veles-content/strategies/modern/modern_yawgmoth/1/guide.md

Strategy Specifications

Deck Name And Archetype

Yawgmoth is a Modern deck registered as a 60-card main deck with a 15-card sideboard. The main-deck count validates to exactly 60 cards, and the sideboard validates to exactly 15 cards. The submitted tags collapse cleanly to combo, midrange, sacrifice, and counters; duplicate tag entries do not change the role profile. The guide should treat this as a hybrid Yawgmoth shell rather than a stock import: it keeps the recognizable Yawgmoth, Thran Physician sacrifice-combo center, but it also registers unusual or newer support cards such as Spymaster's Vault, Malevolent Rumble, Dredger's Insight, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ouroboroid, Badgermole Cub, and Formidable Speaker.

The deck's tactical identity is creature-combo midrange. It aims to assemble Yawgmoth, Thran Physician with recursive or expendable bodies such as Young Wolf and enabling pressure or card-flow pieces, then convert sacrifices, counters, and card access into a win through Walking Ballista, battlefield attrition, or accumulated resource advantage. Agatha's Soul Cauldron and Spymaster's Vault indicate a secondary plan where graveyard or sacrificed creatures can remain strategically relevant, but exact rules text and local engine implementation must be respected before assuming any activated-ability or counter interaction.

The registered mana base validates as black-green with creature-centric acceleration and tutor access. Lands and mana pieces include Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath, Overgrown Tomb, Underground Mortuary, Boseiju, Who Endures, Swamp, Forest, Dryad Arbor, and Delighted Halfling. The list has a very low basic-land count, meaningful dependence on fetchable green and black sources, and a likely need to sequence lands around life total, tapped-land timing, Dryad Arbor exposure, Boseiju, Who Endures utility, and Green Sun's Zenith access. The pilot should not assume perfect mana; it must use Veles legal actions and visible mana-source output at runtime.

Modern legality and engine support must be verified before sanctioned-style testing. The submitted list includes cards with ban-list history or recent-set risk, especially Green Sun's Zenith and unfamiliar cards such as Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ouroboroid, Badgermole Cub, Formidable Speaker, Dredger's Insight, and Spymaster's Vault. This Strategy Specification does not certify tournament legality, card availability, or exact Oracle text. If Veles, Forge, or another rules source exposes a different legal action set than this guide expects, the rules-engine output wins.

The stock/rogue status is hybrid. The core role of Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Young Wolf, Walking Ballista, Delighted Halfling, Grist, the Hunger Tide, and creature tutoring resembles established Modern Yawgmoth play patterns, while the supporting package pushes into deck-specific technology that must be learned from actual games. The pilot should value known Yawgmoth fundamentals but avoid autopiloting from older stock lists that contained absent cards.

Opponent information status is currently unspecified. No exact opposing deck, metagame spread, or testing target was supplied with this batch. Future matchup sections should therefore use archetype-level plans and must prefix any non-registered card examples as opponent cards when they appear in policy Cards: fields, or keep them in prose outside policy card lists. Runtime decisions must never infer hidden cards from archetype labels alone; they should use public zones, revealed information, life totals, stack contents, board texture, and the legal action list supplied by Veles.

Thesis

Yawgmoth assembles a sacrifice-card-flow engine around Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, cheap creatures, counters, and graveyard-adjacent value, then converts that engine into either a combo finish, a depleted opposing board, or an oversized Walking Ballista. The default priority is to develop green mana, put expendable bodies onto the battlefield, find or protect access to Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, and only then spend life, creatures, and cards aggressively once the engine is online or waiting is worse.

The deck wins by making small creatures matter more than their printed stats. Young Wolf is the cleanest sacrifice body because undying lets it remain material after the first sacrifice; Badgermole Cub, Formidable Speaker, Ouroboroid, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, and Dryad Arbor should be treated according to visible rules text and board role, with card text check required for any unfamiliar or locally unsupported lines. Walking Ballista is both a payoff and a flexible tactical object: do not assume lethal or combo certainty unless Veles exposes the legal actions and visible counters/damage math support it.

The deck is not trying to play a fair one-for-one midrange game forever. Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, Force of Vigor, Fulminator Mage, Endurance, Cankerbloom, Vexing Bauble, Boseiju, Who Endures, and Grist, the Hunger Tide can all support interaction plans, but the main deck should not spend every turn answering if it can instead establish Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Spymaster's Vault, Green Sun's Zenith, or enough creature density to threaten an engine turn. Prioritize legal engine assembly over low-impact pressure unless the opponent's clock forces blocking, racing, or immediate disruption.

The pilot should respect runtime information over archetype memory. Use exact visible mana, public graveyards, revealed hands, stack contents, available targets, life totals, counters, and Veles legal action labels before choosing a line. If the rules engine does not expose a claimed interaction involving Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Spymaster's Vault, Dredger's Insight, Malevolent Rumble, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ouroboroid, Badgermole Cub, or Formidable Speaker, do not invent it; choose among legal actions that advance mana, bodies, selection, or survival.

Role Package

• Threats: Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is the central must-answer threat because it can turn creatures and life into cards, counters, and board control when legal actions expose that line. Walking Ballista is the scalable damage threat and counter payoff; keep it as a finisher when possible, but deploy it defensively when visible attackers or small creatures make survival more important. Grist, the Hunger Tide is a standalone pressure and attrition threat when the battlefield can defend it. Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ouroboroid, Badgermole Cub, and Formidable Speaker require card text check required before assigning exact threat priority beyond visible power, toughness, keywords, counters, and legal abilities.

• Payoffs: Walking Ballista is the primary deterministic payoff once counters, mana, or Agatha's Soul Cauldron lines create visible lethal or removal actions. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is also a payoff because each expendable body can become cards and opposing creature shrinkage when legal. Spymaster's Vault appears to be a deck-specific payoff or value permanent, but card text check required; use it when the legal action text and visible board show that sacrificed creatures, counters, or combat damage will convert into material advantage.

• Engines: Yawgmoth, Thran Physician plus Young Wolf is the core sacrifice engine. Agatha's Soul Cauldron is a graveyard/counter engine candidate; card text check required for exact ability copying, counter placement, or activation rules, and do not assume a line unless Veles exposes it. Spymaster's Vault and Dredger's Insight are value-engine candidates with card text check required for exact triggers, costs, or selection outcomes. Grist, the Hunger Tide supplies repeatable material if protected.

• Velocity: Green Sun's Zenith is the most important creature-access spell and should be pointed toward the creature that the current board actually needs: mana, sacrifice fodder, Yawgmoth access if legal, or sideboard bullets after boarding. Malevolent Rumble and Dredger's Insight are card-flow or graveyard-enabling pieces with card text check required; use them to find lands, creatures, engine cards, or graveyard setup only according to exposed choices. Verdant Catacombs and Windswept Heath provide fixing and Dryad Arbor access lines when legal.

• Interaction: Boseiju, Who Endures, Grist, the Hunger Tide, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Walking Ballista, and sideboard cards provide interaction from different zones and resource types. Thoughtseize handles nonbattlefield problems, Fatal Push handles creature pressure, Force of Vigor handles artifacts and enchantments, Fulminator Mage handles lands, Endurance handles graveyards, Cankerbloom handles flexible permanent pressure, and Vexing Bauble is a stack or casting-rule hate piece with card text check required for exact tactical use.

• Protection: Delighted Halfling is the main proactive protection and acceleration piece when its visible mana ability applies to key spells. Thoughtseize protects combo turns by clearing known disruption after sideboard. Force of Vigor and Boseiju, Who Endures protect the engine from hostile permanents. Do not hold up imagined protection; use only visible legal actions and known/revealed opponent resources.

• Recursion: Young Wolf is the primary built-in recursion-style body because it can return after dying if the rules engine exposes the relevant counter state. Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Dredger's Insight, Malevolent Rumble, and Endurance may interact with graveyards, but exact recursion or reshuffle implications require card text check required.

• Mana: Delighted Halfling, Dryad Arbor, Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath, Overgrown Tomb, Underground Mortuary, Forest, Swamp, Boseiju, Who Endures, and Green Sun's Zenith form the mana and access shell. Prioritize green early, black before Yawgmoth turns, and preserve life total when fetching shock lands is not required by the visible line.

• Sideboard modules: Thoughtseize is disruption, Fatal Push is creature removal, Force of Vigor is artifact/enchantment pressure, Fulminator Mage is land pressure, Endurance is graveyard pressure, Cankerbloom is flexible permanent interaction, and Vexing Bauble is a specialized hate card with card text check required before relying on exact restrictions.

Primary Win Conditions

• Yawgmoth engine conversion is the main win path: assemble Yawgmoth, Thran Physician with expendable creatures, preferably Young Wolf plus another body, then use legal sacrifice actions to draw cards, place -1/-1 counters, control the board, and find Walking Ballista or enough pressure to end the game. Prioritize this path when life total is high enough to pay for multiple activations, the opponent cannot immediately punish a tap-out, or the board needs Yawgmoth, Thran Physician to shrink attackers while refilling the hand.

• Walking Ballista is the clearest deterministic payoff: win by casting it with enough counters, growing it through visible counter engines, or using Agatha's Soul Cauldron lines only when Veles exposes legal activated abilities and counter placement. Setup requires mana, counters, or a graveyard/exile configuration that the rules engine confirms; execution should target opponent life only when lethal is visible, otherwise remove creatures that block the engine or threaten lethal.

• Agatha's Soul Cauldron is a primary combo-enabler but not a license to invent text: use it to convert graveyard resources and +1/+1 counters into win actions only when legal action labels show the exact exile, counter, or activation choices. Prioritize it when Walking Ballista, Young Wolf, or another relevant creature is visible in the correct zone and the opponent is likely to disrupt Yawgmoth, Thran Physician directly.

• Green Sun's Zenith is the main assembly tool: use it to find the creature role the current hand lacks, such as Dryad Arbor for mana, Young Wolf for sacrifice material, or another legal green engine/support creature exposed by the deck and rules engine. Do not assume Green Sun's Zenith can find Yawgmoth, Thran Physician; choose only legal tutor targets.

• Grist, the Hunger Tide is the attrition win condition: deploy it when the board can protect it, when a removal/token line buys time, or when the opponent is trading resources instead of racing. Its role is to create material and pressure while the deck rebuilds toward Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, or Walking Ballista.

Secondary Win Conditions

• Combat pressure wins games when the opponent overboards for the combo or the engine is delayed: attack with Young Wolf, Dryad Arbor, Badgermole Cub, Formidable Speaker, Ouroboroid, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, and other visible creatures according to their exposed stats and abilities. Card text check required for Badgermole Cub, Formidable Speaker, Ouroboroid, and Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER before treating them as more than pressure, blockers, or sacrifice material.

• Spymaster's Vault can be a secondary value or snowball plan only when its visible rules text and legal triggers show that combat, sacrifice, counters, or resources convert into cards or mana. Prioritize it in slower games where a single Yawgmoth, Thran Physician activation chain is unlikely to resolve cleanly, but avoid leaning on it when the opponent's board demands immediate removal or blocking.

• Malevolent Rumble and Dredger's Insight support fallback wins by finding lands, creatures, graveyard material, or engine pieces according to their exposed selections. Card text check required for exact tactical choices; use them when the hand lacks Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Walking Ballista, or enough bodies to make those cards functional.

• Boseiju, Who Endures supports wins by removing a hostile permanent while preserving spell slots, but do not spend it casually if the hand is short on lands or green mana. In games decided by a single artifact, enchantment, or utility land, prioritize Boseiju, Who Endures only when the rules engine confirms a legal target and the tempo loss is acceptable.

• Sideboard-backed pressure becomes a win condition after boarding when Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Force of Vigor, Fulminator Mage, Endurance, Cankerbloom, or Vexing Bauble create enough time for ordinary creatures and Walking Ballista to finish. Use these cards to clear the path for the deck's engines rather than to become a pure control deck.

Emergency Lines

• When behind on life, stop spending life on Yawgmoth, Thran Physician unless the activation prevents more damage, finds a needed answer, or creates a visible winning line. Fetch basics or untapped shock lands only as required by legal plays, block earlier with Young Wolf or expendable bodies, and use Walking Ballista or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician to remove attackers before pursuing card advantage.

• When behind on board, prioritize stabilizing legal actions over engine greed: Yawgmoth, Thran Physician can shrink creatures, Walking Ballista can pick off small threats, Grist, the Hunger Tide can answer or generate blockers, and postboard Fatal Push or Force of Vigor may buy the turn needed to combo. Do not attack with necessary blockers under a short clock unless lethal or a decisive engine line is visible.

• When behind on cards, rebuild through Yawgmoth, Thran Physician only if life and fodder support it; otherwise use Green Sun's Zenith, Malevolent Rumble, Dredger's Insight, Grist, the Hunger Tide, or Spymaster's Vault according to visible legality. Avoid sacrificing the last relevant creature if the next turn needs it to cast, block, or enable Agatha's Soul Cauldron.

• When behind on mana, choose setup over speculation: Green Sun's Zenith for Dryad Arbor is a real line when legal, Delighted Halfling should be protected when it unlocks key spells, and Boseiju, Who Endures should remain a land unless its channel effect is necessary. Fetch Overgrown Tomb only when black and green access matter immediately.

• When graveyard or exile plans are disrupted, pivot away from Agatha's Soul Cauldron assumptions and win through Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Walking Ballista mana, Grist, the Hunger Tide, or creature combat. When Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is removed, preserve Walking Ballista and Agatha's Soul Cauldron lines; when Walking Ballista is removed, use Yawgmoth, Thran Physician to dominate board and convert extra bodies into a combat or Grist, the Hunger Tide finish.

Resource Model

• Life is an engine resource, not a buffer to spend blindly: pay life to Yawgmoth, Thran Physician when the activation converts sacrifice fodder into a card, a -1/-1 counter that changes combat, or a visible path toward Walking Ballista. Preserve life when the opponent is presenting a short clock, because the deck often needs one more turn of bodies, mana, or legal priority windows to assemble a decisive line.

• Hand size matters less than hand function: keep hands that produce mana plus one of Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Green Sun's Zenith, Malevolent Rumble, Dredger's Insight, or multiple bodies. Convert redundant creatures into cards only when sacrificing them does not remove the last blocker, last undying-style body, or last creature needed for a legal Green Sun's Zenith or Cauldron line.

• Board material is the main currency: Young Wolf, Dryad Arbor, Delighted Halfling, Badgermole Cub, Formidable Speaker, Ouroboroid, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, and tokens or bodies from visible legal effects should be valued by what they enable, not only by combat stats. Card text check required for Badgermole Cub, Formidable Speaker, Ouroboroid, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Malevolent Rumble, Dredger's Insight, and Spymaster's Vault before assuming exact triggers or replacement effects.

• Sacrifice fodder is premium when Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is present or likely: protect expendable bodies until they can become cards, counters, or removal. Do not cash in the final creature unless the action wins, stabilizes, or the rules engine shows a replacement body or follow-up action.

• Graveyard and exile are tactical zones for Agatha's Soul Cauldron and selection spells: treat graveyard contents as usable only when legal action text confirms an exile, counter, activation, or selection. If the graveyard is under pressure, pivot toward board-based Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Green Sun's Zenith, Grist, the Hunger Tide, or hard-cast Walking Ballista lines.

• Lands are both mana and spell-like resources: Boseiju, Who Endures is a land first unless its legal channel target is important enough to trade a land drop or mana source. Underground Mortuary is a color-fixing land with tapped-land risk; sequence it early when the hand already has a turn-one play covered or when untapped mana is not required.

• Tempo is gained by forcing the opponent to answer multiple engines: Delighted Halfling accelerates, Green Sun's Zenith assembles, Agatha's Soul Cauldron creates alternate pressure, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician converts small bodies into cards and removal. Avoid spending a full turn on a low-impact setup action when visible attackers or stack pressure require Fatal Push, Force of Vigor, Boseiju, Who Endures, Walking Ballista, or a block.

• Information is a sideboard resource: Thoughtseize should guide whether to commit Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, protect Agatha's Soul Cauldron, prioritize Fulminator Mage, or hold Force of Vigor. Use known revealed cards from Veles state, not guesses, and downgrade lines that lose to a known answer unless waiting is worse.

• Sideboard bullets convert narrow windows into time: Fatal Push buys combat turns, Force of Vigor and Cankerbloom answer artifacts or enchantments, Fulminator Mage attacks mana, Endurance disrupts graveyards or adds a body, Vexing Bauble taxes specific spell patterns, and Thoughtseize clears the way for the engine.

Mana Guide

• Green mana is the opening priority because Delighted Halfling, Green Sun's Zenith, Malevolent Rumble, Young Wolf, and several sideboard cards depend on it. Black mana becomes urgent when Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Grist, the Hunger Tide, Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, or sideboard interaction is in hand.

• Keep mana hands that produce green early and either black by turn two or a clear path to it through Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath, Overgrown Tomb, Underground Mortuary, Swamp, Forest, Dryad Arbor, or Delighted Halfling. Mulligan hands that cannot cast their setup spells, hands relying only on tapped mana while under pressure, or hands where Boseiju, Who Endures is the only functional colored land and the curve needs black.

• Fetch sequencing should preserve both colors without unnecessary life loss: Verdant Catacombs most naturally fixes Overgrown Tomb, Swamp, Forest, or Dryad Arbor depending on the legal battlefield need. Windswept Heath should usually find green access, with Overgrown Tomb chosen when black is required soon and Forest chosen when life total matters or black is already covered.

• Dryad Arbor is a mana source and a creature: use Green Sun's Zenith for Dryad Arbor when the hand needs acceleration or sacrifice material more than a later tutor. Avoid exposing Dryad Arbor to combat or removal if it is the only green source or the only creature enabling Yawgmoth, Thran Physician.

• Delighted Halfling should be sequenced early when it unlocks Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Grist, the Hunger Tide, or another key spell, but do not rely on it as the only black or green source if removal is likely from visible play patterns. When legal mana choices appear, spend Delighted Halfling in ways that preserve land mana for Fatal Push, Boseiju, Who Endures, Walking Ballista, or follow-up actions.

• Underground Mortuary should be played before the turn it is needed when possible, because tapped mana can strand Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or interaction. Play it after draw or selection if the current turn has multiple land choices and the spell may reveal a better need; play it before draw only when landfall is irrelevant and the tapped land will not affect current legal actions.

• Boseiju, Who Endures should usually enter as a green land in mana-light hands. Hold it as interaction only when other lands already cast the hand and the opponent has, or is likely to present, a legal artifact, enchantment, or land target that matters more than the lost mana source.

• Spymaster's Vault sequencing is conditional on exact text: Card text check required. Treat it as a utility permanent or land only as the rules engine presents it; prioritize colored sources first unless Spymaster's Vault visibly enables sacrifice, card flow, or mana in the current hand.

• Play lands before selection when the current turn requires exact mana for a known legal spell or activation. Hold fetch lands until after Malevolent Rumble, Dredger's Insight, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician draws, or other selection when land choice may change, unless delaying prevents casting a key spell or using a legal response window.

• Walking Ballista mana scales with the game: early it can be a stabilizing removal piece if legal counters and targets line up; late it becomes a payoff when mana, +1/+1 counters, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, or visible activations support lethal. Do not spend all mana on a nonlethal Walking Ballista if the turn still needs Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, interaction, or a sideboard bullet.

Mulligan Guide

• Strong keep: keep two or three lands with early green, Delighted Halfling or Green Sun's Zenith, one expendable creature such as Young Wolf or Badgermole Cub, and either Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, or Malevolent Rumble. This hand develops mana, material, and an engine without needing a perfect draw.

• Strong keep: keep Verdant Catacombs or Windswept Heath plus Delighted Halfling, Young Wolf, Green Sun's Zenith, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician when black mana is already available or fetchable. Do not overvalue this hand if Delighted Halfling is the only path to black and visible matchup pressure suggests cheap removal.

• Medium keep: keep one engine plus selection when mana is functional, such as Agatha's Soul Cauldron with Malevolent Rumble or Dredger's Insight, or Green Sun's Zenith with two lands and any early creature. This hand is acceptable when it can spend turns one and two improving the battlefield instead of passing.

• Medium keep: keep Walking Ballista with enough lands, Delighted Halfling, or Green Sun's Zenith when the hand also has Young Wolf, Badgermole Cub, or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. Walking Ballista alone is not a plan unless the matchup is about killing small creatures and the mana curve supports it.

• Risky keep: keep Underground Mortuary-heavy hands only when the hand already has a turn-one action or the matchup is slow enough to tolerate a tapped opening. Ship tapped-land hands that cannot cast Delighted Halfling, Green Sun's Zenith for Dryad Arbor, Young Wolf, or Malevolent Rumble by turn two.

• Risky keep: keep Spymaster's Vault hands only when colored mana is already covered. Card text check required for Spymaster's Vault, so do not treat it as guaranteed fixing, card draw, or combo support unless legal actions show that role.

• Automatic ship: mulligan zero-land, one-land no-green, five-plus-land no-selection, and hands with Yawgmoth, Thran Physician plus no creature or acceleration. Also ship hands whose first meaningful play is turn three and whose only interaction is Boseiju, Who Endures without a visible target plan.

• Matchup-dependent keep: keep Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Force of Vigor, Fulminator Mage, Endurance, Cankerbloom, or Vexing Bauble after sideboarding only when their role matches the opponent's revealed or known plan. Do not keep a low-pressure hand just because it has a sideboard card that may be blank.

• Play/draw adjustment: on the play, favor Delighted Halfling, Green Sun's Zenith for Dryad Arbor, and fast Yawgmoth, Thran Physician starts. On the draw, value Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, Force of Vigor, Young Wolf, and hands that can recover after the opponent commits first.

• Trap hand: do not keep double Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Walking Ballista, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, and lands with no early creature or selection. The cards are powerful, but the hand can fail to create sacrifice material or survive to a real engine turn.

• Trap hand: do not keep Green Sun's Zenith as the only early play if X cannot find Dryad Arbor or if Dryad Arbor would be exposed as the only mana source. Use the rules engine's legal action text, not assumption, to confirm the available search target.

Turn Arc

• Turn 1: prefer Verdant Catacombs or Windswept Heath into green access, then Delighted Halfling, Young Wolf, or Green Sun's Zenith for Dryad Arbor when legal and strategically needed. Play Underground Mortuary early only when tapped mana will not skip the first functional action.

• Turn 1 deviation: cast Thoughtseize after sideboarding when the opponent's hand information determines whether to commit Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, or a mana-disruption plan. Hold Boseiju, Who Endures as a land unless a legal target is already worth losing the mana source.

• Turn 2: build either engine support or selection, prioritizing Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Malevolent Rumble, Dredger's Insight, Badgermole Cub, Young Wolf plus another setup action, or Green Sun's Zenith for a creature that fixes the next turn. Card text check required for Malevolent Rumble, Dredger's Insight, and Badgermole Cub, so follow visible legal choices rather than assumed milling, counters, or token output.

• Turn 2 deviation: hold up Fatal Push or deploy Force of Vigor after sideboarding when the opponent's visible battlefield threatens a faster win than the engine. Use Cankerbloom, Vexing Bauble, or Endurance only when their legal action text addresses the current pressure or buys a clear next-turn engine.

• Turn 3: prioritize Yawgmoth, Thran Physician when there are expendable creatures, black mana, and no known immediate punishment that makes waiting better. If Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is absent or unsafe, use Green Sun's Zenith, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Grist, the Hunger Tide, Malevolent Rumble, or Walking Ballista to create pressure, material, or interaction.

• Turn 3 deviation: avoid tapping out for a fragile engine when visible combat damage, stack pressure, or a known answer makes survival or disruption mandatory. In those spots, play Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, Fulminator Mage, Boseiju, Who Endures, or a stabilizing Walking Ballista line if legal.

• Turns 4-5: convert material into cards, counters, removal, or lethal pressure through Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Walking Ballista, Grist, the Hunger Tide, and Green Sun's Zenith. Protect at least one expendable body unless sacrificing it immediately wins, removes a decisive threat, or unlocks a superior legal follow-up.

• Turns 4-5 deviation: pivot to midrange when combo assembly is disrupted, using Young Wolf, Badgermole Cub, Grist, the Hunger Tide, Walking Ballista, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ouroboroid, or Formidable Speaker as legal pressure or value pieces. Card text check required for Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ouroboroid, and Formidable Speaker before assigning exact tactical roles.

• Late game: count visible resources before committing a lethal or near-lethal line, especially Walking Ballista counters, Agatha's Soul Cauldron exiled cards, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician activations, life total, and available creatures. Do not assume deterministic combo unless the rules engine presents the necessary legal actions.

• Late-game deviation: use Boseiju, Who Endures, Force of Vigor, Fulminator Mage, Endurance, or Cankerbloom to reopen a locked game only when their visible target matters more than advancing the board. If the opponent is low on resources, prioritize repeatable engines over single exchange effects.

Card Roles

• Delighted Halfling is the preferred one-mana accelerator because it turns slow engine hands into turn-three Yawgmoth, Thran Physician hands and can help cast legendary threats through permission when legal text supports that. Use it early unless the hand must lead on Young Wolf to create sacrifice material or Green Sun's Zenith for Dryad Arbor to fix a missing land. Do not expose Delighted Halfling in combat unless the mana is no longer needed or trading protects Yawgmoth, Thran Physician from a lethal race.

• Young Wolf is the cleanest expendable body because undying lets Yawgmoth, Thran Physician convert one creature into multiple activations and gives the deck early board presence without spending premium cards. Cast it early against removal, pressure, and sacrifice mirrors; hold it only when a known sweeper, exile effect, or engine timing makes another setup play better. Avoid attacking Young Wolf into a board where losing the undying body before Yawgmoth, Thran Physician arrives would leave no sacrifice material.

• Agatha's Soul Cauldron is an engine and redundancy card, not a generic turn-two artifact to cast blindly. Card text check required for exact activated-ability and counter interactions at runtime, but tactically it should be prioritized when the graveyard or exile setup can turn dead creatures into active resources, especially with Walking Ballista or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician involved. Do not commit Agatha's Soul Cauldron into obvious artifact hate if the current hand can instead develop creatures and force the opponent to answer Yawgmoth, Thran Physician first.

• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is the central engine and the highest-value threat, so cast it when the battlefield has expendable creatures, black mana is stable, and the opponent is not representing a known answer that makes waiting clearly superior. Use legal sacrifice, draw, and counter actions to turn Young Wolf, Badgermole Cub, Dryad Arbor, Delighted Halfling, or other disposable bodies into cards or creature control. Do not pay life into Yawgmoth, Thran Physician activations without counting visible lethal pressure, remaining creatures, and whether a follow-up legal action actually improves the position.

• Walking Ballista is both removal and a combo payoff, so treat it as a flexible resource rather than only as a late-game finisher. Cast small Walking Ballista when killing visible one-toughness creatures, planeswalkers, or combo creatures matters immediately; hold it when Agatha's Soul Cauldron, extra mana, or counters can produce a stronger line later. Do not remove its last counter casually if the body, counters, or activated ability is needed for Agatha's Soul Cauldron or a future engine turn.

• Green Sun's Zenith is the deck's most important selection spell because it converts mana into the creature role the current hand lacks. Use it early for Dryad Arbor when mana development is the bottleneck, for Young Wolf or another legal low-cost creature when sacrifice material is missing, and for Yawgmoth, Thran Physician only if the rules engine presents it as a legal target. Do not assume any search target is legal; choose from the visible candidate list and prefer the card that unlocks the next two turns over the card with the highest abstract power.

• Malevolent Rumble is setup glue that should be cast when the hand needs selection, graveyard material, or a bridge from early mana into engines. Card text check required for exact milling, token, and selection outcomes, so follow runtime choices rather than assuming it always finds a specific permanent. Prefer it before committing Agatha's Soul Cauldron when the current graveyard lacks useful text, and prefer board development over Malevolent Rumble when the opponent is already presenting lethal or a must-answer permanent.

• Dredger's Insight is a support spell whose exact tactical role depends on visible card text and legal choices. Card text check required; use it as a selection or resource-conversion action only when the current hand needs more engine pieces, graveyard setup, or lands, and avoid spending early turns on it when Young Wolf, Delighted Halfling, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician would create a stronger board. In attrition matchups, value Dredger's Insight higher after the opponent has traded resources and lower when tempo or life total is under immediate pressure.

• Badgermole Cub is a main-deck creature package piece that likely supports the sacrifice, counters, or graveyard plan, but Card text check required before assigning exact combat or engine use. Cast it when the legal text shows it develops material, grows through engine actions, or gives Yawgmoth, Thran Physician another meaningful body. Do not trade it in combat until the rules-visible role is clear; if it is generating counters or value, protect it, and if it is merely a body, use it as sacrifice material when the engine turn starts.

• Spymaster's Vault is a three-copy utility land or permanent-slot card whose exact ability matters for sequencing, so Card text check required before treating it as draw, fixing, sacrifice payoff, or counter support. Keep it in hands only when colored mana is already functional, then use it when the visible legal action converts spare material into real advantage. Do not let Spymaster's Vault tempt the pilot into keeping a hand without green access or into delaying Yawgmoth, Thran Physician when the engine turn is already available.

• Grist, the Hunger Tide is the single main-deck planeswalker and a Green Sun's Zenith-adjacent creature-style payoff only when legal rules text exposes the relevant interactions. Use Grist, the Hunger Tide when the matchup is about removal, repeatable material, or grinding through answers; prefer Yawgmoth, Thran Physician when immediate engine conversion is available. Do not overprotect Grist, the Hunger Tide if sacrificing or attacking with its creatures creates a decisive Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or Walking Ballista turn.

• Dryad Arbor is a land, creature, search target, sacrifice body, and liability all at once. Fetch or find Dryad Arbor when it fixes mana or supplies the missing creature for Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, but avoid making it the only mana source if the opponent can remove it and strand the hand. In combat, treat Dryad Arbor as disposable only after confirming that losing the land will not cut off black mana, Green Sun's Zenith scaling, or Walking Ballista counters.

• Verdant Catacombs and Windswept Heath should primarily secure green and black access for early development, with Overgrown Tomb as the usual shock-land anchor when life total permits. Fetch basics when life total, Blood Moon-style pressure, or long-game resource preservation matters, but do not over-prioritize basics if the hand needs black for Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or sideboard Thoughtseize and Fatal Push. Use fetch timing to manage visible landfall, revolt, graveyard, and shuffle implications only when the rules engine and matchup context make those details relevant.

• Overgrown Tomb, Forest, Swamp, and Underground Mortuary define whether the hand can cast its spells on curve. Prioritize untapped green on turn one, black by the Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or sideboard interaction turn, and enough total mana for Green Sun's Zenith or Walking Ballista scaling. Play Underground Mortuary early when its tapped timing is harmless, but avoid lines where a tapped land prevents Delighted Halfling, Young Wolf, Malevolent Rumble, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, or a needed sideboard answer.

• Boseiju, Who Endures is both a land and interaction, so use it as a spell only when the visible target is worth losing a mana source. Hold it against artifact, enchantment, nonbasic-land, or lock-piece plans when the rest of the mana is stable; play it as a land when the hand needs to cast Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Green Sun's Zenith, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, or Walking Ballista on time. Do not fire Boseiju, Who Endures at a low-impact target if Force of Vigor, Cankerbloom, Fulminator Mage, or normal combat can handle the same problem after sideboarding.

• Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ouroboroid, and Formidable Speaker are singleton main-deck bullets or threats whose tactical use must be confirmed from legal text. Card text check required for each; tutor or cast them only when the visible candidate list and current board state identify a specific role such as pressure, counter synergy, sacrifice material, card advantage, or stabilization. Do not choose these singletons over proven engine cards merely because they are available; make the runtime choice from the exact legal action text and the matchup problem in front of the pilot.

Interaction Priorities

• Priority: Use Thoughtseize after sideboarding to take the opponent's fastest engine, clean answer to Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, or card that stops Agatha's Soul Cauldron before taking generic pressure. If the opponent's hand shows both removal and a combo piece, take the card that makes waiting worse; against faster combo, disruption beats protecting a slow engine, while against removal-heavy midrange, strip the answer that breaks the first Yawgmoth, Thran Physician turn.

• Priority: Use Fatal Push on creatures that either threaten lethal, shut off sacrifice loops, or make combat impossible; do not spend it on small creatures that Young Wolf, Dryad Arbor, Badgermole Cub, or expendable tokens can contain. Enable revolt only when the legal line does not sacrifice needed mana or combo material.

• Priority: Use Boseiju, Who Endures, Force of Vigor, Cankerbloom, and Fulminator Mage on permanents that block the deck's engine or create an immediate clock, not on low-impact value pieces. Against artifact or enchantment decks, Force of Vigor is for the turn where removing two visible blockers to the plan matters; against land engines, Fulminator Mage should hit the mana source that cuts off the opponent's next decisive play rather than the first legal nonbasic by habit.

• Priority: Use Endurance when the opponent's graveyard is a live resource, when a library or graveyard action is visibly pending, or when flashing in a body changes combat math. Do not fire Endurance only for minor graveyard cleanup if the opponent is winning through battlefield pressure and Fatal Push, Force of Vigor, or a faster Yawgmoth, Thran Physician line would address the actual problem.

• Bait: Lead with Delighted Halfling, Young Wolf, Malevolent Rumble, or a nonessential Agatha's Soul Cauldron when the hand can still assemble Yawgmoth, Thran Physician afterward. Do not expose Yawgmoth, Thran Physician into obvious open interaction unless the board already provides sacrifice material, the opponent is under immediate pressure, or waiting gives the opponent a stronger visible line.

• Ignore: Ignore chip-damage creatures when life total is high and the hand is close to a Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or Walking Ballista kill. Answer them once the clock compresses to two turns, once they carry counters or equipment-like pressure from visible text, or once they would force bad blocks with Young Wolf or Dryad Arbor.

• Archetype shift: Against linear combo, become disruption plus speed; Thoughtseize and fast Green Sun's Zenith lines matter more than grinding. Against creature decks, become removal plus board control; preserve life and bodies until Yawgmoth, Thran Physician can convert them. Against control or midrange, become threat-dense and recursive; do not overcommit Walking Ballista, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician into the same visible sweeper or answer window unless the legal actions produce a decisive payoff.

Combat And Trading Rules

• Attack plan: Attack only when the damage advances a clock without weakening the next Yawgmoth, Thran Physician turn. Young Wolf and expendable bodies can attack early if they still remain useful after blocks, but Dryad Arbor should stay back when losing it would reduce mana, Green Sun's Zenith scaling, or sacrifice count.

• Block plan: Block to protect life-total thresholds before blocking for abstract value. Preserve enough life to pay Yawgmoth, Thran Physician activations and survive the opponent's next visible attack; trade creatures when the trade buys the turn needed to untap with Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Green Sun's Zenith, Walking Ballista, or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician.

• Engine preservation: Treat Young Wolf as premium sacrifice and combat material because it can often survive one exchange through visible rules text, while treating Delighted Halfling and Dryad Arbor as mana first until their mana is no longer needed. Do not trade Delighted Halfling early if it is the only path to a timely Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or Green Sun's Zenith.

• Walking Ballista combat: Use Walking Ballista as a blocker or damage source only after comparing its counters to the current engine plan. If Agatha's Soul Cauldron or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician turns Walking Ballista into a payoff, preserve it; if the opponent's battlefield threatens lethal, spend counters or trade it according to legal actions rather than saving it for a theoretical combo.

• Badgermole Cub combat: Card text check required before treating Badgermole Cub as disposable. If the visible text shows counter growth, sacrifice payoff, or engine scaling, protect it from low-value trades; if it is only a body in the current game state, trade it to prevent damage or feed the sacrifice plan.

• Life thresholds: Above roughly 12 life, prioritize board development and engine assembly over chump blocks. From 8 to 11 life, start trading off nonessential bodies against power on board. At 7 or lower, block conservatively and favor stabilization over speculative setup unless a legal combo line wins or removes the attack immediately.

• Archetype differences: Against aggressive creature decks, block earlier and value Fatal Push, Young Wolf, and large Walking Ballista bodies as stabilizers. Against control, attack planeswalkers and life totals with spare creatures while holding back enough material to rebuild after removal. Against combo, combat is secondary unless it creates a lethal clock that forces the opponent to act before the engine is ready.

• Protection rule: Protect Yawgmoth, Thran Physician by declining attacks or blocks that remove the last sacrifice body unless the combat action prevents lethal or enables a same-turn win. Protect Agatha's Soul Cauldron lines by preserving creatures whose graveyard or counter interactions are already visible and relevant; do not assume hidden combo text that the rules engine has not exposed.

Selection And Tutor Rules

• Tutor first for the missing engine role, not the highest-mana creature by habit. Use Green Sun's Zenith to find Dryad Arbor when the hand needs its first mana creature or sacrifice body, use it for Delighted Halfling when protected colored mana matters, and use it for Yawgmoth, Thran Physician only when the battlefield already supplies enough creatures or the opponent's clock makes waiting worse.

• Find Yawgmoth, Thran Physician when the hand has Young Wolf, spare creatures, or Agatha's Soul Cauldron pressure but lacks the sacrifice engine. Do not spend Green Sun's Zenith on a minor body if the current visible position can support Yawgmoth, Thran Physician this turn or next turn.

• Use Malevolent Rumble as setup before committing fragile engine pieces when mana allows. Prefer lines that stock the graveyard for Agatha's Soul Cauldron, find missing permanents, or create additional material before exposing Yawgmoth, Thran Physician into open mana; Card text check required for exact selection categories and token/output details.

• Use Dredger's Insight when the hand needs card flow, graveyard material, or a specific type of follow-up rather than when the board already presents a same-turn engine line. Card text check required; treat its choices as conditional on visible legal options and do not assume it finds a card type the rules engine has not shown.

• Sequence Spymaster's Vault after asking whether a creature is likely to die or be sacrificed this turn. If the current turn already includes Yawgmoth, Thran Physician activations, Young Wolf recursion, or expendable creatures, Spymaster's Vault can convert that churn into selection; if colored mana is tight, prioritize lands and Delighted Halfling that cast spells now.

• Use Agatha's Soul Cauldron selection around visible graveyard abilities and counters. Do not exile a creature from any graveyard unless the visible text and current counters make the ability relevant; preserve Walking Ballista as a card, graveyard object, or counter payoff when it is the clearest route to a kill.

• Bottom or decline low-impact selections when they do not fix the current bottleneck. Lands matter when Green Sun's Zenith, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, or Walking Ballista scaling is constrained by mana; bodies matter when sacrifice count is the bottleneck; interaction matters only when the opponent's visible board or known hand requires it.

• Delay Verdant Catacombs and Windswept Heath only when landfall-like information, shuffle timing after selection, or revolt for Fatal Push after sideboarding matters. Otherwise fetch before color-critical decisions so Overgrown Tomb, Forest, Swamp, Underground Mortuary, Dryad Arbor, and Boseiju, Who Endures lines are evaluated with real available mana.

Priority And Stack Rules

• Pass priority when the stack is empty and the current legal actions do not improve mana, material, pressure, or engine access. Do not pass through a turn where Green Sun's Zenith can assemble Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron can unlock a visible ability, or Walking Ballista can answer a lethal threat.

• Activate Yawgmoth, Thran Physician only with a clear purpose: shrink or remove a creature, draw toward a missing piece, trigger sacrifice value, or progress a visible combo line. Track life total before each activation; do not spend life into a lethal crack-back unless the activation changes that combat or wins first.

• Respond with Yawgmoth, Thran Physician when the opponent targets a creature that can be sacrificed profitably. Sacrifice Young Wolf or another expendable creature before exile, bounce, or damage resolves if the legal activation converts the doomed creature into a card, counter change, or removal effect.

• Use Walking Ballista counters at instant speed when damage prevents lethal, kills a must-answer creature, finishes the opponent, or protects the engine from a visible threat. Hold counters when they are needed for Agatha's Soul Cauldron or larger Ballista scaling and the current target is not decisive.

• Cast or activate Boseiju, Who Endures in the opponent's end step when removing an artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land is useful but not immediately urgent. Use it sooner when the permanent blocks the current Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, or Walking Ballista line.

• Use Force of Vigor after sideboarding only when the visible artifact or enchantment materially blocks the plan or threatens a decisive opponent turn. If two good targets are visible, prioritize the pair that opens the engine or prevents lethal; if only one low-impact target exists, preserve Force of Vigor unless timing forces action.

• Treat optional payments and optional triggers as resource trades, not defaults. Pay or accept optional costs when they advance the current engine turn, protect against a known threat, or create lethal pressure; decline them when they consume mana needed for Green Sun's Zenith, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician activations, Fatal Push revolt lines, or sideboard interaction.

• Let opposing spells resolve when they do not change the active bottleneck. Save Thoughtseize timing for main-phase information before commitment, save Fatal Push for creatures that matter to the board or combo race, and save Endurance for graveyard or combat windows where its flash body or shuffle effect changes the visible outcome.

Sideboard Map

• Sideboard discipline: Preserve the creature-combo core unless the opposing archetype forces a different axis. Keep enough Delighted Halfling, Young Wolf, Green Sun's Zenith, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Walking Ballista, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician density that post-board hands can still assemble mana, bodies, sacrifice, and payoff.

• Cankerbloom: Add role cards: artifact/enchantment interaction plus a Green Sun's Zenith-accessible creature when those permanents matter. Role: remove a visible hate permanent, pressure planeswalkers or life totals as a body, or use proliferate only when the rules engine exposes a counter-based benefit for Walking Ballista, Young Wolf, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, or another visible permanent. When bad: low-permanent creature decks where a 3/2 body does not answer the clock. Role changes: against artifact/enchantment decks, treat Cankerbloom as interaction first and creature material second; against fair decks with only incidental targets, keep it only if Green Sun's Zenith access to a flexible answer is important.

• Vexing Bauble: Add role cards: stack-rule disruption against opponents relying on nonstandard casting patterns or zero-mana/free-spell turns. Card text check required for exact affected spell classes; use it only when the engine-visible text or matchup guide indicates the opponent is constrained more than this deck. When bad: fair creature, removal, and attrition matchups where it does not affect board, hand, graveyard, or mana. Role changes: if Force of Vigor or Endurance is also boarded, verify whether Vexing Bauble interferes with your own emergency casting line before deploying it.

• Fulminator Mage: Add role cards: nonbasic-land pressure against big-mana, greedy mana, and slow control shells. Role: attack mana before the opponent reaches a decisive turn, then become graveyard text for Agatha's Soul Cauldron only when the visible ability and counters create a legal land-denial line. When bad: low-curve decks with basics, creature pressure, or redundant mana where a three-mana 2/2 does not change the race. Role changes: on the play it can be a proactive bottleneck card; on the draw it must either hit a land before the opponent stabilizes or support an existing pressure plan.

• Thoughtseize: Add role cards: commitment protection and combo disruption. Role: clear the way before Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, or Walking Ballista commitment; take the opponent's fastest deterministic piece when racing; take removal only when the current hand already has a credible engine line. When bad: low-life races, empty-hand topdeck games, and creature boards where Fatal Push or bodies matter more. Role changes: against control and combo, Thoughtseize becomes a setup spell; against aggro, it is a surgical tool only for a known high-impact card or a turn where life loss is safe.

• Fatal Push: Add role cards: cheap creature interaction against fast creature decks, creature-combo decks, and early pressure that blocks the sacrifice engine from stabilizing. Role: protect life total, kill a creature that threatens Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, or break up a creature-based combo. Revolt is naturally enabled by Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath, Young Wolf deaths, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician sacrifices, and Boseiju, Who Endures timing when legal. When bad: spell combo, big-mana, and large-threat matchups where the visible targets are absent or outside Fatal Push range. Role changes: when revolt is easy, Fatal Push can answer larger threats; when revolt is unavailable, aim it at early creatures only.

• Force of Vigor: Add role cards: high-impact artifact/enchantment removal. Role: destroy one or two permanents that stop Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Green Sun's Zenith development, combat survival, or a lethal Walking Ballista line. When bad: decks with few targets, hands short on green cards, and games where pitching a green card breaks the engine. Role changes: cast for mana when time allows; use the alternate-cost line only when the visible permanent must die before the next main phase or when tapping mana would lose the current turn.

• Endurance: Add role cards: graveyard interaction, flash blocker, and Green Sun's Zenith-accessible creature after sideboarding when present in the library. Role: disrupt graveyard-dependent kills, shrink graveyard-resource engines, or ambush an attacker while adding a body for later sacrifice lines. When bad: opponents that do not use the graveyard and board states where a three-mana creature does not change combat or engine access. Role changes: against graveyard combo, prioritize the graveyard-reset trigger; against fair decks, treat Endurance as a creature with incidental disruption only when the body is meaningful.

Anti-Artifact Or Enchantment Permanent Plan Side in: 3 Force of Vigor; 1 Cankerbloom Cut: 3 Dredger's Insight; 1 Spymaster's Vault

Fast Creature Pressure Plan Side in: 3 Fatal Push Cut: 1 Dredger's Insight; 1 Spymaster's Vault; 1 Ouroboroid

Big-Mana Or Nonbasic-Land Plan Side in: 2 Fulminator Mage; 4 Thoughtseize Cut: 3 Dredger's Insight; 1 Spymaster's Vault; 1 Ouroboroid; 1 Formidable Speaker

Graveyard-Dependent Plan Side in: 1 Endurance; 4 Thoughtseize Cut: 3 Dredger's Insight; 1 Spymaster's Vault; 1 Ouroboroid

Free-Spell Or Nonstandard-Casting Plan Side in: 1 Vexing Bauble; 4 Thoughtseize Cut: 3 Dredger's Insight; 1 Spymaster's Vault; 1 Ouroboroid

• Against fast creature decks: Add role cards: Fatal Push, and Cankerbloom only if artifacts or enchantments are visible or strongly expected. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slower card-flow pieces and expensive singleton threats before reducing core sacrifice bodies. Keep Young Wolf and Walking Ballista because they stabilize combat and convert into Yawgmoth, Thran Physician resources.

• Against big-mana decks: Add role cards: Fulminator Mage and Thoughtseize. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Dredger's Insight and slow standalone threats. Prioritize hands that pressure mana while still presenting Green Sun's Zenith or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician; land destruction alone is not a win condition if the board gives no clock.

• Against artifact/enchantment decks: Add role cards: Force of Vigor and Cankerbloom. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow selection that does not immediately find interaction or engine. Preserve enough green cards for Force of Vigor, but do not pitch the only Yawgmoth, Thran Physician access card unless the target permanent blocks the plan this turn.

• Against graveyard decks: Add role cards: Endurance and Thoughtseize. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow card-flow and singletons that do not affect the graveyard race. Use Thoughtseize to identify whether Endurance must be held for a decisive window or can be deployed as a body.

• Against fair midrange and control: Add role cards: Thoughtseize, plus Fulminator Mage only when their mana is visibly vulnerable or matchup notes identify nonbasic dependence. Reduce main-deck emphasis: the least board-relevant selection spell. Keep combo density high because fair games are won by forcing them to answer repeated Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, and Walking Ballista threats.

Matchup Guidance

• Aggro: Stabilize first, then assemble Yawgmoth, Thran Physician plus expendable bodies once life total is no longer under immediate pressure. Keep Young Wolf, Badgermole Cub, Walking Ballista, Green Sun's Zenith, and Delighted Halfling because they create early board presence or accelerate into the engine; treat Dredger's Insight, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ouroboroid, and Formidable Speaker as lower-priority cards when the game is about surviving the first turns. Add role cards: Fatal Push, with Cankerbloom only when visible artifacts or enchantments matter. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slower card-flow and high-cost standalone threats. Use Yawgmoth, Thran Physician carefully because paying life to draw cards can convert a stable board into a lost race; sacrifice for cards when it finds lethal, removes a key creature through counters, or turns Young Wolf-style recursion into immediate control.

• Burn: Preserve life as a resource and do not treat Yawgmoth, Thran Physician activations as free card draw. Prioritize hands with early creatures, lands that minimize shock damage from Overgrown Tomb, and lines that make Walking Ballista or Young Wolf relevant before the opponent can finish with direct damage. Add role cards: Fatal Push when the opponent presents creatures, and Thoughtseize only when the visible matchup or hand texture makes taking a decisive card worth the life loss. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Dredger's Insight and slow singleton threats. Do not fetch Overgrown Tomb untapped unless the legal line needs that mana this turn.

• Go-wide creature decks: Make the battlefield small enough for Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Walking Ballista to dominate. Preserve Young Wolf as sacrifice insulation, use Fatal Push on the creature that changes damage math or enables synergy, and avoid spending Walking Ballista counters on minor targets when a later Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or Agatha's Soul Cauldron line can convert it into a board-control engine. Add role cards: Fatal Push; add Cankerbloom only for relevant artifact or enchantment permanents. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow selection. Combat blocks should protect Yawgmoth, Thran Physician access and life total over chip damage.

• Single-threat decks: Answer the threat, then punish the opponent's low board count with recursive pressure or combo setup. Fatal Push is strongest when the visible target is legal and important; Thoughtseize is strongest before the threat resolves or before a protection turn. Use Boseiju, Who Endures only when the target is a legal high-impact permanent and the resulting land trade does not unlock the opponent more than it helps. Add role cards: Fatal Push and Thoughtseize, with Force of Vigor or Cankerbloom only when the threat is an artifact or enchantment. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow card-flow that does not find an answer quickly.

• Tempo: Value mana efficiency, threat density, and uncounterable setup from Delighted Halfling when applicable. Lead with lines that make the opponent answer multiple permanent types: Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Green Sun's Zenith, and Walking Ballista. Add role cards: Thoughtseize when interaction density matters, Fatal Push when their clock is creature-based, and Vexing Bauble only when the matchup guide or visible plays show nonstandard casting that matters. Reduce main-deck emphasis: expensive or slow singletons. Do not commit Walking Ballista for low value if waiting a turn creates a safer engine or lethal line.

• Control: Force interaction through repeated must-answer permanents rather than overloading one turn without protection. Thoughtseize should clear the way for Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Green Sun's Zenith, or Walking Ballista; Fulminator Mage is valuable when their mana is nonbasic-heavy or when cutting a color delays key answers. Add role cards: Thoughtseize, and Fulminator Mage when mana pressure is credible. Reduce main-deck emphasis: removal-only cards and the slowest card-flow piece when it does not beat counters or sweepers. Delighted Halfling is high value because it accelerates and can help resolve key legendary spells when its text applies; Card text check required for any unfamiliar special protection wording at runtime.

• Removal-heavy decks: Do not rely on one creature surviving; build redundant engine access and use Agatha's Soul Cauldron to turn graveyard creature text into a continuing threat when legal. Young Wolf is premium because it resists one-for-one removal, and Green Sun's Zenith gives additional access to creature roles. Add role cards: Thoughtseize to protect a commitment turn; Endurance only when graveyards matter or the body changes combat. Reduce main-deck emphasis: narrow removal and low-impact standalone threats. Cast Yawgmoth, Thran Physician when the visible board already supplies sacrifice material or when waiting exposes the same card to discard or removal with no upside.

• Midrange: Trade resources only when the resulting board leaves an engine, recursive body, or tutor path. Young Wolf, Badgermole Cub, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Walking Ballista, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician are the cards that let the deck convert small advantages into inevitability. Add role cards: Thoughtseize, Fatal Push when they rely on creatures, and Fulminator Mage only when their mana is vulnerable. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Dredger's Insight and fragile slow singletons if the matchup is about board presence. Spymaster's Vault should be valued when it turns sacrifice churn into cards or pressure; Card text check required for exact trigger and activation details.

• Combo: Race only when the hand has fast engine access; otherwise disrupt first and commit once the opponent is constrained. Thoughtseize should take the card that enables the earliest deterministic kill or the card that stops your own winning commitment, depending on visible hand and clock. Add role cards: Thoughtseize, Vexing Bauble when nonstandard casting is central, Endurance when the graveyard is part of the kill, and Force of Vigor or Cankerbloom when artifacts or enchantments are the engine. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push unless creatures are part of the combo, and slow card-flow. Hold Green Sun's Zenith, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, or Walking Ballista until the chosen line is legal and not obviously walking into known disruption.

• Graveyard decks: Treat Endurance as a decisive interaction card, not a generic creature, when the opponent's graveyard is their resource. Thoughtseize should identify whether the opponent can force a graveyard window before Endurance mana or timing is available. Add role cards: Endurance and Thoughtseize; add Cankerbloom or Force of Vigor only for visible permanent-based graveyard engines. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow card-flow and expensive singleton threats. Do not deploy Endurance as a blocker if the graveyard reset is likely to be needed before the next decision window.

• Artifact/enchantment decks: Remove the permanent that blocks the combo or creates the fastest opposing kill. Force of Vigor is highest impact when it destroys two meaningful targets or when alternate cost is needed before untapping; Cankerbloom is better when a body plus flexible interaction matters. Add role cards: Force of Vigor and Cankerbloom. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow selection and nonessential singletons. Preserve enough green cards to cast or pitch Force of Vigor, but do not pitch the only Green Sun's Zenith or engine access card unless the visible permanent must die immediately.

• Big mana: Disrupt mana while presenting pressure; land disruption without a clock gives the opponent time to recover. Fulminator Mage should target the land that most clearly cuts a color, reduces total mana below the next payoff, or blocks a visible line. Thoughtseize should take the payoff when mana disruption is already available, or the setup piece when the payoff is not yet castable. Add role cards: Fulminator Mage and Thoughtseize. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Dredger's Insight, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ouroboroid, and other slow cards. Keep fast Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Agatha's Soul Cauldron hands because combo speed is often the cleanest answer to larger endgames.

Specific Matchup Notes

• General/archetype-only: Revealed cards, legal actions, and visible board state override all matchup assumptions. Use these notes to bias priorities, not to invent hidden cards or force a line through missing legal actions.

• Fast creature pressure: Preserve life total while assembling Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or Agatha's Soul Cauldron plus expendable creatures. Add role cards: Fatal Push and Thoughtseize. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Dredger's Insight and the slowest singleton threat when the game is about surviving the first turns. Priority targets are the creature that creates the fastest clock, the card that prevents profitable blocking, or the interaction that stops the first real engine commitment.

• Midrange removal: Build redundancy before exposing the only payoff. Young Wolf, Badgermole Cub, Walking Ballista, Green Sun's Zenith, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician should be sequenced so one removal spell does not end the plan. Add role cards: Thoughtseize, Fatal Push for creature-centric builds, and Fulminator Mage only when their mana visibly matters. Priority targets are exile effects, sweepers, graveyard hate, and removal that can break up the current engine.

• Control and permission: Lead with resilient mana and repeated must-answer permanents instead of one fragile all-in turn. Delighted Halfling is important when it enables or protects a legendary spell by its actual card text; Card text check required if runtime text is unavailable. Add role cards: Thoughtseize and sometimes Fulminator Mage. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push and slow threats without immediate pressure. Priority targets are counterspells before Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, sweepers before creature-heavy boards, and removal before Walking Ballista or Agatha's Soul Cauldron commitments.

• Artifact or enchantment engines: Answer the permanent that either stops the combo or wins fastest for the opponent. Add role cards: Force of Vigor, Cankerbloom, and Thoughtseize when the engine must be preempted. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow card-flow and low-impact singletons. Priority targets are graveyard hate that disables Agatha's Soul Cauldron lines, lock pieces that restrict casting or activated abilities, and engines that outscale sacrifice value.

• Graveyard decks: Hold Endurance for the graveyard window that matters unless the body is required to survive. Add role cards: Endurance and Thoughtseize, with Cankerbloom or Force of Vigor when the graveyard engine is a visible permanent. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow card-flow. Priority targets are the card that turns the graveyard into a kill, the enabler that loads the graveyard, or the protection that would beat Endurance.

• Big mana and slow inevitability: Pair disruption with pressure or a combo clock. Add role cards: Fulminator Mage and Thoughtseize. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Dredger's Insight, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ouroboroid, and other slow cards when they do not shorten the clock. Priority targets are the land or spell that unlocks the next payoff, not the permanent that is merely inconvenient.

• Combo opponents: Disrupt first unless the hand already presents a fast legal engine kill. Add role cards: Thoughtseize, Vexing Bauble when nonstandard casting is central, Endurance when graveyards matter, and Force of Vigor or Cankerbloom for permanent engines. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Fatal Push unless creatures are part of the kill. Priority targets are the earliest deterministic enabler, the protection spell for that enabler, or the interaction that stops your own Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or Walking Ballista finish.

Risk Summary

• Mana risk: The deck can stumble when early hands lack green access for Delighted Halfling, Malevolent Rumble, Green Sun's Zenith, or sideboard Force of Vigor pitch support. Fetch and shock sequencing must preserve life total while still enabling black for Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, and sideboard plans.

• Draw risk: Hands with several legendary or narrow pieces but no creature density can fail to convert. Mulligan or sequence toward a functional mix of mana, expendable creatures, and an engine rather than keeping card names that do not interact yet.

• Matchup risk: The deck is powerful but vulnerable to opponents that combine a fast clock with cheap disruption. Treat Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, and Endurance as role cards, not automatic upgrades, because adding too many reactive cards can dilute creature count and engine velocity.

• Over-sideboarding risk: Removing too much selection, mana, or sacrifice material makes Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Agatha's Soul Cauldron worse. Keep enough creatures for Green Sun's Zenith, sacrifice turns, and Walking Ballista finishes.

• Graveyard risk: Agatha's Soul Cauldron and recursive creature plans can be weakened by graveyard hate. Do not assume the graveyard is available after visible hate resolves, and use Force of Vigor, Cankerbloom, Boseiju, Who Endures, or Thoughtseize only when the legal target or hand information supports the exchange.

• Sweeper and removal risk: Committing every creature before a known or likely sweeper can turn a winning engine hand into a reset. Preserve follow-up pressure when possible, especially Green Sun's Zenith, Walking Ballista, or Agatha's Soul Cauldron.

• Closer risk: Walking Ballista is both interaction and a finisher, so spending it for low impact can remove the cleanest endgame. Use it early only when survival, a decisive removal target, or a legal combo conversion justifies the loss.

• Interaction risk: Boseiju, Who Endures, Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, Force of Vigor, Cankerbloom, Endurance, and Fulminator Mage each answer different problems; using the wrong one first can leave the real threat unanswered. Let revealed cards and public board state decide the priority.

• Sequencing risk: Starting a Yawgmoth, Thran Physician chain, Green Sun's Zenith line, or Agatha's Soul Cauldron setup before mana, bodies, and protection are visible can strand the deck mid-engine. Commit when waiting is worse, the line is legal, and the expected next prompt still advances the plan.

Test Feedback Checklist

• Deciding factor: Identify whether the game was decided by combo assembly, midrange attrition, mana failure, sideboard interaction, opposing speed, or a missed legal action. Record the first turn where the winning plan became visible from public state.

• Mulligans: Check whether opening hands had enough green access, creature material, and a real engine path through Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Green Sun's Zenith, or Walking Ballista. Flag keeps that relied on drawing both mana and a payoff.

• Mana: Record whether Delighted Halfling, Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath, Overgrown Tomb, Underground Mortuary, Swamp, Forest, Dryad Arbor, and Boseiju, Who Endures produced the colors and timing the hand needed. Note any game where sideboard Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Force of Vigor, Endurance, or Fulminator Mage changed the required color balance.

• Velocity: Measure whether Malevolent Rumble, Dredger's Insight, Green Sun's Zenith, and Spymaster's Vault found or converted material quickly enough. Separate slow draws caused by missing selection from slow draws caused by too many reactive sideboard cards.

• Engine quality: Record whether Young Wolf, Badgermole Cub, Walking Ballista, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician created repeatable pressure or only assembled partial pieces. Note whether a visible graveyard-hate permanent, removal spell, or counter-window changed the correct commitment timing.

• Removal and disruption: Check whether Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, Force of Vigor, Cankerbloom, Boseiju, Who Endures, Endurance, and Fulminator Mage answered the threat that mattered most. Flag any exchange where a narrow answer was spent before the decisive public threat appeared.

• Sideboard impact: Compare post-board games to Game 1 for engine density, mana smoothness, and disruption quality. Record whether each boarded card had a legal target or tactical window, and whether cutting Dredger's Insight, slow singleton threats, or other main-deck material weakened the core plan too much.

• Closing: Track whether Walking Ballista, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician chains, Agatha's Soul Cauldron lines, Green Sun's Zenith pressure, Grist, the Hunger Tide, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ouroboroid, or Formidable Speaker actually closed games. Flag games where the deck stabilized but failed to turn advantage into lethal pressure.

• Role accuracy: Ask whether the pilot correctly played as combo, midrange, or control for the visible matchup state. A hand with disruption but no clock should be reviewed differently from a hand with engine pieces and no protection.

• Mistakes: Review passes with legal actions available, attacks that exposed needed creatures, tutor choices that failed to match the board, and commitment turns that ignored visible mana or public interaction. Do not label a decision wrong unless the legal action list and visible state support the critique.

• Stranded cards: List cards that stayed in hand or on board without affecting the game, especially extra Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Dredger's Insight, Spymaster's Vault, Walking Ballista, Green Sun's Zenith, Fatal Push, Force of Vigor, Fulminator Mage, or Endurance. Separate stranded-by-mana from stranded-by-matchup.

• Overperformers and underperformers: Record exact card names that produced decisive value or repeatedly failed to matter. Tie each claim to visible game events, not expectations from deck theory.

First Tuning Questions

• Card quantities: If hands often lack expendable creatures, should the balance of Young Wolf, Badgermole Cub, Dryad Arbor access, and Green Sun's Zenith targets change before touching engine cards? If hands flood on engines, should Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Spymaster's Vault, Dredger's Insight, or singletons be adjusted?

• Mana base: If early turns miss green or black, should the mix of Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath, Overgrown Tomb, Underground Mortuary, Swamp, Forest, Dryad Arbor, and Boseiju, Who Endures be revisited? If life loss matters against aggro, test whether fetch-shock sequencing or land counts caused the losses before cutting spell power.

• Aggro plan: If creature pressure is the main loss pattern, are three Fatal Push enough, and does boarding them in preserve enough creatures for Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Agatha's Soul Cauldron? If stabilization succeeds but closing fails, check whether Walking Ballista is being spent too early.

• Control plan: If removal and permission beat the deck, should the Thoughtseize count, threat density, or resilient setup through Delighted Halfling and Green Sun's Zenith be emphasized differently? Review whether waiting for redundancy was better than jamming a fragile Yawgmoth, Thran Physician.

• Combo plan: If faster combo decks win before interaction matters, are Thoughtseize, Endurance, Vexing Bauble, Force of Vigor, Cankerbloom, or Fulminator Mage assigned to the correct matchup roles? If the deck becomes too reactive, identify which cuts are reducing engine velocity.

• Closers: If many games reach stable boards without lethal, decide whether Walking Ballista, Grist, the Hunger Tide, Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ouroboroid, or Formidable Speaker is providing the best closing package. Card text check required for any unfamiliar singleton before changing quantities.

• Sideboard slots: If Force of Vigor or Cankerbloom lack targets, consider whether those slots should remain broad answers or become more matchup-specific. If Fulminator Mage is too slow, test whether the big-mana plan needs earlier disruption or more pressure instead.

• Role conflicts: If sideboarding improves interaction but worsens combo completion, define which matchups require becoming midrange and which require preserving the fastest engine. Tune only after separating losses from role mismatch, mana failure, and legal-action execution errors.

Veles Tactical Policy

Policy: Opening Keep Gate

Priority: High Decision families: mulligan; mana; pregame Cards: Delighted Halfling; Young Wolf; Badgermole Cub; Agatha's Soul Cauldron; Green Sun's Zenith; Yawgmoth, Thran Physician; Walking Ballista Phase windows: opening hand; mulligan Runtime cues: pregame:mulligan; opening_hand Use when: choose keep or mulligan for any seven-card or reduced hand. Avoid when: no mulligan decision is pending. Instructions: Keep hands with green access, early creature material, and at least one engine path through Green Sun's Zenith, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, or Walking Ballista; ship hands that need multiple blind draws before casting relevant spells. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: First Board Setup

Priority: Medium Decision families: mana; priority; selection Cards: Delighted Halfling; Young Wolf; Badgermole Cub; Dryad Arbor; Green Sun's Zenith Phase windows: turns 1-3 main phases Runtime cues: action:cast Delighted Halfling; action:cast Young Wolf; action:cast Badgermole Cub; action:cast Green Sun's Zenith Use when: the first creature, mana creature, or Green Sun's Zenith setup action is legal. Avoid when: the current hand already has sufficient creatures and the visible opponent threatens immediate lethal or a decisive permanent. Instructions: Establish bodies before fragile engines; prefer Delighted Halfling when legendary deployment matters, Young Wolf when sacrifice material matters, and Green Sun's Zenith for Dryad Arbor only when mana development is the bottleneck. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Mana And Land Sequencing

Priority: Medium Decision families: mana Cards: Verdant Catacombs; Windswept Heath; Overgrown Tomb; Underground Mortuary; Forest; Swamp; Dryad Arbor; Boseiju, Who Endures; Delighted Halfling Phase windows: land play; spell payment; activated abilities Runtime cues: action:play land; action:fetch; prompt:pay mana Use when: choosing land drops, fetch targets, shock timing, or mana payments. Avoid when: the legal action is a forced payment with only one source. Instructions: Preserve green early, black before Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or sideboard removal, and Boseiju, Who Endures when interaction against artifacts, enchantments, or lands is visibly relevant; do not expose Dryad Arbor to removal unless the mana or creature count is needed. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Green Sun's Zenith Selection

Priority: Medium Decision families: selection; mana Cards: Green Sun's Zenith; Dryad Arbor; Delighted Halfling; Young Wolf; Badgermole Cub; Formidable Speaker; Ouroboroid; Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER Phase windows: main phase; tutor resolution Runtime cues: action:cast Green Sun's Zenith; prompt:choose card from library Use when: Green Sun's Zenith is legal or resolving. Avoid when: the spell cannot resolve profitably through visible taxes, counters, or target restrictions shown by the engine. Instructions: Choose the legal creature that fixes the current bottleneck: Dryad Arbor for mana, resilient material for sacrifice, or a larger threat when engine pieces are already present; Card text check required before assigning Formidable Speaker, Ouroboroid, or Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER a specific tutor role. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Selection And Graveyard Velocity

Priority: Low Decision families: selection; priority Cards: Malevolent Rumble; Dredger's Insight; Agatha's Soul Cauldron; Walking Ballista; Young Wolf; Badgermole Cub Phase windows: main phase; selection resolution Runtime cues: action:cast Malevolent Rumble; action:cast Dredger's Insight; prompt:choose card Use when: selection spells or graveyard-feeding choices are legal. Avoid when: spending mana on selection prevents casting a visible engine or survival spell this turn. Instructions: Use selection to find missing engine pieces, land drops, or sacrifice material; treat graveyard placement as useful only when Agatha's Soul Cauldron or other visible legal recursion text can exploit it. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Yawgmoth Commitment Gate

Priority: High Decision families: priority; interaction; mana Cards: Yawgmoth, Thran Physician; Young Wolf; Badgermole Cub; Delighted Halfling; Agatha's Soul Cauldron Phase windows: main phase; opponent end step if legal Runtime cues: action:cast Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Use when: casting or protecting Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is the main decision. Avoid when: visible interaction, mana denial, or missing creature material makes immediate commitment worse than developing redundancy. Instructions: Commit Yawgmoth when it can draw cards, pressure creatures, or threaten a combo line before the opponent's next decisive turn; wait when the board lacks sacrifice fodder and the opponent can answer the only engine. Pilot skill floor: expert No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Cauldron Combo Commitment Gate

Priority: High Decision families: priority; selection; interaction Cards: Agatha's Soul Cauldron; Walking Ballista; Young Wolf; Badgermole Cub; Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Phase windows: main phase; graveyard interaction window; activated ability window Runtime cues: action:cast Agatha's Soul Cauldron; action:activate Agatha's Soul Cauldron Use when: starting a Cauldron line, exiling a creature card, or placing a counter can create a functional engine. Avoid when: visible graveyard hate, removal, or missing counter recipients makes the line collapse before producing material advantage. Instructions: Start the line only after checking visible graveyards, creatures that can receive counters, and whether Walking Ballista or another exiled ability actually changes the current board. Pilot skill floor: expert No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Deterministic Cauldron Graveyard Target

Priority: Medium Decision families: selection Cards: Agatha's Soul Cauldron; Walking Ballista Phase windows: Agatha's Soul Cauldron activation resolution Runtime cues: action:target Walking Ballista Agatha's Soul Cauldron Use when: the current prompt is Agatha's Soul Cauldron selecting a graveyard card and the legal actions contain exactly one Walking Ballista target in a graveyard. Avoid when: multiple Walking Ballista graveyard targets exist or the same legal action also requires choosing a creature target. Instructions: Select the exact Walking Ballista graveyard target shown by the legal action text. Pilot skill floor: no-api No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Walking Ballista Payoff Target

Priority: High Decision families: selection; interaction Cards: Walking Ballista; Agatha's Soul Cauldron Phase windows: activated damage target selection Runtime cues: action:target opponent Walking Ballista Use when: the pending action is Walking Ballista damage and the legal action text contains exactly one opponent player target. Avoid when: creature targets, planeswalker targets, prevention effects, or lethal uncertainty are present in the same target prompt. Instructions: Select the opponent player target shown by the legal action text after the damage line has already been selected. Pilot skill floor: no-api No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Yawgmoth Sacrifice And Counter Targets

Priority: High Decision families: selection; interaction Cards: Yawgmoth, Thran Physician; Young Wolf; Badgermole Cub; Walking Ballista; Agatha's Soul Cauldron Phase windows: activated ability; combat trick window; response window Runtime cues: action:activate Yawgmoth, Thran Physician; prompt:target creature; prompt:sacrifice creature Use when: choosing sacrifice material or a -1/-1 counter target. Avoid when: sacrificing the last required engine body ends the line without stabilizing or drawing into replacement material. Instructions: Sacrifice expendable or resilient creatures first, use counters to break opposing boards or reset your own counter-dependent creatures only when legal text supports it, and preserve Walking Ballista unless damage or Cauldron utility is the immediate plan. Pilot skill floor: expert No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Spymaster's Vault And Singleton Uncertainty

Priority: Low Decision families: selection; combat; mana Cards: Spymaster's Vault; Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER; Ouroboroid; Formidable Speaker; Grist, the Hunger Tide Phase windows: main phase; combat; activated or triggered ability windows Runtime cues: action:activate Spymaster's Vault; action:cast Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER; action:cast Ouroboroid; action:cast Formidable Speaker; action:cast Grist, the Hunger Tide Use when: a singleton or Spymaster's Vault action is legal and the engine exposes exact choices. Avoid when: card text is not shown and the line would consume the turn's key mana or creature material. Instructions: Card text check required for unfamiliar singleton roles; route target, loyalty, counter, or combat-related choices through light-model using only visible legal action text. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Combat Preservation

Priority: Medium Decision families: combat Cards: Young Wolf; Badgermole Cub; Dryad Arbor; Walking Ballista; Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Phase windows: declare attackers; declare blockers; combat damage Runtime cues: prompt:declare attackers; prompt:declare blockers; action:attack; action:block Use when: attacking, blocking, or trading changes engine material. Avoid when: exactly one forced combat action is available. Instructions: Preserve Yawgmoth support creatures unless combat prevents lethal, creates a clear kill, or converts a creature that is already redundant; avoid exposing Dryad Arbor or Walking Ballista to combat when their mana, counter, or damage role matters next turn. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Main-Deck Interaction Spending

Priority: Medium Decision families: interaction; priority Cards: Boseiju, Who Endures; Grist, the Hunger Tide; Walking Ballista; Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Phase windows: response window; main phase; combat Runtime cues: action:channel Boseiju, Who Endures; action:activate Grist, the Hunger Tide; action:activate Walking Ballista; action:activate Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Use when: removing a visible permanent or creature changes survival, combo access, or opponent clock. Avoid when: the target is low impact and spending the answer prevents a higher-priority engine play. Instructions: Spend interaction on cards that stop the combo, kill the pilot before the next turn, or lock mana; do not use Boseiju, Who Endures merely because a legal target exists. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard Plan Gate

Priority: High Decision families: sideboard Cards: Cankerbloom; Vexing Bauble; Fulminator Mage; Thoughtseize; Fatal Push; Force of Vigor; Endurance; Dredger's Insight; Malevolent Rumble; Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER; Ouroboroid; Formidable Speaker Phase windows: sideboarding Runtime cues: sideboard:between_games; prompt:submit sideboard plan Use when: selecting post-board configuration. Avoid when: no sideboard decision is pending. Instructions: Add disruption that has visible matchup targets while preserving enough creatures and engines to win; reduce slower selection or uncertain singleton pressure only when the matchup demands speed or interaction. Exact executable swaps must come from Sideboard Map. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Post-Board Interaction Use

Priority: Medium Decision families: interaction; priority Cards: Thoughtseize; Fatal Push; Force of Vigor; Cankerbloom; Vexing Bauble; Fulminator Mage; Endurance Phase windows: opening turns; response window; main phase; opponent graveyard or artifact/enchantment windows Runtime cues: action:cast Thoughtseize; action:cast Fatal Push; action:cast Force of Vigor; action:activate Cankerbloom; action:cast Fulminator Mage; action:cast Endurance Use when: a sideboard card is legal and the visible matchup role gives it a target. Avoid when: casting it delays a required engine and the target does not affect the next decisive turn. Instructions: Use Thoughtseize for combo or control choke points, Fatal Push for creature pressure, Force of Vigor and Cankerbloom for artifacts or enchantments, Fulminator Mage for mana-dependent opponents, and Endurance for graveyard pressure or library reset text shown by the engine. Pilot skill floor: light-model No-API allowed: no Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Forced Priority Pass

Priority: Low Decision families: priority Cards: none Phase windows: any priority window Runtime cues: action:pass Use when: the legal action list contains exactly one action and its text is pass, continue, decline, or done. Avoid when: any non-pass spell, ability, attack, block, target, payment, or selection action is legal. Instructions: Submit the single pass-style action shown by the engine. Pilot skill floor: no-api No-API allowed: yes Light-model allowed: yes