused Cast Down, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Nihil Spellbomb, Krark-Clan Shaman, Makeshift Munitions, Faerie Macabre, Terminate, Weather the Storm, or Ancient Grudge actions.

• Removal windows: Use Cast Down and post-board Terminate at the latest safe point before damage, trigger resolution, combo execution, or a value engine untaps. Let low-impact creatures resolve when Krark-Clan Shaman, blockers, or future sweepers answer them more efficiently; kill creatures immediately when haste, sacrifice value, aura/equipment timing, or a visible trigger would make waiting worse.

• Sacrifice-draw windows: Hold Fanatical Offering and Eviscerator's Insight for response value when an artifact or creature is targeted by removal, would die in combat, or can be converted before a sweeper resolves. Cast them proactively only when digging for land, removal, Krark-Clan Shaman, Writhing Chrysalis, or sideboard interaction is more important than preserving the response window. Card text check required for exact Eviscerator's Insight bargain/flashback behavior, so follow engine-listed costs and targets.

• Stack discipline: Let opposing spells resolve when your available response does not change the resolved board or when the response is better saved for the next permanent, graveyard action, or combat step. Respond to spells that create lethal, remove your only stabilizer, invalidate Nihil Spellbomb, or put a must-answer trigger on the stack.

• Graveyard timing: Activate Nihil Spellbomb or use Faerie Macabre before the opponent can pay a graveyard cost, choose a graveyard target, or resolve a recursion spell. If the opponent casts a spell that targets graveyard cards, respond while those targets are still visible on the stack; if no target is shown, wait until the engine exposes a legal, meaningful exile action.

• Combat tricks: Use Krark-Clan Shaman before combat damage when a sweep changes attacks, blocks, or lethal math; use it after blocks only when your blockers have already generated value or the sacrifice count creates a better exchange. Use Makeshift Munitions to finish creatures after damage is marked, punish removal aimed at disposable artifacts, or create exact lethal shown by legal actions.

• Life-gain timing: Cast Weather the Storm after visible spells have increased its effect when survival depends on life total. Do not hold it past a lethal combat or burn window merely for more value; Card text check required for exact storm handling, so trust the engine’s displayed life-gain action and stack context.

• Artifact hate timing: Use Ancient Grudge in response to activation, equip, sacrifice setup, or lethal artifact combat when the legal target is visible. Deploy Troublemaker Ouphe only when its engine-shown effect disrupts the opponent more than it constrains your own Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Makeshift Munitions, artifact lands, and sacrifice lines.

Sideboard Map

• Sideboard principle: Change roles by matchup, not by card novelty. Jund Gardens wins long games by converting Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, expendable creatures, and artifact lands into cards, mana, sweepers, and pressure, so sideboarding should preserve enough artifacts and sacrifice fodder for Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Krark-Clan Shaman, Refurbished Familiar, Gixian Infiltrator, and Makeshift Munitions to remain live.

• Creature-swarm plan: Add role cards: Breath Weapon, Terminate, and sometimes Weather the Storm when the opponent presents many small creatures, haste pressure, tokens, or go-wide combat. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow graveyard-only pressure, redundant setup artifacts, and low-impact card flow when the visible matchup is decided before extra cards matter.

• Artifact-engine plan: Add role cards: Ancient Grudge, Troublemaker Ouphe, and sometimes Terminate when the opponent relies on artifact creatures, artifact mana, equipment, Blood token-style resources, or artifact sacrifice engines. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow draw pieces and narrow graveyard hate when the opponent’s battlefield artifacts, not graveyard, are the engine.

• Graveyard-combo plan: Add role cards: Faerie Macabre, Duress, and keep or increase the tactical importance of Nihil Spellbomb when the opponent uses graveyard targets, recursion, dredge-like engines, reanimation, flashback, or threshold-style payoffs. Reduce main-deck emphasis: sorcery-speed creature removal when the visible opponent is light on creatures and graveyard timing is the real axis.

• Spell-combo and control plan: Add role cards: Duress, Faerie Macabre if graveyards matter, and Weather the Storm if the opponent chains spells into burn or storm-like damage. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature sweepers with no visible targets, extra spot removal against low-creature lists, and slow board-only pressure when a single stack turn decides the game.

• Burn and fast-red plan: Add role cards: Weather the Storm, Breath Weapon when small attackers matter, and Terminate for larger threats that survive Krark-Clan Shaman math. Reduce main-deck emphasis: painful or slow card flow, graveyard hate without visible text relevance, and setup lines that spend early turns without affecting life total, blockers, or removal.

• Midrange mirror plan: Add role cards: Terminate, Duress, Ancient Grudge if artifacts are visible, and Faerie Macabre if graveyard recursion is visible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow sweepers when the opponent plays few creatures and low-impact graveyard hate when no graveyard card has mattered.

• Troublemaker Ouphe: Bring Troublemaker Ouphe against artifact-heavy opponents when the engine shows it disrupts opposing artifacts more than your own artifact lands, Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Makeshift Munitions, and sacrifice sequencing. Card text check required for exact rules text, so treat this as a commitment-gate card: cast it only after comparing visible opposing artifact dependence against your own next-turn artifact actions. It is bad when your hand needs artifact activations, artifact sacrifice fodder, or indestructible artifact lands for Cleansing Wildfire more than the opponent needs their artifacts. Its role changes from hate permanent to liability if the opponent sideboards away from artifacts or if your visible hand contains multiple artifact-dependent engines.

• Breath Weapon: Bring Breath Weapon against small-creature pressure, token boards, Faeries-style flyers, red go-wide starts, and battlefield states where a sweeper stabilizes before Writhing Chrysalis or Refurbished Familiar can dominate. Card text check required for exact damage, timing, and creature restrictions, so use only the legal engine action shown and do not assume it kills every creature. It is bad against large single threats, creature-light control, and boards where Krark-Clan Shaman already answers the same creatures at lower strategic cost. Its role changes after stabilization: hold it as insurance if the opponent rebuilds wide, but do not strand mana forever when Cast Down or Terminate answers the only relevant creature.

• Faerie Macabre: Bring Faerie Macabre against visible graveyard targets, recursion decks, Dread Return-style payoff plans, flashback-heavy strategies, and control decks that reuse graveyard resources. Card text check required for exact activation and target count, so choose only visible graveyard cards offered by the engine. It is bad when the opponent’s graveyard is incidental and their primary threats are battlefield artifacts, burn, or noncreature spells with no graveyard dependency. Its role changes from proactive hate to stack-speed interruption once the opponent exposes a graveyard target; prefer waiting for a target window unless the opponent can act before your next priority.

• Terminate: Bring Terminate against creature decks with threats that matter more than card-flow setup: large creatures, must-kill utility creatures, threats that survive Breath Weapon, and creatures that make waiting on Krark-Clan Shaman unsafe. Card text check required for exact restrictions, so trust Forge target legality. It is bad when the opponent has few creatures or primarily wins through lands, artifacts, graveyard spells, or noncreature stack sequences. Its role changes from removal supplement to premium answer when Cast Down misses a legal target, when red mana is stable, or when a creature must die before combat or a trigger.

• Duress: Bring Duress against control, combo, burn, heavy removal, sweepers, and spell-based engines where seeing and taking one noncreature spell changes the next turn cycle. Card text check required for exact target restrictions, so choose only a legal revealed card. It is bad against creature-dense aggressive decks where the opponent’s strongest cards are creatures and your early mana must answer the board. Its role changes after reveal: use the information to sequence Cleansing Wildfire, Fanatical Offering, Writhing Chrysalis, and removal around known interaction, but never act as though unrevealed cards are known.

• Weather the Storm: Bring Weather the Storm against burn, storm-like spell chains, fast red starts, and any deck where life total is the bottleneck. Card text check required for exact storm count and life-gain amount, so rely on the engine’s stack and legal action output. It is bad against slow control without burn pressure, artifact decks where Ancient Grudge matters more, and graveyard combo where life gain does not stop the payoff. Its role changes from emergency survival to race-breaker when Gixian Infiltrator, Writhing Chrysalis, or Refurbished Familiar can win if you survive one more turn.

• Ancient Grudge: Bring Ancient Grudge against artifact lands, artifact creatures, equipment, artifact mana, sacrifice artifacts, and engines where destroying one artifact changes combat, mana, or recursion. Card text check required for exact flashback cost and target restrictions, so use the legal target and payment choices shown by Forge. It is bad when the opponent has few meaningful artifacts or when your mana cannot reliably support the displayed cost. Its role changes from tempo interaction to resource engine if the engine exposes multiple legal uses across turns; preserve green mana when flashback or a later legal graveyard action is visible.

• Balanced anti-artifact plan: Use this as a starting plan only when the opponent is clearly artifact-centric and does not present a faster graveyard or burn kill. Side in: 2 Ancient Grudge, 1 Troublemaker Ouphe, 2 Terminate Cut: 2 Eviscerator's Insight, 1 Makeshift Munitions, 2 Nihil Spellbomb

• Balanced anti-burn or fast-red plan: Use this as a starting plan when the opponent pressures life total with burn plus small creatures. Side in: 3 Weather the Storm, 2 Breath Weapon, 2 Terminate Cut: 3 Nihil Spellbomb, 2 Eviscerator's Insight, 2 Cleansing Wildfire

• Balanced graveyard-combo plan: Use this as a starting plan when the opponent’s visible or known plan depends on graveyard cards resolving or remaining available. Side in: 3 Faerie Macabre, 2 Duress Cut: 3 Krark-Clan Shaman, 2 Cast Down

Matchup Guidance

• Aggro: Stabilize first against creature-heavy starts by preserving life total, removing the creature that changes the next combat most, and using Krark-Clan Shaman only when the legal activation meaningfully reduces incoming damage or converts expendable artifacts into survival. Keep hands with early black or red interaction, artifact fodder, and a path to Writhing Chrysalis; slow hands built only around Cleansing Wildfire and draw spells are risky if they cannot affect combat. Add role cards: Breath Weapon, Terminate, and sometimes Weather the Storm if the aggro deck includes burn reach. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Nihil Spellbomb, slow Eviscerator's Insight, and durdly Cleansing Wildfire lines when the board is already dangerous.

• Control: Become the engine deck against removal, counters, and sweepers by making every threat or sacrifice artifact demand an answer. Sequence Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, and Eviscerator's Insight so removal trades do not empty your hand, and avoid committing Writhing Chrysalis, Gixian Infiltrator, and Refurbished Familiar all into one known sweeper window. Cleansing Wildfire is valuable when it fixes mana and pulls ahead without exposing a creature. Add role cards: Duress for hand information and protection, Faerie Macabre if the control deck reuses graveyard cards, and Ancient Grudge only if artifacts are visible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: excess creature sweepers and spot removal when few targets matter.

• Combo: Identify the resource the combo needs before spending interaction: hand, graveyard, battlefield artifact, creature, mana, or time. Use Duress to break protected hands, Faerie Macabre and Nihil Spellbomb to contest graveyard setups, Cast Down or Terminate for creature-dependent combo pieces, and Ancient Grudge for artifact-dependent engines. Do not cash in graveyard hate for a card unless the graveyard is irrelevant or a later window is unlikely; the main value is preventing the payoff from resolving. Pressure with Refurbished Familiar, Gixian Infiltrator, and Writhing Chrysalis once disruption buys time. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow removal or sweepers that do not hit the visible combo axis.

• Tempo: Trade mana efficiently and deny snowball turns against decks using cheap threats plus protection or bounce. Prioritize legal actions that answer the threat while the opponent is tapped low, and prefer developing Slagwoods Bridge, Drossforge Bridge, Vault of Whispers, or Twisted Landscape only when it does not skip a needed interaction window. Refurbished Familiar is strong when affinity makes it cheap enough to double-spell, while Fanatical Offering can be too slow if it sacrifices board presence before combat. Add role cards: Duress against counter-heavy tempo, Terminate against oversized threats, and Breath Weapon against small flyers or token pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: expensive card draw when under immediate pressure.

• Midrange: Win by making your material more recyclable than theirs. Favor Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, and Cleansing Wildfire lines that leave you with more cards after trades, and use Cast Down on creatures that dominate combat rather than the first legal target. Gixian Infiltrator rewards sacrifice-heavy turns but should not be exposed as the only plan if a visible removal-heavy pattern is likely. Add role cards: Terminate for larger creatures, Duress for planes of interaction or removal, and Faerie Macabre if graveyard recursion is part of their attrition plan. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Krark-Clan Shaman when both boards are mostly large creatures or when artifacts are more valuable as draw fodder.

• Big Mana: Pressure early while using Cleansing Wildfire and discard effects to keep pace with large plays. Do not rely on one-for-one removal alone if the opponent is building toward threats larger than your battlefield; establish Writhing Chrysalis, grow Gixian Infiltrator, or deploy Refurbished Familiar while still holding the interaction that stops the first decisive threat. Twisted Landscape and artifact bridges matter because color reliability lets you double-spell before big mana stabilizes. Add role cards: Duress for payoff spells, Terminate for large creatures, Ancient Grudge if artifact mana is visible, and Troublemaker Ouphe only when its legal text and battlefield impact hurt their artifacts more than your own engine. Reduce main-deck emphasis: small sweepers and graveyard hate without targets.

• Graveyard: Treat graveyard hate as interaction, not filler. Hold Nihil Spellbomb or Faerie Macabre for a window where the opponent has committed a visible graveyard resource, unless the engine shows an immediate legal action that must be taken before priority is lost. Duress helps identify whether the graveyard plan is protected by noncreature spells. Maintain a clock with Refurbished Familiar and Writhing Chrysalis so hate does not merely delay them. Add role cards: Faerie Macabre, Duress, and sometimes Terminate if the graveyard deck needs a creature on board. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Krark-Clan Shaman and Cast Down only when their creatures are incidental or replaceable.

• Artifact/Enchantment: Attack the permanent engine without disabling your own plan unnecessarily. Use Ancient Grudge on artifacts that supply mana, cards, lethal combat, or combo access, and evaluate Troublemaker Ouphe as a commitment gate because your own Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Makeshift Munitions, artifact lands, and sacrifice lines can be affected depending on exact card text. Card text check required for Troublemaker Ouphe and any enchantment-specific answer because the sideboard has no broad enchantment removal named here. Add role cards: Ancient Grudge, Troublemaker Ouphe, Duress for noncreature engines, and Terminate only if artifact creatures are the pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: removal that cannot target the relevant permanent type.

• Go-Wide: Prioritize sweep timing over maximum value when the next attack threatens a large life swing. Krark-Clan Shaman converts spare artifacts into repeated battlefield control, but preserve enough artifacts for Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Refurbished Familiar, and Cleansing Wildfire unless survival requires the sacrifice. Breath Weapon is a key sideboard role card against small creature boards, with exact damage and restrictions governed by the legal engine action. Add role cards: Breath Weapon, Terminate for the anthem or largest creature, and Weather the Storm when go-wide pressure is backed by burn. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow graveyard hate and low-impact card draw while behind.

• Single-Threat: Save premium removal for the threat that actually wins combat or enables the opponent's plan. Cast Down and Terminate are more important than sweepers here, and Krark-Clan Shaman should not consume artifacts unless it changes the specific threat matchup or clears support creatures. Build a board that can attack after the answer resolves; otherwise one removal spell only resets the clock. Add role cards: Terminate, Duress if the threat is protected by spells, and Faerie Macabre if the threat returns from the graveyard. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Breath Weapon and broad sweeper plans unless small support creatures matter.

• Burn: Treat life total as the bottleneck and avoid unnecessary pain from slow, tap-out value lines. Weather the Storm is the premier sideboard role card; use it when the engine shows a legal action that gains enough life to change the race, especially after multiple spells are on the stack or already cast this turn. Lembas may matter as life buffer if its legal activation is available, but card text check required for exact Food activation timing and cost. Add role cards: Weather the Storm, Duress, Breath Weapon for small creatures, and Terminate for high-damage creatures. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Nihil Spellbomb, slow Eviscerator's Insight, and self-contained value lines that do not affect life or board.

• Removal-Heavy: Make removal awkward by prioritizing artifacts, sacrifice value, and threats that leave behind pressure or cards. Cast Gixian Infiltrator when you can grow it through legal sacrifice actions or force them to answer before your draw engine continues; deploy Writhing Chrysalis and Refurbished Familiar in a sequence that avoids losing all pressure to one answer. Fanatical Offering can punish removal if the engine exposes a legal sacrifice response, but do not assume timing unless the action appears. Add role cards: Duress for removal and sweepers, Faerie Macabre only if graveyard recursion matters, and Terminate for opposing finishers. Reduce main-deck emphasis: sweepers and narrow hate that do not tax their removal plan.

Specific Matchup Notes

• General/archetype-only note: Treat these notes as matchup heuristics until Veles shows exact revealed cards, legal actions, and public board state. Revealed cards override archetype assumptions, and every removal, graveyard-hate, sacrifice, or priority decision must be chosen from the current rules-engine action list.

• Red Rally / Burn-leaning Aggro: Protect life total before grinding for maximum cards. Add role cards: Weather the Storm, Breath Weapon, Duress, and Terminate when visible creatures are the damage engine. Priority targets are repeat damage creatures, pump effects, and spells that convert a wide board into lethal. Krark-Clan Shaman is excellent when small creatures matter, but do not spend artifacts that are required to stabilize with Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, or Lembas unless the next attack is the immediate problem.

• Dimir Faeries / Terror: Respect open mana and graveyard sizing while building a durable board. Add role cards: Duress, Faerie Macabre, and Terminate. Priority targets are Tolarian Terror-style large threats if visible, evasive creatures that carry the clock, and counterspell windows that stop Writhing Chrysalis or Refurbished Familiar. Use Nihil Spellbomb or Faerie Macabre when the graveyard resource is visible and relevant; do not fire hate only to cycle unless the hand needs action and the opponent is not using graveyard thresholds.

• Tron / Big-Mana Control: Commit pressure before the opponent’s mana advantage becomes decisive. Add role cards: Duress, Terminate, Ancient Grudge if artifact mana is visible, and Troublemaker Ouphe only after checking that its legal effect harms their artifacts more than your own artifact engine. Priority targets are mana artifacts, payoff creatures, fog or removal engines, and card-advantage spells exposed by Duress. Cleansing Wildfire can fix your mana or interact with lands only as legal text allows; do not assume land destruction value unless the action and target are legal.

• Grixis Affinity / Artifact Midrange: Fight the artifact engine while preserving your own sacrifice core. Add role cards: Ancient Grudge, Troublemaker Ouphe, Terminate, and sometimes Breath Weapon if small artifact creatures are visible. Priority targets are artifacts that generate mana, cards, lethal bodies, or sacrifice loops. Card text check required for Troublemaker Ouphe in any line that might disable Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Makeshift Munitions, artifact lands, or food-style actions.

• Food Gardens / Midrange Mirror: Win by making every exchange leave material behind. Add role cards: Duress, Terminate, Faerie Macabre if graveyard recursion appears, and Ancient Grudge if artifacts define their engine. Priority targets are opposing sacrifice payoffs, durable closers, and engines that outdraw Ichor Wellspring plus Fanatical Offering. Keep Writhing Chrysalis and Gixian Infiltrator as closer pressure, but avoid sacrificing the last relevant blocker when life total is the bottleneck.

• Spy / Graveyard Combo: Apply a clock while holding graveyard interaction for the committed window. Add role cards: Faerie Macabre, Duress, Nihil Spellbomb already in main deck, and Terminate only when a visible creature is part of the combo or backup plan. Priority targets are self-mill payoff creatures, reanimation targets, and noncreature setup spells revealed by discard. Use hate after the opponent commits graveyard resources when possible, but act earlier if the legal-action window shows priority may be lost.

Risk Summary

• Mana risk: The deck needs black for Cast Down, Fanatical Offering, and Eviscerator's Insight, red for Krark-Clan Shaman, Cleansing Wildfire, Makeshift Munitions, and Ancient Grudge, and green for Writhing Chrysalis and Weather the Storm. Bad sequencing with Slagwoods Bridge, Drossforge Bridge, Vault of Whispers, Twisted Landscape, and basics can strand double-spell turns.

• Matchup risk: Fast decks punish tap-land openings and slow artifact cycling. Big-mana and control decks punish hands that draw cards without deploying Refurbished Familiar, Gixian Infiltrator, or Writhing Chrysalis pressure.

• Draw risk: Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, and Eviscerator's Insight can create air if the sacrificed artifact or creature was needed for board stability. Draw actions are lower priority when the visible battlefield demands removal, blocking, or life gain.

• Over-sideboarding risk: Adding too many narrow role cards can weaken the artifact-sacrifice engine. Keep enough expendable permanents for Fanatical Offering, Krark-Clan Shaman, Refurbished Familiar, Makeshift Munitions, and Gixian Infiltrator growth.

• Graveyard risk: Nihil Spellbomb and Faerie Macabre are strongest at committed windows, but waiting can fail if the opponent forces action at instant speed. Use public graveyards, stack objects, and priority prompts rather than assumed hidden combo pieces.

• Sweeper/removal risk: Krark-Clan Shaman and Breath Weapon can erase your own material or miss larger threats, while Cast Down and Terminate can be wasted on creatures that do not define the race. Match the answer to the visible threat class.

• Closer risk: Writhing Chrysalis, Gixian Infiltrator, Refurbished Familiar, and Makeshift Munitions win only if protected by sequencing and material. Do not spend the full engine for temporary value when the opponent still has a clearer late-game plan.

• Interaction and sequencing risk: Passing with available Cast Down, Terminate, Nihil Spellbomb, Faerie Macabre, Weather the Storm, or Ancient Grudge may be correct, but the reason must name the visible threat, expected window, or resource being preserved.

Test Feedback Checklist

• Deciding factor: Record whether the game was decided by life pressure, mana access, card velocity, graveyard timing, artifact-sacrifice engine volume, removal timing, sideboard card impact, or inability to close after stabilizing.

• Mulligans: Note whether keep decisions had functional black, red, and green access for the visible hand, and whether hands without Cleansing Wildfire, Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, Cast Down, or early blockers actually developed on time.

• Mana: Track which cards were stranded by color or tapped-land sequencing, especially Writhing Chrysalis, Krark-Clan Shaman, Cast Down, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Cleansing Wildfire, Weather the Storm, Ancient Grudge, and Terminate.

• Velocity: Check whether Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, and Eviscerator's Insight converted expendable material into useful action, or whether draw actions delayed removal, blockers, or pressure.

• Engine: Log whether Refurbished Familiar, Gixian Infiltrator, Makeshift Munitions, Krark-Clan Shaman, and sacrifice fodder worked together, or whether the deck spent its artifacts and creatures before payoff cards mattered.

• Removal: Review every Cast Down and Terminate target for urgency, asking whether the removed creature was the actual clock, combo piece, blocker, or engine threat visible at the time.

• Graveyard hate: Review each Nihil Spellbomb and Faerie Macabre use for timing, checking whether the opponent had already committed graveyard resources or whether waiting risked losing the legal interaction window.

• Sideboard impact: Record which sideboard cards were drawn, cast, held, or stranded: Troublemaker Ouphe, Breath Weapon, Faerie Macabre, Terminate, Duress, Weather the Storm, and Ancient Grudge.

• Closing: Identify whether wins came from Writhing Chrysalis, Gixian Infiltrator, Refurbished Familiar, Makeshift Munitions, incremental attacks, or opponent resource collapse.

• Role accuracy: Mark each game where the pilot should have shifted earlier between stabilize, pressure, grind, preserve interaction, or race.

• Mistakes: Capture any pass, attack, block, sacrifice, target, or priority decision where the chosen legal action failed to match the visible board state or public information.

• Stranded cards: List cards stuck in hand for mana, missing targets, poor timing, or role conflict, especially expensive threats, reactive cards, and sideboard cards.

• Overperformers and underperformers: Count which exact cards repeatedly converted into wins or sat low-impact in losses, separating main-deck cards from sideboard cards.

First Tuning Questions

• Card quantities: Does Nihil Spellbomb deserve the full main-deck count if graveyard decks are common, or is the third copy too low-impact against creature pressure and big-mana control?

• Card quantities: Does Eviscerator's Insight provide enough velocity at two copies, or do games show that Fanatical Offering, Ichor Wellspring, and Lembas already cover draw needs?

• Mana: Do Slagwoods Bridge, Drossforge Bridge, Vault of Whispers, Twisted Landscape, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest produce too many tapped or color-missing openings for early Cast Down, Krark-Clan Shaman, and Cleansing Wildfire?

• Aggro plan: Is Krark-Clan Shaman plus Breath Weapon enough against wide creature decks, or does the deck need more early life protection beyond Weather the Storm?

• Control plan: Does the deck apply enough pressure through Writhing Chrysalis, Refurbished Familiar, and Gixian Infiltrator before control or Tron engines dominate?

• Closers: Are Writhing Chrysalis and Gixian Infiltrator ending stabilized games reliably, or does the deck need another resilient threat or a higher Makeshift Munitions density?

• Sideboard slots: Is Troublemaker Ouphe worth its slot if its text or battlefield effect conflicts with Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Makeshift Munitions, artifact lands, or sacrifice plans? Card text check required.

• Sideboard slots: Are Ancient Grudge and Terminate covering distinct enough problem permanents, or are artifact-heavy and large-creature matchups asking for different interaction ratios?

• Role conflicts: Do post-board configurations dilute the artifact-sacrifice core too often, leaving Fanatical Offering, Refurbished Familiar, Krark-Clan Shaman, or Gixian Infiltrator without enough material?

• Graveyard plan: Does main-deck Nihil Spellbomb plus sideboard Faerie Macabre create enough interaction against Spy and Terror-style graveyard plans without sacrificing pressure?

• Discard plan: Does Duress meaningfully clear the way for Writhing Chrysalis, Refurbished Familiar, and graveyard hate, or is it too reactive when the visible battlefield requires removal?

• Velocity versus board: Are losses caused by drawing cards while behind, suggesting fewer pure value actions, or by running out of gas, suggesting more emphasis on Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, and sacrifice draw?

Veles Tactical Policy

Policy: Opening Keep Gate

• Priority: High
• Decision families: mulligan
• Cards: Cleansing Wildfire, Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, Cast Down, Krark-Clan Shaman, Writhing Chrysalis
• Phase windows: pregame mulligan and London bottom decisions.
• Runtime cues: mulligan prompt; opening hand, revealed companion data if any, known matchup context.
• Use when: deciding whether the hand has functional mana plus either early board interaction, artifact-sacrifice velocity, or a credible threat curve.
• Avoid when: legal action context is only London bottoming after a keep; use the bottoming policy instead.
• Instructions: Keep hands that can cast spells on time and identify the first two turns; reject hands that are only tapped lands and late payoffs unless matchup context strongly rewards slow inevitability.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: London Bottom Preservation

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: mulligan, selection
• Cards: Swamp, Mountain, Forest, Slagwoods Bridge, Drossforge Bridge, Vault of Whispers, Twisted Landscape, Cast Down, Cleansing Wildfire, Krark-Clan Shaman
• Phase windows: pregame London mulligan bottom prompt.
• Runtime cues: bottom-card selection legal actions.
• Use when: choosing cards to put on bottom after a keep.
• Avoid when: still deciding keep versus mulligan.
• Instructions: Preserve castable mana and the hand's first stabilizing action; bottom duplicate expensive or color-stranded cards before cutting the only source for Cast Down, Cleansing Wildfire, or Krark-Clan Shaman.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Early Artifact Engine Setup

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: priority, mana
• Cards: Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Refurbished Familiar, Gixian Infiltrator
• Phase windows: turns 1-4 main phases before combat or after stabilization.
• Runtime cues: legal cast actions for Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Refurbished Familiar, or Gixian Infiltrator.
• Use when: selecting the first engine permanent or sacrifice-draw action.
• Avoid when: opponent has a visible threat that requires Cast Down, Krark-Clan Shaman, Breath Weapon, or Terminate this turn.
• Instructions: Put expendable artifacts onto the battlefield before sacrifice payoffs, and prefer development that leaves a body, artifact, or card-flow object for the next prompt.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Cleansing Wildfire Commitment Gate

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: mana, priority, selection
• Cards: Cleansing Wildfire, Slagwoods Bridge, Drossforge Bridge, Vault of Whispers, Twisted Landscape, Swamp, Mountain, Forest
• Phase windows: own main phases when Cleansing Wildfire is legal.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Cleansing Wildfire; target-land follow-up prompt.
• Use when: evaluating whether mana fixing, card velocity, or land disruption is worth the turn's mana.
• Avoid when: holding mana for survival interaction is required by visible pressure.
• Instructions: Treat Cleansing Wildfire as a planned resource conversion, not automatic card draw; decide whether the target should advance mana, deny an opposing land, or preserve colors for the next turn.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Target Own Bridge With Cleansing Wildfire

• Priority: Low
• Decision families: selection
• Cards: Cleansing Wildfire, Slagwoods Bridge, Drossforge Bridge
• Phase windows: Cleansing Wildfire target prompt.
• Runtime cues: action:target self Slagwoods Bridge; action:target self Drossforge Bridge
• Use when: Cleansing Wildfire target prompt shows exactly one own Slagwoods Bridge or Drossforge Bridge action and the selected line is to target that land.
• Avoid when: multiple own land targets are legal, an opposing land target is being considered, or color access must be reasoned through.
• Instructions: Select the legal action matching the visible own Bridge target named in the action text.
• Pilot skill floor: no-api.
• No-API allowed: yes
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Mana Color Preservation

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: mana
• Cards: Cast Down, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Krark-Clan Shaman, Cleansing Wildfire, Writhing Chrysalis, Weather the Storm, Ancient Grudge, Terminate
• Phase windows: all mana payment prompts and land sequencing decisions.
• Runtime cues: pay-mana prompts; legal land-play actions; floating mana summary.
• Use when: multiple payment or land sequencing actions are legal.
• Avoid when: a deterministic payment prompt has only one legal source set.
• Instructions: Preserve black for draw and removal, red for sweepers and artifact hate, and green for Writhing Chrysalis or Weather the Storm; do not consume the color needed for a known follow-up prompt.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Cast Down And Terminate Target Gate

• Priority: High
• Decision families: interaction, priority
• Cards: Cast Down, Terminate
• Phase windows: opponent main phase, combat trick windows, end step, and own main phase when blockers must be cleared.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Cast Down; action:cast Terminate; target creature prompt.
• Use when: a visible creature threatens lethal, prevents stabilization, enables a combo, or blocks a required closing attack.
• Avoid when: the target is replaceable and the same mana is needed for a higher-impact visible play this turn cycle.
• Instructions: Spend removal on the threat that changes the next turn cycle most; respect legal target text and do not assume hidden pump, protection, or creature types not shown by the engine.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Krark-Clan Shaman Sweep Gate

• Priority: High
• Decision families: interaction, combat, priority
• Cards: Krark-Clan Shaman, Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Vault of Whispers, Slagwoods Bridge, Drossforge Bridge
• Phase windows: priority windows before combat damage, after blockers, and main phases when sweep activation is legal.
• Runtime cues: action:activate Krark-Clan Shaman; sacrifice selection prompts.
• Use when: visible creature pressure or combat math makes a sweep worth sacrificing artifacts.
• Avoid when: sacrificing artifacts would remove the only engine material and the opposing board is not materially changed.
• Instructions: Count your creatures, opposing creatures, artifact fuel, and post-sweep follow-up before activating; use the sweep to survive, reset a wide board, or convert doomed material.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Fanatical Offering Sacrifice Selection

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: selection, priority
• Cards: Fanatical Offering, Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Refurbished Familiar, Gixian Infiltrator
• Phase windows: own main phase, end step, and response windows where Fanatical Offering is legal.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Fanatical Offering; sacrifice permanent prompt.
• Use when: converting an expendable permanent into cards or a tactical response.
• Avoid when: the only sacrifice candidates are needed blockers, mana artifacts, or active payoff permanents for the next combat.
• Instructions: Prefer sacrificing artifacts or bodies that already delivered their battlefield role; preserve Gixian Infiltrator and stabilizing blockers unless the cards are needed immediately.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Exact Ichor Wellspring Sacrifice

• Priority: Low
• Decision families: selection
• Cards: Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight, Ichor Wellspring
• Phase windows: sacrifice selection prompt after a draw spell or cost is already selected.
• Runtime cues: action:sacrifice Ichor Wellspring
• Use when: the sacrifice prompt contains exactly one legal action naming Ichor Wellspring and the current spell or cost requires choosing a sacrifice permanent.
• Avoid when: more than one Ichor Wellspring is distinguishable by attachments, counters, tapped status, or other state.
• Instructions: Choose the legal sacrifice action that names Ichor Wellspring.
• Pilot skill floor: no-api.
• No-API allowed: yes
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Graveyard Hate Timing

• Priority: High
• Decision families: interaction, priority
• Cards: Nihil Spellbomb, Faerie Macabre
• Phase windows: opponent graveyard setup, response to graveyard-targeting spells or abilities, upkeep, combat if graveyard recursion affects blockers.
• Runtime cues: action:activate Nihil Spellbomb; action:discard Faerie Macabre; graveyard target prompt.
• Use when: public graveyards and stack actions show an imminent graveyard payoff, recursion target, delve pressure, or combo threshold.
• Avoid when: firing now only removes low-impact cards and waiting does not risk losing the legal window.
• Instructions: Use Nihil Spellbomb or Faerie Macabre at the last safe point that stops the visible graveyard plan; do not infer hidden graveyard needs beyond public cards and archetype context.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Refurbished Familiar Timing

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: priority, mana
• Cards: Refurbished Familiar, Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Fanatical Offering
• Phase windows: own main phases after artifact count and mana are known.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Refurbished Familiar.
• Use when: casting Refurbished Familiar advances pressure or resource denial while preserving enough artifacts for sacrifice and affinity-style discounts if shown by the engine.
• Avoid when: waiting creates a stronger same-turn sequence with sacrifice draw or interaction, or the body is irrelevant to the visible board.
• Instructions: Treat Refurbished Familiar as pressure plus resource pressure, but do not strand removal or sweep mana just to deploy it early.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Writhing Chrysalis And Gixian Infiltrator Commitment

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: priority, combat, mana
• Cards: Writhing Chrysalis, Gixian Infiltrator, Cast Down, Terminate, Fanatical Offering, Eviscerator's Insight
• Phase windows: own main phases and combat planning turns.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Writhing Chrysalis; action:cast Gixian Infiltrator.
• Use when: deciding whether to commit a closer or hold resources for interaction.
• Avoid when: the opponent's visible board demands immediate removal or sweep action.
• Instructions: Commit closers when they change the clock or stabilize combat; protect Gixian Infiltrator by sequencing sacrifice triggers only when the attack or blocker role matters.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Combat Pressure And Block Discipline

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: combat
• Cards: Writhing Chrysalis, Gixian Infiltrator, Refurbished Familiar, Krark-Clan Shaman
• Phase windows: declare attackers, declare blockers, combat damage, and post-block priority.
• Runtime cues: attacker and blocker legal action lists.
• Use when: multiple attacks or blocks are legal.
• Avoid when: exactly one legal no-attack or forced-block action exists.
• Instructions: Attack when the damage or trade supports the current role; keep blockers when life total, Krark-Clan Shaman setup, or sacrifice-draw timing matters more than chip damage.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Makeshift Munitions Commitment And Targeting

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: interaction, priority, combat
• Cards: Makeshift Munitions, Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Refurbished Familiar
• Phase windows: own main phase for deployment; any legal activation window for damage.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Makeshift Munitions; action:activate Makeshift Munitions; target prompt.
• Use when: sacrifice damage can finish a creature, pressure life total, or convert expendable material before it becomes unusable.
• Avoid when: sacrificing permanents would weaken mana, blockers, or card-flow more than the damage changes the board.
• Instructions: Commit Makeshift Munitions as an engine payoff only with material to spare; target based on visible lethal math, creature urgency, and remaining resources.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Artifact Hate And Ouphe Sideboard Gate

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: interaction, priority, sideboard
• Cards: Ancient Grudge, Troublemaker Ouphe, Ichor Wellspring, Lembas, Nihil Spellbomb, Makeshift Munitions, Vault of Whispers, Slagwoods Bridge, Drossforge Bridge
• Phase windows: sideboarding, own main phase, opponent artifact commitment windows.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Ancient Grudge; action:cast Troublemaker Ouphe; sideboard candidate plan prompt.
• Use when: opponent artifacts are a central public resource or sideboard plan identifies artifact pressure.
• Avoid when: Troublemaker Ouphe text may interfere with your artifact engine and card text has not been verified.
• Instructions: Use Ancient Grudge on artifact permanents that matter to the next turn cycle; treat Troublemaker Ouphe as conditional until card text is confirmed by the rules engine.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Life-Gain Storm Survival

• Priority: High
• Decision families: interaction, priority
• Cards: Weather the Storm
• Phase windows: opponent combo turn, burn turn, end step after multiple spells, or before lethal damage if legal.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Weather the Storm; visible stack and spell-count context.
• Use when: current or expected visible damage threatens lethal or a short clock and Weather the Storm is legal.
• Avoid when: life gain does not change survival before the next meaningful action.
• Instructions: Cast Weather the Storm for survival first, not maximum storm count; if waiting risks losing priority before lethal, take the legal life-gain action.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Duress Selection Gate

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: interaction, selection
• Cards: Duress
• Phase windows: own main phase after Duress resolves and reveals legal choices.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Duress; revealed-hand selection prompt.
• Use when: choosing a revealed noncreature, nonland card from the opponent's hand.
• Avoid when: no legal revealed card changes the opponent's next turn cycle.
• Instructions: Take the revealed card that stops your current plan or enables the opponent's strongest visible plan; prioritize removal for Writhing Chrysalis or Gixian Infiltrator, combo pieces, sweepers, and card engines by matchup context.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard Plan Selection

• Priority: High
• Decision families: sideboard, pregame
• Cards: Troublemaker Ouphe, Breath Weapon, Faerie Macabre, Terminate, Duress, Weather the Storm, Ancient Grudge, Cast Down, Krark-Clan Shaman, Nihil Spellbomb, Eviscerator's Insight
• Phase windows: between games, sideboard lock prompt.
• Runtime cues: sideboard candidate plans; known matchup label; previous-game public information.
• Use when: selecting or validating a balanced sideboard plan.
• Avoid when: exact plan lines are not balanced or the matchup evidence contradicts the proposed role.
• Instructions: Add Breath Weapon and Terminate for creature pressure, Faerie Macabre for graveyard engines, Duress for spell-combo or control, Weather the Storm for burn and storm pressure, Ancient Grudge for artifacts, and Troublemaker Ouphe only with verified text and acceptable self-impact.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes