veles-content/strategies/explorer/explorer_selesnya_angels/1/guide.md

Strategy Specifications

Deck Name And Archetype

Selesnya Angels is an Explorer Selesnya lifegain-tribal deck with an aggro-midrange posture, built to turn early mana creatures and Angel synergies into fast evasive pressure while retaining enough card-advantage bursts to rebuild after removal. The registered list is validated as 60 main-deck cards and 15 sideboard cards under the supplied Explorer validation contract, with 4 Bishop of Wings, 4 Giada, Font of Hope, 4 Righteous Valkyrie, and 4 Resplendent Angel defining the core tribal-lifegain engine.

• Format status: Active format is Explorer, and the supplied format-aware validation result says the current 60/15 registration passes. Runtime decisions should still respect the rules engine first, because Veles must not assume legality, priority windows, or castability beyond the legal actions actually exposed.
• Archetype status: The deck is best classified as stock-to-hybrid Selesnya Angels rather than rogue. The shell uses familiar Explorer Angels incentives, but the exact registration includes Abandoned Air Temple, Hushwood Verge, Multiversal Passage, Enduring Innocence, and Kayla's Reconstruction in quantities that may shift play patterns away from a fully stock baseline.
• Mechanic tags: Aggro, midrange, lifegain, and tribal are all accurate. The deck can curve like an aggressive creature deck when Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, or Giada, Font of Hope accelerate a turn-two or turn-three Angel, but it can also play a midrange snowball game through Collected Company, Kayla's Reconstruction, Inspiring Overseer, Enduring Innocence, and repeated lifegain triggers.
• Mana identity: The deck is primarily green-white with a high need for early green on turn one for Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves, early white for Bishop of Wings and Giada, Font of Hope, and double- or multi-white pressure across Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Skyclave Apparition, and Kayla's Reconstruction. Temple Garden, Razorverge Thicket, Hushwood Verge, Multiversal Passage, Plains, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, and Abandoned Air Temple must be sequenced from visible legal land actions rather than from assumed untapped behavior.
• Role identity: The default role is proactive board development, not draw-go control. The agent should normally value early permanent deployment, lifegain engine assembly, and flying pressure over holding mana without a visible instant-speed purpose, while still respecting opponent open mana, known sweepers from public information, and legal priority prompts from the engine.
• Engine concern: Card text check required for Abandoned Air Temple, Hushwood Verge, Multiversal Passage, and Enduring Innocence if exact rules text is needed for a tactical branch. Until Veles exposes legal actions and card details at runtime, these cards should be handled by visible legality and role context rather than invented functionality.
• Construction concern: The main deck has a dense creature package for Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction, with Skyclave Apparition as the main interactive creature. Noncreature slots are mostly high-impact selection/rebuild spells, so mulligans and sequencing should avoid hands that only contain payoff spells without early mana, early Angels, or legal development.
• Sideboard identity: The sideboard is compact and role-focused: Archon of Emeria for spell-density and nonbasic-pressure matchups, Portable Hole for cheap permanent interaction, Unlicensed Hearse for graveyard pressure and scalable threat potential, and extra Enduring Innocence for grindy matchups. Exact sideboard execution belongs only in the Sideboard Map section.
• Opponent info status: No specific opponent deck is supplied for this strategy batch. The guide should therefore treat matchup assumptions as archetype-level heuristics only, use public information and revealed cards when available, and never infer hidden cards, hidden removal, or a known sideboard plan unless the runtime log or match context exposes it.

Thesis

Selesnya Angels assembles early mana, Angel synergy permanents, and lifegain payoffs into a flying board that quickly turns incremental life gain into lethal pressure. The ideal game starts with Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves, follows with Bishop of Wings or Giada, Font of Hope, and then compounds Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Collected Company, or Kayla's Reconstruction into a board state where every Angel improves the next one.

Prioritize permanent development over holding mana when the legal actions show a meaningful creature or rebuild spell and the opponent has not presented a public reason to delay. This deck wins by making the opponent answer several must-kill creatures in sequence, not by conserving resources for a long reactive game. The strongest turns usually add both pressure and lifegain texture, such as casting Giada, Font of Hope before a larger Angel, using Collected Company to add multiple creatures, or resolving Kayla's Reconstruction after removal.

Win through evasive combat first and lifegain snowball second. Righteous Valkyrie can make ordinary Angel attacks suddenly lethal when the life-total condition is active, and Resplendent Angel can turn repeat lifegain into more Angel bodies if the rules engine exposes the relevant trigger or action. Bishop of Wings helps stabilize races and rewards Angel entries, while Giada, Font of Hope turns later Angels into larger threats.

Do not play as draw-go control, prison, or pure combo. Skyclave Apparition is interaction attached to development, not a reason to ignore the board; Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction are velocity and rebuild tools, not excuses to keep slow hands with no early play. Do not assume exact text or mana behavior for Abandoned Air Temple, Hushwood Verge, Multiversal Passage, or Enduring Innocence without runtime legal actions or a card text check.

Prioritize early green and white access, then Angel density, then rebuild capacity. Hands and lines that produce a fast Giada, Font of Hope or Bishop of Wings into Righteous Valkyrie or Resplendent Angel should usually outrank hands that only contain expensive payoffs. When under pressure, prioritize lifegain bodies and Skyclave Apparition over speculative value. When facing heavy removal, prioritize sequencing that leaves Collected Company, Kayla's Reconstruction, Inspiring Overseer, or Enduring Innocence to recover.

Role Package

• Threats: Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Skyclave Apparition, Inspiring Overseer, Bishop of Wings, and Angel tokens from legal Resplendent Angel outcomes are the main pressure package. Favor flying attacks when they advance a two-turn clock or force the opponent to answer multiple Angels, and avoid trading away Giada, Font of Hope or Righteous Valkyrie unless survival or lethal pressure requires it.

• Payoffs: Righteous Valkyrie is the primary board-scaling payoff, Resplendent Angel is the primary lifegain-conversion payoff, and Bishop of Wings is the primary entry-and-death lifegain payoff. Treat these cards as compounding pieces: the first payoff makes the deck stable, while the second payoff often makes combat math break in this deck's favor.

• Engines: Bishop of Wings plus Angel entries, Giada, Font of Hope plus future Angels, and Resplendent Angel plus sufficient lifegain are the core engines. Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction function as engine reloads because they can add multiple creatures after removal or find missing synergy pieces, subject to exact legal actions and revealed resolution choices.

• Velocity: Collected Company, Kayla's Reconstruction, Inspiring Overseer, and Enduring Innocence provide the deck's main ways to see more material or recover tempo. Use velocity to rebuild after removal, push through stalled boards, or assemble multiple Angel pieces; do not spend it merely because mana is available if a stronger post-removal window is visible.

• Interaction: Skyclave Apparition is the main-deck interaction and should answer permanents that block the Angel plan, race faster than lifegain can stabilize, disable the engine, or represent public must-answer threats. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire may provide interaction only if the rules engine exposes the relevant legal action; do not assume channel timing or targets without runtime confirmation.

• Protection: The deck has limited explicit protection, so protect key creatures mostly through sequencing and redundancy. Lead with less essential creatures into open removal when the hand can still deploy Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Collected Company, or Kayla's Reconstruction afterward, but do not slow-roll so much that the opponent wins the tempo race.

• Recursion: The main registration does not show a conventional graveyard recursion package. Treat Enduring Innocence as a grind or value card only according to legal actions and visible text; Card text check required for exact tactical use if Veles does not expose its functional details.

• Mana: Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves enable the strongest starts, Giada, Font of Hope accelerates Angel deployment, and Temple Garden, Razorverge Thicket, Hushwood Verge, Multiversal Passage, Plains, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, and Abandoned Air Temple form the land base. Sequence for turn-one green when available, early white for Bishop of Wings and Giada, Font of Hope, and enough white-heavy mana for Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Skyclave Apparition, and Kayla's Reconstruction.

• Sideboard modules: Archon of Emeria is the spell-flow disruption module, Portable Hole is the cheap permanent-answer module, Unlicensed Hearse is the graveyard-pressure and scalable threat module, and extra Enduring Innocence is the grind module. Bring these roles in only through exact Sideboard Map plans or validated runtime sideboarding, then pilot them as additions to the Angel core rather than replacements for the deck's proactive identity.

Primary Win Conditions

• Flying Angel snowball is the default win path: use Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves to accelerate Bishop of Wings or Giada, Font of Hope, then deploy Righteous Valkyrie and Resplendent Angel to make each Angel entry improve combat and life totals. Prioritize this line when the hand has early mana plus at least one payoff, or when visible board state lets evasive attackers race without needing Skyclave Apparition first.

• Righteous Valkyrie pressure wins by turning a wide Angel board into oversized flying attacks once the life condition is active through visible rules-engine output. Set up with Bishop of Wings, Inspiring Overseer, Resplendent Angel, Giada, Font of Hope, Collected Company, or Kayla's Reconstruction; execute by adding Angel bodies before combat when legal, then attack only with creatures that preserve lethal pressure or keep enough blockers against a counterattack. Disruption includes removal on Righteous Valkyrie, life-total pressure that keeps the bonus inactive, sweepers, and blockers that force bad trades.

• Resplendent Angel snowball wins by converting repeat lifegain into additional Angel pressure when the trigger or activated line is legal. Set up with Bishop of Wings, Righteous Valkyrie, Inspiring Overseer, and natural life-gain events from Angel entries; execute by choosing legal actions that add or preserve lifegain before end step if the engine exposes them. Prioritize this line in stalled boards, against creature decks that cannot easily answer flyers, or after the opponent spends removal on Giada, Font of Hope or Righteous Valkyrie. Do not assume a token, trigger, or activation exists unless Veles shows the legal action or resulting event.

• Company/Reconstruction rebuild wins by forcing the opponent to answer the battlefield twice. Set up by trading early creatures or baiting removal with Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, Skyclave Apparition, or Inspiring Overseer, then execute Collected Company or Kayla's Reconstruction when it can find multiple relevant creatures or rebuild after a visible sweeper. Prioritize this line against removal-heavy decks, when the opponent is low on cards, or when a single resolved spell creates lethal or near-lethal flying pressure.

Secondary Win Conditions

• Backup combat wins with ordinary flyers when synergy pieces are removed. Use Giada, Font of Hope, Inspiring Overseer, Skyclave Apparition, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, and any legal Angel tokens to chip in the air while Bishop of Wings and lifegain buy time. Prioritize clean attacks that maintain a two- or three-turn clock, but keep blockers back when visible crack-back damage beats the lifegain plan.

• Skyclave Apparition tempo wins by removing the permanent that most directly blocks, races, or disables the Angel plan while adding a body to the board. Use it on visible permanents that stop flying attacks, threaten a faster clock, shut off creature development, or make Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction too slow. Treat the resulting pressure as secondary; do not spend Skyclave Apparition on a minor permanent if the opponent has a public must-answer engine or lethal setup.

• Value attrition wins through Inspiring Overseer, Enduring Innocence, Collected Company, and Kayla's Reconstruction when the first board is answered. Card text check required for exact Enduring Innocence tactical use, so choose its lines only when legal actions or visible output show the relevant value. Prioritize value over maximum pressure when both players are trading resources, the opponent has shown repeated removal, or the current board already blocks profitably.

• Mana-creature pressure is a last-resort fallback, not a main plan. Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves may attack when they are no longer needed for mana, the attack is legal and damage matters, and keeping them back does not protect a key life total or future Kayla's Reconstruction turn. Do not trade mana creatures early unless survival, lethal pressure, or a rules-engine-forced block makes the trade necessary.

• Creature-land or utility-land wins are not assumed. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Abandoned Air Temple, Hushwood Verge, and Multiversal Passage should be used only according to visible legal actions and known mana needs; Card text check required for non-mana tactical lines from Abandoned Air Temple, Hushwood Verge, and Multiversal Passage if Veles does not expose their effect clearly.

Emergency Lines

• When behind on life, prioritize immediate stabilization over engine greed. Cast Bishop of Wings, Inspiring Overseer, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, or Skyclave Apparition before speculative Collected Company or Kayla's Reconstruction if the visible board demands life gain, blockers, or removal now. Attack less aggressively if the opponent's public next combat threatens lethal or forces losing blocks.

• When behind on board, use Skyclave Apparition on the highest-impact visible permanent and rebuild with Collected Company or Kayla's Reconstruction if mana allows. If a single flyer cannot race, choose lines that add multiple blockers or lifegain events, even if they delay damage. Preserve Righteous Valkyrie when its body or life threshold can change combat math.

• When behind on cards, conserve high-impact reloads until they matter unless waiting risks lethal. Collected Company is best when it can add two meaningful creatures or interact at a priority window the engine exposes; Kayla's Reconstruction is best when enough mana turns it into a large board reset. Do not empty the hand into obvious public sweeper pressure if a reload spell can punish the opponent afterward.

• When behind on mana, prioritize land drops, legal mana development, and low-cost creatures over expensive payoffs. Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, and Portable Hole after sideboarding can keep the game functional while waiting for Kayla's Reconstruction or multiple-spell turns. Do not keep mana creatures out of combat forever once mana no longer constrains legal actions.

• When key engines are removed, switch from synergy assembly to threat density. A board without Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, or Resplendent Angel can still win through repeated flyers plus Skyclave Apparition tempo. Favor lines that present another must-answer permanent rather than searching for a perfect replacement.

• When graveyard recursion or combo is the opponent's visible plan, use sideboarded Unlicensed Hearse or Archon of Emeria according to legal actions and matchup plan while still attacking. The deck cannot afford to become purely defensive; disruption should buy enough turns for Angels to finish the game.

• When win conditions are exiled or exhausted, play to the remaining public clock. Attack with any evasive creatures, use Skyclave Apparition to clear the most relevant obstacle, and treat Collected Company or Kayla's Reconstruction as ways to find remaining pressure rather than guaranteed engines.

Resource Model

• Life is both buffer and engine fuel. Bishop of Wings, Inspiring Overseer, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, and Angel entries convert life events into time, combat freedom, and possible snowball triggers; treat life total as a strategic resource only when the visible crack-back remains survivable. Do not spend life loosely against fast boards just to preserve a marginal attacker.

• Hand cards are threat density, not a long-control reserve. The deck wants to deploy Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, and Skyclave Apparition on curve, then use Collected Company or Kayla's Reconstruction to reload or leap ahead. Keep enough creatures in the library and hand for Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction to matter; avoid turning every decision into maximum immediate deployment when the opponent has public sweepers or repeated removal.

• Mana converts directly into board scale. Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves accelerate Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Collected Company, and larger Kayla's Reconstruction turns, but they are fragile resources. Protect mana creatures from avoidable combat trades until the current hand no longer needs acceleration, then they may become chip damage or blockers.

• Board presence is the primary accounting unit. A single Giada, Font of Hope or Bishop of Wings can make later Angels better, but a wide battlefield also insulates against one removal spell. Favor lines that leave multiple relevant permanents when facing visible spot removal; favor immediate Skyclave Apparition or Portable Hole after sideboarding when a public permanent threatens to make the board irrelevant.

• Graveyard and exile are mostly opponent-resource zones for this deck. Main-deck cards do not rely on graveyard recursion in a clear way; Card text check required for Enduring Innocence if Veles exposes graveyard or exile actions involving it. After sideboarding, Unlicensed Hearse turns graveyards into a targetable resource, so use it when the opponent's visible graveyard matters without abandoning the flying clock.

• Lands are curve security and spell-sizing, not flood by default. Extra lands improve Kayla's Reconstruction and double-spell turns, while Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Abandoned Air Temple, Hushwood Verge, and Multiversal Passage may have utility or special mana implications only when the engine exposes legal actions. Card text check required for non-mana uses of Abandoned Air Temple, Hushwood Verge, and Multiversal Passage.

• Sacrifice fodder is not a native plan. Do not volunteer Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, or Skyclave Apparition as disposable material unless Veles shows a required cost, forced edict, lethal prevention line, or clearly legal exchange where survival depends on it. Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves are the least painful bodies to lose once mana is stable.

• Tempo comes from accelerating first and invalidating one opposing permanent. Skyclave Apparition, Portable Hole after sideboarding, Archon of Emeria after sideboarding, and fast Angel pressure should buy turns for flyers to finish. Use interaction to protect the clock or stop the opponent's faster clock, not to answer low-impact permanents that do not affect racing, blocking, combo speed, or engine output.

• Information should be treated as bounded by Veles output. Use public mana, revealed cards, graveyards, exile, stack contents, known sideboard cards, and prior actions to infer roles, but never assume hidden removal, sweepers, or exact hand contents. If a legal action depends on hidden information, choose from visible incentives and matchup role rather than invented certainty.

• Sideboard bullets are role upgrades, not separate win conditions. Archon of Emeria pressures spell-chain decks, Portable Hole answers small permanents, Unlicensed Hearse attacks graveyard plans, and additional Enduring Innocence supports attrition if its text is confirmed by visible actions. Add them only when their role advances the main Angel pressure plan.

Mana Guide

• Keep hands that cast spells on time. A strong opener usually has two or three lands, access to green for Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Collected Company, or Kayla's Reconstruction, and access to white for Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Skyclave Apparition, and Inspiring Overseer. Mulligan hands that cannot cast an early spell, cannot produce white for the Angel core, or rely on a single fragile mana creature as the only path to functional mana.

• Prioritize early green only when it accelerates a real hand. Turn-one Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves is excellent if the next turns use the extra mana for Giada, Font of Hope, Bishop of Wings plus another play, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Collected Company, or Kayla's Reconstruction. If the hand already has white two-drops and no payoff for acceleration, choose land sequencing that preserves untapped white.

• Prioritize white for the deck's core curve. Bishop of Wings and Giada, Font of Hope are the highest-value early white plays, while Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Skyclave Apparition, and Inspiring Overseer require reliable white follow-up. Do not sequence a land for speculative green if it prevents a visible legal white play this turn or next turn.

• Sequence tapped or conditional lands around the current turn's legal action. Razorverge Thicket and Temple Garden often support early untapped development, while Plains provides clean white; Hushwood Verge, Multiversal Passage, Abandoned Air Temple, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire should be played according to visible mana text and current curve. Card text check required before assuming these lands enter untapped, fix both colors, or provide utility beyond mana.

• Play lands before draw effects when mana or landfall-like legality matters this turn only if the extra information cannot change the land choice. With Inspiring Overseer or any visible draw action, consider holding the land until after the draw when the current spell is already castable and no immediate mana action requires the land first. Play the land first when failing to do so would prevent casting the draw spell, Collected Company, Kayla's Reconstruction, or a required interaction spell.

• Size Kayla's Reconstruction from board need and available mana. More mana means more looks and a larger rebuild, so value extra lands and surviving Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves when Kayla's Reconstruction is in hand. Do not delay all development merely to make Kayla's Reconstruction larger if the opponent's visible board demands blockers, life gain, or Skyclave Apparition now.

• Hold Collected Company mana when instant-speed timing is tactically useful. If the engine offers a priority window and four mana is available, Collected Company can be used after the opponent commits attacks, removal, or end-step information. Tap out instead when adding a known permanent now is clearly necessary for survival, lethal pressure, or mana development.

• Use utility lands only after checking opportunity cost. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire may have a non-mana legal action if Veles exposes it; choose that line only when the target and cost are legal and the deck can afford the land-resource loss or mana shift. Treat Abandoned Air Temple, Hushwood Verge, and Multiversal Passage similarly until card text is verified by runtime action text.

Mulligan Guide

• Strong keeps have two or three lands, early white, functional green, and a payoff curve. Keep hands like Temple Garden; Razorverge Thicket; Elvish Mystic; Bishop of Wings; Giada, Font of Hope; Righteous Valkyrie; Collected Company because they accelerate, gain life, and threaten a turn-three engine or Company window.

• Strong Angel keeps can skip a mana creature when the white curve is dense. Keep Plains; Temple Garden; Bishop of Wings; Giada, Font of Hope; Resplendent Angel; Skyclave Apparition; Collected Company on most boards because the first three turns already spend mana and the fourth turn reloads.

• Medium keeps need one missing piece but still cast spells. Keep two-land hands with Bishop of Wings plus Righteous Valkyrie or Resplendent Angel if both colors are present, but downgrade hands whose only early play is Inspiring Overseer or whose first relevant spell is Collected Company.

• Risky keeps rely on one fragile accelerator or uncertain land text. A one-land hand with Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves is acceptable only on the draw with multiple castable follow-ups and a land that visibly casts the mana creature; ship it against visible cheap removal or when losing the mana creature leaves no spell before turn three.

• Automatic ships cannot cast the deck's first meaningful spell. Mulligan zero-land, one-land no-mana-creature, five-plus-land no-payoff, no-white-source, and hands full of Collected Company plus Kayla's Reconstruction without early creatures or enough mana.

• Matchup-dependent keeps should respect speed and interaction. Against fast creature pressure, prefer Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, Skyclave Apparition, and post-board Portable Hole; against grindy decks, a slower hand with Collected Company, Kayla's Reconstruction, Inspiring Overseer, or post-board Enduring Innocence is more acceptable.

• Play/draw changes the tolerance for setup. On the play, value Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Giada, Font of Hope, and untapped lands because snowballing first matters; on the draw, value Skyclave Apparition, Bishop of Wings, and resilient card flow because the opponent may already present a threat.

• Trap hands look powerful but fail the first two turns. Ship or strongly question hands such as triple Kayla's Reconstruction with two lands, Angel payoffs without white, Collected Company without enough mana, or Bishop of Wings plus only non-Angel follow-up; this deck wins by curving into engines, not by admiring expensive spells in hand.

Turn Arc

• Turn 1 should establish untapped mana or acceleration. Prefer Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves when it unlocks a turn-two Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Skyclave Apparition, or double-spell line; otherwise play the land that preserves turn-two white for Bishop of Wings or Giada, Font of Hope.

• Turn 2 should choose the engine piece that makes the hand function. Lead with Giada, Font of Hope when the hand contains multiple Angels and needs size or mana; lead with Bishop of Wings when life gain enables Resplendent Angel, stabilizes against attacks, or sets up Righteous Valkyrie life-total pressure. Use post-board Portable Hole instead when a visible permanent will outpace the engine.

• Turn 3 should convert setup into a board advantage or answer. Cast Righteous Valkyrie before additional Angels when life gain and the seven-life threshold matter, cast Resplendent Angel when five-life end-step pressure is realistic, cast Skyclave Apparition when a visible nonland permanent blocks racing or combo progress, and cast Inspiring Overseer when the hand needs a card and a small life trigger.

• Turn 3 with acceleration should threaten the deck's strongest pivot. Hold up Collected Company if four mana is available and passing keeps instant-speed information, but tap out for Kayla's Reconstruction, Righteous Valkyrie plus another spell, or Skyclave Apparition when the visible board requires immediate development.

• Turns 4-5 should snowball rather than overextend blindly. Use Collected Company at the opponent's end step or after attacks when waiting preserves information, use Kayla's Reconstruction when rebuilding or widening is worth the sorcery commitment, and sequence Angels after Giada, Font of Hope, Bishop of Wings, or Righteous Valkyrie when legal so each creature enters larger or gains more life.

• Turns 4-5 deviations are driven by survival and lock pieces. Against small permanents, use Skyclave Apparition or post-board Portable Hole before extra pressure; against spell-chain decks, deploy Archon of Emeria when it slows the opponent more than it restricts your own turn; against graveyard decks, activate or cast Unlicensed Hearse while maintaining a flying clock.

• Late game should spend mana into high-impact reloads and lethal flyers. Prioritize large Kayla's Reconstruction, instant-speed Collected Company, and attack steps that preserve enough life to keep Righteous Valkyrie bonuses active; use extra Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves as mana or low-value bodies rather than central combat pieces.

• Late-game caution should prevent losing to visible reversals. Do not cast every creature into a likely public sweeper or unfavorable stack state when Collected Company can be held; do not use Skyclave Apparition on a minor permanent if a larger legal target is already visible; do not spend utility-land actions from Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, Abandoned Air Temple, Hushwood Verge, or Multiversal Passage without checking Veles action text first. Card text check required for non-mana uses of Abandoned Air Temple, Hushwood Verge, and Multiversal Passage.

Card Roles

• Bishop of Wings is the main life-gain engine and the safest early two-drop against creature decks. Cast it before Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Inspiring Overseer, or Collected Company hits when the hand can follow with Angels, because each Angel entering can turn race math and unlock five-life turns for Resplendent Angel; do not expose it as a meaningless 1/4 if the hand has no Angel follow-up and a stronger Giada, Font of Hope curve is available.

• Giada, Font of Hope is both acceleration and scaling, so protect its timing more than a normal two-drop. Lead with Giada, Font of Hope when the next turns contain multiple Angels or when tapping it will cast Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Inspiring Overseer, or a larger rebuild; avoid attacking with it when vigilance or flying pressure is less valuable than preserving an Angel-mana source for a post-combat spell.

• Righteous Valkyrie is the deck's primary snowball payoff and a battlefield-size breakpoint card. Cast it before other Angels when the visible line can gain enough life to approach or preserve the seven-life-above-starting threshold, and treat its team bonus as a reason to delay low-impact attacks until after a life-gain trigger if the resulting power/toughness changes combat.

• Resplendent Angel is the main token payoff and a standalone evasive threat. Prioritize it when Bishop of Wings, Righteous Valkyrie, Inspiring Overseer, or visible lifelink-style runtime actions can produce a five-life turn; do not assume a token trigger unless Veles confirms the life total and end-step trigger conditions through legal actions or public state.

• Skyclave Apparition is the maindeck answer that also keeps creature count high for Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction. Use it on visible nonland permanents that stop racing, enable combo, shrink your attack, or threaten to snowball; avoid spending it on a minor permanent when the opponent has a larger legal target already visible or when removing the permanent creates a worse board after Skyclave Apparition leaves play.

• Collected Company is the premium instant-speed reload and surprise-board card. Prefer casting it on the opponent's end step, after attackers are declared, or after the opponent spends mana when waiting preserves information; cast it in main phase only when you need immediate blockers, life triggers, Skyclave Apparition, or mana-efficient development. Remember that it can find Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Skyclave Apparition, Inspiring Overseer, Elvish Mystic, and Llanowar Elves, but do not assume any specific hit before the rules engine reveals choices.

• Kayla's Reconstruction is the strongest sorcery-speed rebuild and the best mana sink after early acceleration. Cast it when X is large enough to materially rebuild or snowball, especially after trades or removal; avoid firing it for a tiny X when Collected Company, a natural Angel curve, or holding interaction would produce a better tactical turn. When selecting revealed permanents, favor engine plus payoff combinations over raw count: Bishop of Wings plus Angels, Giada, Font of Hope plus Angels, or Skyclave Apparition plus pressure can be better than low-impact mana creatures.

• Elvish Mystic is a tempo accelerator, not a combat plan. Cast it turn one when it enables a turn-two three-drop, faster Collected Company, or larger Kayla's Reconstruction; devalue it after the first few turns unless extra mana changes a reconstruction, double-spell, or activated-action line. In removal-heavy matchups, do not keep a one-land hand solely because Elvish Mystic exists unless the hand still functions if it dies.

• Llanowar Elves has the same tactical job as Elvish Mystic and should be evaluated as copies four through six of the turn-one acceleration package. Use it to jump from one to three mana, make turn-three four mana, and help pay green for Collected Company; do not trade it in combat unless preserving life is more important than future mana or the extra body is no longer enabling any legal line.

• Inspiring Overseer is a stabilizing bridge card that keeps cards flowing while triggering Angel and life-gain synergies. Cast it when the hand needs another card, when one life matters for Righteous Valkyrie math, or when an extra Angel entering with Bishop of Wings matters; do not prioritize it over Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, or Skyclave Apparition when the visible board demands a payoff or answer.

• Enduring Innocence is a singleton maindeck grind tool whose exact tactical floor depends on current Oracle text. Card text check required; use it conditionally when Veles action text shows it produces card advantage, resilience, or life-related pressure that is better than another creature on board. Do not treat it as an Angel, a removal spell, or a guaranteed engine unless the runtime card text or visible legal action confirms that role.

• Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire is a white land first and a conditional utility action second. Preserve it as a land drop when white mana is needed for Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Skyclave Apparition, Collected Company, or Kayla's Reconstruction; use any non-mana action only when Veles presents the legal action and the visible target or combat state makes the exchange necessary.

• Temple Garden, Razorverge Thicket, Plains, and the green-white utility lands are the consistency shell that lets the deck curve. Prioritize untapped white early because most engine pieces are white, and prioritize green when Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, or Collected Company is the hand's bridge. Card text check required for nonbasic land details on Abandoned Air Temple, Hushwood Verge, and Multiversal Passage; choose their special actions only from visible legal text, not from assumed functions.

• Abandoned Air Temple, Hushwood Verge, and Multiversal Passage should be treated as mana sources until their runtime actions prove more. Do not sacrifice, transform, fetch, filter, or otherwise spend them based on name inference; if Veles exposes a choice, compare immediate mana stability against the payoff before using it.

• The common sequencing mistake is casting payoffs in the wrong order. When legal and safe, put Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, or Righteous Valkyrie onto the battlefield before additional Angels so the next Angel produces life, counters, mana, or team-size pressure; break this rule when Skyclave Apparition must answer a visible threat or when Collected Company timing protects information.

• The common selection mistake is valuing expensive spell names over battlefield texture. With Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction, select the cards that create the strongest next decision frame: answer a dangerous permanent with Skyclave Apparition, build a life engine with Bishop of Wings, scale future Angels with Giada, Font of Hope, or turn life gain into lethal pressure with Righteous Valkyrie and Resplendent Angel.

Interaction Priorities

• Remove engine pieces before rate threats when the opponent's board scales faster than combat. Use Skyclave Apparition first on visible nonland permanents that generate repeated mana, cards, damage, sacrifice loops, graveyard recursion, or anthem-style pressure; use Portable Hole after sideboarding on cheap permanents that would otherwise buy the opponent multiple turns.

• Exile blockers when they change the race more than the opponent's best threat. Skyclave Apparition should clear a large reach/flying blocker, a lifegain stopper, or a permanent that prevents attacking before it answers a creature that is merely attacking for small damage.

• Protect the Angel engine by making the opponent answer redundant threats in awkward order. Lead with Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, or Inspiring Overseer when a hand has backup, then commit Righteous Valkyrie or Resplendent Angel when the opponent is tapped low, has spent removal, or the legal action immediately produces life-total pressure.

• Bait removal with replaceable bodies when the payoff hand is strong. Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Inspiring Overseer, extra Bishop of Wings, or a smaller Angel can absorb removal before Righteous Valkyrie and Resplendent Angel; do not bait if the bait creature is required for mana, life threshold, or Collected Company timing.

• Ignore low-impact creatures when the life engine wins the race. Do not spend Skyclave Apparition on a small attacker if Bishop of Wings, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, or a large Kayla's Reconstruction will overpower it and the opponent has a more dangerous permanent visible.

• Use Archon of Emeria after sideboarding to tax spell-chain decks and slow multi-spell recovery turns. Prioritize it when the opponent needs cantrips, cheap removal plus threat, graveyard setup plus payoff, or combo-like sequencing; devalue it when the opponent is already playing one large threat per turn and combat math matters more.

• Use Unlicensed Hearse after sideboarding against graveyard-dependent plans before the graveyard becomes lethal. Exile the card type or named visible card that unlocks the opponent's next line, and keep creature sizing or crew actions secondary unless Veles shows that attacking with it is safe and useful.

• Use Portable Hole after sideboarding for early tempo, not as a universal answer. Prioritize cheap mana creatures, cheap aggressive threats, cheap hate permanents, or blockers that stop early Angels; avoid firing it into a board where Skyclave Apparition can answer the real permanent and Portable Hole can still catch a later cheap piece.

• Respect that this deck has no main-deck counterspell, discard, or bounce plan. If Veles offers no legal interaction, develop board, hold Collected Company for the opponent's turn, or race; do not invent protection or hidden information.

• Change interaction posture by archetype. Against aggro, answer damage engines and stabilize life total; against midrange, preserve reloads and make removal trade down; against control, pressure with layered threats and cast Collected Company at instant speed; against graveyard decks, prioritize Unlicensed Hearse; against spell-chain combo, prioritize Archon of Emeria and fast lethal pressure.

Combat And Trading Rules

• Attack when the board advances a life-threshold or lethal clock without exposing the engine. Flying Angels should pressure planeswalkers or life totals while Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, and mana creatures stay back if their static or mana role is more valuable than chip damage.

• Preserve Bishop of Wings when future Angel entries matter. Do not trade it for a small attacker unless the life total is under immediate threat, the hand has no Angels or Collected Company/Kayla's Reconstruction, or blocking unlocks a clear survival line.

• Preserve Giada, Font of Hope when mana and counters will scale future Angels. Avoid attacking or blocking with Giada, Font of Hope into open damage or obvious trades unless the legal combat line creates lethal pressure, saves a key life-total threshold, or no future Angel line exists.

• Trade Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves only after their mana no longer changes the turn cycle. Chump or trade with mana creatures when preserving life enables Righteous Valkyrie, buys a Kayla's Reconstruction turn, or prevents lethal; otherwise keep them for double-spell and X-spell turns.

• Treat Righteous Valkyrie as both a payoff and a combat math engine. Preserve it when near the high-life team-boost threshold or when additional Angels are coming; attack with it when lifelink-style pressure or flying damage changes the race and Veles shows no better defensive need.

• Treat Resplendent Angel as a must-preserve snowball card once a five-life turn is plausible. Avoid trading it for ground pressure or a medium blocker unless the trade prevents lethal or opens immediate lethal damage; prefer lines that trigger life gain before end step when legal actions confirm the threshold.

• Use Skyclave Apparition bodies as combat resources after their exile job is done. Trade it with attackers or blockers when the removed permanent was more important than the body, but remember that losing it may give the opponent a replacement object if the rules engine shows that outcome.

• Block aggressively against aggro once life total is below the safe engine window. If the opponent can force lethal over the next attack, trade Inspiring Overseer, mana creatures, extra Bishop of Wings, or a nonessential Angel before preserving perfect synergies.

• Race patiently against control and slow midrange. Favor attacks that chip with flying threats while keeping enough board to survive sweepers or removal; avoid sending key support creatures into bad attacks just because combat is legal.

• Push damage harder when Righteous Valkyrie has already enlarged the team or when multiple Angels create a short clock. In those states, trades are acceptable if they remove blockers, keep lethal next turn, or force the opponent to spend mana defensively.

• Hold back one stabilizing blocker when the opponent's crack-back can erase a life advantage. Bishop of Wings life gain can hide damage races, but do not assume safety unless visible power, blockers, and legal instant-speed actions support the attack.

• Use Collected Company timing to alter combat when legal. Casting it after attackers are declared can find blockers, Skyclave Apparition, or life-gain pieces; casting it at end step is better when combat is stable and information is more valuable than surprise blocks.

• Use Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire only through visible legal action text. If Veles offers a combat-relevant action, compare the target's damage, the land's future mana role, and whether removing that attacker or blocker preserves a key Angel before selecting it.

• Treat Enduring Innocence as conditional until runtime text confirms its role. Card text check required; block, attack, or preserve it according to the visible legal text and whether it functions as card advantage, pressure, or a disposable body.

Selection And Tutor Rules

• Treat Collected Company as the deck's cleanest pseudo-tutor. When holding it, sequence early mana and support creatures so the top-six hit can add two creatures that matter immediately: Bishop of Wings plus an Angel for life, Giada, Font of Hope plus an Angel for pressure, Skyclave Apparition for an exposed permanent, or Righteous Valkyrie/Resplendent Angel as the payoff body.

• Cast Collected Company at the opponent's end step when the board is stable. This preserves surprise blockers, makes the opponent spend mana first, and reduces exposure to sorcery-speed removal before the creatures can attack or trigger end-step checks.

• Cast Collected Company before blocks only when the legal action can change combat. Look for visible needs such as finding a flying blocker, finding Skyclave Apparition for an attacking permanent or combat-enabling permanent, gaining life through Bishop of Wings/Righteous Valkyrie, or producing enough power to survive the attack.

• Do not cast Collected Company into a low-value board just because mana is open. If the current board already pressures well and the opponent is likely to present a must-answer permanent or sweeper window, holding instant-speed selection is often stronger than adding two redundant creatures.

• Treat Kayla's Reconstruction as the large reload and board-conversion spell. Prioritize casting it when X is large enough to materially rebuild after removal, produce multiple Angels, or assemble support plus payoff; avoid small X casts unless the hand lacks development and waiting risks losing the game.

• Use Kayla's Reconstruction after land drops and mana-creature sequencing are settled. Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, and Giada, Font of Hope should be deployed early when safe because they turn later Kayla's Reconstruction actions into bigger selection events.

• Prefer selection lines that create immediate life-gain thresholds. Bishop of Wings, Righteous Valkyrie, Inspiring Overseer, and Resplendent Angel can turn a found creature into life, board size, or an end-step Angel; when Veles shows multiple legal hits or choices, value the package that changes this turn's race over a merely larger board.

• Use Inspiring Overseer as the low-risk cantrip creature. Play it when the deck needs a card, a small life bump, a flying body, or another creature for Righteous Valkyrie; do not treat it as a tutor or assume it finds a specific answer.

• Treat Enduring Innocence as conditional card advantage until runtime text confirms the exact trigger. Card text check required; if Veles shows draw or selection text, use it to keep threats flowing after removal, but do not assume it protects a specific line without visible rules output.

• Make land drops before selection unless a visible action specifically rewards waiting. Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction care about available mana more than hidden bluffing, so use Temple Garden, Razorverge Thicket, Hushwood Verge, Multiversal Passage, Plains, Abandoned Air Temple, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire to maximize legal green/white mana for the current and next turn.

• Preserve Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire as a spell only when mana is already secure. If it is needed to cast Collected Company, Kayla's Reconstruction, Righteous Valkyrie, or Resplendent Angel, play it as land; use its nonland mode only when Veles exposes an exact legal action and the combat or permanent answer is worth the lost land.

Priority And Stack Rules

• Hold priority discipline around Collected Company. Default to passing with mana open when the opponent must act first, then cast it at end step, in combat, or in response to pressure only when the visible stack or combat state makes the timing valuable.

• Let low-impact spells resolve when the deck can overpower them on board. Without main-deck counterspells, discard, or broad stack interaction, the priority decision is usually whether to use Collected Company, Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire, a visible activated ability, or sideboard graveyard interaction, not whether to stop every spell.

• Respond to removal with Collected Company only when adding creatures now changes the post-removal state. Good reasons include replacing a dying payoff, finding Bishop of Wings/Righteous Valkyrie life triggers, presenting lethal next turn, or forcing the opponent to spend a second answer.

• Respect sweepers and mass removal by staggering commitment. If the opponent represents a board reset and the current board is already winning, pass priority and keep Collected Company or Kayla's Reconstruction as recovery rather than adding every creature before the stack forces the issue.

• Use optional life and payoff actions only through visible legal prompts. Pay attention to Bishop of Wings, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, and Giada, Font of Hope triggers or activated abilities, but do not assume an optional trigger, token, counter, or life threshold exists unless Veles displays it.

• Time Resplendent Angel around five-life turns. If Veles shows a pump or lifelink-style legal action and the mana is available, choose it when it creates the end-step token condition, wins combat, or prevents lethal; decline or delay it when it consumes mana needed for Collected Company or survival interaction.

• Use Skyclave Apparition as sorcery-speed-style interaction unless Veles creates an instant-speed entry. If Collected Company puts Skyclave Apparition onto the battlefield during combat or end step, target the visible nonland permanent that most affects survival, lethal pressure, or the opponent's next turn.

• After sideboarding, use Unlicensed Hearse at graveyard timing points before the opponent can use the graveyard card. Exile visible cards that enable escape, recursion, reanimation, delirium-like sizing, or flashback-style actions; do not wait for perfect value if the next priority pass could let the opponent act.

• After sideboarding, use Portable Hole when the stack clears and the target is visible and legal. It is a tempo answer to cheap permanents; do not hold priority looking for stack tricks it cannot perform.

• After sideboarding, use Archon of Emeria before the opponent's multi-spell turn when possible. It is strongest when deployed proactively, so cast it while shields are down only if the tax effect will constrain the next visible turn cycle more than holding up Collected Company.

• Pass priority with a reason when no legal action improves the board. A good pass preserves instant-speed Collected Company, avoids overcommitting, lets opponent spells resolve into a better Skyclave Apparition target, or saves mana for a larger Kayla's Reconstruction turn.

Sideboard Map

• Sideboarding must preserve the deck's creature-density engine unless the matchup demands a narrow answer. Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction reward keeping a high count of hittable creatures, so noncreature additions such as Portable Hole and Unlicensed Hearse should be concentrated in matchups where their text immediately changes survival, graveyard access, or tempo.

• Archon of Emeria comes in against decks that depend on multi-spell turns, low land counts, spell chains, cascade-like sequencing, or explosive noncreature turns. Its role is to slow the opponent enough for Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, and Resplendent Angel to dominate combat. It is weaker against creature-heavy boards that cast one relevant spell per turn, removal-heavy decks that can spend one spell killing it, and matchups where this deck needs to double-spell early to catch up. When Archon of Emeria is included, role shifts toward disruptive midrange: lead with mana creatures or Giada, Font of Hope, then land Archon of Emeria before the opponent's critical turn rather than holding it for perfect value.

• Enduring Innocence comes in when the opponent is expected to trade resources, kill creatures, or force long games where extra cardboard matters more than maximum speed. Card text check required; use its role conditionally from visible Veles rules output, especially if it provides card advantage from small creatures or recurring pressure. It is worse against fast aggro when spending mana on an engine does not stabilize life total or remove a threat, and it is worse against combo when a slower value permanent fails to add disruption. When Enduring Innocence is included, role shifts toward rebuilding after interaction; prioritize keeping enough cheap creatures to make any visible trigger meaningful.

• Portable Hole comes in against cheap permanents that matter immediately: early attackers, mana accelerants, low-cost engines, small disruptive permanents, or battlefield pieces that block lifegain snowballing. It is strongest on the draw against decks where a one-mana answer recovers tempo before Skyclave Apparition is online. It is weaker against expensive threats, spell-only combo, decks with few legal targets, and board states where a creature from Collected Company would create more pressure than a temporary answer. When Portable Hole is included, role shifts slightly lower to the ground: use it to buy the turn needed for Angels, not as a generic answer to every permanent.

• Unlicensed Hearse comes in against graveyard decks, recursion engines, escape-style pressure, reanimation plans, graveyard-count payoffs, and attrition decks where exiling cards denies future resources. It is strongest when activated before the opponent can convert the graveyard card into a legal action. It is weaker against decks that ignore the graveyard, against very fast creature pressure when it does not affect combat soon enough, and in hands that already lack creature development. When Unlicensed Hearse is included, role shifts toward disruption plus clock: exile the highest-leverage visible cards first, then use its creature mode only when attacking or blocking is safe and meaningful.

Fast cheap-permanent aggro on the draw Side in: 4 Portable Hole Cut: 1 Enduring Innocence; 2 Inspiring Overseer; 1 Kayla's Reconstruction

• Against fast aggro, stabilize first and snowball second. Portable Hole should answer the permanent that either deals the most near-term damage, blocks a key lifegain race, or enables the opponent's fastest start. Bishop of Wings, Righteous Valkyrie, and Resplendent Angel become the main race breakers, while Kayla's Reconstruction is still valuable but one copy can be de-emphasized when early survival is more important than a late X-spell.

Graveyard-centric midrange or recursion Side in: 4 Unlicensed Hearse; 2 Enduring Innocence Cut: 2 Inspiring Overseer; 2 Kayla's Reconstruction; 2 Skyclave Apparition

• Against graveyard-centric decks, deny the graveyard while preserving enough pressure to punish stumbles. Unlicensed Hearse should target visible cards that enable recursion, graveyard sizing, or future casting first, then clean up redundant cards only when no urgent graveyard card is present. Enduring Innocence is added for longer resource exchanges if Veles confirms relevant card-advantage text. Skyclave Apparition can have reduced emphasis only when the opponent's primary engine is not a battlefield permanent; keep more copies when the matchup still presents must-answer nonland permanents.

Spell-chain combo or low-creature engine Side in: 4 Archon of Emeria; 2 Enduring Innocence Cut: 4 Skyclave Apparition; 2 Inspiring Overseer

• Against spell-chain combo, deploy pressure plus Archon of Emeria rather than racing with no disruption. Archon of Emeria should enter before the opponent's expected explosive turn, even if that means delaying Collected Company by a turn. Skyclave Apparition has reduced emphasis only when the opponent presents few legal battlefield targets; keep some copies if Veles shows cheap engines, mana permanents, or lock pieces that must be removed.

Removal-heavy control or attrition midrange Side in: 3 Enduring Innocence; 2 Archon of Emeria Cut: 3 Llanowar Elves; 2 Elvish Mystic

• Against removal-heavy control, lower the exposure to late topdeck mana creatures and increase persistent threats. Enduring Innocence is for rebuilding and making removal less clean, subject to visible card text. Archon of Emeria can constrain double-spell turns and make opposing catch-up sequences clunky, but do not keep slow hands that rely only on disruption without pressure. Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction are premium recovery spells, so preserve enough creatures and avoid sideboarding into a low-density pile.

Creature midrange and Angel mirrors Side in: 2 Portable Hole; 2 Enduring Innocence Cut: 2 Elvish Mystic; 1 Llanowar Elves; 1 Inspiring Overseer

• Against creature midrange, answer early snowball permanents while keeping the bigger Angel endgame. Portable Hole is for cheap creatures or support permanents that change combat math before Skyclave Apparition can act. Enduring Innocence helps in board stalls or removal exchanges if its visible text supports card advantage. Keep Bishop of Wings, Righteous Valkyrie, Giada, Font of Hope, and Resplendent Angel as the core; this matchup is often decided by the first stable lifegain board or the first large flying attack.

• Add role cards: Archon of Emeria against multi-spell turns, Portable Hole against cheap battlefield pressure, Unlicensed Hearse against graveyard reliance, and Enduring Innocence against attrition. Reduce main-deck emphasis: mana creatures in slow removal matchups, slow selection in fast pressure matchups, and Skyclave Apparition only when the opponent has few valuable nonland targets.

• Do not overload on noncreature sideboard cards when Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction remain central. If both Portable Hole and Unlicensed Hearse are attractive, verify that the matchup truly requires both; otherwise keep creature density high and choose the sideboard role that answers the opponent's most important axis.

• Reassess on the play versus on the draw. On the play, Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, and Giada, Font of Hope are stronger because they force the opponent to answer the first Angel snowball. On the draw, Portable Hole and lower-curve stabilizers matter more because the opponent's first permanent may already be attacking or enabling pressure.

• Keep exact sideboard plans subordinate to revealed matchup facts. If Veles shows the opponent is not using the expected graveyard, cheap-permanent, spell-chain, or attrition pattern, follow the visible board and legal actions rather than forcing a preset plan.

Matchup Guidance

• Aggro: Stabilize life and board before maximizing card advantage. Prioritize hands with Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, or a mana creature plus an early Angel; hands that only cast Collected Company or Kayla's Reconstruction late may be too slow on the draw. Use Skyclave Apparition on the permanent that changes the next combat step most, not automatically on the most expensive legal target. Add role cards: Portable Hole against cheap battlefield threats and support permanents. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Enduring Innocence, Inspiring Overseer, and one expensive rebuild effect when early damage is the matchup's main axis.

• Burn: Treat life total as a resource that can collapse from a seemingly safe range. Bishop of Wings plus any Angel is the cleanest stabilizing pattern, while Righteous Valkyrie and Resplendent Angel can turn repeated lifegain into a fast clock if they survive. Do not spend early turns on tapped or speculative land sequencing if Razorverge Thicket, Temple Garden, Plains, Hushwood Verge, Multiversal Passage, Abandoned Air Temple, or Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire can produce a legal untapped line that preserves life and tempo. Add role cards: Portable Hole only when the opponent shows cheap permanents worth answering; Enduring Innocence only if Veles confirms its visible text helps survive removal-heavy attrition. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow value bodies when they do not affect life or combat immediately.

• Go-wide creature decks: Build a lifegain wall, then attack in the air once ground combat is contained. Bishop of Wings makes every later Angel matter, Righteous Valkyrie can change combat math quickly, and Resplendent Angel can snowball if lifegain thresholds are reachable from visible state. Use Skyclave Apparition on anthem-like permanents, token engines, or the creature enabling the largest near-term attack when those are legal targets. Add role cards: Portable Hole for early enablers. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow card selection if the first three turns are about not falling behind.

• Tempo: Respect open mana and battlefield pressure, but keep forcing must-answer Angels. A mana creature into Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, or Resplendent Angel is valuable because it pressures the opponent to answer creatures instead of advancing their clock. Prefer casting threats in sequences where Collected Company can punish end-step passes or where Kayla's Reconstruction rebuilds after visible interaction. Add role cards: Portable Hole for cheap threats that make tempo attacks snowball; Archon of Emeria when the opponent relies on multiple spells in one turn. Reduce main-deck emphasis: expensive sorcery-speed lines when the visible board says survival depends on immediate blockers or removal.

• Control: Preserve threat density and punish one-for-one removal with instant-speed or multi-permanent rebuilds. Collected Company is often the best way to commit after the opponent uses mana, while Kayla's Reconstruction is the strongest catch-up spell when enough mana is available and the deck still has a high creature count. Do not overextend if the current board already demands an answer, but do not pass indefinitely with no pressure. Add role cards: Enduring Innocence for attrition if Card text check required confirms relevant resource text; Archon of Emeria against double-spell catch-up turns. Reduce main-deck emphasis: late-game mana creatures, especially Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves, once acceleration no longer matters.

• Removal-heavy midrange: Make every removal spell awkward by alternating must-answer engines and rebuild effects. Bishop of Wings can make creature removal less tempo-positive, Giada, Font of Hope accelerates large Angels, Righteous Valkyrie threatens life-based scaling, and Resplendent Angel can demand immediate action. Use Skyclave Apparition on permanents that generate continuing advantage or block the flying race. Add role cards: Enduring Innocence for longer exchanges subject to visible text; Unlicensed Hearse if the opponent uses the graveyard as a resource. Reduce main-deck emphasis: excess mana creatures and slow three-mana bodies when they do not generate durable pressure.

• Creature midrange: Win by going over the board, not by trading every creature one-for-one. Keep the Angel core intact and sequence Giada, Font of Hope before larger Angels when the visible risk is acceptable. Righteous Valkyrie can make attacks impossible for the opponent once life gain and Angel density are established, while Skyclave Apparition should answer the permanent most likely to break a stalled battlefield. Add role cards: Portable Hole for cheap engines and Enduring Innocence for grindy mirrors if Card text check required validates the role. Reduce main-deck emphasis: some mana creatures on the draw if they no longer block profitably.

• Big mana: Pressure quickly and use disruption only when it meaningfully delays the opponent's payoff turn. A hand with only value spells may lose before Kayla's Reconstruction matters; a hand with Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves into Giada, Font of Hope and Angels can create a clock. Use Skyclave Apparition on visible nonland permanents that accelerate, stabilize, or bridge into a payoff. Add role cards: Archon of Emeria when the opponent's acceleration or payoff turn depends on multiple spells; Unlicensed Hearse only when graveyard resources are visible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: low-impact lifegain pieces if they do not add pressure or disrupt the visible plan.

• Combo: Identify whether the opponent is spell-chain, graveyard, artifact, creature, or single-permanent combo before choosing the hate axis. Archon of Emeria is the main pressure-compatible tool against multi-spell turns, while Skyclave Apparition and Portable Hole matter only when the combo uses legal battlefield targets. Keep a clock; disruption without Angel pressure gives the opponent more draw steps. Add role cards: Archon of Emeria, Unlicensed Hearse, or Portable Hole according to visible engine type. Reduce main-deck emphasis: creature removal bodies when there are no meaningful targets, or slow value cards when the matchup is decided before turn four or five.

• Graveyard decks: Use Unlicensed Hearse as disruption first and attacker later. Activate it before the opponent can legally convert the graveyard card into value, prioritizing visible recursion targets, threshold enablers, escape-like resources, or cards that scale graveyard count. Do not keep a hand that has graveyard hate but no pressure unless the visible matchup is known to fold to the hate piece. Add role cards: Unlicensed Hearse and possibly Enduring Innocence for attrition. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Skyclave Apparition only when the opponent's key cards are mostly not battlefield permanents.

• Artifact and enchantment decks: Separate cheap engine permanents from large payoffs. Portable Hole is for early legal targets that enable snowballing, while Skyclave Apparition handles higher-impact nonland permanents when Forge exposes a legal target. Preserve enough Angel density for Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction; too many noncreature answers can weaken the deck's main plan. Add role cards: Portable Hole; Archon of Emeria if the deck uses multi-spell turns; Unlicensed Hearse only if graveyard use is visible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow creatures that do not interact with the permanent engine.

• Single-threat decks: Answer the threat only when it is the real clock or the real engine. Skyclave Apparition, Portable Hole, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire should be evaluated against the exact visible threat, combat math, and whether racing with lifegain is safer than spending mana on interaction. Flying pressure from Righteous Valkyrie and Resplendent Angel can end the game before a single ground threat matters. Add role cards: Portable Hole for cheap single threats; Unlicensed Hearse if the threat is graveyard-enabled. Reduce main-deck emphasis: low-impact value if the matchup turns on one permanent.

• Unknown opponents: Keep flexible hands with mana, at least one early creature, and a clear path to either Collected Company or Kayla's Reconstruction. Do not assume the sideboard axis before seeing public information. When Veles shows the opponent's first meaningful permanent, graveyard pattern, spell volume, or removal density, shift into the matching plan above and keep all decisions subordinate to legal actions and visible board state.

Specific Matchup Notes

• General/archetype-only note: revealed cards override these assumptions immediately. Treat the opponent's public permanents, graveyard use, spell volume, and combat clock as higher priority than the archetype label, and route sideboard roles only after Veles exposes the relevant axis.

• Fast creature aggro: Stabilize first, then turn lifegain into a race-breaking board. Bishop of Wings, Righteous Valkyrie, and Resplendent Angel are the key snowball cards, but do not keep slow hands that lack early mana or early bodies on the draw. Likely sideboarding: Add role cards: Portable Hole for cheap attackers or engines; Archon of Emeria only if the opponent relies on multiple spells per turn; Enduring Innocence only if the matchup becomes removal-heavy and Card text check required confirms the attrition role. Priority targets: visible attackers that reduce the life buffer, permanents that increase damage output, and blockers that stop flying lethal.

• Control and removal-heavy midrange: Commit threats in waves and make instant-speed deployment matter. Collected Company is strongest when it can be held until the opponent spends mana, while Kayla's Reconstruction is the rebuild spell when the hand is light and mana is plentiful. Likely sideboarding: Add role cards: Enduring Innocence for attrition if Card text check required validates the text; Archon of Emeria if the opponent's recovery turns depend on chaining spells. Priority targets: planeswalker-like or value permanents when legal for Skyclave Apparition, and any permanent that invalidates the Angel clock.

• Creature midrange and mirrors: Preserve evasive pressure and avoid unnecessary ground trades. Giada, Font of Hope into Righteous Valkyrie or Resplendent Angel can outscale boards that cannot interact in the air. Likely sideboarding: Add role cards: Portable Hole for cheap snowball permanents and Enduring Innocence for attrition if verified. Priority targets: opposing lifegain engines, large blockers that change attack math, and permanents that make combat racing impossible.

• Spell-chain combo and big mana: Present a fast clock while disrupting the turn that matters. Archon of Emeria is the cleanest pressure-compatible hate piece when the opponent must cast multiple spells, while Skyclave Apparition and Portable Hole only matter if the engine is a legal battlefield target. Likely sideboarding: Add role cards: Archon of Emeria; add Unlicensed Hearse only when graveyard resources are visible. Priority targets: mana or setup permanents, combo-enabling permanents, and any blocker that buys the opponent an extra turn.

• Graveyard decks: Treat Unlicensed Hearse as disruption before it is a closer. Activate it on visible graveyard cards that are about to become resources, not on random filler when a more important card may appear before priority returns. Likely sideboarding: Add role cards: Unlicensed Hearse; add Enduring Innocence only for grindy games. Priority targets: visible recursion cards, graveyard-count enablers, and battlefield permanents that make the graveyard plan resilient.

Risk Summary

• Mana risk: The deck can stumble if hands contain only tapped or conditional lands with expensive payoffs. Prioritize keep decisions that cast Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Bishop of Wings, or Giada, Font of Hope on time, and treat Kayla's Reconstruction as a payoff only when the visible mana path supports it.

• Matchup risk: The deck is strong when lifegain and Angels stay on board, but weak when the opponent ignores combat or wins through a noncreature engine. Shift quickly toward Archon of Emeria, Portable Hole, Unlicensed Hearse, or Skyclave Apparition only when public information proves that axis matters.

• Draw risk: Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction lose quality when too many noncreature sideboard cards replace creatures. Avoid over-sideboarding into hands that answer one thing but no longer present Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, or a meaningful clock.

• Over-sideboarding risk: Portable Hole, Unlicensed Hearse, and Archon of Emeria are not interchangeable hate cards. Add them for visible roles, not because the matchup feels dangerous; cutting too many Angels or early creatures can break the deck's core engine.

• Graveyard risk: Unlicensed Hearse can be too slow if deployed without pressure, and it can be wasted if activated before the opponent commits an important graveyard card. Use it with a clock or a clear visible target.

• Sweeper and removal risk: Committing every Angel into open removal can turn a winning board into an empty hand. Prefer staggered pressure when already ahead, use Collected Company to rebuild at instant speed when legal, and save Kayla's Reconstruction for post-removal recovery when mana allows.

• Closer risk: Lifegain alone does not win if the deck fails to convert it into flying damage. Identify when Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, or a wide Kayla's Reconstruction board can end the game, and stop spending turns on low-impact setup once lethal pressure is available.

• Interaction risk: Skyclave Apparition, Portable Hole, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire must answer the permanent or attacker that changes the game, not merely the first legal target. Let Veles legal actions and visible board state decide whether racing is safer than interacting.

• Sequencing risk: Playing payoff Angels before Giada, Font of Hope may lose counters and tempo, but waiting can be wrong under pressure or into removal-heavy open mana. Choose the line that best balances current survival, next-turn damage, and the chance to rebuild.

Test Feedback Checklist

• Deciding factor: Record whether the game was decided by early acceleration, lifegain snowballing, evasive damage, removal timing, sideboard hate, mana stumble, or inability to close after stabilizing.

• Mulligans: Ask whether the opening hand had a castable early permanent, enough colored mana for Bishop of Wings or Giada, Font of Hope, and a realistic path to deploy Collected Company or Kayla's Reconstruction before the game was already decided.

• Mana: Note every game where Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves survived and whether that acceleration converted into Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Collected Company, or Kayla's Reconstruction ahead of curve.

• Land quality: Track whether Razorverge Thicket, Temple Garden, Hushwood Verge, Multiversal Passage, Plains, Abandoned Air Temple, or Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire caused a timing issue, color bottleneck, tapped-land delay, or missed double-spell turn.

• Velocity: Ask whether Collected Company, Kayla's Reconstruction, Inspiring Overseer, and Enduring Innocence produced enough card flow, and mark games where payoff-heavy hands stalled because no early creature or mana creature appeared.

• Engine assembly: Record how often Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, and Resplendent Angel appeared together, how often the opponent removed the first piece, and whether the pilot overcommitted before needing rebuild pressure.

• Removal choices: Review every Skyclave Apparition, Portable Hole, and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire use for whether the chosen target changed combat, protected the clock, disrupted an engine, or merely answered a low-impact permanent.

• Sideboard impact: For Archon of Emeria, Portable Hole, Unlicensed Hearse, and additional Enduring Innocence, record whether the card was drawn, cast on time, affected the opponent's visible plan, or sat stranded while the deck lacked pressure.

• Closing: Ask whether the deck identified lethal flying attacks quickly once stabilized, or whether it spent extra turns on setup with Bishop of Wings, Inspiring Overseer, Collected Company, or Kayla's Reconstruction while lethal or near-lethal pressure was available.

• Role discipline: Mark whether the pilot correctly became the beatdown against slower decks, the stabilizer against fast creature decks, and the disruption-plus-clock deck when Archon of Emeria, Unlicensed Hearse, or Skyclave Apparition was required.

• Mistakes: Flag attacks that exposed Giada, Font of Hope or a key Angel for little damage, blocks that traded away the lifegain engine too early, and priority passes where visible interaction or a rebuild spell could have shifted the game.

• Stranded cards: Count games where Kayla's Reconstruction, Collected Company, Archon of Emeria, Unlicensed Hearse, Portable Hole, or Enduring Innocence stayed in hand because of mana, timing, poor matchup fit, or lack of legal targets.

• Overperformers and underperformers: Identify which of Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Skyclave Apparition, Collected Company, Kayla's Reconstruction, Inspiring Overseer, Enduring Innocence, Archon of Emeria, Portable Hole, and Unlicensed Hearse changed games versus merely occupying mana.

First Tuning Questions

• Mana quantity: If mulligans or losses repeatedly involve missing early green, should the balance of Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, green sources, and conditional lands be adjusted to cast acceleration more reliably?

• Mana texture: If Kayla's Reconstruction or Collected Company is frequently stranded, is the issue land count, tapped sequencing from Hushwood Verge or Multiversal Passage, or keeping hands that cannot reach payoff mana on time?

• Early acceleration: If mana creatures die too often without producing tempo, should the deck reduce reliance on Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves, or should it keep them because surviving copies produce the highest ceiling with Giada, Font of Hope and Angels?

• Lifegain density: If Righteous Valkyrie and Resplendent Angel underperform, is the deck failing to pair them with Bishop of Wings, or are opponents removing the enablers before lifegain thresholds matter?

• Threat density: If sideboarded games feel answer-heavy and threat-light, did adding Portable Hole, Unlicensed Hearse, Archon of Emeria, or extra Enduring Innocence reduce the creature count enough to weaken Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction?

• Removal mix: If creature decks remain faster, should Portable Hole receive more matchup emphasis, or are Skyclave Apparition and lifegain engines already sufficient when mulligans and sequencing are disciplined?

• Graveyard plan: If graveyard decks win through visible recursion despite Unlicensed Hearse, does the plan need earlier pressure, more careful activation timing, or a different allocation of sideboard space?

• Spell-chain plan: If combo or big-mana decks ignore combat, is Archon of Emeria strong enough as the main disruptive plan, or does the deck need additional pressure-oriented disruption in future builds?

• Attrition plan: If removal-heavy decks beat the first wave but lose to rebuilds, keep emphasizing Collected Company, Kayla's Reconstruction, and Enduring Innocence; if they still win long games, question whether the deck needs more resilient card advantage. Card text check required for exact Enduring Innocence tuning.

• Closing speed: If stabilized games still become losses, ask whether Resplendent Angel and Righteous Valkyrie are enough finishers, whether attacks are too cautious, or whether too many games depend on slow Kayla's Reconstruction recovery.

• Role conflict: If the deck draws hate cards without pressure, refine sideboard plans so disruption supports a clock instead of replacing the Angel engine's ability to end the game.

Veles Tactical Policy

Policy: Opening Hand Gate

Priority: High Decision families: mulligan Cards: Bishop of Wings; Giada, Font of Hope; Elvish Mystic; Llanowar Elves; Righteous Valkyrie; Resplendent Angel; Collected Company; Kayla's Reconstruction Phase windows: pregame Runtime cues: opening hand; mulligan decision Use when: Decide whether the hand can produce an early permanent, both colors needed for its first two plays, and a path to a payoff by turn three to five. Avoid when: Do not keep a slow hand that only has Collected Company or Kayla's Reconstruction without early mana, early creature pressure, or stable color access. Instructions: Prefer hands with green source plus Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves, or white-green sources into Bishop of Wings or Giada, Font of Hope; accept slower hands only when they contain multiple castable engine cards and enough lands. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should evaluate curve, color access, and payoff timing. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: First Acceleration Creature

Priority: Medium Decision families: mana; priority Cards: Elvish Mystic; Llanowar Elves; Razorverge Thicket; Temple Garden; Hushwood Verge; Multiversal Passage; Plains Phase windows: main phase before combat Runtime cues: action:cast Elvish Mystic; action:cast Llanowar Elves Use when: A legal action casts one visible mana creature and the hand contains a three-mana or four-mana payoff that benefits from acceleration. Avoid when: Avoid spending the first turn on a tapped or non-green line if a legal green source can cast the mana creature immediately. Instructions: Deploy acceleration before nonessential setup because the deck's strongest games turn early mana into Giada, Font of Hope, Righteous Valkyrie, Collected Company, or Kayla's Reconstruction. Pilot skill floor: No-API may execute when exactly one mana-creature cast is legal and mana payment is forced by visible action text. No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: First Angel Engine Piece

Priority: Medium Decision families: priority; mana Cards: Bishop of Wings; Giada, Font of Hope; Righteous Valkyrie; Resplendent Angel Phase windows: main phase before combat Runtime cues: action:cast Bishop of Wings; action:cast Giada, Font of Hope Use when: Choose the first engine permanent from legal cast actions while no immediate survival block or removal action is required. Avoid when: Avoid leading with a more expensive Angel if Bishop of Wings or Giada, Font of Hope is castable and the payoff hand needs lifegain or Angel mana first. Instructions: Establish Giada, Font of Hope when acceleration into larger Angels matters; establish Bishop of Wings when lifegain snowballing or surviving creature combat matters. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should compare expected next turn mana, visible pressure, and removal exposure. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Land Sequencing And Color Preservation

Priority: Medium Decision families: mana Cards: Abandoned Air Temple; Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire; Hushwood Verge; Multiversal Passage; Plains; Razorverge Thicket; Temple Garden Phase windows: main phase; precombat land play Runtime cues: action:play land Use when: Multiple land plays are legal or mana payment can affect later white or green availability. Avoid when: Avoid using the only untapped green source before casting Elvish Mystic or Llanowar Elves; avoid using the only white source before Bishop of Wings, Giada, Font of Hope, or Skyclave Apparition. Instructions: Preserve both colors for the current turn's planned creature chain, and treat double-spell turns with Collected Company follow-up or Kayla's Reconstruction setup as higher value than cosmetic land ordering. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should reason from visible legal land and payment actions. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Collected Company Commitment Gate

Priority: High Decision families: priority; selection Cards: Collected Company Phase windows: opponent end step; combat trick windows; main phase only when tempo demands it Runtime cues: action:cast Collected Company Use when: Decide whether to spend four mana on Collected Company now versus holding it for an end step, response window, or post-sweeper rebuild. Avoid when: Avoid casting into a visible stack or board state where passing keeps mana for a required legal interaction and waiting does not concede tempo. Instructions: Prefer end-step deployment when safe; main-phase cast when the deck needs blockers, lethal pressure, lifegain triggers, or a board before combat. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should evaluate clock, available creatures in library only by public deck knowledge, current mana, and visible opponent pressure. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Kayla's Reconstruction Commitment Gate

Priority: High Decision families: priority; selection; mana Cards: Kayla's Reconstruction Phase windows: main phase before combat; postcombat main phase for rebuilds Runtime cues: action:cast Kayla's Reconstruction Use when: Decide whether tapping out for Kayla's Reconstruction advances board presence more than casting individual threats or holding interaction. Avoid when: Avoid low-X casts that consume the turn without stabilizing, unless visible board pressure or mana constraints make waiting worse. Instructions: Use larger X values to rebuild or overwhelm removal, and respect that tapping out can expose the deck to visible lethal attacks or stack interaction. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should evaluate X size, board need, legal alternatives, and whether the next turn cycle is survivable. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Company And Reconstruction Selection

Priority: Medium Decision families: selection Cards: Collected Company; Kayla's Reconstruction; Bishop of Wings; Giada, Font of Hope; Righteous Valkyrie; Resplendent Angel; Skyclave Apparition; Inspiring Overseer; Enduring Innocence Phase windows: spell resolution Runtime cues: action:select; action:choose card Use when: A resolving selection prompt offers visible candidates from Collected Company or Kayla's Reconstruction. Avoid when: Avoid selecting low-impact bodies over visible engine pieces, removal, or lethal pressure without considering current board needs. Card text check required for exact Enduring Innocence priority. Instructions: Rank immediate survival first, then Righteous Valkyrie or Resplendent Angel payoff, then Giada, Font of Hope or Bishop of Wings engine, then Skyclave Apparition when a visible opposing permanent must be answered. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should choose from visible candidates only. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Skyclave Apparition Target Gate

Priority: High Decision families: interaction; selection Cards: Skyclave Apparition Phase windows: main phase; resolution target prompt Runtime cues: action:target Skyclave Apparition Use when: A legal Skyclave Apparition target prompt shows opposing nonland permanents and the target affects survival, combat, engine disruption, or lethal timing. Avoid when: Avoid spending Skyclave Apparition on a low-impact permanent while a visible threat, lock piece, or combo engine remains legal to target. Instructions: Prioritize permanents that stop attacks, remove blockers for flying lethal, break opponent engines, or prevent immediate loss; respect legal target limits shown by Forge. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should evaluate target impact from visible state. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Portable Hole Sideboard Target Gate

Priority: High Decision families: interaction; selection Cards: Portable Hole Phase windows: early main phase; resolution target prompt Runtime cues: action:target Portable Hole Use when: Portable Hole is legal and visible targets include an early opposing permanent that changes combat, mana, or engine speed. Avoid when: Avoid using Portable Hole on a replaceable target if a visible higher-impact cheap permanent is legal and the Angel clock is not yet protected. Instructions: Use Portable Hole to buy the time needed for lifegain and flying pressure; keep target choice tied to legal candidates and current board pressure. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should handle target judgment. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Eiganjo Channel Interaction

Priority: Medium Decision families: interaction; combat; mana Cards: Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire Phase windows: combat; opponent attack step; damage prevention or removal windows when legal Runtime cues: action:activate Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire Use when: The legal action can remove or shrink a visible attacking or blocking creature enough to preserve life, save a key permanent, or enable lethal combat. Avoid when: Avoid using Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire as routine removal if land drops or white mana are more important and no combat outcome changes. Instructions: Treat channel use as a spell-like resource, not a free land action; prefer it when immediate combat math or survival changes. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should evaluate board state and mana opportunity cost. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Resplendent Angel And Lifegain Snowball

Priority: Medium Decision families: priority; combat; mana Cards: Resplendent Angel; Bishop of Wings; Righteous Valkyrie; Giada, Font of Hope Phase windows: main phase; combat; end step triggers when legal Runtime cues: action:activate Resplendent Angel; action:attack Use when: Legal actions can increase lifegain, create pressure, or cross visible life-total thresholds through attacks or activated abilities. Avoid when: Avoid spending mana on a low-impact activation if Collected Company, Kayla's Reconstruction, or required interaction is the only line that stabilizes. Instructions: Push lifegain loops when visible triggers and combat make the board grow; protect key Angels from unnecessary trades when the snowball is already winning. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should inspect current life totals, attackers, blockers, and mana. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Flying Lethal And Pressure Combat

Priority: High Decision families: combat Cards: Righteous Valkyrie; Resplendent Angel; Giada, Font of Hope; Bishop of Wings; Inspiring Overseer; Skyclave Apparition Phase windows: declare attackers; declare blockers; combat damage Runtime cues: action:attack with Use when: Visible attackers can present lethal, near-lethal, or force blocks while preserving enough defense against the crack-back. Avoid when: Avoid attacking with Giada, Font of Hope or engine creatures for minor damage when their tap or death would slow the Angel chain and no lethal race benefit exists. Instructions: Favor evasive attacks that close the game after stabilizing; keep ground or utility creatures back when opponent return damage is visible and dangerous. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should calculate visible combat only. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Survival Blocking Discipline

Priority: High Decision families: combat Cards: Bishop of Wings; Giada, Font of Hope; Righteous Valkyrie; Resplendent Angel; Skyclave Apparition; Inspiring Overseer; Elvish Mystic; Llanowar Elves Phase windows: declare blockers; combat trick windows Runtime cues: action:block Use when: Blocking choices determine survival, preserve a lifegain engine, or trade a low-value creature for meaningful damage reduction. Avoid when: Avoid trading Giada, Font of Hope, Bishop of Wings, or a payoff Angel unless the visible attack threatens lethal or the trade prevents a worse board state. Instructions: Chump with mana creatures after their acceleration value has declined; preserve Angels when life total and future lifegain make taking damage acceptable. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should evaluate lethal, crack-back, and engine preservation. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Archon Of Emeria Commitment

Priority: High Decision families: sideboard; priority Cards: Archon of Emeria Phase windows: main phase before opponent combo or spell-chain turns Runtime cues: action:cast Archon of Emeria Use when: Sideboarded game has legal Archon of Emeria and visible or matchup context indicates opponent relies on multiple spells or mana tempo. Avoid when: Avoid delaying core pressure for Archon of Emeria when the opponent is already losing to board and the extra restriction does not affect visible next-turn actions. Instructions: Cast Archon of Emeria early enough to matter, then convert the tempo restriction into flying damage instead of overloading on more setup. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should use matchup guide, visible board, and hand pressure. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Unlicensed Hearse Graveyard Gate

Priority: Medium Decision families: sideboard; interaction; selection Cards: Unlicensed Hearse Phase windows: main phase; opponent graveyard-reliant windows; end step when legal Runtime cues: action:activate Unlicensed Hearse; action:target Unlicensed Hearse Use when: Visible graveyard cards matter to opponent recursion, escape, reanimation, or resource loops, or the vehicle body becomes relevant with enough creatures. Avoid when: Avoid activating only to pad counts while under a short visible clock if casting Angels, removal, or blockers is legal and needed. Instructions: Exile the specific visible graveyard cards that enable the next opponent action; use the body plan only after pressure and graveyard control are both supported. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should inspect public graveyards and legal target text. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard Plan Lock

Priority: High Decision families: sideboard; pregame Cards: Archon of Emeria; Enduring Innocence; Portable Hole; Unlicensed Hearse; Elvish Mystic; Llanowar Elves; Inspiring Overseer; Skyclave Apparition; Collected Company; Kayla's Reconstruction Phase windows: between games Runtime cues: sideboard decision; match stage Use when: Choose a legal sideboard plan after seeing opponent archetype, game result, and known public cards. Avoid when: Avoid adding too many noncreature hate cards if it weakens Collected Company and Kayla's Reconstruction creature density without solving a visible matchup problem. Instructions: Add Portable Hole against cheap permanent pressure, Unlicensed Hearse against graveyard plans, Archon of Emeria against spell chains, and extra Enduring Innocence for attrition only after checking card text and matchup speed. Pilot skill floor: Light-model should preserve registered 75 legality and deck function. No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes