veles-content/strategies/standard/standard_mono_red_aggro/1/guide.md

Strategy Specifications

Deck Name And Archetype

Validate this registration as Mono-Red Aggro for declared Standard playtesting: the main deck totals exactly 60 cards and the sideboard totals exactly 15 cards. De-duplicated archetype tags are aggro, burn, and spells, with the runtime role treated as proactive red pressure plus direct-damage reach unless card text or engine-visible game state proves a slower creature-top-end posture is required.

Use exact registered main-deck card names only when reasoning about the deck: Burst Lightning, Mountain, Shock, Hired Claw, Witchstalker Frenzy, Emberheart Challenger, Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, Lightning Strike, Burnout Bashtronaut, Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, Fire Nation Palace, and Hexing Squelcher. Use exact registered sideboard card names only when reasoning about post-board plans: The Legend of Roku, Magebane Lizard, Abrade, Soul-Guide Lantern, and Ghost Vacuum.

Treat the deck as a hybrid/rogue Mono-Red Aggro build rather than a guaranteed stock red list. The registered shell contains familiar red burn and tempo interaction in Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, and Witchstalker Frenzy, but it also carries a heavier creature/permanent package and 25 lands across Mountain, Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, and Fire Nation Palace, so the pilot guide must not assume a pure low-land burn curve or an all-face-damage plan.

Validate legality through the Veles card database and the wrapped rules engine before official results. This generated section accepts the user-declared Standard format and the exact decklist counts, but it does not independently certify current sanctioned Standard legality, card availability, or all Oracle text; if Veles cannot import any exact card name, the test should fail closed instead of substituting a similar card.

Flag card-text uncertainty before making card-specific tactical claims. Card text check required for any action rule involving Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, Fire Nation Palace, The Legend of Roku, Magebane Lizard, Soul-Guide Lantern, or Ghost Vacuum unless the rules engine exposes the relevant legal action and visible card details at runtime.

Use the mana profile as a deck-construction signal, not as proof of every card’s cost. The list is mono-red by registered spell color expectation and land naming, but 9 non-Mountain lands means Veles should pay attention to visible red availability, tapped status, utility-land activation text, and whether a legal action spends the only red source needed for Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, Witchstalker Frenzy, or another visible red play.

Use the role label as pressure-first, reach-aware, and board-sensitive. The agent should default to establishing damage early, convert stalled boards into burn reach when legal actions support it, and avoid throwing away creature pressure solely to preserve theoretical burn unless visible life totals, blockers, stack contents, and legal actions make that conversion concrete.

Treat opponent information as unavailable unless supplied by matchup metadata, public zones, revealed cards, or engine-visible actions. No opponent decklist, archetype, removal suite, graveyard dependency, or sideboard plan is provided in this batch, so matchup assumptions must remain generic until Veles attaches a known opponent profile or the game reveals public evidence.

Thesis

Assemble early red pressure, preserve enough burn to finish, and let the rules engine decide when the larger registered threats become legal damage sources. This exact deck wins by forcing the opponent to answer cheap creatures and repeated combat damage, then converting Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, Witchstalker Frenzy, and any engine-confirmed damage abilities from Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Hexing Squelcher into the final life-total swing.

Prioritize damage that remains live across board states rather than treating every burn spell as automatic face damage. Use Burst Lightning, Shock, and Lightning Strike to clear blockers when the visible attack step gains more damage over the next turn cycle than the spell would deal directly, but aim them at the opponent when life totals, known stack pressure, or a stalled battlefield makes reach more important than board control.

Treat this deck as pressure-first, not as a long-game control deck. It is not trying to trade one-for-one indefinitely, sculpt a perfect hand, lock the opponent out, or preserve every creature; it should make the opponent’s life total the scarce resource while respecting visible blockers, open mana, combat math, and legal actions.

Use the 25-land registration as permission to keep functional three- and four-land pressure hands, not as permission to flood passively. Mountain, Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, and Fire Nation Palace should support curved deployment and any legal utility-land actions, while excess lands should become tactical resources only when the engine exposes relevant activation, combat, or payment options.

Respect card-text uncertainty at every non-obvious decision point. Card text check required for Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, Fire Nation Palace, The Legend of Roku, Magebane Lizard, Soul-Guide Lantern, and Ghost Vacuum unless Veles exposes the relevant text, legal action, target set, cost, and result window.

Role Package

• Threats: Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Sunspine Lynx, and Nova Hellkite are the main pressure bodies. Lead with the cheapest legal threat when the hand can continue spending mana, and prefer board development over holding creatures unless visible sweepers, known removal, or combat math makes restraint necessary.

• Payoffs: Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, and Witchstalker Frenzy convert tempo into damage or remove blockers that would otherwise erase attacks. Treat Nova Hellkite, Sunspine Lynx, Hexing Squelcher, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hired Claw, and Emberheart Challenger as conditional payoffs only when the rules engine confirms relevant attack, trigger, damage, pump, or resource text.

• Engines: Emberheart Challenger, Hired Claw, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, and Fire Nation Palace may provide repeatable pressure, mana use, or board conversion if their visible text supports it. Card text check required before assuming card draw, impulse access, counters, token creation, land animation, damage triggers, or cost reduction from these cards.

• Velocity: The deck has limited explicit velocity from known card names, so the pilot should not spend early turns searching for card flow that may not exist. If Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Soulstone Sanctuary, Rockface Village, or Fire Nation Palace exposes legal card-selection, exile-play, rummage, draw, or activation actions, use them when they improve pressure without skipping a strong attack or lethal burn line.

• Interaction: Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, Witchstalker Frenzy, and sideboard Abrade are the clean interaction suite. Use interaction to preserve attackers, answer lifelink or must-kill blockers, stop an opposing engine when visible, or finish the opponent; do not spend removal on low-impact creatures when the same mana can create a faster clock.

• Protection: The registered list has no guaranteed dedicated protection module by known card names. Protect pressure through sequencing, forcing awkward blocks, holding burn for combat leverage, and avoiding unnecessary overextension when visible public information suggests a punish; if any registered permanent exposes protective legal actions, follow the engine-visible text rather than assuming it.

• Recursion: The main deck does not show an explicit recursion package from known card names. Do not plan to recover creatures from the graveyard unless a legal action from Soulstone Sanctuary, Fire Nation Palace, The Legend of Roku, Soul-Guide Lantern, Ghost Vacuum, or another registered card explicitly permits it at runtime.

• Mana: Mountain is the baseline red source, while Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, and Fire Nation Palace are mana or utility lands that require runtime text checks. Prioritize untapped red availability for early Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, burn spells, and Witchstalker Frenzy, then use utility-land actions only when they advance damage, mana efficiency, or survival.

• Sideboard modules: The Legend of Roku is a card-text-dependent threat or value module; Magebane Lizard is a card-text-dependent pressure or hate module; Abrade is artifact/removal interaction; Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum are graveyard-interaction modules. Bring sideboard cards in only through exact validated plans later, and use graveyard tools only when public zones or matchup metadata show that graveyard pressure matters.

Primary Win Conditions

• Early creature pressure is the first win path: open on Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Hexing Squelcher when legal, then turn every safe attack into life-total pressure. Setup requires red mana, at least one early threat, and follow-up damage from Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, Witchstalker Frenzy, Sunspine Lynx, or Nova Hellkite. Execute by attacking before spending burn when combat damage may change the best target, and spend removal only when clearing a blocker creates more total damage than pointing burn at the opponent. Prioritize this line against slow starts, tapped-out opponents, hands with multiple cheap creatures, and board states where visible blockers cannot trade up efficiently.

• Burn reach is the second win path: preserve Burst Lightning, Shock, and Lightning Strike as finishing damage once early attacks have lowered the opponent's life total. Setup requires counting known damage from hand, visible board, legal attack actions, and any engine-exposed kicker, damage, pump, or trigger text. Execute by aiming burn at the opponent when lethal is available, when a stalled battlefield makes creature damage unlikely, or when removing a blocker does not change the clock. Disruption comes from life gain, counterspells, prevention, tax effects, and forced removal targets, so re-check legal stack actions and opponent life changes before committing the last spell.

• Large threat pressure is the third win path: use Sunspine Lynx and Nova Hellkite as high-impact damage sources when the game reaches the necessary mana and the board needs a larger body or effect. Card text check required for both cards before assuming triggered damage, evasion, haste, life-gain prevention, or any attack payoff. Setup requires enough lands, enough life buffer to tap out, and a board where adding a large threat is better than holding burn for interaction. Prioritize this line when cheap creatures have been answered, the opponent is stabilizing behind mid-sized blockers, or the hand needs one card to restart pressure.

• Utility-land conversion is a conditional win path: use Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, and Fire Nation Palace only when Veles exposes legal actions that create damage, mana efficiency, creature-land pressure, or a relevant activated ability. Card text check required before assuming any land animates, pumps, fixes mana, stores value, or generates special resources. Prioritize this line in flood states, after sweepers, or when spending a land activation produces more immediate pressure than casting a marginal spell.

Secondary Win Conditions

• Backup combat wins come from disciplined trading rather than preserving every creature. Attack with Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Sunspine Lynx, and Nova Hellkite when visible blocks still leave the opponent under pressure, but hold back when a single bad trade removes the only clock and no burn finish is available.

• Removal-tempo wins come from Witchstalker Frenzy, Burst Lightning, Shock, and Lightning Strike clearing the exact blocker or engine creature that unlocks repeated attacks. Use Witchstalker Frenzy as creature interaction unless Veles exposes another legal target mode, and value it highest when attacking creatures or a wide combat step make its cost efficient. Do not spend multiple burn spells on one creature unless the resulting attack, survival, or lethal line is visible and immediate.

• Value-through-pressure wins depend on registered cards whose detailed text is uncertain. Card text check required for Emberheart Challenger, Hired Claw, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, and Fire Nation Palace before using them as card advantage, impulse draw, counter growth, token production, or repeatable damage engines. If legal actions reveal a pressure-plus-card-flow option, prefer it when it keeps mana efficient and does not miss lethal or allow a known opposing engine to survive.

• Sideboard fallback wins after boarding may involve The Legend of Roku, Magebane Lizard, Abrade, Soul-Guide Lantern, or Ghost Vacuum, but exact plans belong in the Sideboard Map. Abrade can support damage plans by removing artifact blockers or key artifact engines when legal. Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum are not win conditions by themselves; use them to deny graveyard-based recovery only when public information shows the graveyard matters.

Emergency Lines

• When behind on life, stop racing only if the visible crack-back is lethal or near-lethal. Use Shock, Burst Lightning, Lightning Strike, and Witchstalker Frenzy defensively against attackers, lifelink creatures, or must-answer engines when survival creates another draw step with meaningful burn or creature outs.

• When behind on board, identify the blocker or attacker that changes the clock and spend the least flexible answer first. Prefer Witchstalker Frenzy for creatures when its cost is efficient, preserve direct burn for lethal when possible, and use Sunspine Lynx or Nova Hellkite as stabilizing bodies only if the rules engine confirms they can be cast and survive relevant visible combat.

• When behind on cards, convert every topdeck into immediate pressure unless a legal utility action clearly produces more material. Do not hold cheap creatures waiting for perfect sequencing; force the opponent to keep answering threats, then use burn to punish any turn where they tap low.

• When behind on mana, prioritize castable threats and one-mana burn over speculative higher-cost lines. Keep attacking with existing creatures, use Burst Lightning or Shock to preserve tempo, and avoid activating Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, or Fire Nation Palace unless the legal action improves immediate damage or mana use.

• When win conditions are removed, shift to reach math and land-based pressure. Count remaining Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, visible creature damage, and any legal Soulstone Sanctuary, Rockface Village, or Fire Nation Palace action; then choose lines that maximize live topdecks rather than trading resources into a longer game the deck is not built to dominate.

• When facing graveyard recursion or combo pressure, use only engine-confirmed interaction from the registered list. Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum matter after sideboarding, while main-deck emergency interaction is mostly speed, burn, and blocker removal; do not assume graveyard hate, stack interaction, or permanent answers are available unless legal actions show them.

Resource Model

• Life is a spendable clock, not a protected resource, until the visible crack-back threatens lethal or removes the next attack step. Accept early damage to keep attacking with Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, and Hexing Squelcher, but switch Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, or Witchstalker Frenzy to defense when one answered attacker buys a full extra turn of burn draws.

• Hand cards are best converted into immediate mana use and damage pressure. Prefer playing two cheap spells over holding a perfect curve card, but preserve the last Burst Lightning, Shock, or Lightning Strike when opponent life is already within reach and the current combat step still pressures blockers.

• Mana is the deck's main bottleneck after the opening turns. Spend it every turn unless Veles shows a concrete reason to hold priority, such as instant-speed burn for a visible attacker, a post-combat Witchstalker Frenzy line, or a legal kicked/escalated/activated burn mode from the rules engine.

• Board presence is the first damage engine. Early creatures force blocks and removal, Sunspine Lynx and Nova Hellkite rebuild pressure after trades, and utility lands can matter after sweepers only when legal actions expose relevant activated pressure. Card text check required before treating Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, or Fire Nation Palace as having specific damage, animation, pump, or value abilities.

• Graveyard resources are mostly opponent-facing information unless sideboard cards are present. Main deck decisions should not rely on graveyard recursion, but after boarding use Soul-Guide Lantern or Ghost Vacuum only when public graveyards show cards that matter or when the legal action text confirms a profitable timing window. Do not spend graveyard hate just to spend mana if it does not affect a visible plan.

• Exile is a conditional card-flow zone only if a registered card's legal action or visible state exposes temporary permission. Card text check required for any impulse-draw or play-from-exile function on Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, The Legend of Roku, or other registered cards; when a permission window is visible, prioritize castable damage before the window expires.

• Lands become resources beyond mana in flood states. Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, and Fire Nation Palace should be converted into pressure, fixing, or utility only when Veles shows the exact legal action; otherwise treat land drops as red mana access and future spell velocity.

• Sacrifice fodder is not a planned main-deck axis. Do not expose creatures to bad trades because of imagined sacrifice value, and do not hold creatures for nonexistent sacrifice synergies unless Veles shows a registered legal action that uses a creature, land, artifact, or other permanent as a cost.

• Tempo is the deck's premium resource. Use Witchstalker Frenzy, Shock, Burst Lightning, and Lightning Strike to remove the blocker or attacker that changes the race, not the creature with the highest abstract value. A lower-card-count line is acceptable when it forces the opponent to answer lethal next turn.

• Information should be converted into damage math. Use public life totals, visible blockers, open mana, known revealed cards, graveyard contents, and stack objects to decide whether burn targets the opponent, a blocker, or a must-answer creature. Never infer hidden removal, lifegain, or counterspells as certainty; treat them as risk only when archetype guidance or revealed information supports it.

• Sideboard bullets are narrow resources. Abrade is interaction for artifacts or creatures when the legal mode matters, Magebane Lizard and The Legend of Roku are pressure or hate cards only if their visible text supports the matchup plan, and Soul-Guide Lantern plus Ghost Vacuum are graveyard bullets rather than generic threats.

Mana Guide

• Keep mana bases that cast early red spells on time. A normal keep needs at least one red-producing land and preferably two lands by turn two; one-land hands require multiple one-mana plays such as Burst Lightning, Shock, or Hired Claw plus confidence that the deck can function if the second land is delayed. Hands with Nova Hellkite, Sunspine Lynx, and no early play should mulligan unless Veles or the matchup context strongly rewards a slower keep.

• Prioritize untapped red mana in the first two turns. Play Mountain before Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, or Fire Nation Palace if those lands might enter tapped, fail to produce red immediately, or require a condition for colored mana. Card text check required before assuming any non-Mountain land is untapped, red-producing, animating, or damage-positive.

• Sequence lands to preserve double-spell turns. If the hand contains Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Hexing Squelcher, choose land drops that let the next turn use all mana. Do not spend a utility activation from Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, or Fire Nation Palace when casting another threat or burn spell produces more immediate damage.

• Play lands before draw-like or exile-permission actions when extra mana could cast the revealed card this turn. Hold the land until after a draw or selection effect only when landfall-like text, discard decisions, or visible legal action text makes the post-draw land choice materially better. Card text check required for any registered card that claims draw, impulse, or selection behavior.

• Treat Witchstalker Frenzy as a combat-linked mana decision. If legal costs become cheaper after attacking or after creatures are involved, consider combat before casting it; if the opponent has a must-kill creature before combat, pay the current legal cost rather than losing the attack step. Follow the rules engine's current cost and target list exactly.

• Save mana for burn only when the visible board asks for it. Holding up Burst Lightning, Shock, or Lightning Strike is correct against a lethal attacker, a known fragile engine, or a stack window where burn can finish the opponent; otherwise tap out for creatures or larger threats to keep pressure ahead of the opponent's stabilization.

• Use higher-cost threats when they spend otherwise idle mana. Sunspine Lynx and Nova Hellkite are strong rebuild or top-end plays if castable, but do not delay multiple cheap actions just to curve into them unless the current hand lacks other pressure or the visible board needs a larger body. Card text check required before valuing their triggers over immediate burn.

• Sideboard mana must still support the red curve. Abrade and Magebane Lizard should fit the normal red plan, while Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum can be deployed when they do not block a key creature or burn turn. The Legend of Roku requires card text and mana-cost confirmation before keeping a hand that depends on it as the primary play.

Mulligan Guide

• Strong keep: Keep two or three lands with at least one Mountain, one early creature such as Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Hexing Squelcher, and one cheap interaction spell such as Burst Lightning, Shock, or Lightning Strike. This hand curves pressure into reach and lets Veles choose burn as blocker removal or opponent damage based on visible life totals.

• Strong keep: Keep Mountain, second land, Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burst Lightning, Lightning Strike, and Sunspine Lynx on either play or draw. The first two turns apply pressure, the burn protects the attack, and Sunspine Lynx becomes the rebuild or closing play if its legal text is confirmed at runtime.

• Medium keep: Keep two lands, Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, Witchstalker Frenzy, and one creature only when the creature can start the damage plan by turn two. This hand is interaction-heavy, so aim burn at blockers or opposing engines rather than spending all damage before a threat is present.

• Medium keep: Keep three lands, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, and Nova Hellkite when the non-Mountain lands still cast the early cards. Card text check required before relying on Nova Hellkite as a finisher; treat it as top-end pressure only after early plays are covered.

• Risky keep: Keep one Mountain with Hired Claw, Burst Lightning, Shock, and at least one two-mana creature only on the draw or against a matchup where low-curve pressure matters more than missing land two. Ship the same structure on the play if the hand cannot function after one missed draw step.

• Automatic ship: Mulligan zero-land, no-red-source, five-or-more-land hands without multiple cheap spells, and hands whose first real play is Sunspine Lynx or Nova Hellkite. Also ship hands made of Witchstalker Frenzy plus expensive cards when no early creature or burn spell can affect turns one and two.

• Matchup-dependent keep: Keep burn-heavy hands against visible or expected creature decks when Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, or Witchstalker Frenzy can clear early blockers or attackers. Prefer threat-heavy hands against slower decks because every pass without pressure gives the opponent time to stabilize.

• Sideboard keep rule: Post-board hands with Abrade, Magebane Lizard, Soul-Guide Lantern, Ghost Vacuum, or The Legend of Roku still need a pressure plan. Do not keep a hand solely because a hate card is present unless the matchup and visible plan make that card immediately relevant and the hand can cast threats.

• Play/draw adjustment: On the play, favor Hired Claw or another turn-one or turn-two pressure hand over reactive burn piles. On the draw, accept slightly more interaction if the hand can answer the opponent's first threat and still deploy Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Hexing Squelcher by turn two.

• Trap hand: Do not keep Mountain, Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, Fire Nation Palace, Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, and Witchstalker Frenzy unless Veles confirms the utility lands cast all early red spells and the matchup is slow. The hand looks powerful but may fail the first three turns.

Turn Arc

• Turn 1: Prefer Mountain into Hired Claw when legal, or hold Burst Lightning and Shock only if no creature play exists or the opponent presents a must-kill threat. Play Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, or Fire Nation Palace on turn one only when the legal state confirms the land supports turn-two red mana.

• Turn 1 deviation: Use Burst Lightning or Shock on an opposing one-drop only when that creature changes the race, blocks Hired Claw profitably, enables an engine, or threatens more damage than the burn would deal to the opponent. Otherwise preserve burn as reach and establish pressure first.

• Turn 2: Prefer Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Hexing Squelcher over pointing burn at the opponent if the board is not already under control. Card text check required for each creature's triggered or attack-based value; follow Veles legal actions rather than assuming extra cards, counters, or damage.

• Turn 2 deviation: Cast Lightning Strike, Shock, Burst Lightning, or Witchstalker Frenzy only when a visible blocker or attacker materially changes combat. If Witchstalker Frenzy has a combat-related cost reduction, consider attacking first when the rules engine exposes the cheaper post-combat or mid-combat line.

• Turn 3: Maximize mana use while keeping attacks clean. The preferred turn is a second threat plus cheap burn, or a three-mana interaction sequence that removes the best blocker and pushes damage. Do not hold back a creature for imagined value if Veles shows a legal cast and no visible punishment.

• Turn 3 deviation: Aim burn at the opponent when the next two turns contain enough visible damage to threaten lethal and blockers do not stop the creature damage. Aim burn at creatures when preserving attacks creates more total damage than the burn spell would deal directly.

• Turns 4-5: Convert pressure into lethal math. Cast Sunspine Lynx or Nova Hellkite when they are legal and spend the turn efficiently, but double-spell with Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Burst Lightning, Shock, or Lightning Strike when that creates a faster clock.

• Turns 4-5 deviation: Preserve instant burn through the opponent's turn only when visible life totals, attackers, or stack windows make it a likely finisher or survival tool. Tap out for board pressure when passing with mana would waste damage and the opponent is not threatening immediate lethal.

• Late game: Treat every draw as either damage, pressure, or utility-land conversion. Use Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, and Fire Nation Palace only through exact legal actions shown by Veles, and prioritize any line that turns excess lands into damage without sacrificing a spell-casting turn.

• Late-game deviation: Use Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, Witchstalker Frenzy, Abrade, Soul-Guide Lantern, or Ghost Vacuum according to the visible problem, not generic efficiency. Removal clears lethal attacks, graveyard hate answers public graveyard plans, and direct burn closes only when the damage math is real.

Card Roles

• Burst Lightning: Treat Burst Lightning as the deck's most flexible cheap damage spell, because it can either clear an early blocker or convert spare mana into reach when the opponent is near lethal. Use it on creatures when removing the target unlocks more combat damage than sending the spell upstairs would produce, and send it at the opponent when visible attacks plus known burn create a real closing line. Preserve it over Shock when the game may reach a larger-mana kicker line; spend it before Lightning Strike when mana efficiency matters this turn.

• Shock: Use Shock as the cheapest tempo burn, not as a card to hoard for elegance. Fire it at one- and two-toughness blockers, mana creatures, or engine creatures when that preserves Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Hexing Squelcher attacks. Aim Shock at the opponent only when the hand already has board pressure or when the exact damage math makes two points relevant before the opponent can stabilize.

• Lightning Strike: Use Lightning Strike as premium reach and clean midgame removal. Hold it longer than Shock when both are legal, because three damage often kills a more important blocker or compresses the opponent's lethal clock. Cast it before committing a new creature only when the target blocks profitably, threatens a race swing, or represents an engine that will outpace normal red pressure.

• Witchstalker Frenzy: Use Witchstalker Frenzy as creature removal for board states where normal burn does not answer the key blocker or attacker. Card text check required for exact cost reduction and target limits; if Veles shows a cheaper legal line after attacks are declared, prefer sequencing combat before casting it when that does not expose a creature to a bad block. Avoid pointing smaller burn at a large creature first unless the combined damage is legal, visible, and necessary.

• Hired Claw: Treat Hired Claw as the preferred early pressure creature when Veles exposes it as a legal turn-one play. Card text check required for exact creature type, trigger, and activated ability, so do not assume automatic extra damage beyond legal action text. Prioritize attacking with Hired Claw when the opponent has no profitable block, and trade it only when the trade preserves tempo, clears the way for larger threats, or prevents more damage than Hired Claw is likely to deal.

• Emberheart Challenger: Treat Emberheart Challenger as a core two-mana threat that rewards early deployment and makes combat decisions matter. Card text check required for exact triggered ability, targeting rewards, and whether any offspring or similar alternate cost is legal. Cast it before spending burn at the opponent unless the burn creates immediate lethal pressure; use burn to clear blockers that would neutralize Emberheart Challenger's attacks.

• Burnout Bashtronaut: Treat Burnout Bashtronaut as a main pressure body whose value depends on visible legal text, attacking lanes, and whether it improves the current damage race. Card text check required for exact power, abilities, and any spell-related trigger. Deploy it early when it uses mana efficiently and attacks next turn; hold it only when a known sweeper, unfavorable combat board, or stronger double-spell line is visible.

• Hexing Squelcher: Treat Hexing Squelcher as another two-mana pressure or disruptive creature, but require Veles-visible text before assigning it a specialized role. Card text check required for exact static, triggered, or activated abilities. Cast it on curve when the deck needs board presence, and prefer it over raw burn when it forces the opponent to answer a permanent instead of simply absorbing damage.

• Sunspine Lynx: Treat Sunspine Lynx as a midgame stabilizer and finisher rather than an opening-hand requirement. Card text check required at runtime for exact enters-the-battlefield damage, life-gain prevention, damage-prevention prevention, and nonbasic-land scaling. Cast it when its visible effect advances lethal math, punishes the opponent's board or mana base, or rebuilds pressure after removal; do not keep slow hands only because Sunspine Lynx is powerful.

• Nova Hellkite: Treat Nova Hellkite as top-end pressure that should close or dominate games where early aggression has already forced the opponent low. Card text check required for mana cost, flying, attack trigger, damage trigger, or any additional ability. Do not strand early plays to preserve Nova Hellkite; reach its casting turn by making the opponent spend life and resources first. If both Nova Hellkite and multiple cheap spells are legal, choose the line that creates the fastest visible lethal clock.

• Mountain: Treat Mountain as the default land because the deck's opening turns require red mana. Prefer Mountain early when a hand contains Burst Lightning, Shock, Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Lightning Strike, or Witchstalker Frenzy, unless Veles confirms another land produces the needed red without delaying curve. Do not overvalue utility lands if they risk missing a one- or two-mana spell.

• Rockface Village: Treat Rockface Village as a utility land whose activated or color-producing text must be checked before relying on it for tempo. Card text check required for exact mana ability, creature restriction, and any combat bonus. Play it early only when it still supports the next red spell; use its utility later when extra land value creates more damage than holding up burn.

• Soulstone Sanctuary: Treat Soulstone Sanctuary as a late-game mana sink or utility land, not as a replacement for early red consistency. Card text check required for exact activation, creature stats, timing, and vulnerability. Use it when flooding, after deploying necessary spells, or when a land-based threat dodges the opponent's current interaction better than another creature would.

• Fire Nation Palace: Treat Fire Nation Palace as a named utility or fixing land that must be validated by Veles before it shapes sequencing. Card text check required for exact colors, tapped status, and any activated ability. Keep hands involving Fire Nation Palace only when the legal mana output still casts early red cards on time; activate utility modes only after verifying they do not prevent a burn or creature line this turn.

• Sideboard role preview: The Legend of Roku, Magebane Lizard, Abrade, Soul-Guide Lantern, and Ghost Vacuum are matchup tools, not excuses to abandon the main red plan. Card text check required for The Legend of Roku, Magebane Lizard, and Ghost Vacuum before assigning narrow jobs. Abrade is the clearest flexible sideboard card because it can answer creatures or artifacts when legal; Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum matter only when public graveyard information or matchup context makes graveyard interaction worth a card.

Interaction Priorities

• Removal priority: Kill creatures that block multiple attacks, race faster than your board, or convert future turns into inevitability before pointing burn upstairs. Use Shock for small blockers or exact lethal setup, Lightning Strike for three-toughness blockers or reach, Burst Lightning as the flexible burn spell, and Witchstalker Frenzy for the largest creature that must die; Card text check required for Witchstalker Frenzy cost reduction and target limits.

• Reach priority: Aim Burst Lightning, Lightning Strike, or Shock at the opponent when the visible clock says the opponent dies before they untap into stabilization. Preserve at least one instant-speed burn spell when the opponent is low and likely to tap out, but do not hold burn so long that Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Hexing Squelcher lose attack windows.

• Engine priority: Remove lifegain creatures, repeatable token makers, cheap deathtouch blockers, and creatures that invalidate attacking before spending damage on medium attackers. Sunspine Lynx may help against life-gain or prevention patterns if its Veles-visible text confirms that role; Card text check required before relying on any exact prevention or nonbasic-land punishment.

• Artifact and graveyard priority after sideboarding: Use Abrade first against artifacts that stop combat, generate repeated life, or enable a combo turn; do not spend Abrade on a small creature if the artifact is the real stabilizer. Use Soul-Guide Lantern or Ghost Vacuum only when public graveyard contents show an immediate recursion, delirium, reanimation, or flashback-style payoff; Card text check required for Ghost Vacuum.

• Counter, discard, exile, and bounce policy: Mono-Red Aggro has no registered main-deck counterspell, discard spell, unconditional exile spell, or bounce spell, so never plan around those effects unless Veles exposes a sideboard card's legal text doing that exact job. If a legal action from The Legend of Roku, Magebane Lizard, Soul-Guide Lantern, or Ghost Vacuum implies exile or prevention, choose from visible text only; Card text check required for The Legend of Roku and Magebane Lizard.

• Bait policy: Lead with expendable pressure before premium reach when the opponent is representing interaction and your hand contains multiple threats. Hired Claw, Hexing Squelcher, or Burnout Bashtronaut can draw removal away from Emberheart Challenger, Sunspine Lynx, or Nova Hellkite, but do not make a weaker play only to bait if the stronger play creates lethal pressure now.

• Ignore policy: Ignore blockers that cannot profitably block this turn, creatures that race slower than your current damage, and noncombat engines that require several turns when the opponent is already in burn range. Ignore graveyards unless public cards and matchup context make Soul-Guide Lantern or Ghost Vacuum immediately relevant.

• Archetype adjustment: Against creature decks, spend burn as removal until attacks become favorable, then pivot to face damage. Against control, protect damage density by casting threats in waves and saving burn for end-step or lethal windows. Against graveyard decks, keep pressure primary and use Soul-Guide Lantern or Ghost Vacuum only to stop a visible payoff. Against artifact decks, Abrade becomes premium interaction.

Combat And Trading Rules

• Attack priority: Attack whenever the visible blocks either fail to trade or force the opponent to lose a creature that matters more than the attacker. Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, and Hexing Squelcher are pressure pieces first, so declining attacks requires a visible reason such as a bad trade, a needed blocker role, or a postcombat spell line that changes the board.

• Trade priority: Trade small creatures for blockers that unlock future attacks, protect life total against faster aggro, or make burn-to-face lethal. Do not trade Hired Claw or Emberheart Challenger into a replaceable creature when burn can clear the blocker and preserve repeated damage.

• Preservation priority: Preserve Emberheart Challenger when its visible text or board role makes it the best source of ongoing damage, and preserve Sunspine Lynx or Nova Hellkite when they are likely to close the game if they survive. Card text check required for exact Sunspine Lynx and Nova Hellkite combat abilities, so rely on Veles-visible keywords, stats, and triggers.

• Blocking priority: Block only when life total, opposing attack power, or a lethal crack-back calculation demands it. Mono-Red Aggro normally wants creatures attacking, but it must block when falling below a burn-proof survival threshold, when a single opposing creature represents lethal next turn, or when trading a small attacker buys the turn needed for Nova Hellkite, Sunspine Lynx, or burn reach.

• Life-total threshold: Treat the opponent at six or less as a reach target if hand and board show any combination of Burst Lightning, Lightning Strike, Shock, attackers, or utility-land damage. Treat your own life total below the opponent's next visible attack as a forced defense check, especially against wide boards where one missed block removes your final burn turn.

• Combat sequencing: Declare attacks before Witchstalker Frenzy when Veles-visible legal text shows attacking changes its cost or effectiveness and the attack is not punished by blocks. Cast burn before combat when it removes the only profitable blocker or creates a lethal attack; cast burn after combat when the opponent's blocks reveal the exact damage needed.

• Utility-land combat: Use Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, or Fire Nation Palace combat abilities only after confirming their legal text and mana cost in Veles. Activate them when they add more damage than casting a spell, create a better trade, or turn excess lands into pressure; avoid tapping them if that prevents Burst Lightning, Lightning Strike, Shock, Witchstalker Frenzy, or a creature deployment.

• Archetype adjustment: Against aggro, block and trade earlier when preserving life lets burn finish the opponent. Against control, avoid overcommitting into visible sweepers or known mass removal, but keep enough board pressure to force action. Against midrange, use burn to make attacks clean instead of trading every creature. Against combo, maximize the clock and block only to prevent immediate death.

Selection And Tutor Rules

• Selection constraint: Treat this list as having no true main-deck tutor, no normal card draw engine, and no guaranteed scry/filter package unless Veles exposes exact legal text from a permanent or spell. Build decisions around visible hand, draw step, current mana, and public board state rather than planning to find a missing card on demand.

• Pseudo-selection priority: Use sequencing as selection by spending the most constrained cards first and preserving flexible cards until the opponent's role is clearer. Burst Lightning, Shock, and Lightning Strike can be reach or removal, while Witchstalker Frenzy is usually creature-interaction conditioned by board/combat text; do not lock burn into the opponent's face if a visible blocker or lifegain creature will stop multiple future attacks.

• Land-drop timing: Make the land drop before committing spells when it changes legal actions, enables double-spelling, keeps Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, or Witchstalker Frenzy open, or unlocks Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, or Fire Nation Palace text. Delay a land only when Veles shows a legal reason to conceal information or use a discard/selection effect; this deck should normally convert lands into mana immediately.

• Mana-source selection: Prefer basic Mountain for routine red payments when utility lands have meaningful activated text or combat value. Use Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, or Fire Nation Palace as mana only after checking whether their visible abilities matter this turn; Card text check required for all three utility lands before treating them as damage, creature, pump, or engine pieces.

• Threat sequencing as filtering: Deploy Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Hexing Squelcher to test removal before committing higher-impact Sunspine Lynx or Nova Hellkite when the hand has multiple threats. Reverse that rule when the expensive threat is the only line that creates a fast enough clock or when holding it risks wasting mana for a full turn.

• Sideboard selection: Use Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum only when public graveyard contents and legal text show a concrete payoff to disrupt. Use Abrade only after deciding whether the visible artifact or creature target is more important than preserving burn reach; Card text check required for Ghost Vacuum, The Legend of Roku, and Magebane Lizard before assigning them exact selection roles.

• Bottoming or optional selection: If a Veles-visible effect from Emberheart Challenger, The Legend of Roku, or another registered card offers impulse, exile, rummage, discover, scry, or similar selection, choose the card that produces immediate damage, necessary mana, or required interaction first. Bottom excess lands after enough mana exists for Nova Hellkite and double-spell turns; keep lands when the hand contains expensive cards, utility-land abilities, or mana-intensive legal actions.

Priority And Stack Rules

• Priority default: Spend mana proactively on your turn unless holding up instant-speed burn changes combat, stops lethal, or preserves a clear end-step reach line. Mono-Red Aggro loses equity when it passes with unused mana and no visible reason, so every pass should be justified by a legal instant, activated ability, or opponent-end-step plan.

• End-step burn: Cast Burst Lightning, Shock, or Lightning Strike on the opponent's end step when the opponent is shields-down, you do not need the spell as removal, and waiting through their turn did not expose you to missing damage. Fire face burn immediately when it is lethal or when the opponent may untap into lifegain, prevention, discard, or a stabilizing blocker.

• Response windows: Use Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, or Witchstalker Frenzy in response only when the visible stack or target makes the response materially better than waiting. Remove a creature in response to an aura, pump spell, sacrifice setup, combat trick, or lifegain trigger when legal text confirms the target and timing; otherwise let low-impact spells resolve and preserve damage.

• Let-resolve rule: Let opponent spells resolve when they do not change the current race, do not block attacks, do not gain life, do not remove your key threat, and do not set up immediate combo or graveyard payoff. This deck has limited interaction density, so do not spend burn on a creature that is smaller than the damage you would lose by not burning the opponent.

• Combat timing: Prefer burn before blockers when it removes the only good blocker or creates lethal attacks. Prefer burn after blockers when the opponent may make a bad block, when Witchstalker Frenzy cost or legality depends on attackers, or when postcombat math reveals whether face damage is enough; Card text check required for Witchstalker Frenzy cost reduction and target limits.

• Activated abilities: Activate Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, or Fire Nation Palace only when Veles shows the exact legal action and the activation beats casting a spell or holding instant interaction. Do not tap a utility land for a marginal ability if it prevents deploying Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, or burn in the same turn.

• Optional triggers and payments: Accept optional damage, pressure, or reach triggers when they advance lethal or improve attacks, and decline optional payments that consume mana needed for burn, Witchstalker Frenzy, or a second spell. Card text check required for Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, The Legend of Roku, and Magebane Lizard before relying on any exact trigger.

• Graveyard timing: Use Soul-Guide Lantern or Ghost Vacuum at the latest safe moment before the opponent can use the public graveyard resource, unless waiting risks losing priority or the artifact. Do not fire graveyard hate just to spend mana if the opponent's graveyard has no visible card or mechanic that matters.

• Stack discipline: Respect Veles legal actions over strategic assumptions. If the rules engine offers only pass, pass; if it offers multiple burn, activation, or graveyard actions, choose the one whose visible target and timing either prevents immediate loss, creates lethal, or preserves the highest next-turn damage.

Sideboard Map

• Sideboard principle: Change roles only when the opponent's visible plan makes a sideboard card materially better than the maindeck pressure it displaces. Mono-Red Aggro should preserve a high threat count, a low curve, and enough direct damage to finish games after blockers stabilize.

• Abrade role: Bring Abrade against artifact decks, artifact creatures, Equipment-style board pieces, and creature decks where creature removal is more important than pure face reach. Treat Abrade as interaction first and reach second; Card text check required for current Oracle text, but do not choose it over Burst Lightning, Shock, or Lightning Strike unless the legal target matters more than going upstairs.

• Abrade when bad: Leave Abrade low priority against spell-combo, graveyard decks without artifact permanents, and control decks presenting few creature or artifact targets. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Witchstalker Frenzy before reducing unconditional burn when the opponent has few creatures or when combat will not reliably turn Witchstalker Frenzy into efficient interaction.

• Magebane Lizard role: Bring Magebane Lizard against spell-heavy decks, prowess-style decks, control decks relying on noncreature spells, and combo shells where a cheap permanent that punishes casting patterns can matter. Card text check required before assuming exact trigger timing or damage amount; use it as pressure that may tax or punish spells, not as guaranteed permission.

• Magebane Lizard when bad: Leave Magebane Lizard low priority against creature-dense aggro mirrors where blocking, removal, and racing matter more than punishing noncreature spells. Reduce main-deck emphasis on slower or conditional threats only if Veles-visible text confirms Magebane Lizard contributes immediate pressure or meaningful disruption in that matchup.

• Soul-Guide Lantern role: Bring Soul-Guide Lantern against graveyard recursion, reanimation, flashback, escape-style resource loops, delirium, descend, sacrifice recursion, or any opponent whose public graveyard is a visible engine. Use it late enough to hit a real resource, but early enough that the opponent cannot untap and use the graveyard first.

• Soul-Guide Lantern when bad: Leave Soul-Guide Lantern low priority when the opponent's graveyard is incidental, empty, or only contains normal spent spells. Do not dilute damage for graveyard hate in matchups where the opponent wins through board presence and life total pressure rather than graveyard conversion.

• Ghost Vacuum role: Bring Ghost Vacuum as the fourth graveyard-hate effect when the opponent's public graveyard is central, especially against decks that can rebuild after one Soul-Guide Lantern. Card text check required before assuming whether Ghost Vacuum exiles one card, multiple cards, stores cards, or affects future graveyard use; choose it only when Veles shows relevant legal actions and targets.

• Ghost Vacuum when bad: Leave Ghost Vacuum low priority when a single graveyard action is unlikely to matter or when the opponent can ignore graveyard hate and win through creatures. It is especially suspect if it does not add damage, block, remove a creature, or shorten the clock.

• The Legend of Roku role: Bring The Legend of Roku when its visible text confirms it improves threat density, reach, card flow, or attrition against decks that answer early creatures. Card text check required before assuming saga chapters, damage output, token creation, selection, or recursion; do not sideboard it in solely because it is legendary or expensive.

• The Legend of Roku when bad: Leave The Legend of Roku low priority when the matchup is a pure speed race and its legal text does not immediately add damage or stabilize combat. Reduce main-deck emphasis on the slowest pressure card only after confirming The Legend of Roku gives more relevant damage, cards, or resilience than another creature.

Artifact-Creature Midrange / Equipment Pressure Side in: 4 Abrade Cut: 3 Witchstalker Frenzy; 1 Nova Hellkite

• Plan rule: Use this plan when the opponent shows artifact creatures, artifact engines, or Equipment-like permanents that Abrade can answer cleanly. Keep cheap burn and early creatures because the deck still needs to race; reduce Witchstalker Frenzy when the opponent's key targets must be answered before combat or when artifacts matter more than attacker-count discounts.

Creature Aggro Mirror Side in: 4 Abrade; 4 Magebane Lizard Cut: 3 Witchstalker Frenzy; 2 Nova Hellkite; 2 Hexing Squelcher; 1 Sunspine Lynx

• Plan rule: Use this plan only if Magebane Lizard's checked text is relevant to the opponent's cheap spell pattern or combat math. Abrade increases clean interaction density, while the reduced main-deck emphasis should fall on slower top-end and conditional bodies rather than Burst Lightning, Shock, or Lightning Strike, because direct damage still decides close races.

Spell-Heavy Control / Noncreature Combo Side in: 4 Magebane Lizard; 3 The Legend of Roku Cut: 3 Witchstalker Frenzy; 2 Shock; 2 Nova Hellkite

• Plan rule: Use this plan when the opponent has few creatures, many noncreature spells, sweepers, or removal-heavy pacing. Magebane Lizard pressures spell chains if its text confirms that role, and The Legend of Roku is included only when its checked text adds resilience, repeat damage, or card flow; reduce Shock before Burst Lightning or Lightning Strike when small creature removal has few targets.

Graveyard Engine / Recursion Side in: 3 Soul-Guide Lantern; 1 Ghost Vacuum; 4 Magebane Lizard Cut: 3 Witchstalker Frenzy; 2 Shock; 2 Nova Hellkite; 1 Hexing Squelcher

• Plan rule: Use this plan when public graveyard use is central and the opponent also casts enough spells for Magebane Lizard to matter. Preserve Burst Lightning and Lightning Strike as reach, because graveyard hate buys time but rarely wins alone; choose hate activations from visible graveyard contents, not from archetype assumptions.

Artifact Graveyard / Sacrifice Artifact Engine Side in: 4 Abrade; 3 Soul-Guide Lantern; 1 Ghost Vacuum Cut: 3 Witchstalker Frenzy; 2 Shock; 2 Nova Hellkite; 1 Burnout Bashtronaut

• Plan rule: Use this plan when the opponent uses both artifact permanents and graveyard recursion as public resources. Abrade should answer the permanent that enables repeated value or lethal pressure, while Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum should wait for a public graveyard card that the opponent is likely to reuse or count.

Slow Removal Deck / Attrition Midrange Side in: 3 The Legend of Roku; 4 Magebane Lizard Cut: 3 Witchstalker Frenzy; 2 Shock; 1 Nova Hellkite; 1 Hexing Squelcher

• Plan rule: Use this plan when the opponent trades one-for-one, presents few small creatures, and gives time for higher-impact sideboard permanents. The Legend of Roku must have verified text that improves long-game pressure or resources; Magebane Lizard is preferred when the opponent's removal and card draw are spell-based.

• Archetype rule for fast aggro: Add role cards: Abrade, Magebane Lizard only when its checked text affects racing or blocks. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Nova Hellkite, Witchstalker Frenzy, and the least effective four-mana or conditional threat shown by prior games.

• Archetype rule for control: Add role cards: Magebane Lizard, The Legend of Roku if text confirms resilience or repeat damage. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Witchstalker Frenzy, Shock, and excessive creature-only interaction; keep enough one- and two-mana pressure to punish tapped lands.

• Archetype rule for graveyard decks: Add role cards: Soul-Guide Lantern, Ghost Vacuum, Magebane Lizard when the opponent is also spell-heavy. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Witchstalker Frenzy and the slowest creature pressure, but keep direct damage because graveyard hate must be paired with a clock.

• Archetype rule for artifact decks: Add role cards: Abrade first, then Soul-Guide Lantern or Ghost Vacuum only if artifacts also move through the graveyard. Reduce main-deck emphasis: conditional removal and slow top-end before cheap threats.

• Role-change rule after sideboarding: Treat sideboard cards as tools that protect the damage race, not as a new control plan. If a hand has hate but no pressure, mulligan more aggressively unless the hate directly stops the opponent's deterministic engine and Veles-visible card text supports that role.

Matchup Guidance

• Fast aggro: Race by converting the first three turns into board presence plus exact burn reach, not by holding removal indefinitely. Keep hands with Mountain or red-producing lands, a one- or two-mana threat such as Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Hexing Squelcher, and at least one cheap interaction spell; reduce main-deck emphasis on Nova Hellkite and Witchstalker Frenzy when the game is decided before larger plays matter. Add role cards: Abrade when the opponent's creatures or artifact permanents are visible targets, and Magebane Lizard only after card text confirms it changes racing, blocking, or spell-punishment math. Use Burst Lightning, Shock, and Lightning Strike on creatures when that prevents more damage than pointing the spell at the opponent, but pivot burn upstairs once visible combat plus hand damage can end the game.

• Control: Lead with resilient, staggered pressure and force the opponent to answer one meaningful threat at a time. Keep cheap creatures and lands that cast early spells; avoid hands that rely only on Nova Hellkite unless the rest of the hand already pressures. Add role cards: Magebane Lizard when the opponent casts many noncreature spells, and The Legend of Roku only if checked text shows repeat damage, card flow, sticky pressure, or other anti-removal value. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Witchstalker Frenzy and Shock when the opponent presents few creature targets. Do not spend Burst Lightning or Lightning Strike into open mana for minor damage if waiting preserves a lethal response window, but do cast pressure before discard, sweepers, or card draw can dominate.

• Combo: Treat every turn as a clock test and make the opponent prove they can survive visible damage. Mulligan hands without early pressure unless they contain directly relevant sideboard hate shown by Veles-visible card text. Add role cards: Magebane Lizard against spell-chain combo, Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum against graveyard combo, and Abrade against artifact-based combo pieces. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Witchstalker Frenzy, Shock, and slow top-end when they do not interact with the opponent's public engine. Use burn on the opponent whenever creature removal does not slow a deterministic visible line; hold hate activations until the opponent commits a public graveyard or artifact resource that matters.

• Tempo: Fight for mana efficiency and avoid walking into turns where the opponent trades one cheap answer for your whole attack step. Prioritize Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, and Hexing Squelcher as early pressure, then use Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, or Witchstalker Frenzy to clear blockers only when the attack gained is larger than the burn held for reach. Add role cards: Magebane Lizard if the opponent relies on cheap interaction chains, and Abrade if their tempo plan uses artifacts or artifact creatures. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Nova Hellkite when the opponent can keep mana open and answer it before it deals damage. Respect visible untapped mana and known public tricks, but do not pass with no board development just because interaction may exist.

• Midrange: Keep the pressure dense enough that one-for-one removal cannot buy unlimited time. Your best games make the opponent answer early creatures, spend mana during their own turn, then lose to Burst Lightning, Lightning Strike, Shock, Sunspine Lynx, or a surviving larger threat. Add role cards: The Legend of Roku if card text confirms attrition value, Magebane Lizard if their removal and card advantage are spell-heavy, and Abrade if their threats are artifact creatures or important artifacts. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Shock and the least effective conditional removal when opposing bodies outgrow small burn. Use Witchstalker Frenzy after attacks when its cost reduction or legal target quality is visible; do not reserve it for a perfect target while falling behind.

• Big mana: Shorten the game before the opponent's expensive cards become legal and treat every non-damage turn as costly. Mulligan slow hands that cannot present early damage, even if they have multiple lands and Nova Hellkite. Add role cards: Magebane Lizard if the opponent ramps with noncreature spells or payoff spells, and The Legend of Roku only if verified text adds fast enough pressure or reach. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Shock, Witchstalker Frenzy, and narrow creature removal when the opponent spends early turns on lands or setup instead of small creatures. Point Burst Lightning and Lightning Strike at the opponent unless a visible mana creature, blocker, or engine permanent changes the clock more than direct damage.

• Graveyard decks: Pair hate with pressure, because Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum do not win the race alone. Add role cards: Soul-Guide Lantern first when public graveyard contents matter, Ghost Vacuum as additional graveyard coverage after card text check, and Magebane Lizard when the opponent also casts many spells. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Witchstalker Frenzy, Shock, and slow threats that do not accelerate the clock. Activate graveyard hate from visible information only: respond to a legal recursion, threshold, escape-like, reanimation, or graveyard-count action when Veles shows the relevant card or pending effect. Do not fire Soul-Guide Lantern merely because cards are in the graveyard if the opponent has no visible use for them.

• Artifact and enchantment decks: Use Abrade as the main sideboard role card for artifacts, while enchantments require racing unless a registered card's checked text gives interaction. Add role cards: Abrade against artifact creatures, artifact engines, or artifact mana; Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum only when artifacts are also being reused from the graveyard. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Witchstalker Frenzy when Abrade answers the key permanent more cleanly, and reduce slow top-end if artifacts create a faster clock. Against enchantment-heavy boards, do not assume Abrade can answer them; race with creatures and burn, and use interaction only on legal visible targets.

• Go-wide creature decks: Preserve life total by killing the creature that changes the most combat math, then turn the corner with attacks plus burn. Witchstalker Frenzy is more attractive when you can attack first and Veles shows a discounted legal removal action; Shock and Burst Lightning should answer early creatures if that prevents repeated damage. Add role cards: Abrade for artifact creatures or key artifacts, Magebane Lizard only if its checked text blocks or punishes the opponent's spell pattern. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Nova Hellkite when you die before casting it, but keep Sunspine Lynx and other bodies when they stabilize attacks. Do not send all burn to face while a visible wide board threatens lethal next combat.

• Single-threat decks: Save the cleanest answer for the threat that actually ends the game, but keep attacking while doing so. Use Lightning Strike, Burst Lightning, Witchstalker Frenzy, or Abrade on the single visible threat when it blocks multiple attacks, races faster than your board, or carries artifact-based importance. Add role cards: Abrade when the threat or support permanent is an artifact, The Legend of Roku when the opponent answers your threats one at a time, and Magebane Lizard when their protection or setup is spell-heavy. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Shock if it cannot damage relevant bodies. Avoid spending multiple burn spells on a large threat unless Veles-visible damage math shows that doing so preserves lethal pressure or survival.

• Burn mirror: Treat life total as the main battlefield and make every shockland-style or tapped-land tempo decision count from visible mana only. Keep hands with early pressure and cheap burn; avoid slow hands that do not affect life totals before turn three. Add role cards: Magebane Lizard if text confirms it punishes burn spells or blocks profitably, and Abrade only if the opponent has artifact creatures or artifacts worth answering. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Witchstalker Frenzy and Nova Hellkite when they are clunky in a pure race. Use Shock, Burst Lightning, and Lightning Strike on creatures only when preventing attacks saves more life than the spell would deal to the opponent.

• Removal-heavy decks: Overload answers by sequencing threats across turns and valuing any card that leaves damage, cards, or recurring pressure after removal. Add role cards: The Legend of Roku if checked text confirms resilience or resource advantage, and Magebane Lizard if removal density is spell-based. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Witchstalker Frenzy, Shock, and conditional creature removal when the opponent presents few targets. Do not commit every creature before a known or likely sweeper if one threat already demands an answer; do commit enough pressure that the opponent cannot spend turns drawing cards without taking damage. Use Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, and Fire Nation Palace only according to Veles-visible legal actions and card text, with card text check required before assuming creature-land, pump, or utility modes.

Specific Matchup Notes

• General/archetype-only note: Use these notes as assumptions until revealed cards, public zones, legal actions, and Veles-visible board state prove a narrower plan. Revealed cards override archetype labels, so a control opponent showing artifact threats should unlock Abrade logic, and a creature opponent showing graveyard recursion should unlock Soul-Guide Lantern or Ghost Vacuum logic.

• Fast creature mirrors: Protect tempo first by answering the creature that changes the next combat step, then resume attacking. Priority targets are visible haste threats, growing attackers, artifact creatures if Abrade is available, and blockers that stop Emberheart Challenger, Hired Claw, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Hexing Squelcher from connecting. Add role cards: Abrade for artifact creatures or artifacts, Magebane Lizard only when checked text confirms it blocks well or punishes their spell pattern. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Nova Hellkite if the matchup is decided before high-mana turns.

• Spell-heavy control: Make the opponent answer one or two threats at a time while preserving burn as reach. Priority targets are planeswalker-like or engine permanents only if a legal registered card can answer them; otherwise aim Burst Lightning, Lightning Strike, Shock, and Sunspine Lynx pressure toward ending the game. Add role cards: Magebane Lizard when public play confirms many noncreature spells, The Legend of Roku if card text check confirms it supplies pressure, resilience, or card advantage. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Witchstalker Frenzy and Shock when the opponent has few creature targets.

• Big mana and ramp: Treat every turn without damage as a lost resource, because your deck is not built to win a long inevitability fight. Priority targets are visible mana creatures, artifact ramp that Abrade can legally hit, and blockers that buy the opponent multiple turns. Add role cards: Abrade against artifact ramp or artifact blockers, Magebane Lizard if ramp relies on spell chains, The Legend of Roku only after card text check confirms it is fast enough. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Shock and Witchstalker Frenzy when they lack relevant targets.

• Graveyard strategies: Pair hate with a clock and do not spend a full turn on graveyard management unless the visible graveyard or stack makes it matter. Priority targets are public recursion cards, reanimation targets, escape-like resources, or graveyard-count payoffs shown by Veles; do not assume hidden graveyard payoffs. Add role cards: Soul-Guide Lantern first, Ghost Vacuum as extra coverage after card text check, Magebane Lizard if they also cast many spells. Reduce main-deck emphasis on slow closers or creature-only removal when hate plus pressure is the plan.

• Artifact decks: Use Abrade as a clean role card when it answers the visible permanent that enables their combat or engine. Priority targets are artifact creatures that block your early attackers, artifact mana that accelerates a stabilizing turn, or artifact engines that generate repeated value. Add role cards: Abrade, plus Soul-Guide Lantern or Ghost Vacuum only when the artifact plan uses the graveyard. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Witchstalker Frenzy when Abrade is cheaper or cleaner for the same legal target.

• Burn and red mirrors: Count life total as a shared resource and avoid slow hands that trade cards without adding pressure. Priority targets are creatures that would attack more than once, creatures that increase opposing burn output after card text check, or a legal lethal face target. Add role cards: Magebane Lizard only if checked text confirms relevant punishment or blocking, Abrade only for artifacts. Reduce main-deck emphasis on Nova Hellkite and Witchstalker Frenzy when the game is decided by early exchanges.

Risk Summary

• Mana risk: The deck needs red mana early and may stumble if Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, or Fire Nation Palace enter tapped or provide conditional mana; card text check required before treating any of them as painless tempo-neutral sources. Keep one-land hands only when Veles-visible legal plays and draw context make the risk acceptable.

• Matchup risk: Linear aggro can misidentify the role against faster creature decks, so do not send every Burst Lightning, Shock, and Lightning Strike to the opponent while visible attackers threaten lethal or force bad blocks. Against slower decks, do not over-control small creatures if direct damage plus attacks presents a shorter clock.

• Draw risk: Hands overloaded on Nova Hellkite, Witchstalker Frenzy, or lands can look powerful but fail to affect the first two turns. Mulligan decisions should value early Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, cheap burn, and a functional mana curve over raw card quantity.

• Over-sideboarding risk: Adding too many Soul-Guide Lantern, Ghost Vacuum, Abrade, Magebane Lizard, or The Legend of Roku can dilute the damage plan. Sideboard cards must either attack, remove a visible problem, punish a confirmed spell pattern, or stop a graveyard line that the opponent actually showed.

• Graveyard risk: Graveyard hate can become a low-impact action under pressure. Activate Soul-Guide Lantern or Ghost Vacuum from public information only when a visible card, pending effect, or known graveyard count justifies the timing.

• Sweeper/removal risk: Committing every creature into open mana can lose to removal-heavy plans, but playing too slowly gives control time to stabilize. Sequence Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Sunspine Lynx, and Nova Hellkite so one threat demands action while burn preserves reach.

• Closer risk: Nova Hellkite and Sunspine Lynx are stronger when they shorten a nearly finished game, but they are liabilities if held while cheaper lethal lines exist. Choose the legal action that converts visible damage fastest, not the largest spell by mana cost.

• Interaction risk: Witchstalker Frenzy, Abrade, Burst Lightning, Shock, and Lightning Strike should answer blockers or lethal threats before they become face damage. Do not spend interaction on a marginal target if the opponent is already within burn range and no visible survival issue exists.

• Sequencing risk: Attack-step discounts, post-combat burn, land utility, and optional activations can matter; card text check required for Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, Fire Nation Palace, Hired Claw, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, and The Legend of Roku before assuming exact triggered or activated abilities.

Test Feedback Checklist

• Deciding factor: Identify whether the game was decided by early damage, mana stumble, removal tempo, a stalled board, graveyard interaction, sideboard card impact, or failure to close after the opponent reached low life.

• Mulligans: Record whether opening hands had a turn-one or turn-two play from Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Burst Lightning, Shock, or Lightning Strike, and whether any keep was too slow because it leaned on Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, Witchstalker Frenzy, or utility lands.

• Mana: Check whether Mountain count plus Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, and Fire Nation Palace produced untapped red mana on the turns when the deck needed to cast one- and two-mana spells; card text check required before blaming or trusting the nonbasic lands.

• Velocity: Measure whether each early turn converted mana into damage, board presence, or blocker removal. Flag turns where legal actions spent mana without advancing a clock or protecting a future lethal line.

• Engines and utility: Track whether Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, Fire Nation Palace, Hired Claw, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, The Legend of Roku, Magebane Lizard, Soul-Guide Lantern, and Ghost Vacuum created real value only after card text was confirmed by the rules engine.

• Removal: Review each Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, Witchstalker Frenzy, and Abrade use for target quality. Ask whether it cleared a blocker, stopped lethal pressure, answered an engine, or should have been preserved as reach.

• Sideboard: Confirm whether Abrade had visible artifact targets, Soul-Guide Lantern or Ghost Vacuum had public graveyard pressure to answer, Magebane Lizard matched the opponent's spell pattern after text check, and The Legend of Roku performed a specific pressure or resilience role after text check.

• Closing: Count missed lethal or near-lethal lines involving attacks plus Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, or post-combat legal burn. Flag games where the pilot controlled the board after the opponent was already within burn range.

• Role: Ask whether Mono-Red Aggro correctly stayed aggressive against slow decks and correctly defended life total against faster creature or burn mirrors. Mark any game where the pilot spent too many cards on marginal creatures or ignored a visible lethal crackback.

• Mistakes: Note every pass with unused mana and legal damage, every attack that lost a needed blocker under a short clock, every removal spell pointed at a low-impact permanent, and every graveyard-hate activation made without a public reason.

• Stranded cards: Track copies of Nova Hellkite, Witchstalker Frenzy, Sunspine Lynx, Abrade, Soul-Guide Lantern, Ghost Vacuum, Magebane Lizard, and The Legend of Roku that stayed in hand because mana, targets, timing, or card text did not line up.

• Overperformers and underperformers: Compare Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, Hexing Squelcher, Sunspine Lynx, Nova Hellkite, Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, and Witchstalker Frenzy by damage dealt, blockers removed, turns accelerated, and games stranded.

First Tuning Questions

• Card quantities: If opening hands frequently lack a first-two-turn play, should Nova Hellkite, Witchstalker Frenzy, or a utility land count be reduced in favor of more cheap pressure or cheap burn effects already legal for the format?

• Burn mix: If Shock is often too small but Lightning Strike or Burst Lightning would close games, should the two-damage slot change, or is Shock still needed because early blockers and fast mirrors demand one-mana interaction?

• Creature base: If Hired Claw, Emberheart Challenger, Burnout Bashtronaut, or Hexing Squelcher underperform after card text checks, is the problem card quality, sequencing, removal-heavy matchups, or insufficient support from burn?

• Closer package: If Sunspine Lynx and Nova Hellkite win stabilized games, preserve the top end; if they strand in hand or arrive after the race is lost, reduce main-deck emphasis on the slower closer role.

• Mana base: If Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, or Fire Nation Palace cause missed early red mana, question whether their utility justifies tempo loss. If they create repeated damage, bodies, or reach after text check, keep the utility lands but monitor opening-hand risk.

• Aggro-control balance: If the deck loses while holding removal, ask whether Witchstalker Frenzy, Shock, Lightning Strike, Burst Lightning, or Abrade are being aimed too defensively. If the deck loses to attackers on board, ask whether face-burn discipline is too aggressive.

• Sideboard slots: If artifact decks are common and Abrade is always live, four copies are justified; if Abrade lacks targets, those slots may need a different role. If graveyard decks are rare, four total graveyard-hate cards between Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum may be excessive.

• Spell-punisher slots: If Magebane Lizard consistently punishes visible spell-heavy opponents after card text check, keep the full package. If it is just a body without pressure or interaction, reduce sideboard emphasis on that role.

• The Legend of Roku: If card text check confirms it supplies durable pressure, card advantage, or a strong post-board angle, identify the matchups where it belongs. If it is slow or text-dependent without clear payoff, treat it as the first sideboard role to question.

• Role conflicts: If sideboarding with Magebane Lizard, The Legend of Roku, Soul-Guide Lantern, Ghost Vacuum, and Abrade makes the deck slower than its opponent, reduce reactive sideboard emphasis and protect the core plan of early attackers plus burn reach.

Veles Tactical Policy

Policy: Opening Aggro Keep Gate

Priority: High Decision families: mulligan Cards: Hired Claw; Emberheart Challenger; Burnout Bashtronaut; Hexing Squelcher; Mountain; Rockface Village; Soulstone Sanctuary; Fire Nation Palace Phase windows: pregame, opening hand, mulligan prompts Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; action:keep; action:mulligan Use when: Keep hands with early red mana plus a first- or second-turn legal play that creates pressure or removes a blocker. Avoid when: Mulligan hands that cannot spend mana before turn three, contain only slow closers, or rely on unverified nonbasic land text for early red. Instructions: Prioritize two-land hands with Mountain and cheap pressure; accept one-land hands only when the rules engine shows castable cheap actions and draw risk is lower than a slow mulligan. Treat Nova Hellkite-heavy hands as risky unless mana and early pressure already exist. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Early Setup Permanent

Priority: Medium Decision families: mana; priority Cards: Hired Claw; Emberheart Challenger; Burnout Bashtronaut; Hexing Squelcher Phase windows: turns 1-3 main phases Runtime cues: action:cast Hired Claw; action:cast Emberheart Challenger; action:cast Burnout Bashtronaut; action:cast Hexing Squelcher Use when: Cast the cheapest pressure creature before holding burn unless a visible blocker or opposing engine must be answered immediately. Avoid when: Avoid spending burn pre-combat just to use mana if a creature can establish the clock and the target does not block profitably. Instructions: Sequence threats so later Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, and Witchstalker Frenzy clear blockers or finish the opponent. Card text check required for creature-specific triggered abilities before preferring one equal-cost creature over another. Pilot skill floor: low No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Untapped Red Mana Discipline

Priority: Medium Decision families: mana Cards: Mountain; Rockface Village; Soulstone Sanctuary; Fire Nation Palace Phase windows: all main phases, payment prompts Runtime cues: action:play Mountain; action:play Rockface Village; action:play Soulstone Sanctuary; action:play Fire Nation Palace; prompt:choose mana Use when: Play Mountain first when the hand needs immediate red for cheap spells and nonbasic text is not confirmed by visible engine output. Avoid when: Avoid utility-land sequencing that makes Burst Lightning, Shock, Lightning Strike, Hired Claw, or Emberheart Challenger uncastable this turn. Instructions: Preserve red sources for double-spell turns and post-combat burn. Use Rockface Village, Soulstone Sanctuary, and Fire Nation Palace utility only after card text check and only when it does not delay lethal pressure. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Burn As Reach Commitment

Priority: High Decision families: priority; interaction Cards: Burst Lightning; Shock; Lightning Strike Phase windows: combat damage step, postcombat main, opponent end step, lethal stack windows Runtime cues: action:cast Burst Lightning; action:cast Shock; action:cast Lightning Strike; action:target opponent Use when: Point burn at the opponent when visible life total plus legal damage text creates lethal this turn or forces survival from an empty-board opponent. Avoid when: Avoid face burn while a visible blocker prevents more damage over the next combat or while the opponent has an immediate lethal attack. Instructions: Count current attackers, known stack items, visible prevention, and available mana before committing burn to face. Prefer post-combat burn when attacks can reveal blocks or force damage first. Pilot skill floor: high No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Deterministic Lethal Opponent Target

Priority: High Decision families: interaction; priority Cards: Burst Lightning; Shock; Lightning Strike Phase windows: any legal instant window Runtime cues: action:target opponent Burst Lightning; action:target opponent Shock; action:target opponent Lightning Strike Use when: Choose the opponent target when the current legal action text names Burst Lightning, Shock, or Lightning Strike targeting the opponent and visible opponent life is at or below the damage shown by that legal action. Avoid when: Do not use this policy if prevention, redirection, ward, tax, copied targets, or multiple opponent-like targets are visible in the current prompt. Instructions: Submit the exact opponent-target action. Do not retarget to a creature after lethal has already been selected by visible legal action text. Pilot skill floor: low No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Blocker Removal Gate

Priority: Medium Decision families: interaction; combat; priority Cards: Burst Lightning; Shock; Lightning Strike; Witchstalker Frenzy; Abrade Phase windows: precombat main, declare attackers, declare blockers, end step Runtime cues: action:cast Burst Lightning; action:cast Shock; action:cast Lightning Strike; action:cast Witchstalker Frenzy; action:cast Abrade Use when: Kill a creature when removing it increases this turn's attack damage, prevents lethal crackback, or stops a visible engine permanent that outpaces burn. Avoid when: Avoid using removal on a creature that neither blocks, attacks for relevant damage, nor enables a visible synergy. Instructions: Prefer the smallest legal removal spell that answers the target. Save Witchstalker Frenzy for larger blockers or combat-cost windows when the engine shows a favorable cost. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Combat Attack Gate

Priority: High Decision families: combat Cards: Hired Claw; Emberheart Challenger; Burnout Bashtronaut; Hexing Squelcher; Sunspine Lynx; Nova Hellkite Phase windows: declare attackers Runtime cues: prompt:declare attackers; action:attack Use when: Attack when visible blocks do not trade away a needed blocker and the attack advances lethal pressure or forces unfavorable blocks. Avoid when: Hold creatures back when the opponent has a visible lethal crackback and the attacker is needed to block. Instructions: Treat Mono-Red Aggro as the beatdown by default, but do not send a creature into a free trade unless burn reach or follow-up pressure makes the trade acceptable. Card text check required for creature combat abilities. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Single Forced Attack Execution

Priority: Low Decision families: combat Cards: none Phase windows: declare attackers Runtime cues: action:attack with exactly one legal attacker set Use when: Submit the only legal attack action when the prompt contains exactly one attack declaration action and no alternative attack subsets are listed. Avoid when: Do not use this policy if multiple attack sets, exert-like choices, tap/untap choices, or crew/activate choices are visible. Instructions: Execute the sole legal attack action without strategic reinterpretation. Pilot skill floor: low No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Defensive Block Gate

Priority: High Decision families: combat Cards: Hired Claw; Emberheart Challenger; Burnout Bashtronaut; Hexing Squelcher; Sunspine Lynx; Nova Hellkite Phase windows: declare blockers Runtime cues: prompt:declare blockers; action:block; action:no blocks Use when: Block when visible incoming damage threatens lethal or puts life below known burn reach from the opponent's public board. Avoid when: Avoid chump blocking while ahead in a race unless the block prevents lethal or protects a decisive next-turn attack. Instructions: Trade creatures for larger attackers when tempo favors survival, but preserve attackers if the opponent is close to lethal from board plus burn. Card text check required before relying on first strike, menace, reach, flying, or other combat keywords. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Tap-Out Closer Commitment

Priority: High Decision families: mana; priority Cards: Sunspine Lynx; Nova Hellkite; The Legend of Roku Phase windows: main phases, post-board main phases Runtime cues: action:cast Sunspine Lynx; action:cast Nova Hellkite; action:cast The Legend of Roku Use when: Commit a slower finisher when early pressure is established, the hand lacks better double-spell pressure, or waiting risks losing reach to a stabilizing opponent. Avoid when: Avoid tapping out for a closer if visible opposing attackers threaten lethal or a cheaper removal-plus-threat line is legal and necessary. Instructions: Use light reasoning for open interaction, current clock, mana efficiency, and whether the finisher is stranded if delayed. Card text check required for all three cards before assuming immediate damage, protection, or value. Pilot skill floor: high No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Optional Utility Activation Gate

Priority: Low Decision families: mana; priority; selection Cards: Rockface Village; Soulstone Sanctuary; Fire Nation Palace; Soul-Guide Lantern; Ghost Vacuum Phase windows: main phases, end steps, graveyard interaction windows Runtime cues: action:activate Rockface Village; action:activate Soulstone Sanctuary; action:activate Fire Nation Palace; action:activate Soul-Guide Lantern; action:activate Ghost Vacuum Use when: Activate utility only when the visible action advances damage, mana, card access, graveyard denial, or lethal math without sacrificing a better spell this turn. Avoid when: Avoid utility activations that consume mana needed for burn, removal, or casting a threat in the same turn. Instructions: Require visible public graveyard relevance before using Soul-Guide Lantern or Ghost Vacuum. Card text check required for land and artifact utility details. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard Exact Plan Selection

Priority: High Decision families: sideboard Cards: The Legend of Roku; Magebane Lizard; Abrade; Soul-Guide Lantern; Ghost Vacuum; Burst Lightning; Shock; Hired Claw; Witchstalker Frenzy; Emberheart Challenger; Sunspine Lynx; Nova Hellkite; Lightning Strike; Burnout Bashtronaut; Hexing Squelcher Phase windows: between games Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; action:submit sideboard plan Use when: Choose a legal balanced plan that preserves early pressure while adding only sideboard cards with matchup-visible roles. Avoid when: Avoid over-sideboarding into reactive cards that leave too few early attackers or too many target-dependent cards. Instructions: Add Abrade for visible artifacts or artifact-heavy opponents; add Soul-Guide Lantern and Ghost Vacuum for graveyard reliance; add Magebane Lizard against spell-heavy opponents after card text check; add The Legend of Roku when slower pressure or resilience is needed after card text check. Pilot skill floor: high No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Post-Board Hate Deployment

Priority: Medium Decision families: priority; interaction Cards: Magebane Lizard; Abrade; Soul-Guide Lantern; Ghost Vacuum; The Legend of Roku Phase windows: post-board games, main phases, instant windows Runtime cues: action:cast Magebane Lizard; action:cast Abrade; action:cast Soul-Guide Lantern; action:cast Ghost Vacuum; action:cast The Legend of Roku Use when: Deploy hate when it has a visible target, punishes the opponent's demonstrated plan, or keeps pressure while disrupting their engine. Avoid when: Avoid casting target-dependent sideboard cards with no visible target or no public reason if a main-plan threat or burn line is legal. Instructions: Keep the red clock intact; sideboard cards supplement damage, they do not replace the need to end the game. Card text check required for Magebane Lizard, Ghost Vacuum, and The Legend of Roku. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Pass With Mana Check

Priority: Medium Decision families: priority Cards: Burst Lightning; Shock; Lightning Strike; Witchstalker Frenzy; Abrade Phase windows: all priority windows Runtime cues: action:pass; prompt:priority Use when: Pass when no legal action improves damage, removes a relevant permanent, protects survival, or changes a known race calculation. Avoid when: Avoid passing with unused mana and legal burn or removal if the opponent is within lethal range or a visible blocker is stopping the next attack. Instructions: Before passing, compare legal instant actions against visible life totals, attackers, blockers, stack items, and public graveyards. Prefer end-step burn or removal when it preserves main-phase flexibility and does not miss lethal. Pilot skill floor: medium No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: No-Action Priority Pass

Priority: Low Decision families: priority Cards: none Phase windows: any priority prompt Runtime cues: action:pass priority Use when: Submit pass priority when it is the only legal action listed for the acting player. Avoid when: Do not use this policy if any cast, activate, attack, block, target, pay, or selection action is listed. Instructions: Execute the sole pass action and wait for the next engine prompt. Pilot skill floor: low No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes