A · Fundamentals · §6
Keep hands with a coherent first three turns, not hands with the combo. A natural combo opener is one seven in seven.
Do not mulligan this deck by asking whether the hand has the combo. The relevant question is whether the hand contains a coherent first three turns.
Two lands, , a target and Goryo is the clearest proactive configuration. Frog is a threat, it puts the target in the graveyard as an activation cost, it forces removal, and it makes the opponent respect Goryo without you committing to anything.
Two lands, , Goryo and interaction is slower but far more resilient. Archaeologist develops a blocker, mills toward a target, finds a noncreature spell, and gives somewhere to go.
Two lands with surveil access, Goryo and target-independent interaction works because a fetchland plus a surveil dual is delayed graveyard setup you can hold until their end step.
Lands, , a real white pitch and is a legitimate keep against creature decks even with no Goryo in sight. That line exiles two creatures, keeps a permanent Solitude, rebounds on the next upkeep, and buys the turns you need to draw into the rest.
Lands, , a target and Goryo is mechanically complete but mana-intensive. Check that Mending can actually resolve, that you can protect Goryo, that their clock allows a turn spent filtering, and that the land sequence supports blue-white and black.
plus interaction. Archaeologist with and . into Frog. Removal into . A surveil-heavy hand with a fair plan. The deck is not required to reanimate in every game, and pretending otherwise is how it loses to itself.
In rough order: excess reanimation targets, redundant Goryo copies without a second setup line, expensive fair cards that do not fit the immediate plan, excess lands, and narrow interaction with no target in the expected matchup.
Preserve the only discard outlet, the only coloured source the first two turns need, the only legitimate Force or pitch, and the one card that makes the hand functional rather than speculative.