veles-content/strategies/pauper/infect/1/guide.md

Strategy Specifications

Deck Name And Archetype

• Identity: Infect is a Pauper green poison aggro-combo deck built to make one small infect creature connect, then convert a narrow combat window into ten poison counters with pump and protection.

• Format validation: The declared format is Pauper, and the registered list is a constructed 60-card main deck plus a 15-card sideboard. Main-deck count validates to 60: 22 lands or land-like mana/setup slots if counting 9 Forest, 4 Hickory Woodlot, 4 Escape Tunnel, and 5 noncreature setup/protection pressure cards separately; 16 infect or infect-adjacent creatures from 4 Glistener Elf, 4 Blight Mamba, 4 Ichorclaw Myr, and 4 Llanowar Augur; and 22 pump/protection/trample/action spells from 4 Snakeskin Veil, 1 Seal of Strength, 4 Go Forth, 4 Mutagenic Growth, 4 Might of Old Krosa, 4 Embiggen, 2 Vines of Vastwood, and 4 Rancor. Sideboard count validates to 15: 2 Crop Rotation, 3 Nature's Claim, 3 Gut Shot, 2 Scattershot Archer, 2 Seal of Strength, 1 Bojuka Bog, and 2 Vines of Vastwood.

• Tag validation: The supplied tags reduce cleanly to aggro and combo; duplicate tag entries should be ignored by runtime metadata. The deck is not a value midrange deck, not a control deck, and not a normal damage race deck unless poison combat becomes unavailable.

• Stock status: Treat this as a hybrid Infect configuration rather than a pure stock list. The core of Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, Ichorclaw Myr, Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Rancor, Vines of Vastwood, and protection is recognizably Pauper Infect, while Go Forth, Escape Tunnel, Hickory Woodlot, and the exact sideboard mix create list-specific sequencing and mana constraints that the pilot must not smooth over with generic Infect assumptions.

• Legality status: No obvious deck-construction count issue appears in the supplied list, and no card name is duplicated above the normal four-copy limit except basic Forest. Pauper legality and current banned-list status should still be confirmed by the active rules/card database before sanctioned conclusions; Veles should defer to the rules engine if any card import, legality, rarity, or oracle-text mismatch appears. Card text check required for any card whose exact current Oracle text is not available in the runtime state, especially Go Forth if the agent has not already loaded its legal modes and targeting rules.

• Mana concern: The deck is fundamentally green, but its mana is tempo-sensitive because Hickory Woodlot enters with depletion behavior, Escape Tunnel is both mana and possible evasion infrastructure, and the main deck has only 9 Forest. The pilot should value opening hands by whether they cast an early infect creature and support a protected attack, not by raw land count alone.

• Role concern: The default role is proactive poison attacker, but each game state should be classified as setup, commitment, protection, or emergency recovery. The deck should avoid spending pump as ordinary damage unless it converts into poison progress, saves an infect creature from a meaningful exchange, or sets up a forced lethal turn.

• Opponent information status: No specific opponent decklist, matchup, play/draw assignment, or revealed sideboard plan is supplied in this batch. Until public or revealed information identifies the opponent, the pilot should use generic Pauper assumptions only as uncertainty-weighted context and should not act as if removal, blockers, sweepers, graveyard hate, or counterspells are known in hidden zones.

• Runtime discipline: All tactical guidance in later sections must remain subordinate to legal actions, visible board state, public information, revealed information, and the rules-engine action list. The pilot may infer likely archetype patterns from observed lands, spells, creatures, graveyards, and previous games, but must never invent a legal target, hidden card, lethal certainty, prevention result, or protection outcome.

Thesis

• Core plan: Infect assembles one early infect attacker, enough green mana, and a protected pump window that converts a single combat connection into ten poison counters. The deck wins by making Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, or Ichorclaw Myr attack through or around blockers, then stacking Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Rancor, Seal of Strength, Go Forth, Snakeskin Veil, and Vines of Vastwood only when the rules engine shows a legal, high-impact window.

• Primary priority: Preserve an infect creature until an attack can either deal meaningful poison or force the opponent to spend interaction inefficiently. A hand with pump but no infect body is not a functional combo hand; a hand with an infect body but no way to force damage or protect it is a fragile pressure hand.

• Commitment rule: Do not dump pump into open mana or visible blockers just because the action is legal. Commit pump when the visible line creates lethal poison, puts the opponent under a forced next-turn lethal threat, saves the only infect creature from a decisive exchange, or uses protection to beat a specific visible or strongly represented interaction window.

• What the deck is not: Infect is not trying to trade resources evenly, win a long battlefield value game, or deal normal damage as the main route. Normal damage from noninfect sources matters only when poison is locked out, when Rancor or pump creates a secondary race, or when sideboard cards remove blockers and incidentally pressure life totals.

• Runtime discipline: Treat all card text and combat math as subordinate to legal actions and visible engine output. Card text check required for Go Forth before relying on its exact mode, speed, target, pump amount, evasion, or protection role.

Role Package

• Threats: Glistener Elf is the best early threat because it starts poison pressure immediately and turns every pump spell into lethal-range math. Blight Mamba is the resilient threat when the rules engine exposes regeneration or survival actions, and it is valuable against removal-heavy or trade-heavy boards. Ichorclaw Myr is the artifact infect threat that pressures blocks differently and can punish small blockers if its visible combat text supports that exchange. Llanowar Augur is not the primary poison carrier unless the engine shows it can attack profitably; treat it mainly as setup/pump infrastructure tied to exact legal timing.

• Payoffs: Mutagenic Growth is the tempo payoff because it can appear in low-mana lethal turns and can preserve green mana for Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Embiggen, Rancor, or Might of Old Krosa. Might of Old Krosa is a major damage-conversion payoff, especially when main-phase use is legal and does not expose the threat to avoidable removal. Embiggen is a high-ceiling pump spell whose exact value depends on the target creature’s visible types; do not assume maximum size without engine-confirmed text. Rancor is a repeat pressure payoff when trample/evasion matters, but casting it into obvious instant-speed removal should be weighed against losing tempo.

• Engines: The deck’s engine is not card advantage; it is repeated threat plus pump-window compression. Rancor can function as reusable pressure if the rules engine returns it after the enchanted creature dies, and Blight Mamba can function as a persistence engine when regeneration is legal and affordable. Hickory Woodlot can create burst-mana turns that let the deck cast threat, protection, and multiple pump pieces in one decisive sequence.

• Velocity: Go Forth is listed as a four-copy main-deck card and must be treated as important velocity or pressure infrastructure only after card text is verified. Escape Tunnel can support setup by producing mana and, when legal actions show it, can help a small creature connect; use it as evasion only when sacrificing or tapping it advances a poison turn more than preserving mana.

• Interaction: The main deck interacts mostly by protecting its own plan rather than removing opposing cards. Vines of Vastwood can be protection, disruption of opposing targeting, or pump depending on legal modes and costs. Snakeskin Veil protects against targeted interaction and may leave a lasting counter if engine text confirms it. Sideboard interaction comes from Nature's Claim, Gut Shot, Scattershot Archer, Crop Rotation, Bojuka Bog, extra Seal of Strength, and extra Vines of Vastwood.

• Protection: Snakeskin Veil and Vines of Vastwood are the key anti-removal cards, and they should be held for decisive threat-preservation or lethal-push windows unless the opponent is shields-down and racing demands commitment. Mutagenic Growth can also protect from damage-based removal or combat damage when the engine’s pending damage and target legality make that clear.

• Recursion: Rancor and Blight Mamba are the only main-deck cards that can act like recursive resilience, and both must follow visible engine triggers or actions. Do not plan a long recursion game; use recursion only to keep poison pressure alive after the opponent has already spent resources.

• Mana: Forest is the clean green source; Hickory Woodlot is burst mana with tempo cost; Escape Tunnel is mana plus possible evasion infrastructure. Mulligan and sequencing decisions should prioritize casting an infect creature early while preserving enough green access for a protected lethal turn.

• Sideboard modules: Nature's Claim answers artifacts and enchantments that block poison or invalidate combat. Gut Shot and Scattershot Archer fight small creature boards and air pressure. Crop Rotation plus Bojuka Bog supplies graveyard interaction and utility land access. Extra Seal of Strength increases pump density for races, and extra Vines of Vastwood increases protection against removal-heavy decks.

Primary Win Conditions

• Poison burst: Prioritize a one-attack infect kill when Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, or Ichorclaw Myr can connect and the visible legal actions show enough pump to reach ten poison counters. Setup requires an infect creature on board, green mana or life-payment access for pump, and either a clear attack path, Rancor trample pressure, Escape Tunnel-enabled evasion, or protection against likely removal. Execute by committing Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Seal of Strength, Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, and Go Forth only in a rules-engine-confirmed window where the target, cost, and timing are legal. Card text check required for Go Forth before treating it as pump, evasion, protection, or selection.

• Protected lethal: Prefer a slightly slower lethal if holding Snakeskin Veil or Vines of Vastwood lets the infect attacker survive visible interaction. Setup by attacking with one credible infect body while leaving enough mana or alternate payment to answer targeted removal, damage-based removal, bounce, or combat tricks when the engine exposes a response. Execute protection before extra pump when losing the creature would collapse the whole line; execute pump first only when the engine’s stack and legal responses make that ordering necessary for lethal. Prioritize this path against open mana, known removal, small blockers with tricks, or opponents who have already shown instant-speed interaction.

• Early Glistener Elf curve: Prioritize Glistener Elf on the first available turn when the hand has follow-up pump, protection, or Rancor and the mana can support a turn-two or turn-three poison clock. Setup by using Forest or a suitable green source early, then deciding whether to attack for incremental poison or wait for a protected burst based on blockers and open mana. Execute small poison attacks when they create a future two-card lethal without spending premium pump into uncertain interaction. Disruption to respect includes visible blockers, removal mana, and effects that can force a trade before pump resolves.

• Trample or evasion connection: Prioritize Rancor or Escape Tunnel lines when blockers prevent clean infect damage but the rules engine shows legal trample, evasion, or unblockable-style actions. Setup by placing Rancor on the infect creature most likely to survive, or by preserving Escape Tunnel until its legal action creates a decisive connection. Execute only after checking that sacrificing, tapping, or enchanting does not remove the mana needed for protection or lethal pump. This path is strongest against ground stalls and weakest when the opponent can remove the target in response.

• Resilient infect pressure: Prioritize Blight Mamba when removal or combat trades are likely and the engine exposes legal regeneration or survival actions. Setup by keeping mana available when regeneration matters, then force the opponent to answer the same infect body repeatedly. Execute pump more conservatively on Blight Mamba unless the attack is lethal or regeneration plus protection makes the exchange favorable. This path matters when the first Glistener Elf has died or when the opponent’s plan is to trade creatures rather than race.

Secondary Win Conditions

• Incremental poison: Use repeated one-to-three poison attacks when lethal pump is not safe but an infect creature can attack without dying for free. The goal is to reduce the required future pump count, not to spend cards for low-impact damage. Mutagenic Growth or Snakeskin Veil may be correct to preserve a creature during these attacks, but Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Seal of Strength, and Vines of Vastwood should usually be saved unless the engine shows a decisive poison threshold.

• Rancor pressure through nonlethal combat: Use Rancor to make ordinary attacks matter when poison lethal is delayed by blockers or removal. Rancor on Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, or Ichorclaw Myr supports poison; Rancor on Llanowar Augur is a fallback only when no infect body is available and normal damage is the only visible clock. Do not treat normal damage as equal to poison unless the opponent is already low enough or all infect threats are gone.

• Ichorclaw Myr combat leverage: Use Ichorclaw Myr to punish blocks only when the engine’s visible card text and combat result support that exchange. It can force awkward blocks and make pump more threatening, but do not assume the opponent must block or that a block creates lethal without current legal-action math.

• Recurring pressure: Use Rancor recursion and Blight Mamba survival as a way to rebuild after removal, not as a long-game engine. If Rancor returns by rules-engine output, reattach it to the safest infect body or the creature that creates the shortest poison clock. If Blight Mamba can regenerate, preserve mana when that line keeps the only infect threat alive.

Emergency Lines

• Behind on life: Race with poison only when the next attack cycle can threaten lethal or force the opponent to hold back blockers. If survival is at risk, use pump defensively only when it preserves an infect creature and prevents a decisive attack; otherwise keep cards for a single lethal turn.

• Behind on board: Shift from wide combat to one protected connection. Use Rancor, Escape Tunnel, and pump to bypass blockers rather than trading infect creatures into a crowded battlefield. If only one infect creature remains, hold Snakeskin Veil and Vines of Vastwood for preservation before adding extra pump.

• Behind on cards: Stop making speculative pump exchanges. Convert every card into either a lethal attempt, a protected threat, or a blocker-bypass action. Treat Seal of Strength and Rancor as board-based pressure that can reduce the need to hold multiple cards in hand.

• Behind on mana: Prioritize cheap threats and free or low-cost pump. Mutagenic Growth can keep lethal turns alive while Forest, Hickory Woodlot, and Escape Tunnel catch up, but do not spend Hickory Woodlot counters or Escape Tunnel utility unless the resulting turn meaningfully advances poison.

• Infect threats removed: Rebuild around the next Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, or Ichorclaw Myr rather than pumping Llanowar Augur by default. Normal-damage pressure is a fallback clock, but the deck should still preserve pump for the next infect body unless the opponent’s life total and board make normal combat the only realistic route.

• Opponent combo or engine ahead: Shorten the clock and accept more risk when waiting gives the opponent a likely win before the next poison attack. Commit to a protected or semi-protected burst if visible information shows that passivity loses and legal actions provide a real poison line.

Resource Model

• Life: Spend life aggressively for Mutagenic Growth when it converts into lethal poison, saves the only infect creature, or preserves tempo through tapped lands. Do not pay life for Mutagenic Growth just to add nonlethal poison if the opponent’s visible clock makes that life loss relevant before the next attack.

• Hand: Treat pump cards as burst resources, not generic damage. Snakeskin Veil and Vines of Vastwood are protection first when the opponent has open interaction; Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Seal of Strength, Llanowar Augur, Rancor, and Mutagenic Growth are pressure cards whose value rises sharply when one connected infect attack can end the game.

• Mana: Convert small amounts of green mana into oversized combat turns. The deck often wins by spending one or two green mana plus free Mutagenic Growth, but protection windows still require untapped green mana after declaring attacks or after committing Rancor, Seal of Strength, or pump.

• Board: Value one living infect creature more than extra pump in hand. Glistener Elf is the fastest clock, Blight Mamba is the most resilient when regeneration is legal and affordable, and Ichorclaw Myr punishes blocking only if visible combat math and legal actions support that exchange.

• Graveyard: Use the graveyard mostly as a record of exhausted threats and pump. Rancor returning from graveyard is valuable only when the rules engine actually returns it; otherwise do not assume recursion, and do not plan around graveyard value except with sideboard Bojuka Bog against opposing graveyard decks.

• Exile: Treat exiled pump, threats, or Rancor as gone unless the rules engine exposes a legal way to use them. If exile effects remove the first infect creature, switch to rebuilding rather than spending pump on Llanowar Augur normal damage unless the opponent’s life total makes that route realistic.

• Lands: Treat Hickory Woodlot as burst mana with a limited counter budget, Forest as stable green, and Escape Tunnel as both land and a future connection tool. Spending Escape Tunnel for utility can be correct when it creates a decisive unblocked infect attack, but it is a real mana loss.

• Sacrifice fodder: Treat Llanowar Augur and Seal of Strength as preloaded pump pieces, not disposable permanents. Sacrifice them only when the visible legal action converts into lethal, protects a crucial combat result, or makes a connection large enough that future poison is easy.

• Tempo: Prefer threat-plus-protection over slow card conservation. This deck is not trying to win a long resource game; it is trying to force the opponent to answer a small number of fast, protected poison attacks.

• Information: Use only visible mana, battlefield, graveyard, revealed cards, prior public actions, and legal-action text to judge whether to commit. Assume likely removal from archetype only as risk, not certainty.

• Sideboard bullets: Use Nature's Claim, Gut Shot, Scattershot Archer, Crop Rotation, Bojuka Bog, extra Seal of Strength, and extra Vines of Vastwood as role-specific tools after sideboarding. Do not dilute the core infect clock unless the matchup’s visible axis makes the bullet essential.

Mana Guide

• Color requirements: Prioritize green mana because nearly every proactive and protective card needs green or Phyrexian green. Forest is the cleanest source; Hickory Woodlot supplies burst green; Escape Tunnel is utility but may not cast green spells unless another source is present.

• Opening mana: Keep hands that cast an infect creature on turn one or turn two and can support at least one follow-up pump, protection, Rancor, or connection line. Mulligan hands with only Escape Tunnel as mana unless the rules engine and hand contents still show a functional early line.

• Land sequencing: Lead Forest when it enables Glistener Elf, Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Rancor, Seal of Strength, or Llanowar Augur on curve. Lead Hickory Woodlot when the hand needs a later two-green burst and the first turn has no better one-mana play.

• Hickory Woodlot: Preserve Hickory Woodlot counters for lethal or protected burst turns when possible. Spend a counter early only if it deploys a crucial infect creature or creates a tempo line that would otherwise disappear.

• Escape Tunnel: Play Escape Tunnel early only when color needs are already covered or the hand specifically needs its future utility. Hold or sequence it later if playing it now would prevent a green one-drop, protection mana, or main-phase Might of Old Krosa line.

• Utility timing: Activate Escape Tunnel only when the legal target and combat state make the connection matter. Do not sacrifice it for a small nonlethal attack if losing the land prevents follow-up protection or a second spell on the next turn.

• Play land before draw: Play a land before draw or selection only when the current legal action requires mana immediately, when holding the land has no tactical value, or when the extra mana enables protection through the opponent’s next response. This deck has little card selection, so default to making required mana available before committing combat actions.

• Play land after draw: Delay the land drop when Go Forth or another visible effect may change what land is needed; Card text check required for Go Forth. Also delay when concealing Escape Tunnel versus Forest meaningfully affects the opponent’s public decisions and no current legal action needs the mana.

• Main-phase pump mana: Use Might of Old Krosa in the main phase only when the engine’s current card text and legal action support the larger effect and the risk of sorcery-speed commitment is acceptable. Hold instant-speed pump when protection, blockers, or removal could change the attack.

• Protection mana: Keep green mana open for Snakeskin Veil or Vines of Vastwood when the infect creature is more important than adding damage. If lethal requires using all green mana first, verify that the visible stack and opponent’s resources make the unprotected commitment worth the risk.

• Mutagenic Growth mana: Prefer paying life for Mutagenic Growth when green mana must remain available for Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Blight Mamba regeneration, or another decisive spell. Pay green instead when life is under pressure and no protection window is being sacrificed.

• Sideboard mana: Account for Crop Rotation, Nature's Claim, Gut Shot, Scattershot Archer, Bojuka Bog, extra Seal of Strength, and extra Vines of Vastwood after sideboarding. Crop Rotation and Bojuka Bog change land sequencing because sacrificing or playing a land can affect both mana count and graveyard interaction timing.

Mulligan Guide

• Strong keep: Keep Forest plus Glistener Elf plus one protection spell and one pump spell. A hand like Forest, Glistener Elf, Snakeskin Veil, Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Rancor, any land has a fast threat, protection mana, and a realistic poison clock.

• Strong keep: Keep Forest plus Ichorclaw Myr or Blight Mamba when the rest of the hand contains Rancor, Embiggen, Mutagenic Growth, or Vines of Vastwood. This hand is slower than Glistener Elf, but it still presents a protected two-turn kill plan.

• Medium keep: Keep Hickory Woodlot plus Glistener Elf when the hand has a second land or enough one-mana plays to use the burst later. Hickory Woodlot is awkward on turn one, but it can power protected lethal turns if the hand already functions.

• Medium keep: Keep threat-light hands with exactly one infect creature only when protection or resilience is present. Blight Mamba plus Forest plus Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, or regeneration mana is more acceptable than naked Glistener Elf into open removal.

• Risky keep: Keep Escape Tunnel hands only when another green source casts an infect creature on time. Escape Tunnel is valuable for connection, but a hand that cannot produce early green often loses before its utility matters.

• Risky keep: Keep pump-heavy hands only with a real infect creature and castable mana. Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Rancor, Seal of Strength, and Llanowar Augur do not matter if the first infect creature is delayed or easily removed.

• Automatic ship: Mulligan any hand with no infect creature unless it contains a clearly legal Go Forth line that finds or creates one; Card text check required. Do not keep a hand that only attacks with Llanowar Augur normal damage unless the rules engine shows an exceptional legal path.

• Automatic ship: Mulligan hands with no green source and no immediate rules-engine-supported way to access green mana. Mutagenic Growth can be cast with life, but the deck still needs green for threats, Rancor, protection, and most pump.

• Matchup-dependent keep: Against heavy removal, prefer Glistener Elf plus Snakeskin Veil or Vines of Vastwood over a faster but unprotected pump stack. Against creature decks with few visible answers, a threat plus Rancor and multiple pump spells can be better than holding protection.

• Play/draw adjustment: On the play, favor Glistener Elf hands that threaten turn-two or turn-three poison pressure. On the draw, raise the bar for protection because the opponent gets one more chance to expose removal, blockers, or tempo before the first attack.

• Trap hand: Do not keep multiple pump spells, Hickory Woodlot, Escape Tunnel, and no infect creature. This hand looks explosive but does not start the poison clock.

• Trap hand: Do not keep Glistener Elf plus only Escape Tunnel plus pump unless the rules engine confirms a castable line. The one-drop matters only if the mana actually casts it on time.

Turn Arc

• Turn 1: Prefer Forest into Glistener Elf whenever legal. This is the deck’s cleanest start because every later pump, protection, Rancor, Seal of Strength, or Llanowar Augur line becomes immediately relevant.

• Turn 1: Play Forest into Seal of Strength or Llanowar Augur when there is no legal infect creature but the hand has a turn-two Ichorclaw Myr or Blight Mamba. Seal of Strength preloads pump; Llanowar Augur is tactical only if its timing restriction and sacrifice action are legal when needed.

• Turn 1 deviation: Play Hickory Woodlot when the hand has no one-mana green creature and needs two-green burst on turn two or turn three. Do not spend the future counter casually if a normal Forest line exists.

• Turn 1 deviation: Play Escape Tunnel only when green is already covered or the hand’s visible plan depends on its later unblockable-style utility. Avoid leading Escape Tunnel if it prevents Glistener Elf or protection from being available.

• Turn 2: Attack with Glistener Elf before committing pump unless main-phase Might of Old Krosa is the chosen lethal or near-lethal line. Keep Snakeskin Veil or Vines of Vastwood available when the opponent represents removal and the threat is irreplaceable.

• Turn 2: Cast Rancor on an infect creature when the opponent is tapped down, lacks visible removal, or the trample pressure matters against blockers. If open interaction is likely, consider attacking first or holding aura commitment until protection is available.

• Turn 2: Deploy Ichorclaw Myr or Blight Mamba when the first threat is absent, answered, or too exposed. Blight Mamba is preferred in grindy removal states when regeneration mana can be held; Ichorclaw Myr is preferred against blocking pressure.

• Turn 2 deviation: Use Mutagenic Growth aggressively when it creates a major poison step without spending green mana needed for protection. Use Embiggen, Might of Old Krosa, Seal of Strength, or Llanowar Augur only when the visible combat and stack make the commitment worth the risk.

• Turn 3: Look for the first real kill window. Count poison from the unblocked infect creature plus Rancor, Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Seal of Strength, Llanowar Augur, Snakeskin Veil counters, and Vines of Vastwood only through legal actions shown by the engine.

• Turn 3: Prefer protected lethal over maximum damage. If lethal requires spending every green mana and passing through open removal, compare the risk against waiting one turn with Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Blight Mamba regeneration, or Escape Tunnel support.

• Turn 3 deviation: Use Escape Tunnel only if the legal target and board state make a decisive poison connection. Sacrificing or using the land for a small attack is poor when it prevents rebuilding after removal.

• Turns 4-5: Shift from pure speed to threat preservation. Opponents often have blockers or removal by now, so favor Blight Mamba resilience, protected Rancor pressure, Escape Tunnel connection turns, and pump stacks that force lethal rather than medium poison.

• Turns 4-5: Rebuild immediately after removal if another infect creature is available. Do not spend pump on Llanowar Augur normal damage unless poison is no longer a realistic route and visible life totals make damage lethal soon.

• Turns 4-5 deviation: Use Go Forth only according to confirmed rules-engine text; Card text check required. If it offers selection, tutoring, or setup, choose the line that restores an infect threat, finds mana for protection, or creates a near-term poison attack.

• Late game: Treat every infect creature as the whole plan. Wait for a protected connection, Escape Tunnel utility, Rancor trample, or a lethal pump cluster instead of trading the last threat for small poison.

• Late game: Use free Mutagenic Growth and stored Seal of Strength to compress the final window. Preserve green mana for Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Blight Mamba regeneration, or the spell that actually makes combat lethal.

• Late game deviation: Against a board that fully stops combat, prioritize finding or preserving a connecting line over adding more pump. Rancor trample, Ichorclaw Myr blocker punishment, Escape Tunnel, and protection-backed attacks are more important than raw hand size.

Card Roles

Glistener Elf is the premium opener and the cleanest carrier for every pump plan. Cast it on turn one whenever legal unless the hand cannot protect or use it and another infect creature line is clearly safer. Preserve it carefully against open removal because losing the first infect creature often turns all pump into stranded cardboard. Pair it with Rancor, Might of Old Krosa, Mutagenic Growth, Embiggen, Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Seal of Strength, or Llanowar Augur only when the visible stack and mana make the poison gain worth the exposure.

Blight Mamba is the resilient infect body for grindy boards and removal-heavy matchups. Cast it when Glistener Elf is absent, answered, or too vulnerable, and hold green mana for regeneration only when the rules engine presents a legal regeneration action and that protection matters this turn. Do not assume regeneration beats exile, sacrifice, toughness reduction, or non-destroy effects; use only the legal protection window shown by Forge. With Rancor or Escape Tunnel, it can convert a stalled board into a real clock.

Ichorclaw Myr is the infect creature that punishes blocking and makes combat awkward for creature decks. Deploy it when the opponent is likely to rely on blockers rather than removal, then force them to choose between taking poison or enabling its blocked-combat bonus if the engine confirms it. Rancor is especially important here because trample can make a block still leak poison. Avoid wasting pump before blocks unless main-phase Might of Old Krosa or an Escape Tunnel timing requirement demands it.

Llanowar Augur is a setup permanent and timing-restricted burst source, not a normal instant pump spell. Cast it early when an infect creature is expected to attack on the next turn, and use its sacrifice ability only when the rules engine offers the legal activation window. Its trample-granting role can replace or supplement Rancor on lethal turns, but the upkeep-style timing means the opponent may see the line before combat. Do not rely on Llanowar Augur as post-block surprise interaction unless Forge explicitly presents that action.

Rancor is the main evasion and pressure amplifier because trample turns small poison attacks into lethal math through blockers. Enchant an infect creature when the opponent is tapped low, protection is available, or trample changes the next combat meaningfully. Be careful casting Rancor into open removal; if the target is removed before the Aura resolves, do not assume it returns. Prefer Rancor on Ichorclaw Myr against blockers, on Glistener Elf for fast kills, and on Blight Mamba when resilience matters.

Mutagenic Growth is free tempo pump that lets the deck spend green mana on protection, extra pump, or regeneration. Use it to create lethal poison, save an infect creature from damage-based interaction when legal, or add surprise pressure after blockers. Treat the life payment as real against Burn or fast creature decks; do not pay life for marginal poison if it puts the opponent’s next attack or burn spell in lethal range. It is best when it compresses a kill turn without tapping mana.

Might of Old Krosa is the highest-rate green pump when main-phase timing is acceptable. Use the larger main-phase mode for committed lethal or near-lethal attacks, especially when the opponent cannot punish the information or removal risk. Use the smaller instant-speed mode only when surprise, protection from combat damage, or holding priority matters more than raw poison. Common mistake: casting it precombat into open mana when waiting would preserve the threat and still produce a strong future attack.

Embiggen is a one-mana pump spell whose exact size depends on the target’s current types; Card text check required for exact current type count if the action label does not show the pump size. Use it on non-Human infect creatures when the visible bonus materially changes poison math. It is often strongest on typed infect creatures such as Glistener Elf, Ichorclaw Myr, or Blight Mamba, but do not assume a specific number without engine output. Avoid spending it on nonlethal chip damage unless the clock demands immediate pressure.

Snakeskin Veil is protection first and pump second. Hold it when the opponent represents targeted removal and your infect creature is the only path to victory. Use the +1/+1 counter as part of poison math, but do not fire it merely for damage if keeping it would protect a lethal future turn. It does not answer edicts, sweepers, or non-targeting effects unless the rules engine says otherwise. Against black, red, and blue interaction, prioritize keeping one green available for Snakeskin Veil over adding a low-impact pump spell.

Vines of Vastwood is both a protection spell and a kicked lethal pump spell. Use the unkicked mode to stop opposing targeted spells or abilities from affecting your creature when legal; use the kicked mode when it both protects or pressures and the extra poison matters. It can also disrupt an opposing creature-targeting line if Forge presents a legal target, but do not invent that use without visible legal actions. Because it costs more than Snakeskin Veil when kicked, plan green mana before committing Might of Old Krosa, Rancor, or Blight Mamba regeneration.

Seal of Strength is stored pump that lets the deck preload damage before a decisive combat. Cast it when spare mana is available and you expect an infect creature to attack soon, especially through counterspell or discard pressure where a battlefield pump source may be harder to stop. Its visible presence changes opponent blocks, so use that information: sometimes the Seal deters blocks, and sometimes sacrificing it before damage forces lethal. Do not expose it to enchantment removal for no reason if holding a hidden pump spell is tactically better.

Go Forth is a four-copy green instant whose exact tactical role requires confirmation; Card text check required. Use it only according to the legal action text provided by the rules engine. If it functions as pump, compare it with Might of Old Krosa, Mutagenic Growth, and Embiggen by poison gained and mana left for protection. If it provides selection, counters, or setup, prioritize lines that find or strengthen an infect creature. Do not keep or sequence hands assuming a specific Go Forth effect unless Forge has exposed that effect in the current game.

Escape Tunnel is a colorless land with attack-enabling utility, but it does not cast the deck’s green one-drops or protection. Play it when green mana is already covered or when a future unblockable-style activation is central to winning through blockers. If its legal activation has a power restriction, use it before pump effects that would make the target illegal, then stack pump afterward only through legal actions. Do not spend Escape Tunnel for a small poison hit if sacrificing or tapping it prevents a protected lethal turn.

Hickory Woodlot is burst green mana for multi-spell kill turns at the cost of speed and permanence. Play it early when the hand lacks a turn-one Glistener Elf line or needs two green on a future turn for Vines of Vastwood, Rancor plus pump, or multiple protection spells. Count depletion-style limitations carefully; do not consume its counters on routine development if the planned lethal turn needs them. It is excellent for compressed turns and poor when it delays the first infect creature.

Forest is the deck’s most important land because almost every proactive and protective spell needs green. Prefer Forest as the first land when it casts Glistener Elf, Llanowar Augur, Rancor, Snakeskin Veil, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Go Forth, Seal of Strength, or Vines of Vastwood on curve. Do not overvalue colorless utility from Escape Tunnel or delayed burst from Hickory Woodlot if the hand simply needs untapped green mana to start the poison clock and hold protection.

Interaction Priorities

• Priority: Protect the first real infect threat before maximizing pump. Glistener Elf, Ichorclaw Myr, and Blight Mamba are the cards that convert every pump spell into poison; losing the only infect creature usually matters more than saving Rancor, Seal of Strength, Llanowar Augur, or a nonlethal pump spell.

• Priority: Use Snakeskin Veil and Vines of Vastwood against targeted removal, bounce, tap effects, or opposing abilities only when the rules engine presents a legal protective action. Do not assume they answer edicts, sweepers, combat rules, sacrifice effects, or non-targeting removal.

• Priority: Counter opposing interaction by sequencing, not by holding up a literal counterspell. Bait cheap removal with Rancor, Seal of Strength, Llanowar Augur, or a small attack when another infect creature is available; commit Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Mutagenic Growth, Go Forth, or kicked Vines of Vastwood only when the target is likely to survive or lethal justifies the risk.

• Priority: If post-board Gut Shot is present and Forge offers legal targets, remove one-toughness blockers, utility creatures, or creatures that change combat before spending pump to force through poison. Against fast creature decks, also consider Gut Shot as a tempo tool that preserves attacks without risking the infect creature in combat.

• Priority: If post-board Nature's Claim is present and Forge offers legal targets, use it on artifacts or enchantments that stop attacks, produce lethal pressure, blank pump, or threaten a race swing. Ignore low-impact artifacts or enchantments when the current line can win through them.

• Priority: If post-board Bojuka Bog or Crop Rotation into Bojuka Bog is available, graveyard interaction is only worth spending when the opponent’s graveyard is visibly enabling a high-impact play or recursion line. Do not slow the poison clock for speculative graveyard hate without public evidence.

• Priority: Ignore the opponent’s life total unless it affects Mutagenic Growth life payment, Nature's Claim life gain, or race math. Infect wins by poison; do not redirect resources toward normal damage unless no infect path remains and Forge legal actions make damage the only live plan.

• Priority: Against removal-heavy black, red, and blue decks, keep green mana open for Snakeskin Veil or Vines of Vastwood before casting extra pump. Against creature-heavy decks, prioritize trample, evasion, and blocker management through Rancor, Escape Tunnel, Gut Shot, and combat timing. Against combo or graveyard decks, shorten the clock unless a legal Bojuka Bog line clearly stops their next public threat.

Combat And Trading Rules

• Attack: Lead combat with an infect creature whenever the attack either advances a two-turn poison clock, forces bad blocks, or threatens lethal with visible and hidden pump. Do not attack a lone infect creature into an obvious profitable block unless Rancor, Ichorclaw Myr combat scaling, Mutagenic Growth, Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Seal of Strength, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, or Go Forth changes the exchange through legal actions.

• Attack: Treat Glistener Elf as the best early clock and the most fragile asset. Preserve it from unnecessary trades; a turn-one Glistener Elf plus protected pump is often better than deploying extra permanents that do not affect the next poison attack.

• Attack: Treat Ichorclaw Myr as the preferred attacker into blockers when its visible or known combat text makes blocking unattractive. Pair it with Rancor when trample turns blocks into poison leakage, but do not assume exact damage without Forge combat output.

• Attack: Treat Blight Mamba as the best attrition infect creature when regeneration is legal and affordable. Leave mana for regeneration against damage or destroy-based combat outcomes when that preserves the only infect threat; do not spend that mana on marginal pump unless lethal is available.

• Pump: Cast main-phase Might of Old Krosa only when the larger bonus is worth revealing the plan and accepting removal risk. Prefer instant-speed pump or holding protection when the opponent has open interaction and the attack is not lethal.

• Pump: Use Mutagenic Growth to win compressed combats without spending mana, but respect life thresholds against Burn and wide aggro. Paying life is correct for lethal poison or saving the infect creature; it is suspect for small chip poison when the opponent can race.

• Pump: Use Llanowar Augur and Seal of Strength as preloaded pressure when they let a later attack keep mana open. They also signal pump, so expect blocks and removal to change after they are visible.

• Trade: Trade non-infect support pieces before trading infect creatures. Llanowar Augur can be spent if its legal ability meaningfully improves a poison attack; Glistener Elf, Ichorclaw Myr, and Blight Mamba should not be sacrificed to ordinary damage races unless no other survival line exists.

• Block: Block sparingly because the deck is usually the beatdown. Block with infect creatures only to survive lethal, protect a more important future attack, exploit Blight Mamba regeneration, or convert pump/protection into a favorable exchange that keeps an infect threat alive.

• Evasion: Use Escape Tunnel only when its legal activation makes a poison attack connect or sets up lethal better than preserving mana and land resources. If a power restriction exists, activate before pump only when Forge confirms the target is legal.

• Archetype shift: Against creature swarms, trample and evasion matter more than maximum pump size. Against control, patience and protection matter more than chip poison. Against combo, attack more aggressively and accept higher pump exposure when waiting gives the opponent a likely faster win.

Selection And Tutor Rules

• Selection: Treat the main deck as a low-selection threat-compression deck, not a card-filtering deck. There are no main-deck draw spells, scry effects, or true tutors, so the key selection decisions are mulligan quality, land sequencing, which infect creature to expose, and which pump/protection spell to spend first.

• Selection: Use opening-hand selection to find one infect creature plus enough mana and pump/protection to make that creature matter. Hands with only pump, only lands, or only non-infect support pieces should be judged harshly because the deck has little ability to repair them later.

• Land timing: Play Forest early when green mana is required for Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, Rancor, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Snakeskin Veil, or Vines of Vastwood. Do not prioritize utility lands over green access unless the visible hand already casts its key spells.

• Land timing: Sequence Hickory Woodlot when the game plan can absorb a tapped or delayed mana source and the extra green burst will support a later lethal turn. Avoid spending its limited mana into low-impact actions when it is needed for a protected pump sequence.

• Pseudo-selection: Treat Escape Tunnel as combat access, not mana fixing. Preserve it when unblockability is likely to matter more than an immediate colorless mana, and activate it before pump only when Forge shows the intended infect creature is still a legal target.

• Tutor: With sideboard Crop Rotation, search for Bojuka Bog only when public graveyard information makes graveyard denial relevant now or before the opponent’s next graveyard action. Do not sacrifice a critical land for speculative hate if the poison clock is already winning.

• Tutor: Use Crop Rotation for Escape Tunnel only when the current or next attack needs unblockability more than the sacrificed land’s mana. This line is strongest when a visible infect creature can legally receive the tunnel effect before pump increases power beyond any restriction Forge applies.

• Tutor: Use Crop Rotation for Forest or another mana land only when mana development is the bottleneck and the sacrificed land does not reduce the ability to protect the threat. The deck wins by converting a narrow window, so land tutoring should serve a specific attack, protection, or hate timing.

• Card text check required: Go Forth must be handled from Forge legal action text until exact current Oracle text is verified. If Forge offers Go Forth as pump, protection, selection, or another action type, evaluate only the visible legal targets, costs, timing, and resulting strategic role.

Priority And Stack Rules

• Priority: Pass priority when no legal action improves the current poison attack, protects a key infect creature, stops a relevant opposing spell, or preserves lethal for the next window. Do not cast pump merely because mana is available.

• Response: Use Snakeskin Veil or Vines of Vastwood in response to targeted removal or targeted disruption when Forge presents a legal protective action for an important infect creature. Do not assume these cards answer non-targeting sweepers, edicts, sacrifice effects, combat damage, or rules-based deaths.

• Pump timing: Hold Mutagenic Growth, Embiggen, Vines of Vastwood, and conditional Go Forth actions until blockers, removal windows, and lethal math are clearer unless main-phase action is required by the card text. Instant-speed pump is strongest after the opponent commits blocks or removal.

• Pump timing: Cast Might of Old Krosa in the main phase only when the larger visible effect is necessary for lethal, a forced block, or a two-turn clock. If the opponent has open interaction and lethal is not available, prefer preserving hidden information and protection.

• Commitment: Start an all-in pump stack only when lethal poison, survival, or a decisive tempo window justifies losing multiple cards to one answer. If the opponent can still respond and a protected later attack is plausible, conserve at least one pump or protection card.

• Aura timing: Cast Rancor when trample changes combat or when forcing damage through blockers matters more than exposing the creature to removal. If the opponent has open removal, consider whether a smaller attack plus held protection is better than risking both the threat and the aura tempo.

• Activated abilities: Activate Blight Mamba regeneration only when Forge offers it and preserving that infect creature matters more than using the mana for pump, protection, or another threat. Do not reserve regeneration mana against effects it cannot legally answer.

• Activated abilities: Use Escape Tunnel in the last safe precombat or combat window that still leaves the intended creature legal. If later pump would make the creature ineligible, tunnel first; if the creature is already too large, do not force the line.

• Optional payments: Pay life for Mutagenic Growth when it enables lethal poison, saves an infect creature, or wins a combat that keeps the clock alive. Decline life payment for marginal poison when Burn, fast aggro, or visible pressure makes life total a real resource.

• Optional payments: Pay kicker or extra costs on Vines of Vastwood only when the larger effect or protection swing changes the attack, combat, or removal exchange. Use the cheaper mode when mana must remain available for another protection spell, regeneration, or follow-up threat.

• Graveyard timing: Use Bojuka Bog or Crop Rotation into Bojuka Bog at the last practical window before the opponent can use the graveyard, while respecting land-drop and mana needs. Do not spend the hate after the graveyard resource has already resolved unless a remaining public payoff still matters.

• Let resolve: Let opposing low-impact spells resolve when responding would consume pump or protection needed for the poison kill. Spend stack interaction through Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Gut Shot, Nature's Claim, or Crop Rotation only when the visible spell or permanent changes the clock, blocks the attack, or threatens the infect creature.

Sideboard Map

• Sideboard posture: Preserve the core plan of one legal infect attacker plus pump/protection, then add narrow cards only when they solve a visible matchup problem. Do not dilute the deck into normal combat; every sideboard card should either protect the infect creature, clear a blocker, deny a graveyard engine, or create a faster lethal window.

• Vines of Vastwood: Add against removal-heavy decks, blue decks with bounce or targeted tempo, black decks with targeted kill, red decks with burn aimed at creatures, and any opponent that must interact with one infect creature to survive. It is weak when the opponent mostly uses edicts, sweepers, sacrifice effects, fogs, or racing permanents that never target your creature. Role change: after sideboarding, treat Vines of Vastwood as the highest-value protection spell first and a pump spell second unless lethal poison is available through a legal kicked action.

• Nature's Claim: Add against artifact lands, artifact creatures, equipment, enchantment-based removal, lifegain engines, Bogles-style auras, Affinity permanents, and any prison or prevention permanent that blocks poison kills. It is weak against creature-only aggro and spell-heavy control with few legal artifact or enchantment targets. Role change: use it as tempo interaction when the permanent stops the attack, not as generic value; the opponent gaining life usually matters little because poison is the primary win condition.

• Gut Shot: Add against one-toughness blockers, mana creatures, Faeries, Elves, small red creatures, token starts, and decks where removing a blocker before combat converts directly into poison. It is weak against high-toughness blockers, artifact blockers with more than one toughness, removal-control mirrors with few creatures, and matchups where life payment makes Burn math dangerous. Role change: treat Gut Shot as a blocker-clear spell or tempo spell, not as reach; non-poison damage rarely advances the main win condition unless it removes a creature.

• Scattershot Archer: Add against Faeries, flyers, and token decks where repeated one-damage pressure to flying creatures can clear the air or stop flash blockers from controlling combat. It is weak when the opponent has few flyers, when it cannot attack poison, and when spending a turn on a non-infect creature delays the only credible clock. Role change: use it as a board-control side piece only when the matchup’s flyers materially interfere with infect attacks or protect the opponent’s clock.

• Crop Rotation: Add when a specific land bullet or combat land matters more than preserving raw land count. It supports Bojuka Bog against graveyard decks and can find Escape Tunnel when unblockability is the cleanest route through stalled combat. It is weak against land destruction, counterspell-heavy decks when sacrificing a land would be disastrous, and fast matchups where losing a mana source delays pump-protection turns. Role change: treat it as a commitment tool; do not cast it speculatively when the current hand needs every land to present protected lethal.

• Bojuka Bog: Add with Crop Rotation against graveyard engines, recursive threats, flashback plans, dredge-like loops, reanimation plans, and decks where public graveyard cards are about to become resources. It is weak against decks with little graveyard use and against games where entering tapped or using the land slot delays a lethal infect attack. Role change: it is a hate land, not a mana upgrade; prioritize the timing that denies the next visible graveyard action while keeping enough green mana for the kill.

• Seal of Strength: Add in racing matchups, matchups with sorcery-speed interaction, and games where banking pump on the battlefield helps use mana before a key attack turn. It is weak against bounce, enchantment removal, board states where a visible permanent pump source lets the opponent plan blocks, and decks that punish noncreature permanents. Role change: use extra Seal of Strength as preloaded damage when mana bottlenecks matter, but avoid making the lethal plan too visible if hidden instant-speed pump would be stronger.

• Plan vs Faeries and one-toughness flyer decks: Side in: 3 Gut Shot, 2 Scattershot Archer, 2 Vines of Vastwood Cut: 1 Seal of Strength, 2 Go Forth, 2 Llanowar Augur, 2 Rancor

• Plan vs graveyard recursion or graveyard combo: Side in: 2 Crop Rotation, 1 Bojuka Bog, 2 Vines of Vastwood Cut: 1 Seal of Strength, 2 Go Forth, 2 Llanowar Augur

• Plan vs artifacts, auras, or Affinity-style permanents: Side in: 3 Nature's Claim, 2 Vines of Vastwood Cut: 1 Seal of Strength, 2 Go Forth, 2 Llanowar Augur

• Plan vs red removal and fast creature pressure: Side in: 3 Gut Shot, 2 Vines of Vastwood, 2 Seal of Strength Cut: 2 Go Forth, 2 Llanowar Augur, 1 Rancor, 2 Hickory Woodlot

• Against removal-control: Add role cards: Vines of Vastwood and sometimes Seal of Strength when banking pump beats mana denial. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slower exposed pump, nonessential setup creatures, and any card whose exact text is uncertain until Forge presents a useful legal action. Protect one infect creature rather than flooding the board into sweepers or edicts.

• Against creature swarms: Add role cards: Gut Shot, Scattershot Archer for flyers, and Seal of Strength when racing requires a larger attack. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow lands and support pieces that do not affect the first two combat steps. Value Rancor higher when trample is the only way to force poison through blockers.

• Against artifact or enchantment board control: Add role cards: Nature's Claim and Vines of Vastwood when targeted removal is also present. Reduce main-deck emphasis: pump that cannot connect through the relevant permanent. Hold Nature's Claim for permanents that stop poison, create impossible blocks, or remove your protected attack window.

• Against graveyard decks: Add role cards: Crop Rotation, Bojuka Bog, and Vines of Vastwood if they also have targeted disruption. Reduce main-deck emphasis: the slowest pump or support pieces when graveyard denial must happen before the opponent’s next engine turn. Do not spend Crop Rotation before public graveyard information or a clear timing need exists.

• Against Burn: Add role cards: Vines of Vastwood and possibly Seal of Strength; add Gut Shot only when visible one-toughness creatures materially change the race. Reduce main-deck emphasis: Hickory Woodlot when tapped timing costs too much tempo and life-payment lines when Mutagenic Growth is not decisive. Use protection on the infect creature, not on life total, unless Forge offers an interaction that clearly changes lethal timing.

• Card text check required: Go Forth should be the first flexible main-deck card considered in balanced plans only if Forge action text shows it is lower impact than the added sideboard role in that matchup. If Go Forth proves to be core pump, protection, or evasion in the live rules engine, preserve it and reduce a different slow support card instead.

Matchup Guidance

• Against aggro: Race with one protected infect creature, not with repeated fair trades. Keep hands that present Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, or Ichorclaw Myr early plus enough pump to threaten a two-turn clock; value Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Rancor, and Seal of Strength as ways to compress the race before life-total pressure matters. Add Gut Shot when public blockers have one toughness, add Scattershot Archer only when flyers or flying tokens matter, and add Vines of Vastwood when the opponent has burn or targeted removal. Reduce reliance on slow Hickory Woodlot starts when entering tapped would miss the first attack window. Use Snakeskin Veil and Vines of Vastwood to preserve the infect creature through removal; do not spend protection only to save a noninfect sideboard creature unless that creature is already controlling the combat math.

• Against control: Commit one threat at a time and force the opponent to answer protected attacks. Prioritize Glistener Elf starts when the opening hand also has Snakeskin Veil or Vines of Vastwood; otherwise, Blight Mamba and Ichorclaw Myr are acceptable slower threats if protection can cover the first removal exchange. Banked pump from Seal of Strength can matter against tap-out control, but exposed pump also tells the opponent how much poison is coming. Treat Might of Old Krosa as strongest before combat when shields are clear and treat instant-speed pump as stronger when the opponent has open mana. Add Vines of Vastwood and sometimes extra Seal of Strength; keep Nature's Claim only when the control deck shows artifacts, enchantments, or prevention pieces that actually stop poison. Card text check required: use Go Forth only according to the legal action text Forge exposes, and do not assume it is protection or evasion unless visible.

• Against combo: Kill quickly unless interaction is visible and high leverage. Infect’s best disruption is shortening the game, so mulligan slow hands without an infect threat or a credible turn-three to turn-four poison plan. Add Crop Rotation plus Bojuka Bog against graveyard combo, and time Bojuka Bog for the public graveyard state that enables the next combo step rather than for cosmetic value. Add Nature's Claim against artifact or enchantment combo when the permanent is a required engine piece. Hold Vines of Vastwood and Snakeskin Veil for removal or targeted disruption that would stop the lethal attack, but do not pass too many lethal windows trying to play around unknown interaction.

• Against tempo: Protect the first threat that can keep attacking through bounce, flash blockers, and cheap removal. Rancor is valuable when small blockers are the tempo deck’s main defense, but it is risky if the opponent can bounce or remove the creature in response to a pump stack. Ichorclaw Myr punishes blocks and can make tempo opponents choose between taking poison and losing board efficiency. Add Gut Shot for small flash creatures or one-toughness blockers, add Scattershot Archer against Faeries-style flyers, and add Vines of Vastwood when targeted interaction is common. Avoid sacrificing tempo with speculative Crop Rotation unless Escape Tunnel or Bojuka Bog has an immediate visible purpose.

• Against midrange: Treat blockers and removal as the same problem: one protected attacker must connect through both. Rancor and Escape Tunnel are important when the opponent clogs the ground; use Escape Tunnel only when Forge presents a legal unblockable line and the chosen infect creature can convert it into meaningful poison. Blight Mamba is more resilient in attrition games if regeneration or similar legal actions are exposed by the engine, but do not assume protection from all removal. Add Vines of Vastwood against targeted removal, add Nature's Claim against artifact or enchantment blockers or engines, and consider Seal of Strength when preloading pump lets a single attack beat tapped-out midrange shields.

• Against big mana: Pressure before the opponent’s expensive stabilizer matters. Mulligan hands that develop slowly without an infect creature, because large blockers and sweepers can invalidate incremental pump. Glistener Elf plus cheap pump is the cleanest plan; Ichorclaw Myr plus Rancor is a backup when blockers appear. Add Nature's Claim if big mana uses artifact acceleration, enchantment locks, or artifact blockers; add Crop Rotation only when Escape Tunnel creates a realistic unblockable kill or Bojuka Bog hits a graveyard subtheme. Preserve Snakeskin Veil and Vines of Vastwood for the turn that matters instead of using pump early for nonlethal poison if a sweeper or removal window is likely.

• Against graveyard decks: Use poison speed first and graveyard hate at the visible engine point. Add Crop Rotation and Bojuka Bog when the opponent’s public graveyard enables recursion, flashback, reanimation, dredge-like loops, or escape-style value. Do not cast Crop Rotation merely because it is legal if sacrificing a land would delay lethal or leave no green mana for protection. Add Vines of Vastwood when graveyard decks also carry removal, and keep enough pump to punish a turn spent setting up the graveyard. If Bojuka Bog enters tapped or consumes a land slot, weigh that tempo cost against whether the graveyard action is actually imminent from public information.

• Against artifact/enchantment decks: Add Nature's Claim for permanents that stop poison, generate impossible blockers, race through lifegain prevention, or represent a required engine. The opponent gaining life from Nature's Claim is usually acceptable because poison is the primary win condition, but do not spend it on a permanent that does not affect the poison race. Add Vines of Vastwood if their artifacts or enchantments are paired with targeted removal. Against Affinity-style boards, prioritize clearing the blocker or lock piece that makes the current infect attack connect; against aura or enchantment control, prioritize the permanent that changes combat legality or removal timing.

• Against go-wide decks: Push one evasive or trampling infect attack through instead of trying to control every creature. Rancor is high value when trample converts a crowded board into poison; Ichorclaw Myr discourages blocks but still needs pump or evasion to beat multiple blockers. Add Gut Shot against one-toughness creatures and tokens, and add Scattershot Archer when the swarm is flying. Seal of Strength can preload a larger attack when mana is tight, but do not reveal the entire lethal count if instant-speed pump would punish blocks better. Avoid unnecessary blocks with infect creatures unless survival or a forced trade is more important than preserving the clock.

• Against single-threat decks: Race while keeping protection for the interaction that removes your only attacker. If the opponent relies on one large blocker, Rancor and Escape Tunnel are the cleanest routes; if they rely on one racing creature, calculate whether poison lethal arrives before damage lethal. Add Nature's Claim when the single threat is an artifact, enchantment, or aura-supported permanent. Add Vines of Vastwood against targeted removal or pump-like interaction that targets their creature only if Forge exposes a legal action and the exchange changes the race. Do not over-sideboard into reactive cards when the fastest poison line is already better.

• Against Burn: Treat life as a secondary but real resource because Mutagenic Growth and Gut Shot can cost life. Prefer hands with early infect plus Snakeskin Veil or Vines of Vastwood, because burn often doubles as creature removal. Add Vines of Vastwood and extra Seal of Strength when faster protected kills matter; add Gut Shot only for visible one-toughness creatures that change the race. Be cautious with Hickory Woodlot if tapped timing delays the attack, and be cautious with life-payment actions when the poison gain is not decisive. Protect the infect creature over preserving life unless the legal action clearly prevents an immediate lethal burn line.

• Against removal-heavy decks: Make each threat demand a real answer and save protection for the highest-leverage exchange. Lead with Glistener Elf when the hand can protect it or replace it; otherwise, pace Blight Mamba and Ichorclaw Myr so edicts, sweepers, or spot removal do not clear every infect body at once. Add Vines of Vastwood and sometimes extra Seal of Strength; add Nature's Claim only for actual artifact or enchantment removal engines. Avoid firing multiple pump spells into open mana unless the attack is lethal, the opponent is tapped low, or waiting gives the opponent a stronger visible window. If the only legal play is passing with protection up, explain which removal or counterplay is being respected.

Specific Matchup Notes

• General/archetype-only note: Revealed cards override these assumptions. Use these matchup notes as role guidance until the rules engine, public zones, or prior-game logs identify the opponent’s exact plan.

• Against fast creature aggro: Race with one protected infect attacker instead of trying to trade resources. Priority targets are one-toughness blockers for Gut Shot, flying swarms for Scattershot Archer, and any permanent that prevents a poison attack from connecting for Nature's Claim. Add role cards: Gut Shot, Scattershot Archer against flyers, extra Seal of Strength when mana-efficient damage matters. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slower nonlethal pump exposure and speculative Crop Rotation lines.

• Against removal-heavy control or midrange: Preserve the first infect creature that can plausibly win. Priority targets are removal shields, artifact/enchantment blockers, and public cards that force repeated answers before combat. Add role cards: Vines of Vastwood, Seal of Strength, Nature's Claim only for visible artifact or enchantment problems. Reduce main-deck emphasis: all-in Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, or Go Forth sequences when open mana makes removal likely and the attack is not lethal. Card text check required for Go Forth; treat use as conditional on visible legal action text.

• Against Faeries or flyer tempo: Resolve poison pressure early and make their small creatures poor blockers. Priority targets are one-toughness flyers for Gut Shot and repeated flyer pressure for Scattershot Archer. Add role cards: Gut Shot, Scattershot Archer, Vines of Vastwood if targeted interaction is visible or likely from prior games. Reduce main-deck emphasis: slow Hickory Woodlot starts and ground-only attacks without Rancor or Escape Tunnel.

• Against big mana or Tron-style decks: Force a lethal window before large blockers, sweepers, or hard stabilizers dominate. Priority targets are artifact acceleration or lock pieces for Nature's Claim, and graveyard engines for Crop Rotation into Bojuka Bog only when public graveyard use is immediate. Add role cards: Nature's Claim, Crop Rotation when Escape Tunnel or Bojuka Bog has a visible purpose, extra Vines of Vastwood against targeted removal. Reduce main-deck emphasis: reactive cards that do not speed poison or clear the decisive blocker.

• Against graveyard combo or recursion: Keep the poison clock primary and use graveyard hate only at a meaningful public window. Priority targets are graveyard-dependent cards in public zones, reanimation setup, flashback pressure, or recursion loops visible to the engine. Add role cards: Crop Rotation, Bojuka Bog, Vines of Vastwood if removal accompanies the graveyard plan. Reduce main-deck emphasis: land-sacrificing lines that delay lethal when the graveyard is not yet threatening.

• Against artifact or enchantment engines: Use Nature's Claim on permanents that stop poison, create decisive blockers, or enable the opponent’s engine before the next attack. The opponent’s life gain is usually less important than poison, but spending Nature's Claim on a low-impact permanent can lose tempo. Add role cards: Nature's Claim, Crop Rotation only for a visible Escape Tunnel kill or Bojuka Bog need. Reduce main-deck emphasis: pump-only attacks into an unresolved lock piece.

Risk Summary

• Mana risk: Hickory Woodlot and Escape Tunnel can create awkward timing. Keep hands that cast an infect creature and at least one relevant pump/protection action on time; be skeptical of hands where tapped or utility lands delay Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, or Ichorclaw Myr.

• Matchup risk: This deck can look favored when goldfishing but become fragile against cheap removal, edicts, fogs, sweepers, or dense blockers. Do not assume poison inevitability; verify that the current attacker can survive, connect, and matter this turn cycle.

• Draw risk: Hands with pump but no infect creature are usually nonfunctional. Hands with creatures but no protection or pump can stall if the opponent presents blockers, so value combinations of Glistener Elf, Rancor, Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, and Mutagenic Growth more than raw card count.

• Over-sideboarding risk: Adding too many Nature's Claim, Gut Shot, Scattershot Archer, Crop Rotation, Bojuka Bog, or extra Seal of Strength can dilute lethal density. Sideboard cards must answer visible matchup problems while preserving enough infect creatures and pump to end the game.

• Graveyard risk: Bojuka Bog is powerful only when the graveyard matters now or soon. Do not spend Crop Rotation and a land for graveyard hate if the public graveyard does not threaten the poison race.

• Sweeper/removal risk: All-in pump into open mana is the deck’s cleanest way to lose. Commit Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Go Forth, Seal of Strength, or Rancor only when the attack is lethal, protection is available, or waiting is visibly worse.

• Closer risk: Rancor and Escape Tunnel are closers when blockers matter, but they do not replace a lethal calculation. Confirm the legal action actually makes the chosen infect creature connect or trample meaningfully before spending the turn.

• Interaction risk: Snakeskin Veil and Vines of Vastwood are often more valuable as protection than pump. Use them proactively only when the engine exposes a decisive legal line and the opponent’s likely response window is acceptable.

• Sequencing risk: Preloading Seal of Strength or committing Llanowar Augur can signal the kill and change opponent priorities. Prefer instant-speed commitment when legal unless mana constraints or a forced lethal line require earlier setup.

Test Feedback Checklist

• Deciding factor: Identify whether the game was won or lost by early infect creature access, protection timing, blocker evasion, mana timing, or an opponent answer. Record the exact turn where the poison clock became realistic or collapsed.

• Mulligans: Check whether the opener had a legal path to cast Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, or Ichorclaw Myr early. Flag hands kept with pump but no infect creature, hands kept with infect creature but no green source, and hands that needed Hickory Woodlot or Escape Tunnel to do too much.

• Mana: Record whether Hickory Woodlot, Escape Tunnel, and Forest supported the planned turn sequence. Note any game where a tapped or utility land delayed the first attacker, delayed protection, or prevented double-spell pump on the lethal turn.

• Velocity: Track whether the deck presented poison pressure before the opponent stabilized. If poison counters were not applied early, identify whether the cause was no infect creature, blocked attacks, removal, missed evasion, or overly defensive play.

• Engine pressure: Treat the deck engine as threat plus pump plus protection, not a value loop. Log whether Rancor, Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Seal of Strength, Llanowar Augur, and conditional Go Forth actually converted one attacker into a decisive clock. Card text check required for Go Forth.

• Removal and protection: Review every opponent removal or bounce window and ask whether Snakeskin Veil or Vines of Vastwood was held, spent proactively, or absent. Mark mistakes where protection was used as pump while visible open mana or prior-game information made removal likely.

• Sideboard: After each post-board game, record whether Nature's Claim, Gut Shot, Scattershot Archer, Crop Rotation, Bojuka Bog, extra Seal of Strength, or extra Vines of Vastwood had a concrete target or role. Flag over-sideboarding when sideboard cards were drawn but the deck lacked lethal density.

• Closing: For each failed lethal attempt, reconstruct the visible legal line before committing pump. Check whether the agent counted poison, trample or unblockable implications, blockers, open mana, available protection, and whether waiting one turn had a better chance.

• Role: Record whether the pilot correctly stayed aggro-combo or incorrectly shifted into a control role. Infect should usually race; defensive play is justified only when blocking, holding protection, or preserving an attacker clearly improves the next poison attack.

• Mistakes: Tag each error as mulligan, mana sequencing, pump timing, protection timing, combat, sideboard dilution, target choice, pass-under-pressure, or rules-text uncertainty. Use public information only; do not blame choices on hidden cards unless they were legally revealed.

• Stranded cards: List repeated stranded Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Rancor, Seal of Strength, Llanowar Augur, Go Forth, Snakeskin Veil, or Vines of Vastwood. Separate stranded pump from missing threat, missing mana, missing attack window, and opponent interaction.

• Overperformers and underperformers: Identify which exact cards produced poison progress, protected a threat, cleared a blocker, or sat unused. Compare main-deck cards against sideboard cards by matchup rather than by raw draw frequency.

First Tuning Questions

• Creature count question: Are 12 infect creatures enough when mulligans and removal-heavy games are included, or do games fail too often because Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, and Ichorclaw Myr are not found early?

• Protection quantity question: Are 4 Snakeskin Veil and 2 main-deck Vines of Vastwood sufficient against removal-heavy Pauper fields, or should sideboard Vines of Vastwood become a more common post-board plan?

• Pump mix question: Do Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Rancor, Seal of Strength, Llanowar Augur, and Go Forth create too many all-in cards, or is the density necessary to close before blockers and removal dominate? Card text check required for Go Forth.

• Mana base question: Do 4 Hickory Woodlot and 4 Escape Tunnel cost too much tempo in openers, or do their burst/evasion roles win enough games to justify the awkward starts?

• Evasion question: Is Escape Tunnel plus Rancor enough to beat creature boards, or do losses show a need for more ways to force one infect attacker through?

• Aggro plan question: Against fast creature decks, does the deck win by racing, or does it need more post-board help from Gut Shot, Scattershot Archer, and extra Seal of Strength without diluting lethal pump?

• Control plan question: Against removal-heavy decks, should the default post-board posture increase protection and patience, or do logs show that slower protection-heavy hands lose because they stop pressuring poison?

• Graveyard slot question: Does Crop Rotation into Bojuka Bog win enough graveyard matchups to justify sideboard space and land-sacrifice tempo, or is the plan too narrow for the tested field?

• Artifact/enchantment question: Are 3 Nature's Claim necessary, or are they only strong when public permanents directly stop poison attacks or enable a faster opposing engine?

• Closing question: Do failed games end with poison at six to nine counters, suggesting more reach, or with little poison applied, suggesting the issue is setup and protection rather than closers?

• Role conflict question: Are Blight Mamba regeneration lines pulling the agent into defensive play too often, or are they correctly preserving a future lethal attacker when combat is hostile?

• Sideboard balance question: Which sideboard cards repeatedly replace main-deck pump without producing a meaningful action? Those are first candidates for quantity reduction before changing the main poison core.

Veles Tactical Policy

Policy: Mulligan For A Real Poison Clock

• Priority: High
• Decision families: mulligan, pregame
• Cards: Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, Ichorclaw Myr, Forest, Hickory Woodlot, Escape Tunnel
• Phase windows: opening hand and mulligan decisions
• Runtime cues: prompt:mulligan; visible hand includes lands and spells
• Use when: deciding whether the hand can deploy an infect creature early and support at least one pump or protection follow-up.
• Avoid when: the hand has pump only, protection only, no green source, or relies on drawing an infect creature before acting.
• Instructions: Prefer hands with Glistener Elf plus green mana; keep slower hands only when Blight Mamba or Ichorclaw Myr has castable mana and multiple pump/protection pieces. Treat Escape Tunnel as utility, not a full replacement for early green.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: First Infect Creature Setup

• Priority: High
• Decision families: mana, priority
• Cards: Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, Ichorclaw Myr, Forest, Hickory Woodlot
• Phase windows: turns 1-3 main phases
• Runtime cues: action:cast Glistener Elf; action:cast Blight Mamba; action:cast Ichorclaw Myr
• Use when: at least one infect creature is legal to cast and no infect creature is already available to attack next turn.
• Avoid when: casting into visible mana or board state would expose the only threat while protection is already legal and waiting one turn keeps the same clock.
• Instructions: Cast Glistener Elf first when legal; choose Ichorclaw Myr over Blight Mamba when colorless mana is easier and combat through blockers matters; choose Blight Mamba when regeneration is relevant and green mana can support it.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Land Sequencing For Burst And Evasion

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: mana
• Cards: Forest, Hickory Woodlot, Escape Tunnel, Crop Rotation, Bojuka Bog
• Phase windows: land play windows and mana payment prompts
• Runtime cues: action:play Forest; action:play Hickory Woodlot; action:play Escape Tunnel; action:play Bojuka Bog
• Use when: choosing land order or paying for spells that affect the current poison clock.
• Avoid when: sacrificing or tapping utility mana prevents casting the infect creature, protection spell, or lethal pump already visible in hand.
• Instructions: Lead Forest when it enables turn-one Glistener Elf or protection. Use Hickory Woodlot to set up a later double-spell burst. Play Escape Tunnel when the battlefield suggests evasion will matter before raw green mana does.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Lethal Pump Commitment Gate

• Priority: High
• Decision families: priority, combat, interaction
• Cards: Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Rancor, Seal of Strength, Llanowar Augur, Go Forth, Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood
• Phase windows: precombat main phase, declare attackers, blockers, combat damage, opponent interaction windows
• Runtime cues: action:cast Mutagenic Growth; action:cast Might of Old Krosa; action:cast Embiggen; action:cast Vines of Vastwood; action:cast Snakeskin Veil; action:activate Seal of Strength; action:activate Llanowar Augur
• Use when: visible poison math may reach ten poison this turn or force the opponent into losing blocks.
• Avoid when: the opponent has untapped mana, visible interaction, or blockers that make an all-in line fail unless protection is held.
• Instructions: Count current poison, infect power, trample, unblockable status, blockers, and open interaction before committing multiple pump pieces. Prefer using protection as the last exposed layer when removal is plausible.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Exact Pump Target After Commitment

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: interaction, combat
• Cards: Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Seal of Strength, Llanowar Augur
• Phase windows: spell or ability target prompts during attack setup or combat
• Runtime cues: action:target self Glistener Elf; action:target self Blight Mamba; action:target self Ichorclaw Myr
• Use when: exactly one self-controlled attacking infect creature is shown in legal target actions and the current legal prompt is only choosing the pump/protection target.
• Avoid when: two or more self-controlled infect creatures are legal targets, a non-infect creature is a legal target, or the target choice changes lethal math.
• Instructions: Select the legal target action naming the sole self-controlled attacking infect creature. Do not retarget pump to a non-infect creature.
• Pilot skill floor: no-api
• No-API allowed: yes
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Rancor Attachment Target

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: priority, combat
• Cards: Rancor, Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, Ichorclaw Myr
• Phase windows: main phase enchantment casting and target prompt
• Runtime cues: action:target self Glistener Elf; action:target self Blight Mamba; action:target self Ichorclaw Myr
• Use when: exactly one self-controlled infect creature is a legal Rancor target and the prompt is only choosing the enchantment target.
• Avoid when: multiple self-controlled infect creatures are legal targets or visible removal makes attaching before combat a judgment call.
• Instructions: Attach Rancor to the sole legal self-controlled infect creature when the target prompt is deterministic. Route timing and multi-target selection through the light model.
• Pilot skill floor: no-api
• No-API allowed: yes
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Protection Response To Removal

• Priority: High
• Decision families: interaction, priority
• Cards: Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Blight Mamba
• Phase windows: opponent spell or ability on stack, combat tricks, targeted removal windows
• Runtime cues: action:cast Snakeskin Veil; action:cast Vines of Vastwood; action:activate Blight Mamba
• Use when: a visible spell, ability, or combat outcome threatens the infect creature needed for the current or next poison attack.
• Avoid when: the threatened creature is not needed, the protection does not answer the visible effect, or spending protection prevents a current lethal line.
• Instructions: Protect the active infect threat before saving pump density. Use Vines of Vastwood defensively when the target restriction matters; use Snakeskin Veil when its counter matters for poison math. Regenerate Blight Mamba when it preserves a future attacker.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Main-Phase Might Timing

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: priority, combat
• Cards: Might of Old Krosa
• Phase windows: precombat main phase and combat priority
• Runtime cues: action:cast Might of Old Krosa
• Use when: choosing whether Might of Old Krosa must be cast in main phase for larger pump or held for post-blocker information.
• Avoid when: card text or rules-engine labels do not expose the relevant mode or timing consequence.
• Instructions: Prefer main-phase Might of Old Krosa when it creates a credible lethal or two-turn clock and protection is available. Hold it when blocker decisions or removal exposure are more important than maximum power.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Escape Tunnel Evasion Gate

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: mana, combat, priority
• Cards: Escape Tunnel, Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, Ichorclaw Myr
• Phase windows: precombat main phase, combat setup, activated-ability prompts
• Runtime cues: action:activate Escape Tunnel; action:target self Glistener Elf; action:target self Blight Mamba; action:target self Ichorclaw Myr
• Use when: an infect attacker can become difficult or impossible to block through visible legal Escape Tunnel text.
• Avoid when: using Escape Tunnel consumes mana needed for protection or pump, or the legal target is not the infect creature carrying the clock.
• Instructions: Use Escape Tunnel to force poison through board stalls, especially before spending pump into blockers. Confirm the legal target and power restriction from engine text.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Mutagenic Growth Life Payment

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: mana, interaction, combat
• Cards: Mutagenic Growth
• Phase windows: cost payment prompts for Mutagenic Growth
• Runtime cues: action:pay 2 life; action:pay green
• Use when: Mutagenic Growth is already selected and the payment choice affects current mana for protection or extra pump.
• Avoid when: life total is low enough that paying life exposes a visible lethal counterattack or burn line.
• Instructions: Pay life when preserving green mana enables Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood, Blight Mamba regeneration, or another pump spell. Pay mana when life total is the limiting survival resource.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Go Forth Text Guard

• Priority: Low
• Decision families: priority, combat, selection
• Cards: Go Forth
• Phase windows: any legal Go Forth casting, target, or selection prompt
• Runtime cues: action:cast Go Forth; action:target Go Forth
• Use when: Go Forth appears as a legal action and the rules engine exposes enough text to identify its tactical effect.
• Avoid when: the legal prompt does not reveal what Go Forth does or whether it advances poison, protection, evasion, or selection.
• Instructions: Card text check required. Use Go Forth only when visible engine text confirms the effect supports the current poison plan or survival requirement.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Attack With Infect Clock

• Priority: High
• Decision families: combat
• Cards: Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, Ichorclaw Myr, Rancor, Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen
• Phase windows: declare attackers
• Runtime cues: action:attack
• Use when: deciding whether attacking improves poison progress, forces bad blocks, or enables a lethal pump sequence.
• Avoid when: attacking loses the only infect creature into visible blocks and no protection, trample, evasion, or replacement threat is available.
• Instructions: Attack aggressively when poison counters matter more than preserving life total. Prefer attacks that make pump credible; avoid sacrificing the only threat for no poison progress unless Rancor, Ichorclaw Myr, or protection changes the exchange.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Blocking And Defensive Infect Use

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: combat
• Cards: Glistener Elf, Blight Mamba, Ichorclaw Myr, Snakeskin Veil, Vines of Vastwood
• Phase windows: declare blockers and combat damage
• Runtime cues: action:block
• Use when: the opponent's visible attack threatens lethal damage or a race loss before the next poison attack.
• Avoid when: blocking trades away the only infect creature while the next attack could present lethal or near-lethal poison.
• Instructions: Preserve infect attackers unless survival requires blocking. Blight Mamba can block more often when regeneration is legal and affordable; do not spend protection on a block unless it preserves both survival and a future poison clock.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard Against Removal-Heavy Decks

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: sideboard
• Cards: Vines of Vastwood, Seal of Strength, Snakeskin Veil, Mutagenic Growth, Might of Old Krosa, Embiggen, Rancor
• Phase windows: sideboarding after game 1 or game 2
• Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; matchup shows repeated targeted removal or bounce
• Use when: prior games or public deck context show removal is the primary obstacle to keeping one infect creature alive.
• Avoid when: reducing pump density makes the deck unable to present lethal before the opponent stabilizes.
• Instructions: Add extra Vines of Vastwood first; consider extra Seal of Strength when permanent-based pump helps play around discard or mana choke. Keep enough cheap pump to punish tapped-out windows.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard Against Small Creatures And Flyers

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: sideboard, interaction
• Cards: Gut Shot, Scattershot Archer, Seal of Strength, Nature's Claim
• Phase windows: sideboarding and early interaction windows
• Runtime cues: prompt:sideboard; action:cast Gut Shot; action:cast Scattershot Archer; action:activate Scattershot Archer
• Use when: visible matchup pressure comes from small blockers, one-toughness attackers, or flying creatures that race or block the poison plan.
• Avoid when: sideboard interaction replaces too many infect threats or pump spells and leaves no fast poison clock.
• Instructions: Add Gut Shot for one-toughness blockers or threats; add Scattershot Archer for flying pressure. Keep the poison plan primary and use interaction to reopen attacks.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Sideboard Against Artifacts Enchantments And Graveyards

• Priority: Medium
• Decision families: sideboard, interaction, selection
• Cards: Nature's Claim, Crop Rotation, Bojuka Bog, Forest, Escape Tunnel, Hickory Woodlot
• Phase windows: sideboarding, tutor prompts, opponent engine windows
• Runtime cues: action:cast Nature's Claim; action:cast Crop Rotation; action:target Bojuka Bog
• Use when: public permanents or graveyard engines visibly stop poison, race faster, or require a narrow answer.
• Avoid when: no artifact, enchantment, or graveyard dependency is visible from deck context or prior games.
• Instructions: Use Nature's Claim for lock pieces, blockers, or engines that directly affect the poison race. Use Crop Rotation for Bojuka Bog only when graveyard interaction is worth sacrificing a land and slowing mana.
• Pilot skill floor: light-model
• No-API allowed: no
• Light-model allowed: yes

Policy: Crop Rotation To Bojuka Bog Execution

• Priority: Low
• Decision families: selection
• Cards: Crop Rotation, Bojuka Bog
• Phase windows: Crop Rotation search or land selection prompts
• Runtime cues: action:choose Bojuka Bog; action:search Bojuka Bog
• Use when: Crop Rotation has already resolved or is resolving and the legal selection list contains Bojuka Bog for the graveyard-hate line.
• Avoid when: the prompt is choosing whether to cast Crop Rotation or which land to sacrifice.
• Instructions: Select Bojuka Bog when the committed line is graveyard hate. Route casting timing and land sacrifice through the light model.
• Pilot skill floor: no-api
• No-API allowed: yes
• Light-model allowed: yes