veles-content/strategies/pioneer/pioneer_hidden_strings/1/guide.md

Strategy Specifications

Deck Name And Archetype

Hidden Strings is a Pioneer Lotus Field combo deck built around untapping Lotus Field with Hidden Strings and Pore Over the Pages, then converting a large mana turn into a spell-chain finish, a sideboard win condition, or a stabilized long game through Lier, Disciple of the Drowned. The active validation contract reports 60 main-deck cards and 15 sideboard cards, with Pioneer format validation passing; runtime decisions should still obey the rules engine over this guide whenever legality, timing, or card availability differs from expectation.

The archetype tags are combo and spells, with the duplicate supplied tag collapsed to combo, spells for strategy indexing. The deck should be classified as hybrid-stock: the core Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Dig Through Time, Wish, Divide by Zero, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Sleight of Hand, Consider, and Expedition Map package resembles known Pioneer Lotus combo structure, while Artist's Talent, Flow State, Flashback, Into the Flood Maw, Lindblum, Industrial Regency, and several sideboard cards appear deck-specific enough that card text checks may be required before assigning deterministic tactical rules.

The main-deck inventory is validated as 60 cards: 4 Sleight of Hand, 4 Thespian's Stage, 4 Hidden Strings, 1 Dig Through Time, 4 Pore Over the Pages, 4 Lotus Field, 2 Flashback, 3 Riverglide Pathway, 1 Wish, 4 Consider, 1 Island, 2 Otawara, Soaring City, 4 Spirebluff Canal, 4 Into the Flood Maw, 4 Artist's Talent, 1 Lindblum, Industrial Regency, 4 Flow State, 3 Steam Vents, 2 Expedition Map, 3 Divide by Zero, and 1 Lier, Disciple of the Drowned. Every nonland main-deck card with 2 or more copies must receive tactical coverage in later sections, especially Sleight of Hand, Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Flashback, Consider, Into the Flood Maw, Artist's Talent, Flow State, Expedition Map, and Divide by Zero.

The sideboard inventory is validated as 15 cards: 1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun, 2 Anger of the Gods, 1 Vivi Ornitier, 1 Divide by Zero, 2 Spider-Sense, 1 Sphinx of the Final Word, 1 Improvisation Capstone, 1 Firebending Lesson, 1 Iroh's Demonstration, 1 Accumulate Wisdom, 1 Boomerang Basics, 1 Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, and 1 Quantum Riddler. Sideboard guidance must distinguish true sideboard plans from wish/lesson access when the rules engine exposes them, and exact Side in: lines later may name only these sideboard cards.

The mana identity is primarily blue-red with a heavy combo-land requirement, because Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Riverglide Pathway, Spirebluff Canal, Steam Vents, Island, Otawara, Soaring City, and Lindblum, Industrial Regency are the registered mana sources. The main role concern is that hands with cantrips but no route to Lotus Field or Thespian's Stage can look functional while failing to start the engine, so mulligan and selection rules must prioritize engine access over generic card quality.

Opponent information status is unsupplied, so this guide must assume unknown Pioneer opposition until runtime state, matchup labels, public deck information, or sideboard context identifies a role. The pilot should treat all hidden cards as unknown, use only visible board state and legal actions for tactical decisions, and avoid naming absent staples in policy Cards: fields unless later sections explicitly prefix them as metagame examples outside registered-card policy.

Thesis

Hidden Strings assembles Lotus Field plus untap effects into a single high-mana turn where Hidden Strings and Pore Over the Pages convert one or more Lotus Field copies into enough mana, cards, and spell volume to end the game or lock up the next turn. The deck’s first priority is finding and protecting the engine, not trading resources evenly; cantrip decisions should bias toward Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, and bridge cards that keep the combo turn legal and supplied.

Hidden Strings wins by turning mana density into a spell-chain payoff, commonly through Wish, Divide by Zero access to sideboard tools, or a graveyard-based reload with Lier, Disciple of the Drowned. Runtime should not assume a deterministic kill unless the rules engine exposes the legal action; the pilot should choose the line that preserves spell count, mana colors, and access to a finishing card already visible in hand, graveyard, exile, sideboard-access action text, or public stack state.

Hidden Strings is not trying to become a fair Izzet control deck, a creature-combat deck, or a tap-out midrange deck. Into the Flood Maw, Otawara, Soaring City, Divide by Zero, and sideboard sweepers are stabilizing tools that buy the combo turn; they should not be spent for small tempo gains if the visible clock is slow and the hand still needs engine assembly.

Prioritize engine access over generic card quality before the combo turn, then prioritize mana-positive sequencing over card quantity once Lotus Field is active. A hand with multiple cantrips but no engine path is weaker than a hand with Lotus Field or Expedition Map plus a modest amount of selection, while a combo turn with untaps and floating mana should often take the line that keeps casting rather than the line that merely improves the next draw step.

Card text check required for Artist's Talent, Flow State, Flashback, Lindblum, Industrial Regency, Into the Flood Maw, and several sideboard cards before assigning automatic execution rules. Until checked, treat them as registered deck-specific tools whose use must be conditional on visible legal action text, current mana, and rules-engine prompts.

Role Package

• Threats: Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Vivi Ornitier, Sphinx of the Final Word, and Quantum Riddler are the registered cards most likely to matter as non-combo win conditions or pressure pivots. Use them when the legal action text and matchup context show that a permanent-based finish is safer than extending a fragile spell chain, especially after opposing disruption has reduced access to Wish, graveyard resources, or repeated untap effects.

• Payoffs: Wish, Divide by Zero, Pore Over the Pages, Dig Through Time, and sideboard cards accessible through legal sideboard or learn-style actions are the payoff layer that turns the engine into an actual win or stabilization turn. Wish and Divide by Zero should be treated as payoff selectors, not filler interaction, when hand and mana already support a combo turn.

• Engines: Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Hidden Strings, and Pore Over the Pages are the defining engine cards. Lotus Field enables large mana, Thespian's Stage increases the number of Field-style mana sources when legal, and the untap spells convert those lands into a chain; selection and interaction should usually support this package unless survival requires a defensive action.

• Velocity: Sleight of Hand, Consider, Dig Through Time, Flow State, Artist's Talent, and Pore Over the Pages supply card access and spell velocity. Card text check required for Flow State and Artist's Talent; until verified, use visible action text to decide whether they dig, discount, loot, copy, or otherwise advance the combo turn.

• Interaction: Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, Otawara, Soaring City, Anger of the Gods, Boomerang Basics, Spider-Sense, and Firebending Lesson form the registered interaction suite. Use interaction to preserve life, remove hate, force through the combo turn, or reset a threatening permanent; avoid using it merely because mana is available when the engine is still incomplete.

• Protection: Divide by Zero, Spider-Sense, Sphinx of the Final Word, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, and possibly Improvisation Capstone can serve protective roles depending on legal text. Card text check required for Spider-Sense and Improvisation Capstone; route protection decisions through visible stack, opponent mana, known revealed cards, and whether waiting gives the opponent a better disruption window.

• Recursion: Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Flashback, and graveyard-enabled lines with Dig Through Time are the recursion or reload package. Card text check required for Flashback; if legal action text offers graveyard casting or retrieval, prioritize actions that rebuy Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, selection, or payoff access while preserving enough mana to continue.

• Mana: Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Spirebluff Canal, Steam Vents, Riverglide Pathway, Island, Otawara, Soaring City, Lindblum, Industrial Regency, and Expedition Map are the mana and engine-access module. Expedition Map should normally find missing engine lands when legal, with color-source decisions made from current hand requirements rather than abstract fixing.

• Sideboard modules: Anger of the Gods handles creature pressure, Niv-Mizzet, Parun and Sphinx of the Final Word support slower or disruptive games, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned adds redundancy, Divide by Zero increases interaction/access density, and Accumulate Wisdom, Iroh's Demonstration, Improvisation Capstone, Firebending Lesson, Boomerang Basics, Quantum Riddler, Vivi Ornitier, and Spider-Sense require card text checks before deterministic tactical ranking.

Primary Win Conditions

• Combo-chain kill: assemble Lotus Field plus Hidden Strings and/or Pore Over the Pages, then convert untaps into enough mana and cards to locate a legal payoff through Wish, Divide by Zero, Dig Through Time, graveyard recursion, or a visible sideboard-access action. Prioritize this path when the hand already contains Lotus Field or Expedition Map, at least one untap or deep selection card, and enough time to make Thespian's Stage matter before the opponent's board or disruption closes the window.

• Double-Field engine: use Thespian's Stage as the highest-impact land after Lotus Field because copied Field mana turns Hidden Strings and Pore Over the Pages from setup into payoff. Prioritize Thespian's Stage lines when visible land drops, mana colors, and sacrifice requirements leave enough permanents to keep playing; do not assume a copy action is legal until the rules engine exposes it.

• Spell-chain payoff: cast Pore Over the Pages, Hidden Strings, Sleight of Hand, Consider, Flow State, Dig Through Time, and available legal sideboard-access spells in an order that keeps mana positive and prevents the hand from emptying before a finisher appears. Card text check required for Flow State; use it as a combo-turn action only when legal text shows it adds velocity, mana efficiency, or access to the next spell.

• Wish-board finish: use Wish as the cleanest route to a sideboard win card or stabilizer once mana is abundant and the combo turn is already underway. Prioritize Wish when it can legally access Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Sphinx of the Final Word, Vivi Ornitier, Quantum Riddler, Improvisation Capstone, Firebending Lesson, Iroh's Demonstration, or another sideboard card that ends the game, locks the opponent out, or converts the turn into an overwhelming board state; card text check required for the newer or unfamiliar sideboard cards before assuming exact lethality.

• Lier reload: use Lier, Disciple of the Drowned when the graveyard contains enough Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Sleight of Hand, Consider, Divide by Zero, or Dig Through Time access to rebuild the chain through visible legal actions. Prioritize this path against attrition or counter-heavy games only when tapping out for Lier, Disciple of the Drowned does not expose a lethal attack or a known removal/disruption sequence.

Secondary Win Conditions

• Permanent-finisher pivot: board in or access Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Sphinx of the Final Word, Vivi Ornitier, Quantum Riddler, or the sideboard Lier, Disciple of the Drowned when the opponent is trading for the spell chain rather than pressuring life total quickly. Use this plan when visible disruption makes one all-in turn risky, but mana development still supports a high-impact permanent.

• Value-control conversion: use Divide by Zero, Into the Flood Maw, Otawara, Soaring City, Anger of the Gods, Boomerang Basics, and Spider-Sense to buy turns until the engine naturally reconnects. This is a delay plan, not the default identity; spend these cards to remove lethal pressure, answer hate, protect the combo turn, or reset a permanent that blocks the next legal chain.

• Cantrip attrition: when payoffs are missing, chain Sleight of Hand, Consider, Flow State, Artist's Talent, and Dig Through Time toward engine density rather than toward generic interaction. Card text check required for Artist's Talent; if it legally improves spell velocity, loot quality, cost, or long-game pressure, treat it as an engine support permanent instead of a standalone win condition.

• Hard-cast sideboard threat: in post-board games, a fair cast of Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Sphinx of the Final Word, Vivi Ornitier, or Quantum Riddler can win without a full storm-style turn if the opponent has slowed down and the mana base is stable. Choose this route only after checking visible mana colors, opponent pressure, and whether holding the card for Wish or another legal access line has higher value.

Emergency Lines

• Behind on life: spend Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, Otawara, Soaring City, or Anger of the Gods to prevent lethal or preserve a full turn cycle for Lotus Field; do not hoard interaction for a perfect combo turn if the current board kills first.

• Behind on board: prioritize sweepers and bounce that reset multiple attackers or the single hate permanent blocking the engine. If Anger of the Gods is available, use it when the visible creature board justifies spending the turn; otherwise use bounce to create the smallest window needed to untap and combo.

• Behind on cards: use Dig Through Time, Pore Over the Pages, Sleight of Hand, Consider, Flow State, and Artist's Talent to rebuild toward engine pieces, but avoid low-impact selection that taps the last relevant mana before a defensive action. Card text check required for Flow State and Artist's Talent before treating either as guaranteed card advantage.

• Behind on mana or missing Lotus Field: use Expedition Map and selection spells to find Lotus Field first, then Thespian's Stage second unless immediate colored mana is required. A hand with spells but no Field engine should delay expensive payoff choices until the land plan is visible.

• Engine disrupted: pivot from all-in chaining to Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Wish, Divide by Zero, or a hard-cast sideboard threat if those actions are legal and the visible clock permits. Do not assume the graveyard or sideboard remains accessible through hate; verify legal actions before committing.

• Win condition removed or unavailable: continue developing mana and card access, then choose the next legal route among Wish, sideboard threats, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Dig Through Time, and repeated bounce-control turns. If no payoff is visible, prioritize survival plus selection over speculative combat damage.

Resource Model

• Life is a turn counter, so spend it to preserve engine velocity unless the visible board threatens lethal before the next untap. Use Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, Otawara, Soaring City, and post-board Anger of the Gods to buy exactly the turn needed to resolve Lotus Field, copy it with Thespian's Stage, or begin a mana-positive spell chain.

• Hand quality matters more than raw card count until the engine is active. Prioritize hands and selection paths that contain or find Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Expedition Map, and enough cheap cantrips; a full hand of interaction without Field access is a delay hand, not a winning hand.

• Mana is the primary resource once Lotus Field is online. Convert untaps from Hidden Strings and Pore Over the Pages into repeated spell casts, and preserve colored flexibility before committing to expensive actions such as Dig Through Time, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Wish, or sideboard finishers.

• Board presence is mostly defensive until a sideboard threat or Lier, Disciple of the Drowned appears. This deck usually wins through mana and spells rather than combat, so treat opposing creatures as a clock to answer or race, and treat your nonland permanents such as Artist's Talent as engine infrastructure when the rules text confirms that role.

• Graveyard is a delayed hand when Dig Through Time or Lier, Disciple of the Drowned is relevant. Preserve high-impact graveyard cards when a visible Lier, Disciple of the Drowned line is likely, but spend graveyard cards freely for Dig Through Time if the current decision needs engine access now.

• Exile is usually a cost ledger, not a plan, unless a legal action explicitly uses it. Do not assume exiled cards remain available after Dig Through Time or any unfamiliar action; follow the rules-engine legal actions.

• Lands are both mana sources and combo material. Lotus Field asks the deck to convert early lands into a stronger land, while Thespian's Stage turns that investment into the decisive engine; avoid sacrificing or delaying land drops in ways that leave no route to Field plus copy.

• Sacrifice fodder is mainly early lands for Lotus Field. Keep enough expendable lands on board before playing Lotus Field, and do not treat Thespian's Stage, the only Island, or scarce colored lands as disposable unless the legal line clearly improves the combo turn.

• Tempo is bought through bounce and selection. Use Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, Otawara, Soaring City, and sideboard bullets such as Anger of the Gods, Spider-Sense, or Boomerang Basics when they prevent lethal, remove hate, or create the turn window for the Field chain; card text check required for Spider-Sense and Boomerang Basics.

• Information is a sequencing resource. Resolve Sleight of Hand, Consider, Flow State, and Artist's Talent before irreversible commitments when legal and mana-efficient, but hold selection until after drawing or tutoring if the current land drop or target decision depends on new information; card text check required for Flow State and Artist's Talent.

• Sideboard bullets are role-specific tools, not generic upgrades. Use Wish and post-board plans to access Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Sphinx of the Final Word, Vivi Ornitier, Improvisation Capstone, Firebending Lesson, Iroh's Demonstration, Accumulate Wisdom, Quantum Riddler, Anger of the Gods, Spider-Sense, Boomerang Basics, extra Divide by Zero, or extra Lier, Disciple of the Drowned only when their visible legal text matches the current pressure, disruption, or payoff need.

Mana Guide

• Keep mana hands that can realistically reach Lotus Field plus action. A strong opener has Lotus Field or Expedition Map, enough early lands to satisfy Field development, and at least one of Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Sleight of Hand, Consider, Flow State, or Artist's Talent to connect the draw.

• Mulligan mana hands that cannot find or cast the engine before the opponent's visible clock matters. Hands with only expensive spells, no Lotus Field access, no early colored source, or no selection should be treated as suspect even if they contain several powerful cards.

• Prioritize blue access early because Sleight of Hand, Consider, Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Divide by Zero, Dig Through Time, Into the Flood Maw, and Lier, Disciple of the Drowned all pull the deck toward blue sequencing. Red access matters for Artist's Talent, Flow State, Anger of the Gods, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, and other sideboard bullets only when their legal text or matchup role is relevant.

• Sequence untapped colored lands before tap-sensitive combo turns. Spirebluff Canal, Steam Vents, Riverglide Pathway, Island, and Otawara, Soaring City should be managed so early cantrips are cast on time and later Lotus Field colors support the whole chain.

• Treat Lotus Field as the pivot land, not an ordinary land drop. Play it when sacrificing two lands still leaves the deck able to act on the next relevant turn, and prefer lines where the Field immediately enables Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, or Thespian's Stage development.

• Treat Thespian's Stage as the highest-upside utility land after Field is present. Before choosing another land drop, check whether a Stage copy line is legal or likely next turn; a copied Lotus Field makes each untap effect dramatically stronger.

• Use Expedition Map to fix the engine before fixing comfort. Find Lotus Field when absent, prefer Thespian's Stage when Field is already secured and the copy line is the bottleneck, and choose utility lands only when visible board state makes a bounce or channel effect more urgent.

• Preserve Otawara, Soaring City when its channel-style utility could answer hate or lethal pressure, but play it as a land when blue mana is the bottleneck and no defensive use is visible. Do not hold utility forever if missing the land drop delays Lotus Field.

• Play lands before draw spells when the land choice is already determined and mana efficiency matters. Hold the land until after Sleight of Hand, Consider, Flow State, Pore Over the Pages, or Dig Through Time when the decision could change between Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Steam Vents, Spirebluff Canal, Riverglide Pathway, Island, Otawara, Soaring City, or Lindblum, Industrial Regency; card text check required for Lindblum, Industrial Regency.

• Float and choose colors with the whole chain in mind. Before casting Hidden Strings or Pore Over the Pages, plan whether the next legal spells require blue, red, or generic mana, and avoid spending the only red source before a visible Anger of the Gods, Artist's Talent, Flow State, or sideboard payoff line.

Mulligan Guide

• Strong keep: Lotus Field, two early lands, one cheap selection spell, and one engine spell is the baseline hand. Examples include Lotus Field plus Spirebluff Canal, Steam Vents, Sleight of Hand, Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, and a flexible card, or Expedition Map, two colored lands, Consider, Flow State, Hidden Strings, and Pore Over the Pages when Map can find Lotus Field; card text check required for Flow State.

• Medium keep: no Lotus Field hands are acceptable when they have Expedition Map or multiple cheap looks plus mana. Keep Spirebluff Canal, Riverglide Pathway, Consider, Sleight of Hand, Artist's Talent, Divide by Zero, and Hidden Strings if the matchup is not forcing a turn-three kill and the hand can dig before committing; card text check required for Artist's Talent.

• Risky keep: Lotus Field with too few sacrificial lands is playable only with enough selection to find land drops quickly. A hand like Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Island, Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Dig Through Time, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned is powerful but slow if it cannot place two expendable lands before Field.

• Automatic ship: no blue source and no Expedition Map is a mulligan. Ship hands with only Thespian's Stage, Lotus Field, or utility lands that cannot cast Consider, Sleight of Hand, Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, or Hidden Strings on time.

• Automatic ship: no engine access and no meaningful dig is a mulligan. A hand with lands, Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Dig Through Time, and no Lotus Field, no Expedition Map, no Sleight of Hand, no Consider, no Flow State, and no Artist's Talent should not be kept just because the cards are individually castable.

• Matchup-dependent keep: defensive hands improve against creature pressure only if they still find the engine. Keep Into the Flood Maw or Divide by Zero with Lotus Field access and selection, but ship pure delay hands that never assemble Lotus Field plus Hidden Strings or Pore Over the Pages.

• Play/draw adjustment: on the play, favor Lotus Field access and proactive selection over reactive cards. On the draw, one slower hand with extra Consider, Sleight of Hand, Divide by Zero, or Into the Flood Maw is more acceptable because the extra card can supply the missing land or engine piece.

• Trap hand: Thespian's Stage plus untap spells is not an engine without Lotus Field. Do not keep hands that look like combo hands because they contain Hidden Strings and Pore Over the Pages but lack Field access, Map access, or enough early selection to find one.

• Trap hand: expensive graveyard payoffs are not setup. Dig Through Time and Lier, Disciple of the Drowned can stabilize or extend a chain later, but they do not replace early mana, Lotus Field, Expedition Map, or cheap selection in an opener.

Turn Arc

• Turn 1 priority: cast Sleight of Hand or Consider off an untapped blue source when the hand needs land, Lotus Field, Expedition Map, or a missing untap spell. Play Spirebluff Canal, Steam Vents, Riverglide Pathway, Island, or Otawara, Soaring City according to which line preserves the most turn-two options.

• Turn 1 deviation: play Expedition Map when the hand already has enough colored mana and Map is the cleanest route to Lotus Field or Thespian's Stage. Hold Otawara, Soaring City only when another land casts the needed spell and the visible board suggests its utility may matter.

• Turn 2 priority: secure the engine before spending mana on comfort. Activate or prepare Expedition Map for Lotus Field if Field is missing, cast more selection if the hand lacks land drops or untap effects, and deploy Artist's Talent or Flow State only when their legal text clearly advances setup; card text check required.

• Turn 2 deviation: use Into the Flood Maw or Divide by Zero when a visible permanent, spell, or combat clock threatens to close the window before the Field turn. Do not burn interaction on low-impact targets if selection can find Lotus Field and the life total is not under immediate pressure.

• Turn 3 priority: play Lotus Field when sacrificing two lands still leaves a functional next turn. If Thespian's Stage is available, plan whether Stage enters now or whether the current turn must cast Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, or selection first.

• Turn 3 deviation: delay Lotus Field if playing it strands the hand with no castable setup and no copied Field path. Against pressure, consider Divide by Zero, Into the Flood Maw, or Otawara, Soaring City as a time-buying line only if the following turn has a clear Field plan.

• Turns 4-5 priority: convert Lotus Field into a mana chain with Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, and Thespian's Stage. Before each spell, count colored mana, check whether Dig Through Time, Wish, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, or sideboard access is becoming legal, and avoid passing with unused engine mana unless the legal actions show no productive continuation.

• Turns 4-5 deviation: respect visible disruption and lethal clocks before committing. Bounce or counter-reposition with Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, or Otawara, Soaring City when it protects the combo turn, and use Wish only when the sideboard card's visible legal text solves the current bottleneck.

• Late-game priority: rebuild around repeated mana and graveyard access. Use Dig Through Time to find missing engine pieces, use Lier, Disciple of the Drowned when the graveyard contains meaningful spells and the stack is safe enough, and treat Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Sphinx of the Final Word, Vivi Ornitier, or other sideboard threats as matchup-specific finishers only after their legal text is confirmed.

Card Roles

• Lotus Field is the deck's central mana engine, so treat access to it as the first strategic checkpoint. Play it when sacrificing two lands still leaves a follow-up route through Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Thespian's Stage, or enough selection to continue; do not play it merely because it is available if the sacrifice strands all colored setup.

• Thespian's Stage turns one Lotus Field into the high-mana state that makes the deck unfair. Prioritize Stage when Field is already present or when Expedition Map can find the missing half, but remember that Stage alone does not cast early blue spells and should not be valued like a normal setup land in mulligans.

• Hidden Strings is the defining untap spell and should be held for engine turns unless spending it now clearly advances mana or survival. Its best role is converting Lotus Field or copied Fields into extra mana while continuing the chain; avoid casting it into a board where the legal targets do not produce a meaningful mana gain or where visible interaction makes waiting safer.

• Pore Over the Pages is the main bridge from mana generation into more resources. Cast it when untapping Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage copying Field, or another high-value mana source lets the spell pay for itself or profit, and use the draw/discard decision to preserve engine pieces over redundant lands once Field access is secured.

• Sleight of Hand is early precision, not late flourish. Use it aggressively before the Field turn to find Lotus Field, Expedition Map, blue sources, Hidden Strings, or Pore Over the Pages; later, use it inside combo turns only when mana is abundant or the current hand lacks a specific continuation.

• Consider is the most flexible cheap selection spell because it can be held for information and graveyard texture. Cast it early when land drops or Field access are missing, but consider holding it on stable boards to improve Dig Through Time, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, or a later chain; card choice should follow visible needs rather than abstract graveyard filling.

• Expedition Map is the cleanest nonspell route to Lotus Field and a backup route to Thespian's Stage or utility lands. Use it early when Field is absent, but after Field is found reassess whether the second target should be Stage, Otawara, Soaring City, Island, or another land according to legal mana and visible pressure.

• Artist's Talent is a four-copy engine or setup piece whose exact tactical function must be verified before the agent treats it as deterministic. Card text check required: cast it only when the rules engine confirms the action and its visible text advances spell sequencing, cost management, filtering, or payoff access better than holding mana for selection or interaction.

• Flow State is a four-copy spell-package card that belongs in setup and combo calculations only after its actual text is known. Card text check required: if it legally digs, filters, discounts, copies, or extends spells, rank it by the immediate bottleneck; if it is merely value-oriented, do not spend a critical Field-turn window on it over Hidden Strings or Pore Over the Pages.

• Into the Flood Maw is the primary main-deck tempo interaction, so use it to buy the turn that lets Lotus Field take over. Card text check required for exact target limits and bonus clauses; target only visible permanents or threats the engine presents as legal, and prefer using it on a clock, hate piece, or blocker that prevents the combo turn over low-impact board clutter.

• Divide by Zero is both interaction and sideboard access pressure, so its timing depends on whether the deck needs time or a lesson-like effect. Use it on a spell or permanent when the visible stack or battlefield would stop the engine, but do not spend it casually if holding it protects the turn where Lotus Field, Hidden Strings, and Pore Over the Pages must resolve.

• Flashback appears as a two-copy main-deck card and must not be assumed to behave like the rules keyword. Card text check required: use it only according to engine-provided legal text, and evaluate it as either recursion, selection, protection, or payoff after the action label exposes what it actually does.

• Dig Through Time is a late-game or combo-turn selection burst, not a keepable substitute for early setup. Preserve graveyard fuel when possible, cast it when the hand needs a specific engine piece or payoff, and choose cards that continue the current mana chain over cards that are powerful but uncastable this turn.

• Wish is the main bridge to sideboard tools, so cast it only with a clear sideboard target and enough mana or timing to use the found card if the legal text requires same-turn action. Prioritize cards that solve the current bottleneck: pressure, interaction, combo continuation, or a resilient win condition.

• Lier, Disciple of the Drowned is a graveyard engine and late-game resilience card. Commit it when the graveyard contains meaningful Sleight of Hand, Consider, Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Into the Flood Maw, or Divide by Zero lines and the visible stack state does not make tapping out obviously fatal.

• Otawara, Soaring City is both a blue-producing land and a utility interaction slot. Play it as a land when colored mana is the bottleneck, but hold it when another land covers the turn and its channel-like utility could answer a visible permanent; card text and cost must still be confirmed by the engine at runtime.

• Spirebluff Canal, Steam Vents, Riverglide Pathway, and Island are the practical early-cast infrastructure. Sequence them to maximize turn-one and turn-two blue spells, preserve enough lands to sacrifice to Lotus Field, and avoid treating tapped or pain decisions as irrelevant when the visible clock makes each life point matter.

• Lindblum, Industrial Regency is a singleton land or utility card whose exact role is not safe to infer. Card text check required: use it as mana when the action text supports the current curve, and hold or search for it only if visible legal text shows a specific tactical purpose better than Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, or Otawara, Soaring City.

• Sideboard threats such as Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Vivi Ornitier, Sphinx of the Final Word, Improvisation Capstone, and Quantum Riddler are not generic win buttons. Card text check required for each nonconfirmed card; choose them through Wish or sideboarding only when their visible role matches the matchup plan and current mana can actually support them.

• Sideboard interaction and lessons such as Anger of the Gods, Spider-Sense, Firebending Lesson, Iroh's Demonstration, Accumulate Wisdom, Boomerang Basics, and the sideboard Divide by Zero should be evaluated by role rather than name alone. Use them to cover creature swarms, stack pressure, permanent disruption, card flow, or combo continuation only when legal text and the current board make that function real.

Interaction Priorities

• Priority: protect the Lotus Field turn before protecting card quantity. Use Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, and Otawara, Soaring City on visible permanents or stack actions that stop Field mana, shorten the clock by a full turn, tax spell casting, attack the graveyard before Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, or prevent Hidden Strings / Pore Over the Pages from converting mana into continuation.

• Bounce first: answer hate and lethal pressure before ordinary attackers. If the rules engine shows a legal Into the Flood Maw or Otawara, Soaring City target, prioritize a visible permanent that disables spell casting, disables graveyard use, shuts off activated lands, adds unavoidable tax, or presents lethal next combat; ignore low-power creatures when life total and next-turn combo math are stable.

• Counter or tempo first: use Divide by Zero on the spell or permanent that changes the immediate bottleneck. Stop stack interaction aimed at Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, or a payoff turn when waiting risks losing the engine; against creature decks, use it as a time-buying play only when the bounced threat meaningfully changes the clock.

• Preserve interaction when ahead: do not spend Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, or Otawara, Soaring City just to use mana. If Lotus Field plus Thespian's Stage is already online and the opponent has no lethal pressure or hate permanent, selection with Sleight of Hand, Consider, Flow State, Artist's Talent, Dig Through Time, or Pore Over the Pages should usually matter more than bouncing a replaceable threat.

• Bait with expendable setup before decisive engines. Lead with Sleight of Hand, Consider, Flow State, Artist's Talent, Expedition Map, or a nonlethal Pore Over the Pages when the opponent is representing interaction and the hand contains redundancy; reserve Hidden Strings, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, and Wish for the window where the visible stack is clearer or the opponent is forced to answer a lower-value spell first.

• Discard and exile only when legal text exposes them. The registered main deck has no assumed discard or exile interaction beyond card-specific rules-engine output, so never choose a discard/exile line from names alone; if Flashback, Flow State, Artist's Talent, Wish, or a sideboard card presents such a legal mode, choose it only when it directly removes the visible blocker to combo, the known interactive card, or the current lethal threat.

• Sideboard interaction changes by matchup pressure. Use Anger of the Gods only when the visible creature board or expected next attack matters more than preserving your own permanents; use Spider-Sense, Boomerang Basics, Firebending Lesson, Iroh's Demonstration, Accumulate Wisdom, sideboard Divide by Zero, or Improvisation Capstone according to engine-confirmed text, not assumed names. Card text check required for all uncertain sideboard effects.

• Ignore decoys that do not affect the combo clock. Small creatures, tapped blockers, redundant value permanents, and graveyard cards with no visible activation should not draw Divide by Zero, Into the Flood Maw, or Otawara, Soaring City unless life total, mana, or the next combat step makes them part of lethal pressure.

Combat And Trading Rules

• Default combat posture: win by engine, not damage. Do not attack with Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Sphinx of the Final Word, Vivi Ornitier, Quantum Riddler, or any token/permanent from uncertain card text unless the attack is legal, materially advances lethal, and does not expose the engine piece to a trade that weakens the next combo turn.

• Preserve engine creatures over chip damage. Lier, Disciple of the Drowned should almost never be risked in combat while the graveyard contains usable Sleight of Hand, Consider, Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, or Dig Through Time support; block with it only when survival this turn requires it or the engine no longer matters.

• Block by life-threshold math, not habit. Above a stable life buffer, take damage that does not change the opponent’s lethal turn if blocking would sacrifice a resource needed for Lotus Field, Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, or Wish; below the threshold where the next attack is lethal or burn-like pressure is plausible from public information, preserve life even at the cost of a nonessential permanent.

• Trade only with replaceable bodies or finished engines. If a sideboard threat has already generated enough value, or if the current line wins through spells rather than that permanent, trading can be correct; otherwise, decline trades involving unique engines, mana enablers, or payoff creatures unless the visible board forces survival.

• Against aggro, combat is a clock-management problem. Treat every block, bounce, and Anger of the Gods decision as buying one more untap step for Lotus Field; prioritize stopping haste-like, evasive, or wide-board pressure when visible, and avoid spending the turn on slow selection if the next combat creates lethal.

• Against midrange, combat protects time and hand quality. Accept some damage to keep interaction for discard-followed-by-pressure turns, but block or bounce when a single large creature compresses the clock below the number of turns needed to assemble Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, and a payoff spell.

• Against control or combo, combat is secondary unless a resolved threat is the win plan. Do not turn Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Sphinx of the Final Word, Vivi Ornitier, or Quantum Riddler sideways into bad trades if their static, trigger, or spell-chain value is stronger; Card text check required for exact roles before treating any sideboard creature as a combat finisher.

• Protection timing matters more than protection volume. Hold Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, Otawara, Soaring City, and confirmed sideboard protection effects for the combat step or stack point that changes survival, rather than using them precombat when the opponent can redeploy or choose a different pressure line.

Selection And Tutor Rules

• Prioritize land-engine access before extra card velocity. In opening turns, Sleight of Hand, Consider, Flow State, Artist's Talent, and Expedition Map should find or protect access to Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, and enough untapped colored sources to cast the next selection spell; bottom or mill redundant expensive spells when the hand lacks the land engine.

• Sequence selection before the land drop when a missing land changes the turn. Cast Sleight of Hand, Consider, or another cheap legal filter before playing land if the choice can find Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Spirebluff Canal, Steam Vents, Riverglide Pathway, Island, Otawara, Soaring City, or Lindblum, Industrial Regency; make the land drop first only when mana is already constrained by a known legal spell sequence.

• Use Expedition Map as the cleanest pseudo-tutor for the combo land. If the visible hand lacks Lotus Field, find Lotus Field; if Lotus Field is available but no copy effect is visible, find Thespian's Stage; if both are online, choose utility only when the rules engine confirms a specific land choice solves interaction, mana color, or channel timing.

• Treat Pore Over the Pages as both selection and mana conversion. Cast it when Lotus Field or copied Lotus Field mana can turn the untap into more mana, more cards, or a same-turn continuation; avoid firing it as a simple draw spell if the visible hand still cannot exploit the untap.

• Save Dig Through Time for bottleneck decisions. Use graveyard fuel to find the missing category: land engine, untap spell, protection, payoff, or continuation; do not exile useful flashback or graveyard resources casually when Lier, Disciple of the Drowned is part of the visible plan.

• Use Wish only with a defined sideboard objective. Choose Wish when the engine can produce enough mana and the sideboard contains a confirmed legal answer, lesson-like continuation, or payoff; Card text check required for Firebending Lesson, Iroh's Demonstration, Accumulate Wisdom, Boomerang Basics, Improvisation Capstone, Quantum Riddler, Vivi Ornitier, and Spider-Sense before treating them as deterministic finds.

• Bottom or decline redundant pieces by current bottleneck. Keep extra Hidden Strings and Pore Over the Pages when mana is assembled; deprioritize them before Lotus Field is online; keep interaction over extra velocity when the visible opponent board or stack threatens to stop the next combo turn.

Priority And Stack Rules

• Pass priority aggressively when nothing changes the combo or survival math. Do not cast Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, Consider, Sleight of Hand, or Flow State merely because mana is open if waiting preserves interaction, improves information, or keeps a spell for a stronger Lotus Field turn.

• Respond only to spells that attack the current bottleneck. Use Divide by Zero, Into the Flood Maw, or Otawara, Soaring City on stack or battlefield objects that stop Lotus Field, remove Thespian's Stage, counter or discard the decisive spell, create lethal pressure, or invalidate Lier, Disciple of the Drowned; let low-impact value spells resolve when the combo turn remains intact.

• Protect the decisive engine spell over routine setup. If the opponent represents interaction, bait first with Sleight of Hand, Consider, Flow State, Artist's Talent, Expedition Map, or nonlethal Pore Over the Pages; fight harder over Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages with untap value, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Wish, or a sideboard finisher.

• Use instant-speed selection at the last safe window. Cast Consider or confirmed instant-speed card draw after the opponent acts, before an end step, or before a required discard only when the legal action list shows it and the mana will not be needed for Divide by Zero, Into the Flood Maw, Otawara, Soaring City, or a tax payment.

• Treat Hidden Strings targeting as a commitment point. Before putting it on the stack, confirm from visible legal actions that its targets advance mana, pressure, or survival; on combo turns, prefer untapping Lotus Field, a copied Lotus Field, or another mana source the engine can immediately use.

• Manage graveyard timing around Lier, Disciple of the Drowned. Once Lier, Disciple of the Drowned is visible or castable, preserve graveyard spell quality, avoid unnecessary delve with Dig Through Time, and prioritize replaying cheap selection or untap effects only when the rules engine exposes them as legal actions.

• Resolve optional payments and triggers by mana impact. Pay optional costs only when they increase same-turn continuation, protect the decisive spell, or convert otherwise unused mana; decline them when they consume mana needed for Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Divide by Zero, Into the Flood Maw, Wish, or sideboard action.

• Hold bounce for the latest effective window. Use Into the Flood Maw or Otawara, Soaring City before damage, before a lock piece matters, or in response to a targeted effect when that timing changes the result; avoid main-phase bounce that lets the opponent replay the permanent before the combo attempt.

Sideboard Map

• Reserve-access rule: keep sideboard cards in the reserve when their main role is being found by Wish or a legal learn-style action, and move them into the main deck only when drawing them naturally is more important than retaining access during a combo turn. Respect the current rules-engine action list; never assume Wish, Divide by Zero, or any sideboard card can access a card unless the legal action text exposes that choice.

• Anger of the Gods: Add role cards: creature sweepers against low-curve aggro, token boards, graveyard-recursive small creatures, and go-wide pressure that can kill before Lotus Field plus Hidden Strings is ready. When bad: creature-light control, spell combo, large-creature boards where three damage is not enough, and games where tapping three mana main phase prevents the combo turn.

• Divide by Zero: Add role cards: extra stack or permanent tempo against combo, control, taxing permanents, hate permanents, and pressure backed by disruption. When bad: matchups where returning one object does not change the clock or where the deck needs raw velocity more than another reactive spell.

• Spider-Sense: Card text check required. Add role cards: only when confirmed text functions as protection, prevention, tempo, or selection that changes lethal combat, targeted disruption, or the decisive combo turn. When bad: any matchup where the confirmed text does not protect the land engine, does not buy a turn, and does not improve a deterministic Lotus Field turn.

• Niv-Mizzet, Parun: Add role cards: uncounterable or hard-to-answer threat plan against blue control, discard-heavy midrange, and opponents overloaded on narrow anti-combo cards. When bad: fast aggro, mana-denial games, and hands that cannot realistically produce the colored mana while still protecting survival.

• Vivi Ornitier: Card text check required. Add role cards: only when confirmed text supplies a durable threat, mana engine, or spell-chain payoff that advances a post-board alternate plan. When bad: the card is speculative, unsupported by visible mana, or worse than keeping the sideboard slot as a Wish target.

• Sphinx of the Final Word: Add role cards: high-end anti-control finisher when the opponent is trading on permission and the game is likely to go long. When bad: fast creature decks, combo mirrors where seven mana is too slow, and games where resolving Pore Over the Pages or Lier, Disciple of the Drowned is a cleaner route.

• Improvisation Capstone: Card text check required. Add role cards: only as a confirmed Wish or reserve payoff, engine extender, or deterministic finisher. When bad: unknown text, no legal access, or a board state where immediate interaction is required.

• Firebending Lesson: Card text check required. Add role cards: likely reserve utility only if legal action text confirms removal, reach, or lesson-like access that solves the current board. When bad: no creature target, no lethal reach, or a matchup where it is lower impact than Anger of the Gods or Divide by Zero.

• Iroh's Demonstration: Card text check required. Add role cards: only when confirmed as a draw, protection, recursion, or spell-chain tool that improves the combo turn. When bad: unclear text, slow timing, or a situation where it does not affect mana, cards, stack safety, or lethal setup.

• Accumulate Wisdom: Card text check required. Add role cards: grind and reload if confirmed as card advantage that can be accessed after stabilization. When bad: fast pressure, graveyard pressure that punishes slow draw, or any hand already rich in selection and short on Lotus Field access.

• Boomerang Basics: Card text check required. Add role cards: reserve bounce or tempo if confirmed text answers a hate permanent, attacker, or stack-adjacent bottleneck that Into the Flood Maw, Otawara, Soaring City, or Divide by Zero cannot solve cleanly. When bad: no relevant target or the opponent can immediately redeploy before the combo attempt.

• Lier, Disciple of the Drowned: Add role cards: attrition engine against discard, permission, and removal-heavy decks where replaying Consider, Sleight of Hand, Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, or interaction from the graveyard wins long games. When bad: graveyard hate, exile-heavy interaction, very fast aggro, or hands where five mana sorcery-speed commitment risks immediate death.

• Quantum Riddler: Card text check required. Add role cards: only when confirmed as an alternate payoff, resilient threat, or selection engine that matches the matchup role. When bad: any game where the text is unconfirmed, mana is uncertain, or the card does not help the current bottleneck.

Fast Creature Aggro Baseline Side in: 2 Anger of the Gods; 1 Divide by Zero Cut: 1 Dig Through Time; 1 Wish; 1 Flashback

• Use this plan when the opponent presents early combat pressure and the main question is surviving into Lotus Field turns. Preserve Into the Flood Maw because cheap bounce can protect life total or reset a high-impact permanent; lower emphasis on slow graveyard engines and single-card reserve access.

Blue Control Baseline Side in: 1 Sphinx of the Final Word; 1 Divide by Zero; 2 Spider-Sense Cut: 4 Into the Flood Maw

• Use this plan when the opponent is low on battlefield pressure and high on permission or discard. The role shifts from racing to forcing must-answer threats, using Pore Over the Pages, Hidden Strings, and Lier, Disciple of the Drowned to overload answers while Niv-Mizzet, Parun or Sphinx of the Final Word creates a separate win axis.

• Against fast creature decks: Add role cards: Anger of the Gods; Divide by Zero; confirmed defensive Spider-Sense; confirmed useful Firebending Lesson. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Dig Through Time, Wish, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, and slow speculative sideboard targets. Keep hands that cast early interaction and reach Lotus Field; reject hands that only cantrip while taking lethal pressure.

• Against blue control: Add role cards: Niv-Mizzet, Parun; Sphinx of the Final Word; Lier, Disciple of the Drowned; Divide by Zero; confirmed card-advantage Accumulate Wisdom. Reduce main-deck emphasis: excess creature bounce when few targets are visible. Do not overload on expensive threats if colored mana is fragile; the first goal remains resolving the land engine.

• Against discard and midrange: Add role cards: Lier, Disciple of the Drowned; Niv-Mizzet, Parun; confirmed resilient Vivi Ornitier; confirmed reload tools such as Accumulate Wisdom or Iroh's Demonstration. Reduce main-deck emphasis: fragile one-shot reserve plans and reactive cards with no visible target. Value redundancy, graveyard quality, and threats that punish one-for-one exchanges.

• Against combo and mirror-style spell decks: Add role cards: Divide by Zero; confirmed stack-relevant Spider-Sense; confirmed fast payoff Improvisation Capstone; confirmed deterministic target from Wish. Reduce main-deck emphasis: battlefield-only removal when no target matters. Prioritize speed, stack timing, and the first protected Lotus Field turn over slow alternate creature plans.

• Against hate permanents or mana denial: Add role cards: Divide by Zero; confirmed bounce from Boomerang Basics; confirmed protection from Spider-Sense; additional Lier, Disciple of the Drowned only when graveyard access is not under pressure. Reduce main-deck emphasis: expensive threats that do not answer the permanent. Use Wish cautiously because the reserve card must solve the visible bottleneck, not merely add value.

• Against unknown opponents: Add role cards: none until game evidence identifies pressure, permission, graveyard hate, or combo speed. Reduce main-deck emphasis: none by default. Keep the main configuration coherent, use Wish and Divide by Zero as flexible access points, and sideboard only after visible game actions reveal which sideboard card text and role actually matter.

Matchup Guidance

• Aggro: Prioritize survival into the first productive Lotus Field turn, not maximum card selection. Keep hands with early lands, Consider or Sleight of Hand, and either Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, Anger of the Gods, or a fast Lotus Field path; reject slow hands built around Dig Through Time, Wish, or unprotected five-mana Lier, Disciple of the Drowned. Add role cards: Anger of the Gods; Divide by Zero; confirmed defensive Spider-Sense; confirmed useful Firebending Lesson. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Dig Through Time, Wish, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, and any slow reserve card whose text does not immediately stabilize. Use Into the Flood Maw before damage when it preserves a full turn cycle or removes a lethal attacker; do not spend it on a low-impact attacker if the visible board still threatens lethal.

• Control: Treat Lotus Field plus untap density as the core resource, then force the opponent to answer must-resolve engines across multiple turns. Add role cards: Niv-Mizzet, Parun; Sphinx of the Final Word; Lier, Disciple of the Drowned; Divide by Zero; confirmed card-advantage Accumulate Wisdom; confirmed protection or reload from Iroh's Demonstration. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Into the Flood Maw when the opponent shows few battlefield targets. Sequence cheap selection to make land drops and sculpt redundancy, but avoid walking the only Hidden Strings or Pore Over the Pages into open interaction when passing keeps pressure low and improves the next attempt. Commit Niv-Mizzet, Parun or Sphinx of the Final Word only when the mana is stable and the game is not being lost to an existing clock.

• Combo: Race with discipline; the fastest legal combo turn matters, but a single relevant interruption can be better than speculative digging. Add role cards: Divide by Zero; confirmed stack-relevant Spider-Sense; confirmed deterministic payoff or engine access from Wish; confirmed fast Improvisation Capstone; confirmed useful Quantum Riddler only if its text advances the combo clock or disrupts theirs. Reduce main-deck emphasis: battlefield-only bounce when no visible target changes the opposing combo turn. Use Divide by Zero on a stack object, engine permanent, or setup spell only when it visibly slows the opponent more than spending that mana delays your own Lotus Field turn. Do not assume hidden interaction; reason from open mana, revealed cards, prior game actions, and public zones.

• Tempo: Protect mana development and avoid converting every cheap spell into a tapped-out window. Add role cards: Divide by Zero; Spider-Sense if confirmed to protect a key spell or buy combat time; Boomerang Basics if confirmed as bounce that answers a tempo threat or disruptive permanent. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow expensive finishers that do not stabilize or overload permission. Make land drops before fighting over marginal spells, and value Riverglide Pathway, Spirebluff Canal, Steam Vents, and Island sequencing that keeps one-mana selection or bounce available. Cast Pore Over the Pages into pressure only when it untaps enough mana to continue interacting or likely starts the winning chain.

• Midrange: Use redundancy and graveyard value to beat one-for-one exchanges while respecting discard and removal-backed pressure. Add role cards: Lier, Disciple of the Drowned; Niv-Mizzet, Parun; confirmed resilient Vivi Ornitier; confirmed reload from Accumulate Wisdom; confirmed value or recursion from Iroh's Demonstration. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Wish when the opponent pressures hand and mana faster than a reserve bullet can matter. Keep hands with multiple looks at Lotus Field, and prioritize Artist's Talent, Flow State, Pore Over the Pages, and graveyard-filling cantrips when the visible battlefield is not lethal. Delay Dig Through Time until it has meaningful selection unless using it immediately prevents missing a critical land or untap spell.

• Big mana: Race their top-end while preserving flexible interaction for the first payoff that changes the game. Add role cards: Divide by Zero; Boomerang Basics if confirmed to bounce a mana permanent or payoff; confirmed Improvisation Capstone if it speeds the kill; confirmed Quantum Riddler only if it creates a faster or resilient finish. Reduce main-deck emphasis: pure creature sweepers unless their acceleration is creature-based. Use Expedition Map and selection aggressively to assemble Lotus Field plus Thespian's Stage; a medium-speed hand with no engine is worse than a slightly fragile hand that threatens a real combo turn. Do not spend Otawara, Soaring City early unless the target materially delays their decisive turn.

• Graveyard decks: Race first, interact only when the visible graveyard plan is about to produce a decisive result. Add role cards: Anger of the Gods when exile or sweeping text is confirmed relevant by legal action text; Divide by Zero; confirmed Firebending Lesson; confirmed Boomerang Basics for hate or payoff permanents. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow Lier, Disciple of the Drowned if opposing graveyard hate or graveyard pressure makes the graveyard unreliable. Keep Dig Through Time and Consider strong when your graveyard is safe; downgrade them if visible hate turns graveyard setup into a liability. If no graveyard-hate card is registered or confirmed accessible, do not invent one; choose between racing, bouncing, sweeping, or delaying from legal actions shown.

• Artifact/enchantment decks: Identify whether the permanent is pressure, mana, lock piece, or irrelevant value before spending bounce. Add role cards: Divide by Zero; confirmed Boomerang Basics; Into the Flood Maw when legal target text shows it can answer the current permanent or creature bottleneck; confirmed utility from Firebending Lesson only if action text supports it. Reduce main-deck emphasis: expensive threats that ignore the locking permanent. Use Wish only when the accessible reserve card has confirmed text that solves the visible problem; do not select an unknown-text sideboard card as a blind answer. If the permanent only slows the combo rather than stopping it, prefer assembling Lotus Field, Hidden Strings, and Pore Over the Pages over spending a full turn on low-impact interaction.

• Go-wide decks: Value sweepers and tempo actions that buy multiple turns, not one-for-one exchanges. Add role cards: Anger of the Gods; Divide by Zero; confirmed defensive Spider-Sense; confirmed mass or flexible interaction from Firebending Lesson. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Dig Through Time, Wish, and slow alternate finishers. Preserve life total early with Into the Flood Maw only if one bounced creature changes the clock; otherwise prioritize finding Anger of the Gods or racing with a near-complete engine. After stabilizing, shift immediately to combo assembly because topdecked pressure can rebuild quickly.

• Single-threat decks: Make them spend time redeploying the threat while you assemble a decisive turn. Add role cards: Divide by Zero; Boomerang Basics if confirmed bounce; Spider-Sense if confirmed protection or fog-like defense; Sphinx of the Final Word only in slow single-threat control shells. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Anger of the Gods unless the threat is accompanied by small creatures. Into the Flood Maw is high value when it removes the only clock for a full attack step, protects a planeswalker-like engine if applicable by text, or resets a committed aura/equipment-style investment visible on board. Do not bounce a threat at end step by habit if main-phase bounce unlocks a safer combo turn.

• Burn: Treat life total as a hard resource cap and do not shock yourself or pass with avoidable lethal exposure unless the legal line wins immediately. Add role cards: Anger of the Gods only for creature-heavy burn; Divide by Zero; confirmed Spider-Sense; confirmed lifegain, prevention, or cheap interaction from Iroh's Demonstration or Firebending Lesson only after card text check. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Dig Through Time, and high-cost sideboard threats. Prefer untapped blue-red sources only when the spell cast this turn changes the clock; otherwise sequence lands to minimize self-damage and maximize a fast Lotus Field transition.

• Removal-heavy decks: Make creature removal awkward by leaning on spells, lands, and graveyard recursion instead of overcommitting alternate creatures. Add role cards: Lier, Disciple of the Drowned; Niv-Mizzet, Parun when the opponent cannot cleanly answer it; Sphinx of the Final Word against permission-heavy removal shells; confirmed resilient Vivi Ornitier; confirmed reload Accumulate Wisdom. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature finishers when visible removal is abundant and they do not immediately win. Use Artist's Talent, Flow State, Consider, and Sleight of Hand to keep the hand dense; commit Lier, Disciple of the Drowned only when recasting graveyard spells this turn or next turn is worth the exposure.

Specific Matchup Notes

• General/archetype-only note: revealed cards and legal actions override every matchup assumption here. Treat the opponent's first public plays as the truth source, then classify them by pressure speed, interaction density, graveyard pressure, and permanent-based disruption before following any sideboard or priority cue.

• Against fast creature pressure: prioritize survival time over maximum selection depth. Likely sideboarding favors Anger of the Gods, the sideboard Divide by Zero, and confirmed defensive Spider-Sense; Firebending Lesson is conditional on card text check required. Priority targets are the creature or board state that shortens the clock by a full turn, not the largest creature by default. Into the Flood Maw should buy a turn when a single attacker matters; Anger of the Gods should be preserved when the visible battlefield is wide enough that one-for-one bounce still leaves lethal pressure.

• Against control or permission: prioritize land development, redundant combo pieces, and forcing action on their end step before committing the decisive chain. Likely sideboarding favors Sphinx of the Final Word, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, sideboard Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Accumulate Wisdom after card text check required, and possibly Vivi Ornitier if its text confirms resilience or pressure. Priority targets are counter windows, tapped-out turns, and visible shields-down moments; do not run Hidden Strings plus Pore Over the Pages into open interaction when waiting preserves a stronger hand and the clock is low.

• Against discard and midrange: prioritize keeping functional redundancy over protecting a single perfect card. Likely sideboarding favors sideboard Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Vivi Ornitier after card text check required, and Iroh's Demonstration only if confirmed as recursion, protection, or reload. Priority targets are discard engines, graveyard hate, and threats that turn the corner quickly. Consider, Sleight of Hand, Flow State, Artist's Talent, and Pore Over the Pages should rebuild after disruption; Dig Through Time is strongest once the graveyard is stocked and not under visible hate.

• Against big mana or slower engine decks: prioritize speed and disruption that buys one full turn. Likely sideboarding favors the sideboard Divide by Zero, Boomerang Basics if card text confirms bounce or disruption, Improvisation Capstone if card text confirms acceleration or a deterministic payoff role, and Quantum Riddler only if its text confirms a faster or resilient closer. Priority targets are mana permanents, payoff permanents, and stack actions that end the game or lock the combo out. Expedition Map, Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Hidden Strings, and Pore Over the Pages are the primary race package.

• Against graveyard decks or graveyard hate: separate opposing graveyard pressure from hate aimed at this deck. Likely sideboarding favors Anger of the Gods when exile/sweeper text is relevant, sideboard Divide by Zero, Boomerang Basics if it can answer a hate permanent, and confirmed Firebending Lesson only after card text check required. Priority targets are the first graveyard action or permanent that changes the next turn cycle. If opposing hate is visible, downgrade Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Dig Through Time, and graveyard-reliant Consider lines until a bounce, timing, or non-graveyard path is legal.

Risk Summary

• Mana risk: Lotus Field requires careful sequencing because sacrificing lands can strand Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Divide by Zero, or interaction if the engine turn is not actually ready. Do not play Lotus Field just because it is legal when the visible hand lacks untap access, selection, or enough lands to recover.

• Matchup risk: the deck can misclassify opponents if it follows archetype assumptions after new public information appears. Revealed cards, battlefield texture, graveyard contents, and legal targets must override generic plans immediately.

• Draw risk: cantrip-heavy hands can look functional while failing to produce Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, or enough untap density. Mulligan or selection decisions should value actual engine access over multiple low-impact looks.

• Over-sideboarding risk: bringing in too many expensive closers or conditional lessons can dilute the combo. Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Sphinx of the Final Word, Vivi Ornitier, Improvisation Capstone, and Quantum Riddler need matchup-specific justification and confirmed card text roles before replacing core velocity.

• Graveyard risk: Dig Through Time and Lier, Disciple of the Drowned improve grindy games but become weaker into visible graveyard hate or fast graveyard pressure. Keep non-graveyard engine lines live when the opponent can punish stocked graveyards.

• Sweeper/removal risk: Anger of the Gods can be excellent against wide boards and poor against single large threats or noncreature pressure. Into the Flood Maw and Divide by Zero should answer the tempo problem the current board presents, not the most expensive visible permanent by habit.

• Closer risk: alternate win conditions can steal slow games but can also create clunky hands. Prefer Wish, confirmed lesson targets, or resilient sideboard threats only when the combo route is disrupted, too slow, or already protected.

• Interaction risk: holding Divide by Zero, Otawara, Soaring City, or Into the Flood Maw too long can waste the exact turn needed to survive; spending them too early can leave the decisive opposing payoff unchecked. Use visible clock, stack state, and next-turn engine probability to choose.

• Sequencing risk: Artist's Talent, Flow State, Flashback, Wish, Lindblum, Industrial Regency, and unfamiliar sideboard cards require card text check required before assuming exact tactical functions. When text is unknown at runtime, choose only from legal actions whose visible labels support the intended role.

Test Feedback Checklist

• Deciding factor: record whether each win or loss was caused by engine access, survival time, permission pressure, graveyard pressure, sideboard threat quality, or a visible sequencing mistake. Mark the first turn where Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Hidden Strings, or Pore Over the Pages became usable, and whether that turn was early enough for the matchup.

• Mulligans: note whether the kept hand had a real engine path or only selection. Track hands with Sleight of Hand, Consider, Flow State, or Artist's Talent that failed to find Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Expedition Map, or an untap chain before pressure became lethal.

• Mana: record every game where Lotus Field sacrificed lands before the hand could recover. Note whether Spirebluff Canal, Steam Vents, Riverglide Pathway, Island, Otawara, Soaring City, or Lindblum, Industrial Regency entered or functioned in a way that changed the combo turn; Card text check required for unfamiliar land details.

• Velocity: ask whether Sleight of Hand, Consider, Flow State, Artist's Talent, and Pore Over the Pages converted into engine pieces or only churned cards. If Dig Through Time was cast, record whether it found a decisive card, was delayed by graveyard constraints, or was stranded by visible hate.

• Engine execution: record whether Hidden Strings and Pore Over the Pages generated a continuing turn or stalled after one untap. Mark any turn where a legal Hidden Strings line existed but waiting, interaction, or mana constraints made another play better.

• Interaction: log whether Into the Flood Maw, Divide by Zero, and Otawara, Soaring City bought a full turn, answered the correct permanent or spell, or were spent on a low-impact target. Record whether holding interaction caused more damage than using it.

• Sideboard: record which sideboard cards were actually drawn, cast, or stranded. Track Anger of the Gods, sideboard Divide by Zero, Spider-Sense, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Sphinx of the Final Word, Vivi Ornitier, Improvisation Capstone, Firebending Lesson, Iroh's Demonstration, Accumulate Wisdom, Boomerang Basics, and Quantum Riddler; Card text check required for any sideboard card whose runtime label does not confirm its role.

• Closing: record whether the deck won by combo execution, Wish access, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned recursion, or sideboard threat pressure. Mark games where the engine produced mana and cards but no legal closer appeared.

• Role: ask whether the pilot correctly shifted between racing, stabilizing, protecting the engine, and grinding. Flag games where the pilot followed a generic combo plan despite visible pressure, open interaction, or a revealed disruptive card.

• Mistakes: identify the first legal action that likely changed the result, including land sequencing, premature Lotus Field, unnecessary Into the Flood Maw, missed Divide by Zero, weak selection choice, or overcommitted engine turn.

• Stranded cards: list cards left in hand at loss or game end, especially duplicate Lotus Field, excess Thespian's Stage, expensive closers, Wish, Flashback, Dig Through Time, or sideboard cards with unclear text.

• Overperformers and underperformers: compare card impact to opportunity cost, not just whether a card was cast. Credit cards that changed the clock, enabled a deterministic engine turn, protected the decisive turn, or solved a specific sideboard problem.

First Tuning Questions

• Engine quantity: does the deck need the full 4 Hidden Strings, 4 Pore Over the Pages, 4 Lotus Field, and 4 Thespian's Stage, or are failed games caused by finding the wrong half of the engine rather than too few copies?

• Map package: do 2 Expedition Map improve engine consistency enough to justify their tempo cost, or do they create too many slow hands against fast creature pressure?

• Selection mix: are 4 Sleight of Hand, 4 Consider, 4 Flow State, and 4 Artist's Talent producing redundant velocity, or does one selection slot underperform because its card text, timing, or mana cost conflicts with the combo turn?

• Mana base: do 3 Steam Vents, 4 Spirebluff Canal, 3 Riverglide Pathway, 1 Island, 2 Otawara, Soaring City, and 1 Lindblum, Industrial Regency support early selection plus interaction reliably after Lotus Field sacrifices lands?

• Interaction count: are 4 Into the Flood Maw and 3 main-deck Divide by Zero enough to survive aggro while still racing control, or does the deck need different main-deck emphasis by expected field?

• Graveyard plan: is 1 Dig Through Time plus 1 main-deck Lier, Disciple of the Drowned the right grind package, or do graveyard hate and fast clocks make those slots too conditional?

• Flashback role: does 2 Flashback consistently advance the engine, protect recursion, or close games? Card text check required before changing quantity based on assumptions.

• Wish package: does 1 Wish access meaningful sideboard tools often enough, or are lesson/toolbox cards such as Firebending Lesson, Iroh's Demonstration, Accumulate Wisdom, Boomerang Basics, Improvisation Capstone, and Quantum Riddler too narrow without confirmed text?

• Aggro plan: are 2 Anger of the Gods, 2 Spider-Sense, sideboard Divide by Zero, and Into the Flood Maw enough to bridge to the combo, or is the deck losing before Lotus Field plus untap spells matter?

• Control plan: do Sphinx of the Final Word, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, sideboard Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, and Vivi Ornitier solve permission and discard matchups without making post-board hands too expensive?

• Closer density: when combo turns generate mana and cards, does the deck lack a deterministic finish, or are closing failures caused by sequencing, sideboard configuration, or unknown card text?

• Role conflict: does bringing in expensive threats dilute the Hidden Strings engine, or does staying pure combo fail against disruption often enough to justify transformational pressure?

Veles Tactical Policy

Policy: Mulligan For Engine Access

Priority: High Decision families: mulligan Cards: Lotus Field; Thespian's Stage; Expedition Map; Hidden Strings; Pore Over the Pages; Sleight of Hand; Consider; Flow State; Artist's Talent Phase windows: pregame Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; hand:visible Use when: deciding whether the opening hand can reach Lotus Field plus an untap/draw chain before the opponent's visible clock or expected disruption matters. Avoid when: the hand has only cantrips with no land development, no Lotus Field, no Thespian's Stage, no Expedition Map, and no credible way to survive. Instructions: Keep hands with engine land access, early selection, and enough colored mana to cast setup spells; ship hands that are all payoff, all lands, or dependent on unverified card text. Treat Expedition Map as slower access, not already a combo piece. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Early Setup Before Commitment

Priority: Medium Decision families: mana, selection, priority Cards: Sleight of Hand; Consider; Flow State; Artist's Talent; Expedition Map; Lotus Field; Thespian's Stage Phase windows: turns 1-3, main phase, end step Runtime cues: action:cast; action:play land; visible hand contains setup Use when: choosing the first land, selection spell, Artist's Talent, or Expedition Map line before a combo turn is available. Avoid when: a legal interaction spell is needed this turn to prevent lethal or protect the only engine window. Instructions: Develop colored mana for one-mana selection first, then convert selection into Lotus Field, Thespian's Stage, Hidden Strings, or Pore Over the Pages. Do not sacrifice lands to Lotus Field before the post-sacrifice hand can continue or defend. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Lotus Field Commitment Gate

Priority: High Decision families: mana, priority Cards: Lotus Field; Thespian's Stage; Hidden Strings; Pore Over the Pages; Divide by Zero; Into the Flood Maw Phase windows: main phase before land play, main phase after land play Runtime cues: action:play Lotus Field; action:activate Thespian's Stage Use when: deciding whether to expose Lotus Field, copy it with Thespian's Stage, or begin the untap chain this turn. Avoid when: visible pressure is low, the hand lacks follow-up, or the opponent has known disruption that makes waiting materially safer. Instructions: Commit when waiting risks lethal, discard, counterplay, or missed mana, or when current hand can produce a continuing turn. Delay when the engine is incomplete and interaction can buy time without losing the window. Pilot skill floor: high No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Deterministic Thespian's Stage Copy

Priority: Medium Decision families: mana Cards: Thespian's Stage; Lotus Field Phase windows: opponent end step, own main phase Runtime cues: action:activate Thespian's Stage; action:target Lotus Field Use when: a legal action text contains Thespian's Stage, target Lotus Field, and no other target permanent name in the same action. Avoid when: multiple legal Thespian's Stage target actions exist or the activation timing changes available interaction or mana for the turn. Instructions: Choose the exact visible action that copies Lotus Field when the copied target is explicit and singular. Pilot skill floor: low No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Hidden Strings Untap Target Execution

Priority: Medium Decision families: mana, selection Cards: Hidden Strings; Lotus Field; Thespian's Stage Phase windows: combo main phase, post-spell target prompt Runtime cues: action:target Lotus Field Hidden Strings Use when: a legal target action for Hidden Strings explicitly includes Lotus Field and the other target is a Thespian's Stage currently copying Lotus Field or another visible Lotus Field. Avoid when: target choices include non-engine permanents or the action text does not identify both mana permanents. Instructions: Select the visible target pair that untaps two Lotus Field-class mana permanents after the combo has already been selected. Pilot skill floor: low No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Pore Over The Pages Engine Gate

Priority: High Decision families: mana, priority, selection Cards: Pore Over the Pages; Hidden Strings; Lotus Field; Dig Through Time; Lier, Disciple of the Drowned Phase windows: combo main phase Runtime cues: action:cast Pore Over the Pages Use when: deciding whether Pore Over the Pages is the turn's engine spell or should wait behind interaction, selection, or mana setup. Avoid when: casting it taps below required interaction without producing enough mana or cards to continue. Instructions: Prefer Pore Over the Pages when it untaps engine mana and digs toward another untap, recursion, or closer. Treat it as a commitment spell if it consumes the turn's protection mana. Pilot skill floor: high No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Mana Payment During Combo

Priority: Medium Decision families: mana Cards: Lotus Field; Thespian's Stage; Spirebluff Canal; Steam Vents; Riverglide Pathway; Island; Otawara, Soaring City; Lindblum, Industrial Regency Phase windows: any payment prompt Runtime cues: prompt:pay mana; action:tap Use when: choosing sources for a spell or ability after the intended line is already selected. Avoid when: source choice changes whether Divide by Zero, Into the Flood Maw, Hidden Strings, or Pore Over the Pages remains castable. Instructions: Spend non-engine colored sources before spending untapped Lotus Field-class sources unless the payment requires exact colors. Preserve blue access for untap/draw and interaction. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Selection Spell Choice

Priority: Medium Decision families: selection Cards: Sleight of Hand; Consider; Flow State; Artist's Talent; Dig Through Time Phase windows: main phase, end step, selection resolution Runtime cues: prompt:choose card; action:select Use when: resolving card selection or deciding which selection spell to cast. Avoid when: the visible board requires immediate interaction or the selection action depends on unknown card text. Instructions: Rank missing engine access first, continuing untap/draw second, protection third, and sideboard threat plans fourth. Card text check required for Flow State and Artist's Talent; use their runtime choices only according to visible engine needs. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Dig Through Time Commitment

Priority: Medium Decision families: selection, priority, mana Cards: Dig Through Time Phase windows: end step, combo main phase, recovery turn Runtime cues: action:cast Dig Through Time; prompt:delve Use when: graveyard size, mana, and visible timing make Dig Through Time a route to engine completion, protection, or a closer. Avoid when: casting it removes graveyard resources needed for Lier, Disciple of the Drowned or leaves no mana for the selected follow-up. Instructions: Use Dig Through Time to find the missing half of the combo or protection for a forced turn. Do not assume hidden cards or graveyard legality beyond Forge's candidates. Pilot skill floor: high No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Interaction As Time Purchase

Priority: High Decision families: interaction, priority Cards: Into the Flood Maw; Divide by Zero; Otawara, Soaring City; Anger of the Gods; Spider-Sense Phase windows: opponent main phase, combat, end step, stack interaction Runtime cues: action:cast Into the Flood Maw; action:cast Divide by Zero; action:activate Otawara, Soaring City Use when: choosing whether to spend bounce, permission-like interaction, or sweeper effects to survive to the engine turn. Avoid when: the target is low impact and the same mana is required for a winning or stabilizing combo line. Instructions: Prioritize preventing lethal, removing hate that stops Lotus Field execution, or buying a full turn. Card text check required for Into the Flood Maw and Spider-Sense; follow visible target legality. Pilot skill floor: high No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Divide By Zero Stack Target

Priority: Medium Decision families: interaction Cards: Divide by Zero Phase windows: stack interaction prompt Runtime cues: action:target Divide by Zero Use when: Divide by Zero has already been selected and the legal target list contains a single spell or permanent action matching the visible threat identified by the model. Avoid when: multiple target actions exist or a sideboard/lesson-style follow-up choice is offered. Instructions: Choose the exact legal target only after the interaction line is selected; route target judgment through the light model whenever alternatives exist. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Wish And Lesson Toolbox Gate

Priority: Medium Decision families: selection, priority, sideboard Cards: Wish; Firebending Lesson; Iroh's Demonstration; Accumulate Wisdom; Boomerang Basics; Improvisation Capstone; Quantum Riddler; Divide by Zero Phase windows: main phase, resolution selection Runtime cues: action:cast Wish; prompt:choose outside game; prompt:learn Use when: deciding whether a sideboard tool solves the current engine, survival, or closing problem better than continuing main-deck execution. Avoid when: the sideboard card text is not confirmed by runtime action labels or choosing it delays a currently legal win. Instructions: Treat Wish and any learn-like selection as contextual access, not a default. Card text check required for unfamiliar toolbox cards; select only from Forge-presented legal options. Pilot skill floor: high No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Lier Recursion Commitment

Priority: Medium Decision families: priority, selection, mana Cards: Lier, Disciple of the Drowned; Sleight of Hand; Consider; Hidden Strings; Pore Over the Pages; Into the Flood Maw; Divide by Zero Phase windows: main phase, combo recovery turn Runtime cues: action:cast Lier, Disciple of the Drowned Use when: deciding whether to pivot from pure hand-based combo into graveyard recursion. Avoid when: the opponent can exploit the tap-out, graveyard access is weak, or Lier, Disciple of the Drowned conflicts with needed stack interaction. Instructions: Cast Lier, Disciple of the Drowned when visible graveyard spells can immediately rebuild or continue. Do not assume graveyard cards are castable unless Forge lists them. Pilot skill floor: high No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Finisher Threat Sideboard Gate

Priority: Medium Decision families: sideboard, priority Cards: Niv-Mizzet, Parun; Sphinx of the Final Word; Vivi Ornitier; Lier, Disciple of the Drowned Phase windows: sideboarding, post-board main phase Runtime cues: sideboard:threat plan; action:cast Niv-Mizzet, Parun; action:cast Sphinx of the Final Word; action:cast Vivi Ornitier Use when: deciding whether post-board games require resilient threats instead of maximum combo speed. Avoid when: expensive threats clog hands against fast pressure or dilute the minimum engine density. Instructions: Bring and cast these cards only when the matchup rewards a slower threat axis or the opponent has visible disruption for the spell chain. Card text check required for Vivi Ornitier. Pilot skill floor: high No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard Anti-Creature Configuration

Priority: Medium Decision families: sideboard Cards: Anger of the Gods; Spider-Sense; Divide by Zero; Into the Flood Maw; Expedition Map; Dig Through Time; Wish Phase windows: sideboarding Runtime cues: sideboard:creature pressure; opponent:wide battlefield; opponent:fast clock Use when: post-board planning against creature decks where survival turns matter more than maximum goldfish speed. Avoid when: the opponent presents few creatures or pressure is primarily stack/discard based. Instructions: Add Anger of the Gods, Spider-Sense, and sideboard Divide by Zero where their visible text answers the pressure. Reduce slower or narrower main-deck emphasis without cutting below functional engine density. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard Anti-Control Configuration

Priority: Medium Decision families: sideboard Cards: Sphinx of the Final Word; Niv-Mizzet, Parun; Lier, Disciple of the Drowned; Vivi Ornitier; Divide by Zero; Wish Phase windows: sideboarding Runtime cues: sideboard:control; opponent:permission; opponent:discard Use when: post-board planning against decks that attack the combo through counters, discard, or long-game resources. Avoid when: the opponent's visible plan is racing with creatures and expensive threats cannot be deployed in time. Instructions: Add resilient threats and recursion when they create a second axis. Preserve enough Hidden Strings, Pore Over the Pages, Lotus Field, and Thespian's Stage density to keep the opponent respecting the combo. Pilot skill floor: high No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Combat Default For Combo Deck

Priority: Low Decision families: combat Cards: Lier, Disciple of the Drowned; Niv-Mizzet, Parun; Sphinx of the Final Word; Vivi Ornitier Phase windows: declare attackers, declare blockers, combat tricks Runtime cues: prompt:declare attackers; prompt:declare blockers Use when: creatures are present and combat choices can affect survival or a threat clock. Avoid when: combat is irrelevant to a legal engine win this turn. Instructions: Preserve key noncombat creatures unless attacking is clearly required by visible lethal math or a post-board threat plan. Block to survive, not to trade away a card needed for the engine. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Exact Pass After Empty Stack Setup

Priority: Low Decision families: priority Cards: none Phase windows: opponent end step, own end step Runtime cues: action:pass priority Use when: the stack is empty, no legal action text contains cast, activate, or play, and the only legal action containing pass priority advances the phase. Avoid when: any legal action could cast selection, interaction, engine, or sideboard threat cards. Instructions: Choose the visible pass action only when no other legal play action is available from the engine. Pilot skill floor: low No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Emergency Survival Overrides Engine

Priority: High Decision families: interaction, combat, priority Cards: Into the Flood Maw; Divide by Zero; Otawara, Soaring City; Anger of the Gods; Spider-Sense Phase windows: combat, opponent main phase, end step before lethal turn Runtime cues: visible lethal; short clock; action:cast Use when: the opponent's visible board or stack threatens lethal before the next engine turn. Avoid when: the current legal line wins or stabilizes immediately through the engine. Instructions: Spend interaction, blocks, or sideboard answers to survive one more turn before preserving combo resources. Do not pass with a legal survival action unless the action text fails to address the visible source of lethal. Pilot skill floor: high No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes