veles-content/strategies/timeless/timeless_mardu_energy/1/guide.md

Strategy Specifications

Deck Name And Archetype

Mardu Energy is a Timeless 60-card main deck with a 15-card sideboard, validated under the active Timeless contract supplied for Veles. The registered main deck is legal by count at 60 cards, the registered sideboard is legal by count at 15 cards, and sideboarding instructions must preserve this exact registered 75: only main-deck names are legal Cut: names, and only sideboard names are legal Side in: names.

This strategy is a hybrid aggro-midrange energy shell, not a pure stock burn deck, pure sacrifice deck, or pure control deck. The primary identity is low-curve pressure backed by efficient disruption: Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Amped Raptor, Orcish Bowmasters, Static Prison, Swords to Plowshares, Seam Rip, Thoughtseize, Goblin Bombardment, Deathrite Shaman, and Strip Mine all point toward forcing the opponent to answer board presence while losing tempo, mana, or cards.

Treat the archetype tags as aggro, midrange, and energy, with aggro as the default Game 1 posture against unknown opponents. The deck should normally begin by deploying a cheap permanent, attacking life total or planeswalker pressure, and using removal or discard to keep the battlefield race favorable. The midrange plan becomes primary when the opponent shows faster pressure, sweepers, graveyard reliance, prison elements, or combo signals that require Thoughtseize, Orcish Bowmasters, Static Prison, Swords to Plowshares, Seam Rip, Deathrite Shaman, Strip Mine, or sideboard disruption before committing extra bodies.

The deck is stock-adjacent but not automatically stock for Veles purposes, because Juggernaut Peddler, Seam Rip, the exact energy package, and the registered Lurrus of the Dream-Den sideboard slot require deck-specific runtime handling rather than generic Mardu heuristics. Card text check required for Juggernaut Peddler and Seam Rip; until confirmed by the rules engine or card oracle, treat them as legal actions whose exact tactical value must be inferred from visible Veles action text, current board state, and engine prompts rather than from assumed paper-card memory.

The mana base is powerful but risk-bearing: Bloodstained Mire, Arid Mesa, Marsh Flats, Windswept Heath, Wooded Foothills, Sacred Foundry, Godless Shrine, Blood Crypt, Elegant Parlor, Plains, and Strip Mine create access to Mardu colors while also exposing sequencing, life-total, and color-lock mistakes. Runtime pilots should respect that Strip Mine is both interaction and a colorless land, so hands with multiple Strip Mine and color-intensive cheap spells need extra scrutiny even when the hand has high disruption density.

The role concern is that the deck can over-side into reactive cards and lose its pressure identity. Deafening Silence, Duress, Surgical Extraction, Ghost Vacuum, additional Static Prison, additional Goblin Bombardment, additional Deathrite Shaman, Voice of Victory, and Lurrus of the Dream-Den should be used to sharpen a matchup plan, not to turn every post-board game into slow control. The best post-board configurations should still present early threats unless the opponent is a fast combo deck where a lock or discard-heavy hand is visibly more important than damage.

Opponent information status starts as unknown unless Veles supplies matchup labels, public deck metadata, revealed cards, logs, or sideboard stage context. Do not assume hidden cards from archetype names alone; use visible lands, spells, companions, graveyards, exile, stack objects, known revealed information, and legal action text to decide whether Mardu Energy should race, trade, tax resources, attack mana with Strip Mine, or conserve removal for a specific public threat.

Thesis

Mardu Energy assembles cheap board pressure plus disruptive tempo, then converts small battlefield advantages into a lethal race before the opponent can stabilize. The default plan is to lead with Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Deathrite Shaman, Orcish Bowmasters, or Amped Raptor, keep attacking, and spend Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, Seam Rip, Thoughtseize, Goblin Bombardment, and Strip Mine to prevent the opponent from executing a cleaner plan.

Prioritize a functional curve over a theoretically powerful hand, because this deck wins most naturally when its first two turns create pressure or mana denial. Hands that deploy a one-mana threat and hold removal or disruption are usually better than hands with several reactive cards and no clock, unless Veles shows a matchup or revealed information where immediate disruption is required to survive.

Win by making every opposing exchange awkward: pressure life totals, punish card draw or small creatures with Orcish Bowmasters, convert disposable bodies through Goblin Bombardment, tax removal with repeated cheap threats, and use Strip Mine to turn tempo into a mana squeeze. Do not pilot this as a draw-go control deck, a dedicated burn deck, or a pure sacrifice-combo deck; those roles waste the density of one- and two-mana permanents.

Use card text only when the rules engine exposes it or it is already confirmed by legal action text. Card text check required for Juggernaut Peddler and Seam Rip; treat their tactical use as conditional on visible legal actions, prompt text, target lists, and resulting public state.

Role Package

• Threats: Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Amped Raptor, Orcish Bowmasters, Deathrite Shaman, and Juggernaut Peddler are the main bodies that force action. Prefer early threats that either snowball, replace tempo, or leave useful follow-up decisions over slow reactive keeps.

• Payoffs: Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Guide of Souls, Goblin Bombardment, and Orcish Bowmasters are the main ways small resources become larger advantages. Protect or sequence these payoffs when they convert immediate pressure, visible tokens, sacrifice fodder, card-draw punishment, or energy decisions into damage.

• Engines: Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Goblin Bombardment, Deathrite Shaman, and Orcish Bowmasters form the grind package. Lean into this package when the opponent is trading one-for-one, when graveyards are stocked, or when a stalled board makes direct attacks less reliable.

• Velocity: Amped Raptor is the cleanest main-deck velocity card, while fetchlands such as Bloodstained Mire, Arid Mesa, Marsh Flats, Windswept Heath, and Wooded Foothills provide mana fixing and graveyard fuel. Card text check required before assigning Juggernaut Peddler or Seam Rip a velocity role beyond what Veles exposes at runtime.

• Interaction: Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, Seam Rip, Thoughtseize, Orcish Bowmasters, Goblin Bombardment, Deathrite Shaman, and Strip Mine cover creatures, permanents, hand disruption, stack-adjacent pressure, graveyards, and mana. Spend interaction to preserve attacks, stop visible engines, prevent lethal pressure, or deny the opponent the mana needed for known follow-up actions.

• Protection: Thoughtseize, sideboard Duress, sideboard Voice of Victory, sideboard Deafening Silence, and pressure-backed Strip Mine are the practical protection tools. Use them to clear interaction, constrain combo turns, protect a key board from visible answers, or force the opponent to act under pressure rather than at full resources.

• Recursion: Sideboard Lurrus of the Dream-Den is the explicit recursion/grind module, with Deathrite Shaman functioning as graveyard resource pressure rather than true recursion. Bring the recursion plan only when the matchup rewards repeated cheap permanents and the deck can still maintain pressure.

• Mana: Sacred Foundry, Godless Shrine, Blood Crypt, Elegant Parlor, Plains, fetchlands, and Strip Mine require color discipline. Treat Strip Mine as interaction first and mana second in color-tight hands, especially when the hand needs early white for Swords to Plowshares, red for Goblin Bombardment, or black for Thoughtseize and Deathrite Shaman activations.

• Sideboard modules: Deafening Silence, Duress, and Voice of Victory fight spell-heavy or interactive decks; Surgical Extraction, Ghost Vacuum, and the extra Deathrite Shaman fight graveyard plans; extra Static Prison improves permanent containment; extra Goblin Bombardment supports sacrifice pressure; Lurrus of the Dream-Den supports attrition.

Primary Win Conditions

• Pressure-plus-disruption is the default kill path: deploy Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Deathrite Shaman, Orcish Bowmasters, or Amped Raptor early, then use Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, Seam Rip, Thoughtseize, and Strip Mine to keep attacks connecting. Prioritize this line when the opening hand has a one- or two-mana threat, at least two functional mana sources, and either removal or mana denial to stop the opponent's first stabilizing play.

• Energy creature pressure wins by making Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, and Amped Raptor snowball before the opponent can trade efficiently. Set up with early creatures before spending premium interaction, execute by attacking whenever trades preserve tempo or damage, and preserve key payoff bodies only when visible removal, blockers, or stack actions make the next attack materially worse. Prioritize this line against slow setup decks, spell-heavy decks without early blockers, and hands where Amped Raptor can add velocity without giving up board presence.

• Sacrifice reach wins stalled games with Goblin Bombardment plus expendable creatures or tokens visible to the rules engine. Set up Goblin Bombardment only after pressure exists or when the battlefield is about to become clogged, execute by sacrificing creatures that are blocked, targeted by removal, unable to attack profitably, or lethal as direct damage, and avoid sacrificing core pressure if the opponent is not under immediate life-total pressure. Prioritize this line against creature stalls, sweepers shown by public information, low-life opponents, and spots where combat damage plus sacrifice damage creates a deterministic clock.

• Resource squeeze wins when Strip Mine, Thoughtseize, cheap threats, and removal combine to deny the opponent a clean turn. Set up by playing a threat first when possible, execute by using Strip Mine on visible mana bottlenecks or utility lands only when the deck can still cast its own spells, and use Thoughtseize before committing fragile pressure if the opponent's public plan suggests a key answer or combo piece. Prioritize this line when the opponent misses land drops, keeps a color-light board, or exposes a land that visibly enables their next legal action.

Secondary Win Conditions

• Orcish Bowmasters provides a backup damage engine when the opponent draws extra cards or presents small creatures. Deploy it when Veles shows a legal timing window that punishes a visible draw effect, pressures a planeswalker-like permanent if legal, or creates a body that improves combat; otherwise treat it as a flash-speed threat only if the rules engine exposes that option.

• Deathrite Shaman turns stocked graveyards into reach, life stabilization, and graveyard pressure when legal actions expose those modes. Use it as a mana or pressure piece only when card text and legal actions confirm the relevant activation, and prioritize graveyard interaction when the opponent's public graveyard is part of a visible engine or recursion plan.

• Static Prison and Swords to Plowshares support a soft lock by removing the specific permanent that prevents attacks or enables the opponent's engine. Use them to clear the highest-impact blocker, combo creature, or visible payoff rather than the first legal target, unless survival or lethal math requires immediate action.

• Lurrus of the Dream-Den is a post-board recursion win condition only after sideboarding makes it available and legal. Build around it when repeated cheap permanents matter more than speed, but do not slow-roll early pressure just to maximize recursion unless the opponent is clearly trading one-for-one.

• Juggernaut Peddler and Seam Rip require runtime confirmation before assigning exact win roles. Card text check required; use them according to legal action text, visible targets, and resulting public state rather than assumed deck-function labels.

Emergency Lines

• Behind on life, prioritize survival interaction before extra damage. Use Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, Seam Rip, and legal Deathrite Shaman life actions to reduce immediate lethal pressure, then rebuild with the cheapest threat that still leaves mana for a visible required answer.

• Behind on board, convert the game into removal plus reach. Clear the largest attack problem, keep creatures back when blocking changes the clock, and use Goblin Bombardment to extract damage from creatures that would die or become ineffective.

• Behind on cards, preserve engines and force awkward trades. Prefer Amped Raptor, Orcish Bowmasters, Ocelot Pride, Guide of Souls, and post-board Lurrus of the Dream-Den lines that generate repeat value, and avoid spending Thoughtseize into an opponent with low-impact visible resources unless it stops a known decisive card.

• Behind on mana, stop sacrificing development for Strip Mine unless the opponent's land is visibly more important than your next spell. Fetch for colors that cast the current hand, play Plains or shocklands according to life pressure, and delay colorless disruption if it strands Swords to Plowshares, Goblin Bombardment, Thoughtseize, or Deathrite Shaman.

• Behind against engines, attack the engine piece before racing. Use Static Prison, Swords to Plowshares, Seam Rip, Thoughtseize, Strip Mine, Deathrite Shaman, Ghost Vacuum, Surgical Extraction, Duress, or Deafening Silence only when those cards are legal and matchup-appropriate, and choose the action that interrupts the visible engine turn rather than a generic value target.

• Behind after removed win conditions, switch to incremental pressure. Treat every remaining creature, Orcish Bowmasters trigger opportunity, Deathrite Shaman activation, Goblin Bombardment point, and Strip Mine bottleneck as part of one combined clock instead of waiting for a single rebuilt payoff.

Resource Model

• Life is a spendable resource only when it preserves pressure or unlocks colored mana. Use Sacred Foundry, Godless Shrine, and Blood Crypt untapped when the hand needs immediate Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Thoughtseize, Swords to Plowshares, Deathrite Shaman, Goblin Bombardment, Static Prison, or Amped Raptor; prefer tapped shocklands or Plains when already ahead on board or facing visible burn-like pressure.

• Hand size converts into board snowball, not long control inevitability. Prefer sequencing that spends one cheap threat plus one interaction spell per turn, and avoid holding Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Guide of Souls, or Ocelot Pride for theoretical value when the legal board is empty and the opponent is not threatening a sweeper by public information.

• Mana is the deck's tightest constraint because Strip Mine is powerful but colorless. Count hands with Strip Mine as lower-mana keeps unless another land or fetchland produces the exact white, black, and red requirements for the visible hand; do not use Strip Mine aggressively if it strands Swords to Plowshares, Thoughtseize, Deathrite Shaman, Goblin Bombardment, Static Prison, or Amped Raptor.

• Board presence is the main currency for energy, combat, and sacrifice reach. Protect early Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Amped Raptor, and Orcish Bowmasters when they are enabling attacks or token pressure, but trade them when the exchange keeps the opponent off a faster clock or leaves fodder for Goblin Bombardment.

• Graveyards are functional resources for Deathrite Shaman, post-board Surgical Extraction, and post-board Ghost Vacuum. Use graveyard cards only through legal actions shown by Veles, prioritize opponent graveyard pressure when a visible recursion or combo line exists, and preserve your own graveyard only when post-board Lurrus of the Dream-Den or a legal Deathrite Shaman mode makes that card type matter.

• Exile is mostly an information and denial zone unless a legal card action says otherwise. Track cards exiled by Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, Seam Rip, Amped Raptor, Ghost Vacuum, or Surgical Extraction as public evidence for future sequencing, but do not assume access, triggers, or permanent removal beyond the rules-engine output. Card text check required for Seam Rip and exact Amped Raptor exile handling.

• Lands are both mana and disruption. Treat fetchlands (Arid Mesa, Bloodstained Mire, Marsh Flats, Windswept Heath, Wooded Foothills) as color fixing first, life management second, and graveyard fuel third; treat Strip Mine as a tempo spell that should be fired when the opponent's visible land bottleneck matters more than your own next colored spell.

• Sacrifice fodder matters once Goblin Bombardment is visible or likely from hand. Preserve expendable tokens and low-impact creatures for lethal reach, removal dodges, or combat conversion, but do not hold back attacks merely to stock fodder unless the opponent's life total or visible blockers make sacrifice damage the cleaner clock.

• Sideboard bullets convert specific resources into matchup leverage. Deafening Silence spends spell velocity to slow combo, Duress spends a card for information and disruption, Voice of Victory pressures interactive opponents, extra Static Prison increases permanent answers, Ghost Vacuum and Surgical Extraction attack graveyards, extra Deathrite Shaman improves graveyard/life/mana texture, extra Goblin Bombardment improves stalled boards, and Lurrus of the Dream-Den improves attrition.

Mana Guide

• Prioritize white mana first in most openers because Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Swords to Plowshares, and Static Prison define the deck's early turns. A keep with pressure but no white source needs exceptional black/red action or a fetchland path; a keep with white plus any second color is usually functional if it has a one-drop or interaction.

• Sequence fetchlands to cover the current hand before future speculation. Fetch Sacred Foundry when the hand needs white-red for Amped Raptor or Goblin Bombardment, fetch Godless Shrine when it needs white-black for Thoughtseize, Deathrite Shaman, or Orcish Bowmasters, and fetch Blood Crypt only when red-black is immediately required and white is already available.

• Treat Bloodstained Mire as the flexible land that has to plan two turns ahead. Crack it for black when Thoughtseize, Deathrite Shaman, Orcish Bowmasters, or a post-board discard/removal line is the current bottleneck; crack it for red only when Amped Raptor, Goblin Bombardment, or burn/removal tempo matters immediately and white is already covered by another land. Keep Bloodstained Mire uncracked before draw or exile-selection actions only when all current colored requirements are already met and the shuffle/graveyard timing has visible value.

• Play Plains when white is enough and life matters. Prefer Plains over a shockland against visible fast pressure if the hand can still cast Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, or Swords to Plowshares; avoid Plains first when the next turn needs black for Thoughtseize, Deathrite Shaman, or Orcish Bowmasters and no fetchland is available.

• Use tapped shocklands only when the turn has no meaningful one-mana play or when life preservation changes the race. If the legal hand contains a turn-one threat, Thoughtseize, or Swords to Plowshares against immediate pressure, pay life for untapped mana unless the visible board makes waiting clearly safer.

• Delay Strip Mine deployment when colored spells need curve support. Play colored lands first if the hand contains multiple one- and two-mana colored spells; play Strip Mine early only when it is the extra land, the opponent exposes a critical land, or the current hand already has stable white plus the required splash color.

• Fire Strip Mine after developing a threat unless mana denial is the only way to stop the opponent's visible next turn. The strongest pattern is threat into disruption: put Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Deathrite Shaman, or Amped Raptor onto the battlefield, then destroy the land that blocks their stabilizing spell while continuing attacks.

• Make land drops before draw or exile-resolution actions when the extra mana is needed for visible follow-up actions. Hold a fetchland until after an Amped Raptor or other legal selection/exile action only if the current mana already casts every possible relevant follow-up and shuffling or graveyard timing could matter by visible rules text.

• Mulligan mana-light hands that rely on Strip Mine as a colored source. Keep one-land hands only with a fetchland or exact colored land plus multiple one-mana plays and a clear draw path; reject hands with powerful two-drops but no reliable white source, and treat double-Strip Mine hands as risky unless the rest of the mana is already complete.

• Respect red as a support color rather than the default first fetch. Red enables Amped Raptor, Goblin Bombardment, and possibly Juggernaut Peddler if legal action text confirms its cost/use, but early white and black usually decide whether the deck can pressure and interact on time. Card text check required for Juggernaut Peddler.

Mulligan Guide

• Strong keeps start with white mana plus one proactive one-drop and one interaction or follow-up. Keep hands like Sacred Foundry, fetchland, Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Amped Raptor, Swords to Plowshares, and Orcish Bowmasters because they curve pressure into disruption and can use later energy or sacrifice texture.

• Strong keeps can be black-white when they contain disruption into board presence. Keep Godless Shrine, fetchland, Thoughtseize, Deathrite Shaman, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Swords to Plowshares, and Orcish Bowmasters on the play when life loss is acceptable and the hand can cast at least two early spells.

• Medium keeps need a clear first two turns but may lack one color or a payoff. Keep Plains, fetchland, Guide of Souls, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Static Prison, Seam Rip, and Strip Mine if the matchup rewards early board plus removal, but fetch the missing splash before using Strip Mine aggressively.

• Risky keeps rely on one land, Strip Mine, or delayed red. A one-fetch hand with Ocelot Pride, Swords to Plowshares, Guide of Souls, and two two-drops is keepable on the draw against slower decks, but ship it on the play if missing the second land strands Amped Raptor, Goblin Bombardment, or Orcish Bowmasters.

• Automatic ships have no white source, no turn-one play, or multiple colorless lands with colored spells. Ship hands like double Strip Mine, Blood Crypt, Goblin Bombardment, Amped Raptor, Static Prison, Seam Rip, and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah because the hand cannot reliably deploy the deck's early white engine.

• Matchup-dependent keeps improve when the opponent is spell-combo or graveyard-centric. A hand with Thoughtseize, Deathrite Shaman, Orcish Bowmasters, fetchlands, and only one white payoff is better against combo or graveyard decks than against creature aggro; against creature aggro, prioritize Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, Seam Rip, Guide of Souls, and Ocelot Pride.

• Play/draw changes tolerance for taplands and discard. On the play, keep lower-resource hands that curve Guide of Souls or Ocelot Pride into Ajani, Nacatl Pariah; on the draw, require either cheap interaction such as Swords to Plowshares or Thoughtseize, or enough mana to double-spell by turn three.

• Trap hands look powerful but fail to sequence. Do not keep hands that are all removal with no threat against unknown opponents, all creatures with no removal against visible fast starts, Goblin Bombardment with no creatures, or Amped Raptor/Juggernaut Peddler hands whose exact card text and mana use are not supported by current legal actions. Card text check required for Juggernaut Peddler and Seam Rip.

Turn Arc

• Turn 1 should establish white pressure unless disruption is time-critical. Prefer Guide of Souls or Ocelot Pride off Sacred Foundry, Godless Shrine, Plains, or a fetchland; cast Thoughtseize first when the opponent's known deck can win or stabilize before combat matters; hold Swords to Plowshares mana when the visible opposing creature will dominate the next turn.

• Turn 1 deviations should respect mana and life. Fetch Godless Shrine for Thoughtseize, Deathrite Shaman, or future Orcish Bowmasters; fetch Sacred Foundry for Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, and red follow-up; play Strip Mine only if another land already casts the next colored spell or the opponent presents a visible land dependency.

• Turn 2 should add a second body, interaction, or the first payoff. Prefer Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Amped Raptor, Orcish Bowmasters, Deathrite Shaman, or removal plus one-drop based on legal actions; use Static Prison, Swords to Plowshares, or Seam Rip when the opposing permanent blocks attacks, threatens a combo, or makes waiting worse.

• Turn 2 deviations should avoid unsupported engine commitments. Do not cast Goblin Bombardment before developing creatures unless the hand already has fodder or the board is about to stall; do not spend Strip Mine if it prevents casting Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Amped Raptor, or Orcish Bowmasters next turn.

• Turn 3 should convert early board into pressure plus disruption. Attack when legal and favorable, then double-spell with one-drop plus removal, cast Goblin Bombardment behind multiple creatures, or deploy Static Prison/Seam Rip to clear the highest-impact blocker or engine permanent shown by Veles.

• Turns 4-5 should decide whether to race, grind, or deny mana. Use Goblin Bombardment to turn expendable creatures and tokens into reach, use Strip Mine when the opponent is bottlenecked on a visible land type or mana count, and preserve instant-speed Swords to Plowshares when the opponent can present a larger threat than the current blocker.

• Late game should prioritize live topdecks and sacrifice reach over low-impact attacks. Favor lines that keep Goblin Bombardment, Deathrite Shaman, Orcish Bowmasters, and token makers relevant; use removal to open lethal or stop opposing lethal, and do not sacrifice board presence unless the visible damage, life swing, or engine denial is confirmed by legal actions.

Card Roles

• Guide of Souls is the preferred turn-one engine when white mana is available and the opponent is not threatening an immediate combo. Deploy it early to convert later Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Ocelot Pride, Orcish Bowmasters, and Amped Raptor bodies into life, energy, and pressure; hold it only when Veles shows a higher-priority legal interaction such as Swords to Plowshares against a must-answer creature or Thoughtseize against a fast noncreature deck. Do not treat energy use as automatic; spend energy when the legal action advances a clock, breaks a board stall, or creates lethal pressure, and preserve it when future Static Prison or creature-upgrade actions are visible.

• Ocelot Pride is both a pressure one-drop and the deck's best snowball card when life gain is happening. Cast it before other creatures when the hand contains Guide of Souls, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, or removal that lets it attack; protect its combat access by using Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, or Seam Rip on blockers that stop early damage. Avoid throwing it into bad attacks just because it is cheap; its value rises sharply when the board can keep lifegain and token production online. Against sweepers or heavy removal, diversify threats rather than committing every creature before the opponent is forced to react.

• Ajani, Nacatl Pariah is a premium two-drop because it adds board presence, lifegain texture, and sacrifice/combat synergy. Cast it on curve when the board wants another body, especially after Guide of Souls or Ocelot Pride; delay it only when removal must answer a visible threat or when mana must be held for Orcish Bowmasters. If Veles exposes transform, sacrifice, or token-related decisions, evaluate visible board state instead of assuming the transformation is correct. Goblin Bombardment can turn expendable creatures into reach and may interact with Ajani lines, but do not sacrifice critical attackers or blockers unless the resulting legal action clearly improves damage, survival, or board control.

• Amped Raptor is a tempo and card-flow threat that should usually be cast when red mana is stable and the deck can use the revealed follow-up without disrupting priority needs. Use it to rebuild after trades, add pressure on turn two, or turn spare energy into a material board/action advantage if Veles presents that line. Do not cast it into a turn where the opponent has a visible must-answer threat and the hand already contains Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, or Seam Rip; interaction first is often better than rolling into more pressure. Card text should be followed exactly from legal action output, especially for energy payment and cast timing.

• Orcish Bowmasters is the deck's flash-speed punishment, blocker, and reach piece. Hold it when the opponent is likely to draw extra cards or when leaving black mana up also represents removal and safer priority play; cast it proactively when the deck needs a body, the opponent is low on life, or a one-toughness creature/token matters immediately. Its token pairs well with Goblin Bombardment, Guide of Souls, and combat pressure, but do not expose it early if the current matchup is more about punishing a draw step or instant-speed cantrip than about board development.

• Deathrite Shaman is a flexible mana, graveyard, and reach card whose exact use should depend on visible graveyards and legal actions. Cast it early when fetchlands or graveyard cards make mana or life-drain lines available; use it later to pressure life totals, blunt graveyard plans, or stabilize race math. Do not assume a mode exists without the rules engine exposing it, and do not exile a card that might be more valuable to a later legal action unless the current action matters. Against graveyard or spell-recursion decks, preserve activation windows and avoid tapping it for marginal mana when graveyard denial is the important job.

• Goblin Bombardment is the sacrifice engine and reach finisher, not a default turn-two play into an empty or single-threat board. Cast it when there are multiple creatures or tokens, when removal would otherwise strand damage, when board stalls are likely, or when the opponent is near a life total where sacrifice chains create lethal. It improves the value of Ocelot Pride tokens, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah bodies, and Orcish Bowmasters tokens, but sacrificing too early can lose races and weaken Guide of Souls energy/lifegain turns. Use it at instant speed only when Veles confirms the legal action and the damage target, death trigger, or combat exchange is worth the material.

• Swords to Plowshares is the cleanest answer to creatures that outsize the board, enable a combo, block a lethal attack, or threaten immediate lethal. Hold it when the opponent may present a more dangerous creature later and current combat is manageable; spend it early when protecting Ocelot Pride, Guide of Souls, or Ajani, Nacatl Pariah generates more damage than waiting. Do not fire it at low-impact creatures just to use mana, and respect the life gain as a real cost when racing. In creature mirrors, prioritize blockers or attackers that change combat math; against combo, prioritize creatures that are actual engines or payoff pieces shown by public information.

• Static Prison is efficient permanent interaction and an energy-linked tempo tool. Use it on nonland permanents that block pressure, create an engine, or threaten immediate snowballing; avoid spending it on a low-impact permanent if Swords to Plowshares or combat can solve the problem without consuming energy-related resources. If Veles shows upkeep, sacrifice, or energy-payment actions, decide from current board pressure and available energy rather than assuming the enchantment will remain forever. It is especially important against large blockers, artifact/enchantment engines, and planeswalker-style permanents if legal target text allows them.

• Seam Rip is registered as four copies and should be treated as a key interaction spell, but card text check required. Use it only according to Veles legal action text, prioritizing visible permanents, spells, or board states that its actual rules text can answer. If it is removal, compare it against Swords to Plowshares and Static Prison by mana efficiency, target restrictions, and whether exiling, destroying, or temporary containment matters. Do not keep or sequence a hand assuming Seam Rip solves a specific card type until the runtime prompt confirms legal targets.

• Juggernaut Peddler is a two-copy role player whose exact tactical job requires confirmation. Card text check required. Cast it when Veles confirms its cost and the board state makes the exposed action meaningful; do not prioritize it over established engine starts from Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, or Amped Raptor unless its legal action clearly fixes the current problem. If it offers selection, mana, artifact, energy, or combat utility, choose modes from visible pressure and current hand needs rather than from assumed text.

• Thoughtseize is the single main-deck proactive disruption slot and should be used when one card can change the opponent's whole turn. Cast it on turn one against unknown fast combo, control, or synergy decks when black mana is available and life loss is acceptable; delay it when the opponent's first visible action will clarify the target or when white pressure is more valuable. Take the card that beats the current hand and board, not the abstractly strongest card. Against creature aggro, avoid spending life and mana on Thoughtseize if removal plus board development is the better survival line.

• Strip Mine is a four-copy mana-denial plan that must not sabotage colored development. Use it aggressively when the opponent is visibly short on lands, dependent on one color, or relying on a land engine; hold it when spending a land drop or colorless source would strand Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Amped Raptor, Orcish Bowmasters, Goblin Bombardment, or removal. In opening hands, count Strip Mine as disruption, not as colored mana. It becomes strongest after early pressure is established because each denied land increases the value of cheap creatures and reach.

• The fetchland and shockland package is the deck's color-fixing backbone and should be sequenced around white first, black second, and red as needed. Fetch Sacred Foundry for Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Amped Raptor, and Goblin Bombardment; fetch Godless Shrine for Thoughtseize, Deathrite Shaman, Orcish Bowmasters, and white one-drops; fetch Blood Crypt only when red-black sequencing is required and white is already covered. Use Elegant Parlor and Plains to reduce life-loss pressure when the hand still casts its early plays. Preserve fetchlands when Deathrite Shaman or visible deck-thinning/shuffle consequences matter, but do not delay a needed color for speculative value.

Interaction Priorities

• Priority: Use Swords to Plowshares first on creatures that invalidate combat, enable a visible combo, or create lethal pressure before the next turn cycle. Do not spend it on a small creature that Orcish Bowmasters, tokens, or normal attacks can manage, and account for the opponent's life gain when the game is a damage race.

• Priority: Use Static Prison on the nonland permanent that most disrupts the current attack plan or engine plan, especially a large blocker, repeatable value permanent, artifact/enchantment engine, or planeswalker-style threat when legal target text allows it. Treat upkeep or energy-payment prompts as real future costs; do not assume Static Prison will remain forever unless Veles confirms the required payment path.

• Priority: Treat Seam Rip as important registered interaction, but card text check required. When Veles exposes legal targets, spend it on the highest-impact object its actual text can answer; compare it against Swords to Plowshares and Static Prison by target legality, mana efficiency, permanence of answer, and whether the current turn requires removing a blocker or stopping an engine.

• Priority: Use Thoughtseize to take the card that beats the visible hand and board, not the card that looks strongest in isolation. Against combo or control, prioritize the opponent's enabler, payoff, sweeper, or cheap interaction that stops Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, or Goblin Bombardment; against creature aggro, avoid paying life unless the revealed card will decide the race.

• Priority: Use Orcish Bowmasters as both interaction and pressure when the opponent's visible line involves drawing extra cards or presenting one-toughness creatures. Do not hold it forever for a perfect punish if casting it now attacks, blocks, or creates a body that enables Goblin Bombardment; do hold it when the opponent is clearly representing a draw-step or cantrip window and your board is already functional.

• Priority: Use Strip Mine as interaction after colored mana is secure or pressure is established. Target a visible utility land, a color the opponent lacks redundancy for, or the land that keeps them from casting their next likely play; do not sacrifice colored development when the hand still needs white for Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Swords to Plowshares, or red/black for Goblin Bombardment and Orcish Bowmasters.

• Priority: Use Deathrite Shaman graveyard activations only when the target card and mode are visible and legal. Exile the card that matters to the opponent's next recursion, escape, delirium, reanimation, or resource line; otherwise use mana or life-drain modes when they advance the current turn without losing a more important denial window.

• Bait: Lead with redundant pressure such as extra Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Amped Raptor, or a nonessential creature when you suspect removal or permission and the stronger follow-up is Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Goblin Bombardment, or a critical interaction spell. Do not bait with the only lifegain engine, only sacrifice engine, or only answer to a visible threat unless waiting is worse.

• Ignore: Do not answer low-impact blockers, tapped creatures that cannot affect the next combat, or permanents that do not change racing, mana, combo, or engine output. Let minor damage through when preserving Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, Seam Rip, or Orcish Bowmasters protects a more valuable future exchange.

Combat And Trading Rules

• Attack: Pressure first when Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Amped Raptor, or Orcish Bowmasters bodies can convert damage into a short clock. Prefer attacks that keep energy, lifegain, token generation, or Goblin Bombardment reach online; do not make chip attacks that lose the only engine creature without forcing meaningful damage or removal.

• Preserve: Protect Guide of Souls and Ocelot Pride when lifegain, energy, or token snowballing is the route to winning. Trade them only when the opponent's creature would otherwise dominate combat, when Goblin Bombardment converts the death into lethal or a key removal target, or when Ajani, Nacatl Pariah lines require the body and Veles confirms the legal action.

• Trade: Trade Orcish Bowmasters tokens, Ocelot Pride tokens, and expendable creatures aggressively when doing so preserves life total or clears attacks for higher-value threats. Avoid trading away Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Guide of Souls, or the last creature feeding Goblin Bombardment unless the exchange prevents lethal or removes an opposing engine.

• Block: Against aggro, block earlier once life falls into a range where burn, haste, or evasive attacks could finish the game before your next swing. Use Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, or legal Goblin Bombardment actions to turn blocks into favorable exchanges, but do not assume sacrifice damage, lifegain, or transform triggers unless the rules engine exposes them.

• Race: Against control or combo, favor attacks over defensive trades unless the opponent's creature is an engine or mana source. The deck wins many noncombat games by combining early damage with Strip Mine, discard, Orcish Bowmasters, and Goblin Bombardment, so preserve reach and force the opponent to act under pressure.

• Stabilize: Against creature-heavy boards, shift from maximum damage to board control when the opponent can crack back for more damage than your attack produces. Remove the blocker or attacker that changes the race, keep at least one relevant blocker when under a short clock, and use Deathrite Shaman life gain or drain only when Veles shows the legal mode and target.

• Sacrifice: Use Goblin Bombardment during combat when a creature is already dying, when one damage kills a key creature or planeswalker-style permanent, or when sacrifice chains create lethal to the opponent. Do not sacrifice future attackers just to spend an activation if the opponent survives and the board becomes worse.

• Archetype: Against combo, attack with urgency and trade only for mana creatures, combo bodies, or cards the opponent visibly needs. Against midrange, preserve engines and trade expendable bodies for tempo. Against graveyard decks, value Deathrite Shaman activation windows over marginal attacks. Against removal-heavy decks, diversify threats and avoid exposing every engine piece before the opponent is forced to answer the board.

Selection And Tutor Rules

• Selection: Treat this list as a pressure deck with pseudo-selection, not a true tutor deck. There is no registered main-deck card that should be assumed to search for any spell on demand; use fetchlands, Elegant Parlor, discard, and Veles-exposed impulse/cascade-style actions to improve draw quality only when the rules engine confirms those actions.

• Fetchlands: Use Arid Mesa, Bloodstained Mire, Marsh Flats, Windswept Heath, and Wooded Foothills to fix the current hand before thinning the library. Prioritize white access for Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, and Seam Rip; secure black for Orcish Bowmasters, Deathrite Shaman, Thoughtseize, and Goblin Bombardment support through Blood Crypt or Godless Shrine only when the visible line needs it; fetch red for Amped Raptor and Goblin Bombardment when those are the next plays.

• Land timing: Make the land drop before casting spells when the turn needs exact mana, an untapped shock land, or a fetchland in the graveyard for Deathrite Shaman. Delay cracking a fetchland when holding it preserves information, enables Deathrite Shaman later, or lets Veles expose a better legal land target after seeing the opponent's action; crack immediately when life total, mana color, or Strip Mine pressure makes waiting costly.

• Elegant Parlor: Use Elegant Parlor as a tapland only when the turn can afford tempo loss or when Veles exposes a surveil-style selection trigger. Bottom cards that do not affect the next two turns, duplicate painful lands when colors are already covered, or narrow interaction with no legal target; keep pressure, needed colors, Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, Orcish Bowmasters, and engine pieces when they match the visible matchup.

• Amped Raptor: Treat Amped Raptor as card-flow pressure only through Veles-exposed legal actions. If Veles offers a cast-from-exile or discovered spell choice, choose the action that adds immediate board pressure, removes a blocking or lethal threat, or disrupts the opponent this turn; do not assume the exiled card can be saved or cast later unless the engine says so.

• Thoughtseize: Use revealed-hand selection to take the card that beats the current plan. Against fast decks, take the visible card that creates lethal, removes your stabilizer, or invalidates combat; against combo/control, take the engine, payoff, sweeper, or cheap answer that stops Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Orcish Bowmasters, or Goblin Bombardment.

• Card text checks: For Juggernaut Peddler and Seam Rip, card text check required before treating any selection, discard, graveyard, or target-choice prompt as strategically known. When Veles exposes legal choices, rank them by current board impact, mana use, and whether the action advances pressure or prevents the opponent's next decisive play.

Priority And Stack Rules

• Priority: Spend mana proactively when shields are not needed, but keep instant-speed interaction available when the opponent can present lethal, combo, a draw-spell punish, or a key blocker. Swords to Plowshares, Orcish Bowmasters, Deathrite Shaman, Goblin Bombardment, Static Prison upkeep/payment prompts, and possible Seam Rip actions must be evaluated from visible legal choices, not assumed shortcuts.

• Removal windows: Use Swords to Plowshares before combat damage when removing an attacker prevents lethal or when removing a blocker enables a decisive attack. Wait until the latest safe window against pump, sacrifice, or protection-style play when the opponent's mana and board suggest they may commit more resources first.

• Orcish Bowmasters: Hold Orcish Bowmasters for an opponent draw trigger or one-toughness target when the board is stable and Veles shows the relevant stack window. Cast it as a flash threat instead when passing wastes mana, when a blocker is needed, or when creating a body for Goblin Bombardment matters more than waiting for a larger punish.

• Goblin Bombardment: Activate Goblin Bombardment in response to removal on your creature, during combat after blocks when a creature would die anyway, or at end step when one damage changes the clock or kills a visible target. Avoid sacrificing a future engine creature unless the activation prevents lethal, removes a decisive permanent, or creates lethal reach.

• Deathrite Shaman: Use Deathrite Shaman at instant speed when the target card is visible and the mode is legal. Exile a card in response to recursion, graveyard combo, escape, delirium, or reanimation timing; otherwise use mana, drain, or life gain only if that activation improves the current turn more than preserving the graveyard target.

• Optional payments: Treat energy and upkeep-style payments, especially around Guide of Souls, Static Prison, and Amped Raptor, as real resource decisions. Pay when the effect preserves pressure, keeps a critical permanent contained, or converts into an immediate threat; decline when the payment blocks a higher-impact action or empties energy for a stronger visible line.

• Stack patience: Let low-impact spells resolve when interaction is needed for a threat that changes lethal math, mana, combo progress, or card advantage. Respond immediately to spells or abilities that remove Goblin Bombardment, answer the only pressure engine, create a lethal attacker, or make a future Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, or Seam Rip target illegal.

• Graveyard timing: Use Surgical Extraction and Ghost Vacuum only after sideboarding and only when the target is visible in a public zone or revealed by Veles. Pair graveyard action with pressure; do not spend a priority window on graveyard denial if the opponent's battlefield will kill you first and removal or blockers are legal.

Sideboard Map

• Sideboard rule: Use exact plans only when the opponent's revealed deck matches the label closely enough for the plan to preserve pressure and interaction balance. If Veles shows a mixed archetype, prefer role-card guidance over forcing a rigid plan.

Spell Combo With Few Creature Targets Side in: 3 Deafening Silence; 2 Duress; 1 Surgical Extraction Cut: 4 Swords to Plowshares; 2 Static Prison

Graveyard Combo Or Recursion Engine Side in: 1 Surgical Extraction; 1 Ghost Vacuum; 1 Deathrite Shaman; 2 Duress Cut: 2 Static Prison; 2 Juggernaut Peddler; 1 Seam Rip

Creature Aggro Or Creature-Based Midrange Side in: 2 Static Prison; 1 Goblin Bombardment; 3 Voice of Victory Cut: 1 Thoughtseize; 2 Juggernaut Peddler; 1 Deathrite Shaman; 2 Seam Rip

Control Or Heavy Instant-Speed Interaction Side in: 3 Voice of Victory; 2 Duress; 1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den Cut: 4 Swords to Plowshares; 2 Static Prison

• Deafening Silence: Bring in Deafening Silence against spell-chain combo, blue cantrip shells, discover-style engines, storm-like turns, and low-creature control decks that need multiple noncreature spells in one turn. Its role is to buy time for Ocelot Pride, Guide of Souls, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Orcish Bowmasters, and Amped Raptor to close before the opponent assembles a critical turn. It is weak against creature-heavy boards, decks that cast one high-impact spell per turn, and games where your own turn requires chaining Amped Raptor into another noncreature spell plus interaction. Role change: after adding it, value one-spell turns, creature deployment, and activated abilities more highly than double-spell pressure.

• Duress: Bring in Duress against combo, control, sweepers, prison pieces, and noncreature removal-heavy decks. Its role is to clear the way for Goblin Bombardment, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, or a fast creature start, or to take the visible card that beats your current board. It is weak against creature aggro, battlefield-heavy decks, and topdeck races where losing tempo and life matters more than hand knowledge. Role change: after adding it, mulligan decisions can keep slightly more disruptive hands if they also present a one- or two-mana threat.

• Surgical Extraction: Bring in Surgical Extraction when the opponent uses graveyard recursion, combo pieces that repeat from public zones, or a small number of named payoffs. Its role is surgical denial after a card reaches a visible zone; do not spend it on a random low-impact card just because a target exists. It is weak against diverse threat decks, fair creature decks, and games where the graveyard target does not change the next two turns. Role change: after adding it, preserve black mana or free-action timing only when Veles shows a public target that can break the opponent's line.

• Ghost Vacuum: Bring in Ghost Vacuum against graveyard decks, reanimation, escape-style pressure, recursive creatures, and public-zone combo loops. Its role is repeatable graveyard pressure that lets the deck keep attacking while narrowing the opponent's resources. It is weak against fast battlefield aggro, low-graveyard control, and matchups where a one-mana artifact does not affect the opponent's current clock. Role change: after adding it, use early mana on pressure first unless the graveyard engine is already visible or imminent.

• Deathrite Shaman: Bring in the sideboard Deathrite Shaman against fetchland-heavy attrition, graveyard decks, burn-like races, and matchups where repeatable mana, drain, or life gain matters. Its role is flexible resource compression: it accelerates, pressures life totals, and contests graveyards from visible zones. It is weak when graveyards stay empty, when the opponent attacks too quickly for a one-mana utility creature to stabilize, or when removal makes mana-creature starts unreliable. Role change: after adding it, fetchland timing and graveyard sequencing become more important because the deck can convert public graveyard cards into mana or life swings.

• Static Prison: Bring in the extra Static Prison against creature decks, large single threats, artifact or creature engines, and permanent-based combo where a contained permanent buys multiple attack steps. Its role is clean tempo removal when Swords to Plowshares is not enough or when exile-style containment is worth maintaining. It is weak against go-wide low-value creatures, spell-only combo, and games where energy upkeep or payment pressure conflicts with Guide of Souls and Amped Raptor. Role change: after adding it, protect energy as a removal-maintenance resource rather than spending every optional payment on pressure.

• Goblin Bombardment: Bring in the sideboard Goblin Bombardment against removal-heavy midrange, small-creature boards, stalled battlefields, and decks vulnerable to sacrifice reach. Its role is inevitability with Ocelot Pride, Guide of Souls, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Orcish Bowmasters, and disposable creature bodies. It is weak when the opponent goes over the top quickly, attacks your life total before you build bodies, or has permanent answers that punish low-tempo setup. Role change: after adding it, preserve expendable creatures and recognize combat spots where a blocked creature can become damage rather than merely dying.

• Voice of Victory: Bring in Voice of Victory against control, flash-heavy interaction, counterspell decks, and opponents trying to act on your turn. Card text check required for exact trigger and restriction details; use it conditionally as a proactive shield when Veles confirms legal play and visible text supports the role. It is weak against pure creature aggro, decks with mostly sorcery-speed removal, and matchups where a two-mana body that does not answer the board is too slow. Role change: after adding it, lead with it before committing Goblin Bombardment, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, or a dense attack when the opponent's open mana suggests instant-speed disruption.

• Lurrus of the Dream-Den: Bring in Lurrus of the Dream-Den for attrition matchups where the game slows, removal trades are frequent, and recurring cheap permanents can win through exhaustion. Card text check required for exact companion, casting, and recursion constraints in this registered configuration; use only legal Veles actions. It is weak against fast combo, graveyard hate that invalidates recursion, and games decided before three mana stabilizes. Role change: after adding it, value permanents that trade early and can matter again later, especially Deathrite Shaman, Ocelot Pride, Guide of Souls, and Goblin Bombardment if Veles confirms legal recursion lines.

• Archetype rule: Against fast creature decks, add role cards that answer the battlefield and improve combat texture. Add role cards: Static Prison; Goblin Bombardment; Voice of Victory only when the opponent uses instant-speed interaction. Reduce main-deck emphasis: discard, slow utility creatures, and narrow card-text-dependent spells that do not affect attackers or blockers.

• Archetype rule: Against spell combo, add role cards that tax spell volume and attack the hand. Add role cards: Deafening Silence; Duress; Surgical Extraction when the combo exposes key cards in public zones. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal and containment effects that have no visible targets.

• Archetype rule: Against graveyard decks, add role cards that interact with public graveyard cards while keeping a clock. Add role cards: Ghost Vacuum; Surgical Extraction; Deathrite Shaman; Duress against noncreature enablers. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow battlefield-only cards when the opponent's decisive resource is the graveyard.

• Archetype rule: Against control, add role cards that protect proactive threats and remove key noncreature answers before committing engines. Add role cards: Voice of Victory; Duress; Lurrus of the Dream-Den; Goblin Bombardment when creature bodies are likely to trade. Reduce main-deck emphasis: dead creature removal and energy-maintenance effects with no durable target.

Matchup Guidance

• Aggro: Stabilize first with cheap bodies and exile removal, then turn the corner with lifelink pressure and token growth. Keep hands with Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Swords to Plowshares, or Static Prison; treat Amped Raptor as a bridge card only when the hand can spend the extra card without falling behind. Use Swords to Plowshares on the creature that most changes combat math, not automatically on the first target. Add role cards: Static Prison; Goblin Bombardment; Deathrite Shaman when life gain or graveyard mana matters. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Thoughtseize, slower disruption, and narrow interaction that does not affect combat.

• Control: Deploy one resilient threat at a time and force the opponent to answer pressure before committing Goblin Bombardment or multiple premium creatures. Ocelot Pride, Guide of Souls, Orcish Bowmasters, and Amped Raptor are the preferred early pressure because each can represent damage without overextending. Use Thoughtseize and Duress to clear a path for Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Goblin Bombardment, or Lurrus of the Dream-Den lines; do not spend discard on cards that do not stop the next pressure step. Add role cards: Voice of Victory; Duress; Lurrus of the Dream-Den; Goblin Bombardment. Reduce main-deck emphasis: excess Swords to Plowshares, excess Static Prison, and removal that lacks visible targets.

• Combo: Apply the fastest legal clock while using discard and taxing effects to compress the opponent's setup turn. Keep hands with early pressure plus Thoughtseize, Duress, Deafening Silence, Orcish Bowmasters, or Strip Mine; mulligan hands that only remove creatures unless the opponent's combo is visibly creature-permanent based. Deafening Silence is a high-priority role card against spell-chain combo, but do not assume it stops activated abilities, triggered abilities, or single-spell kills unless Veles-visible text supports that line. Add role cards: Deafening Silence; Duress; Surgical Extraction when a key combo card reaches a public zone; Ghost Vacuum when the graveyard is part of the engine. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, and combat-only cards when no battlefield target matters.

• Tempo: Trade mana efficiently and protect the initiative rather than chasing every threat. Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, Orcish Bowmasters, and Seam Rip should be aimed at the play that preserves attacks or prevents a large swing; Card text check required for exact Seam Rip use, so choose it only when Veles confirms the target and effect are legal. Strip Mine is strongest when it breaks a low-land opponent's ability to double-spell or hold interaction, but avoid using it when your own colored mana is still not stable. Add role cards: Voice of Victory; Duress; Static Prison. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow attrition pieces that do not affect the next attack or stack exchange.

• Midrange: Win by making every exchange leave behind damage, energy, tokens, or recursion. Prioritize Goblin Bombardment when both boards are cluttered, Orcish Bowmasters when the opponent draws extra cards or presents small creatures, and Lurrus of the Dream-Den when legal recursion can convert traded permanents into material. Ajani, Nacatl Pariah and Ocelot Pride should be preserved when they are the main snowball engine; trade off lesser creatures first if combat stays favorable. Add role cards: Lurrus of the Dream-Den; Goblin Bombardment; Deathrite Shaman; Duress against removal-heavy hands. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow removal beyond the number needed for visible must-answer creatures.

• Big mana: Race while attacking mana and expensive payoff windows. Use Strip Mine aggressively when it cuts the opponent off a key color, delays a large spell, or prevents a utility land from dominating the game; do not sacrifice your only path to cast a critical two-drop unless the land hit is decisive. Thoughtseize, Duress, and fast pressure matter more than low-impact removal unless the opponent's big-mana plan relies on a visible creature or artifact permanent. Add role cards: Duress; Deafening Silence only when spell volume matters; Static Prison for permanent payoffs; Surgical Extraction after a key public-zone target appears. Reduce main-deck emphasis: small-creature removal and grind cards that do not shorten the clock.

• Graveyard: Keep attacking while narrowing public graveyard resources. Deathrite Shaman, Ghost Vacuum, and Surgical Extraction should be used against visible graveyard engines, recursive threats, or named combo pieces after they enter a public zone; do not fire Surgical Extraction at a low-impact card just because it is legal. Ocelot Pride, Guide of Souls, and Amped Raptor keep pressure high enough that graveyard interaction does not become pure durdling. Add role cards: Ghost Vacuum; Surgical Extraction; Deathrite Shaman; Duress for enablers. Reduce main-deck emphasis: battlefield removal when the opponent's decisive zone is the graveyard.

• Artifact/enchantment: Identify whether the permanent is an engine, a lock piece, or just support before spending removal. Static Prison can buy time against a single dangerous permanent when Veles confirms legality, while Seam Rip should be used only with card-text certainty and legal targets. Pressure still matters because Mardu Energy rarely wins by answering every permanent one-for-one. Add role cards: Static Prison; Duress for noncreature setup; Deafening Silence when the deck chains multiple noncreature spells. Reduce main-deck emphasis: removal that cannot touch the visible permanent type.

• Go-wide: Preserve life total and make combat awkward before maximizing damage. Orcish Bowmasters, Goblin Bombardment, Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah are the main cards that scale into small-creature boards; use Swords to Plowshares on anthem-like, evasive, or engine creatures rather than expendable tokens. Goblin Bombardment changes blocks because every disposable creature can become reach or removal after damage math is clear. Add role cards: Goblin Bombardment; Static Prison for key engines; Deathrite Shaman if life swings matter. Reduce main-deck emphasis: discard and single-target answers to low-value bodies.

• Single-threat: Answer the protected or oversized threat cleanly, then punish the opponent for investing in it. Save Swords to Plowshares or Static Prison for the threat that actually ends the game, unless waiting would force losing blocks or lethal damage. Strip Mine can be correct before removal if it cuts off protection, recasting, or the next threat, but rely only on visible mana and legal actions. Add role cards: Static Prison; Duress; Surgical Extraction only after the threat or its recursion piece is public. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Goblin Bombardment when there are too few opposing creatures and sacrifice reach is not needed.

• Burn: Treat life total as the primary resource and avoid unnecessary self-damage once colors are established. Fetch shock lands only when the immediate spell changes the race; prefer sequencing that enables Deathrite Shaman, Guide of Souls, and Ocelot Pride lifegain or lifelink lines. Thoughtseize and Duress are strongest when they remove a high-damage spell or protect a lifegain engine, but discard that costs too much life or tempo can be wrong. Add role cards: Deathrite Shaman; Duress; Voice of Victory when instant-speed burn on your turn matters. Reduce main-deck emphasis: painful disruption and slow cards that do not gain life, block, or shorten the clock.

• Removal-heavy: Do not overcommit creatures into open mana when one threat plus a recursive or sacrifice engine is enough. Goblin Bombardment, Lurrus of the Dream-Den, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, and Amped Raptor are the key cards for turning removal exchanges into value. Lead with threats that are acceptable to lose, then commit Goblin Bombardment or Lurrus of the Dream-Den when the opponent is lower on visible resources or when discard has cleared the way. Add role cards: Lurrus of the Dream-Den; Goblin Bombardment; Voice of Victory; Duress; Deathrite Shaman. Reduce main-deck emphasis: extra removal against opponents with few creatures.

Specific Matchup Notes

• General/archetype-only note: exact opponents are absent, so revealed cards, legal actions, public zones, and Veles board state override these assumptions. Use the opponent's visible plan to choose which package matters: pressure plus disruption against spell engines, removal plus blockers against creature pressure, and attrition engines against removal-heavy decks.

• Spell-combo or high-spell-volume opponents: prioritize a fast clock backed by Thoughtseize, Duress, Deafening Silence, and Voice of Victory. Likely sideboarding adds Deafening Silence, Duress, and sometimes Voice of Victory; reduce creature removal that has no visible targets. Priority targets are enablers, payoff spells, and protection pieces revealed by discard or public stack actions; do not name hidden cards without engine evidence.

• Graveyard opponents: keep pressure high while using Deathrite Shaman, Ghost Vacuum, and Surgical Extraction only on visible graveyard resources. Likely sideboarding adds Ghost Vacuum, Surgical Extraction, and the sideboard Deathrite Shaman; Duress is useful when the opponent shows noncreature enablers. Priority targets are recursive threats, reanimation targets, graveyard engines, or cards that Veles confirms are part of the active public-zone line.

• Creature aggro and go-wide opponents: preserve life total first, then turn small exchanges into value with Orcish Bowmasters, Goblin Bombardment, Ocelot Pride, Guide of Souls, and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah. Likely sideboarding adds Static Prison, the sideboard Goblin Bombardment, and sometimes Deathrite Shaman; reduce discard when tempo and life are more important than hand information. Priority targets are evasive attackers, anthem-like engines, snowball creatures, or creatures that force bad blocks.

• Control or removal-heavy opponents: avoid flooding the board when one threat plus Goblin Bombardment or Lurrus of the Dream-Den can keep pressure alive. Likely sideboarding adds Duress, Voice of Victory, Lurrus of the Dream-Den, and the sideboard Goblin Bombardment; reduce excess removal when the opponent shows few creatures. Priority targets are sweepers, exile removal, card-advantage engines, and answers to Goblin Bombardment or Lurrus of the Dream-Den.

• Big-mana or land-reliant opponents: use Strip Mine as disruption when it visibly cuts off a color, utility land, or next-turn payoff, but do not sacrifice needed colored mana without a clear tempo gain. Likely sideboarding adds Duress, Static Prison, and sometimes Deafening Silence if the opponent chains spells. Priority targets are mana engines, expensive permanent payoffs, and interaction that stops your fastest clock.

• Artifact or enchantment permanent decks: identify whether the visible permanent is the engine, lock, or payoff before spending an answer. Likely sideboarding adds Static Prison, Duress, and possibly Deafening Silence; Seam Rip requires card text check required, so use it only when Veles confirms legal target and effect. Priority targets are permanents that prevent attacks, generate repeated material, or invalidate combat.

Risk Summary

• Mana risk: this deck needs early white, red, and black while many lands cost life or are sacrificed. Fetch shock lands only when the spell cast this turn matters; use Strip Mine carefully when colored mana is still unstable.

• Matchup risk: Mardu Energy can mis-role as pure aggro or pure control. Choose the role from visible pressure, life totals, and hand contents revealed by Thoughtseize or Duress; do not assume the matchup label is more accurate than public game state.

• Draw risk: low-resource hands with only interaction can fail to close, while threat-heavy hands can lose to a single stabilizing permanent. Prefer opening hands with at least one pressure card such as Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, or Amped Raptor plus castable mana.

• Over-sideboarding risk: do not dilute the creature-energy shell so far that Goblin Bombardment, Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah stop pressuring. Sideboard cards should answer a demonstrated axis, not replace the deck's clock by default.

• Graveyard risk: Surgical Extraction and Ghost Vacuum can waste tempo if used on low-impact cards. Fire graveyard hate when the public zone shows a payoff, recursion loop, or resource the opponent is actively using.

• Sweeper/removal risk: committing every creature into open mana can lose the attrition plan. Hold redundant threats when already attacking effectively, and value Goblin Bombardment, Voice of Victory, and Lurrus of the Dream-Den when the opponent is trading one-for-one.

• Closer risk: small creatures may stall without reach or evasion. Preserve Goblin Bombardment lines, energy-enabled attacks from Guide of Souls, and snowball threats from Ocelot Pride or Ajani, Nacatl Pariah when combat alone is not enough.

• Interaction risk: Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, and Seam Rip should not be spent on low-value targets when a must-answer permanent is likely or visible. Card text check required for Seam Rip; use only confirmed legal actions.

• Sequencing risk: casting discard, removal, or a second threat before attacks can change available mana and sacrifice lines. Sequence to preserve attacks first, then post-combat value, unless pre-combat information or removal clearly improves combat.

Test Feedback Checklist

• Deciding factor: record whether the game was decided by early pressure, disruption, removal density, mana denial from Strip Mine, an engine card, sideboard hate, or failure to close after stabilizing. Note the exact visible turn when the winner became favored, not just the final board.
• Mulligans: ask whether the opening hand had castable early pressure from Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, or Amped Raptor, plus enough colored mana to act before falling behind. Flag keeps that relied on Strip Mine as mana when colored sources were missing.
• Mana: track whether fetch-shock sequencing with Sacred Foundry, Godless Shrine, Blood Crypt, Elegant Parlor, or Plains preserved life while casting the right colors on time. Mark losses where Strip Mine was used before the deck could cast white removal, black disruption, or red sacrifice pressure.
• Velocity: check whether Amped Raptor, Guide of Souls, and Ocelot Pride produced enough battlefield development before the opponent stabilized. Record games where interaction-heavy draws left no clock.
• Engine performance: ask whether Goblin Bombardment, Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, and Orcish Bowmasters converted small creatures and exchanges into real damage, material, or board control. Identify whether the engine failed because the card was absent, answered, cast too late, or unsupported.
• Removal use: review each Swords to Plowshares, Static Prison, and Seam Rip decision against the visible threat it answered. Card text check required for Seam Rip; judge only whether Veles confirmed legal target and whether the action addressed the highest visible danger.
• Disruption use: review Thoughtseize, Duress, Deafening Silence, Surgical Extraction, Ghost Vacuum, and Deathrite Shaman for timing and target quality. Penalize graveyard or hand disruption only when it spent mana or a card without affecting the opponent's visible plan.
• Sideboard impact: record which sideboard cards were drawn, cast, stranded, or decisive: Deafening Silence, Duress, Static Prison, Voice of Victory, Ghost Vacuum, Surgical Extraction, Deathrite Shaman, Goblin Bombardment, and Lurrus of the Dream-Den. Ask whether the post-board configuration still presented a fast enough clock.
• Closing: identify games where the deck stabilized but failed to finish through blockers, removal, or life gain. Check whether Goblin Bombardment, energy-enabled attacks, Ocelot Pride, or Ajani, Nacatl Pariah were preserved as closers.
• Role choice: ask whether the pilot correctly became aggressor, attrition deck, or control deck from visible board state. Mark mistakes where the deck over-defended against combo, over-attacked into creature boards, or over-sideboarded into low-pressure disruption.
• Stranded cards: list cards stuck in hand because of mana, target absence, timing, or opponent texture. Pay special attention to Juggernaut Peddler, extra removal, graveyard hate, and sideboard cards drawn in matchups where their axis was not visible.
• Overperformers and underperformers: rank cards by game impact, not reputation. Separate cards that were weak because of matchup context from cards that were weak because the registered quantity or role may be wrong.

First Tuning Questions

• Card quantities: does Juggernaut Peddler justify two main-deck slots after repeated games, or would the deck prefer more early pressure, disruption, or interaction in that space? Card text check required before changing its role assumptions.
• Threat density: are four each of Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, and Amped Raptor enough to start pressure every game, or do losses show too many hands with answers and no clock?
• Sacrifice package: is two main-deck Goblin Bombardment enough to close stalled boards, or do attrition and creature matchups justify emphasizing the sideboard Goblin Bombardment more often?
• Removal mix: are four Swords to Plowshares, two Static Prison, and four Seam Rip too much against spell-heavy opponents or too little against creature engines? Card text check required for Seam Rip before using results to change counts.
• Disruption balance: is one main-deck Thoughtseize enough for Game 1 against combo and control, or should the plan lean more heavily on post-board Duress, Deafening Silence, and Voice of Victory?
• Mana base: do four Strip Mine create enough wins against land-reliant opponents to justify color-stability losses, or should test logs show a stricter rule for using Strip Mine only after colored mana is secure?
• Life total pressure: do fetches into Sacred Foundry, Godless Shrine, and Blood Crypt cost too much against aggro, or were shock decisions necessary to curve out and interact?
• Graveyard package: are Ghost Vacuum, Surgical Extraction, and the sideboard Deathrite Shaman broad enough, or are they narrow cards that should only appear when the opponent's public zones prove the graveyard axis?
• Anti-spell package: does Deafening Silence help without suppressing Mardu Energy's own double-spell turns too often, or should Duress and Voice of Victory carry more of that matchup work?
• Companion plan: does Lurrus of the Dream-Den meaningfully improve removal-heavy matchups, or is it too slow compared with maintaining pressure and protecting Goblin Bombardment lines?
• Role conflict: does the deck lose more from becoming too controlling after sideboarding or from staying too aggressive against creature decks? Use match logs to decide whether sideboard plans should preserve more threats or more answers.
• Closing problem: if opponents repeatedly stabilize at low life, should tuning favor more reach through Goblin Bombardment, more sticky threats through Voice of Victory and Lurrus of the Dream-Den, or cleaner removal timing with existing cards?

Veles Tactical Policy

Policy: Opening Keep Gate

• Priority: High
• Decision families: mulligan
• Cards: Guide of Souls; Ocelot Pride; Ajani, Nacatl Pariah; Amped Raptor; Swords to Plowshares; Thoughtseize; Strip Mine
• Phase windows: pregame opening hand and London mulligan decisions.
• Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; visible opening hand; available lands.
• Use when: Veles asks keep or mulligan for an opening hand.
• Avoid when: the engine has already advanced past mulligans.
• Instructions: Keep hands with castable early pressure plus colored mana; mulligan hands that use Strip Mine as the only functional land or contain only answers with no clock. Treat one-land hands as risky unless the land casts a one-drop and the hand has multiple cheap plays.
• Pilot skill floor: medium.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: First Threat Setup

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: priority; mana
• Cards: Guide of Souls; Ocelot Pride; Ajani, Nacatl Pariah; Amped Raptor
• Phase windows: turns 1-3 main phases.
• Runtime cues: legal cast actions for early creatures; visible hand; available mana.
• Use when: the deck can add its first or second pressure piece to an undeveloped board.
• Avoid when: a visible opposing threat requires immediate removal or a known combo clock makes disruption mandatory.
• Instructions: Lead with one-mana pressure when possible, then curve into Amped Raptor or Ajani, Nacatl Pariah. Prefer board development over holding up reactive mana when the opponent has not shown an immediate must-answer permanent or stack threat.
• Pilot skill floor: low.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Colored Mana Before Land Denial

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: mana
• Cards: Strip Mine; Sacred Foundry; Godless Shrine; Blood Crypt; Elegant Parlor; Plains; Bloodstained Mire; Arid Mesa; Marsh Flats; Windswept Heath; Wooded Foothills
• Phase windows: land choice and activated land windows.
• Runtime cues: action:play Strip Mine; action:activate Strip Mine; fetch land actions.
• Use when: the pilot is choosing land sequencing or whether to use Strip Mine.
• Avoid when: the opponent has a visible land that must be destroyed before it produces a decisive effect and colored mana is already secured.
• Instructions: Establish white first for Guide of Souls, Ocelot Pride, Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Swords to Plowshares, and Static Prison; establish black when disruption or Orcish Bowmasters matters; establish red before Goblin Bombardment or red follow-up pressure. Use Strip Mine after the deck can still cast its hand.
• Pilot skill floor: medium.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Shockland Life Gate

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: mana
• Cards: Sacred Foundry; Godless Shrine; Blood Crypt; Elegant Parlor; Plains
• Phase windows: fetch resolution and land entry choices.
• Runtime cues: action:pay life; action:put onto battlefield tapped; visible life totals.
• Use when: a shockland or tapped land decision changes this turn's legal spell access.
• Avoid when: no current spell or removal action depends on untapped colored mana.
• Instructions: Pay life when it enables immediate pressure, removal, discard, or a critical second spell. Choose tapped entries when the hand still spends mana efficiently this turn or when the life total is under visible pressure.
• Pilot skill floor: medium.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Amped Raptor Cast Commitment

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: priority; mana
• Cards: Amped Raptor
• Phase windows: main phases with cast priority.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Amped Raptor; visible hand; available mana.
• Use when: Amped Raptor is legal to cast.
• Avoid when: casting it would prevent a necessary removal, discard, or sideboard hate action already indicated by visible board or revealed information.
• Instructions: Use Amped Raptor as velocity when the deck needs material or pressure. Do not assume the revealed card will be legal or optimal until Forge exposes the resulting action; follow engine prompts exactly after resolution.
• Pilot skill floor: medium.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Goblin Bombardment Engine Commitment

• Priority: High
• Decision families: priority; interaction; combat
• Cards: Goblin Bombardment; Ocelot Pride; Ajani, Nacatl Pariah; Guide of Souls; Orcish Bowmasters
• Phase windows: main phases, combat damage-adjacent priority, end steps.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Goblin Bombardment; action:activate Goblin Bombardment; sacrifice actions.
• Use when: Goblin Bombardment can be cast or activated with visible creatures available.
• Avoid when: sacrificing creatures would remove lethal attackers, lose necessary blockers, or fail to affect a visible target meaningfully.
• Instructions: Commit Goblin Bombardment when it converts expendable creatures into reach, answers small creatures, protects value from removal, or breaks board stalls. Activation targets require reasoning from life totals, blockers, and removal windows.
• Pilot skill floor: high.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Exact Face Damage Finish

• Priority: High
• Decision families: interaction; priority
• Cards: Goblin Bombardment
• Phase windows: any priority window with lethal damage available.
• Runtime cues: action:target opponent Goblin Bombardment
• Use when: legal action text targets the opponent with Goblin Bombardment, the visible opponent life total is 1, and the cost is exactly sacrificing one creature the pilot controls.
• Avoid when: prevention, replacement, ward, tax, or another pending prompt is visible.
• Instructions: Choose the opponent target and submit the exact lethal activation when Forge exposes the matching legal action.
• Pilot skill floor: low.
• No-API allowed: yes
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Removal Target Gate

• Priority: High
• Decision families: interaction; priority
• Cards: Swords to Plowshares; Static Prison; Seam Rip
• Phase windows: opponent combat, opponent main phase, pilot main phase, stack windows when legal.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Swords to Plowshares; action:cast Static Prison; action:cast Seam Rip; target prompt.
• Use when: removal is legal and the opponent has visible threats, combo pieces, blockers, or engines.
• Avoid when: target quality depends on hidden information not revealed by the engine.
• Instructions: Spend removal on threats that will decide the next turn cycle, block lethal attacks, enable lethal attacks, or shut down the opponent's engine. Card text check required for Seam Rip; only rely on Forge legal targets and visible resolution prompts.
• Pilot skill floor: high.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Thoughtseize And Duress Targeting

• Priority: High
• Decision families: interaction; selection
• Cards: Thoughtseize; Duress
• Phase windows: precombat main phase, early turns, combo setup turns.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Thoughtseize; action:cast Duress; reveal hand prompt.
• Use when: hand disruption is legal and Forge reveals selectable cards.
• Avoid when: life loss from Thoughtseize creates visible lethal risk and another action answers the same public threat.
• Instructions: Take the card that most directly stops the current plan: combo piece, sweeper, removal for the key threat, or high-impact engine. Do not name or assume hidden cards outside the revealed choices.
• Pilot skill floor: high.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Orcish Bowmasters Flash And Trigger Targeting

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: interaction; priority
• Cards: Orcish Bowmasters
• Phase windows: opponent draw effects, end steps, combat tricks, priority windows with flash.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Orcish Bowmasters; action:target Orcish Bowmasters
• Use when: Orcish Bowmasters or its damage trigger has legal timing and targets.
• Avoid when: casting it now would consume mana needed for a higher-priority removal, discard, or tax payment.
• Instructions: Use flash timing to punish visible draw actions, ambush small attackers, or add pressure at end step. Choose trigger targets from visible lethal math, planeswalker pressure if applicable, small creatures, and opponent life total.
• Pilot skill floor: high.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Combat Pressure Gate

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: combat
• Cards: Guide of Souls; Ocelot Pride; Ajani, Nacatl Pariah; Amped Raptor; Orcish Bowmasters; Deathrite Shaman; Juggernaut Peddler; Voice of Victory
• Phase windows: declare attackers and declare blockers.
• Runtime cues: attack prompt; block prompt; visible creatures.
• Use when: Veles asks for attackers or blockers.
• Avoid when: exactly one legal no-attack or no-block action is forced by the engine.
• Instructions: Attack when damage advances the clock without giving away key engines; hold back when visible crack-back damage, lifelink races, or sacrifice synergies make defense better. Preserve creatures that enable Goblin Bombardment, Ocelot Pride, or Ajani, Nacatl Pariah unless damage or trades are decisive.
• Pilot skill floor: high.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Ajani And Ocelot Snowball Protection

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: combat; priority; interaction
• Cards: Ajani, Nacatl Pariah; Ocelot Pride; Guide of Souls; Goblin Bombardment
• Phase windows: combat, removal response windows, main phases.
• Runtime cues: legal attacks; removal response prompt; sacrifice prompt.
• Use when: Ajani, Nacatl Pariah or Ocelot Pride is a visible engine piece.
• Avoid when: immediate lethal or survival requires spending the creature.
• Instructions: Protect ongoing token, life, or transformation pressure when it is already winning the board. Do not trade engine creatures for low-impact damage unless the opponent's visible life total or next-turn threat makes the exchange decisive.
• Pilot skill floor: medium.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Deathrite Shaman Resource Use

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: mana; interaction; priority
• Cards: Deathrite Shaman
• Phase windows: main phases, end steps, graveyard-interaction windows.
• Runtime cues: action:activate Deathrite Shaman; target card in graveyard prompt.
• Use when: Deathrite Shaman has legal activated abilities from public graveyards.
• Avoid when: using it would remove a card needed for a stronger visible graveyard action or leave mana unavailable for removal.
• Instructions: Use mana mode to accelerate when it changes the current turn's spell access; use drain or life mode when racing or stabilizing; use graveyard exile mode when the target card visibly supports the opponent's plan.
• Pilot skill floor: medium.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Static Prison And Deafening Silence Lock Gate

• Priority: High
• Decision families: interaction; priority; sideboard
• Cards: Static Prison; Deafening Silence
• Phase windows: main phases before opponent can exploit stack or permanent engines.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Static Prison; action:cast Deafening Silence
• Use when: a prison or hate permanent is legal and the opponent's visible or revealed plan depends on the affected axis.
• Avoid when: the hate card constrains the pilot's own necessary double-spell turn more than it constrains the opponent.
• Instructions: Deploy Deafening Silence against spell-chain plans before adding optional extra spells; deploy Static Prison on the permanent most likely to decide the next turn cycle. Reassess each later spell under Deafening Silence limits.
• Pilot skill floor: high.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Graveyard Hate Commitment

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: interaction; sideboard; priority
• Cards: Surgical Extraction; Ghost Vacuum; Deathrite Shaman
• Phase windows: graveyard target windows, opponent setup turns, post-removal windows.
• Runtime cues: action:cast Surgical Extraction; action:cast Ghost Vacuum; action:activate Ghost Vacuum; graveyard target prompt.
• Use when: the opponent has public graveyard cards that support recursion, combo, escape, delirium-style payoff, or repeated value.
• Avoid when: no public graveyard card matters to the opponent's visible plan.
• Instructions: Target the graveyard card that visibly enables the next dangerous action. Do not spend graveyard hate merely because a target exists.
• Pilot skill floor: medium.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard Configuration Gate

• Priority: High
• Decision families: sideboard
• Cards: Deafening Silence; Duress; Static Prison; Voice of Victory; Ghost Vacuum; Surgical Extraction; Deathrite Shaman; Goblin Bombardment; Lurrus of the Dream-Den; Juggernaut Peddler; Seam Rip; Swords to Plowshares; Thoughtseize
• Phase windows: between games.
• Runtime cues: sideboard prompt; matchup label; prior game public log.
• Use when: Veles requests a legal sideboard plan.
• Avoid when: a submitted plan violates registered 60/15 preservation.
• Instructions: Add anti-spell cards for spell-chain decks, graveyard hate for graveyard decks, extra removal for creature decks, Voice of Victory for removal or permission-heavy opponents, and Lurrus of the Dream-Den for attrition. Preserve enough early threats after boarding.
• Pilot skill floor: high.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Pass With Interaction Available

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: priority; interaction
• Cards: Swords to Plowshares; Orcish Bowmasters; Surgical Extraction; Deathrite Shaman; Goblin Bombardment
• Phase windows: all priority windows.
• Runtime cues: action:pass; legal instant-speed actions visible.
• Use when: pass is legal while interaction is also legal.
• Avoid when: a visible threat, stack object, combat step, or graveyard card must be answered before the next priority pass.
• Instructions: Pass only when holding interaction improves timing or no visible target matters. Cast or activate now when waiting loses the target, misses combat timing, or allows a decisive spell or attack to resolve.
• Pilot skill floor: high.
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes