Great news!

Good to see you make it in Heebeejeebeez, thanks for making the exception Kryder.

What's the over/under on X button presses during a control mirror anyway?

I was really hoping to limit my control matches before the top 8, damn it haha.

Thanks man! Glad to be back

Round 1 predictions:

Vert (Esper Control) vs. Pure (Black Vehicles)

Vert 2, Pure 1

heebee (Izzet Burn) v. Natasha (Orzhov Control)

Natasha 2, Heebee 0

VT2WA (Rakdos Vehicles) v. Reshfuu (Orzhov Zombies)

VT2WA 2, Reshfuu 0

DCG (Jeskai Control) v. The1Dude (Grixis Control)

DCG 2, the1dude 0

GodAmongMen (Temur Drake) v. CGB (Izzet Control)

CGB 2, GodAmongMen 0

Will (Jund Midrange) v. Ninja (Gruul Aggro)

Ninja 2, Will 1

Sleep (RB Vehicles) v. Jam (Gruul Aggro)

Jam 2, Sleep 1

Frostang (Gruul Aggro) v. Gem (Bant Tempo)

Frostang 2, Gem 1



The only match where I'm probably being overly hopeful is mine, but I dunno, I'm not picking me to lose Round 1.

Good predictions. Here are my disagreements:

I think Pure will beat you 2-1. His build is fast no? And you have to dig.

My biggest disagreement is on Heeb's match. I actually think he takes that 2-1, or even 2-0. Orzhov Control has TONS of removal that will largely be wasted, no? Is this Orzhov player playing lots of lifelink?

I think Orzhov Zombies have too many blockers for Vehicles and will go wide and win, so I actually think Reshfuu takes that 2-1

I think Sleep's RB Vehicles is faster than Gruul Aggro so Sleep will take that 2-1, maybe even 2-0

And I think Frostang will win 2-0 quite easily. Gem shouldn't be playing those Spire Patrols

Black Vehicles isn't that fast. It's his recursive threats that are probably my biggest problem, but I shouldn't struggle too hard to get to the late game. Whether I can shut him out and end the game is the question.

Orzhov Control has a ton of lifegain (Aetherborn, Gisela, Kalitas, Linvala, Shambling Vent, Sorin). It should be able to drain out Izzet Burn's best shot and then take over.

Orzhov Zombies is slow and RB Vehicles is simply too fast for it. I think it outsizes it, too.

Gruul gets bigger than Vehicles pretty quick and can play much more like midrange and that's a big problem for Sleep's low curve.

Gem may get murdered, but Gruul Aggro isn't super fast as far how quickly it turns on (zero 1 drops, playing 5 and 6 drop walkers) and Gem has some things that can swing the matchup (Krasis, Tamiyo, Blessed Alliance, and Unsubstantiate all really hurt Gruul's clock). It's a close matchup.

Friendly remind from the viewers : please sound off ahead of time when possible so we can enjoy matches in real time

Greetings spell slingers! Good luck to all competitors!

Does anyone know the best way to contact Sl33phumper?

Sleep if you read this add me at 'vevice'. How does Thursday look for you?

(Edit: nevermind I found him here after, you know, looking lol.)

Here's my stab at round 1.

Round 1 predictions:

Vert (Esper Control) vs. Pure (Black Vehicles)

Pure 2, Vert 1

Notes: I think this one is close but I think the aggro + recursion will get Pure there. Pure's deck has the 2nd lowest main deck CMC (around 2.2 avg) while Verts's is the highest (around 3.5) - Vert can lower that a bit by cycling but....I think the speed gets there. This is going to be a really good matchup though and I easily see it going 2-1 the other way.

heebee (Izzet Burn) v. Natasha (Orzhov Control)

Natasha 2, Heebee 1

Notes: I gotta pick myself but this can easily go to Heebee. Honestly, if I wasn't rooting for myself I'd probably pick Heebee to win 2-1. The main problem is Heebee has lowest main deck CMC (slightly under 2.2 avg) while mine is the 2nd highest (around 3.4) - again the big speed difference may get me without sideboarding in rd1. Barney is right that I have a fair amount of dead cards here - mulliganing properly will be very important. This too should be a really good matchup.

VT2WA (Rakdos Vehicles) v. Reshfuu (Orzhov Zombies)

Reshfuu 2, VT2WA 0

Notes: Zombies stomped vehicles at the pro tour, and while Duels Zombies is less consistent I really like the incremental lifegain and go wide of zombies to win here.

DCG (Jeskai Control) v. The1Dude (Grixis Control)

the1dude 2, DCG 0

Notes: I prefer Grixis since it has more threats, more hard counters, and more land. Also not a huge fan of Enigma Drake.

GodAmongMen (Temur Drake) v. CGB (Izzet Control)

CGB 2, GodAmongMen 0

Notes: Combo gets crushed by blue control here. I think GodAmongMen's deck is fun to play, but even he knows this matchup is going to be ugly.

Will (Jund Midrange) v. Ninja (Gruul Aggro)

Ninja 2, Will 1

Notes: I think Ninja's deck is aggressive enough to get the damage through and win most games by turn 6. If Will can find a way to lengthen the game out then Ninja will be in trouble. Should be good games.

Sleep (RB Vehicles) v. Jam (Gruul Aggro)

Sleep 2, Jam 1

Notes: Sleep will be able to take the control role here to win this match. This should be a close one, but I am giving the edge to the decklist I like better.

Frostang (Gruul Aggro) v. Gem (Bant Tempo)

Gem 2, Frostang 0

Notes: Frostang has very few ways to deal with Gem's creatures except killing them in combat - Gem's going to go to town on card advantage here and take the controlling role in this matchup. Eventually Frostang will run out of gas and Gem will have a full grip of action. I don't see this being particularly close and view it as a bad matchup for Frostang's deck.

To reinforce Barney's point about dead cards - I have 6 cards that I put on a list that I don't EVER want to draw, and I have another 5 cards that I don't usually care to draw, and then I have removal that I absolutely want to draw...but not too much...lol. So when I have 10-20% of my deck on my "don't want in my opening hand" list that's not a great matchup.

Heebee and I are tentatively playing at 10PM CT tomorrow. I'll post a link to my twitch channel before we start.

Me and pure are tentatively on for tonight

I'm actually excited to see Vert v. Pure tonight.

Pure was a previous Fight Club champion with WR Vehicles and Vert has made multiple finals in the Xbox After Party (Abzan), Fight Club 1 (Esper) and KOTH. In terms of experience level, I give it to Vert. Both can be very calculated when making decisions on camera however. In this match, a Mono B Vehicle list might take Vert down...

I am too - this should be a good one to watch. My favorite control deck of this tournament (VERT) vs. what I think is the most control resilient aggro deck of the tournament (PURE). Sounds like a fun one.

Aww ****, given the night off from work so I'll get to watch Vert vs. Pure. When and where? Forgive my noob questions, but will i need to watch on Beam itself or will they stream it on twitch or some such?

I agree with this prediction. Frostang running 0 -drops and 7 -drops vs Gems list isn't good. By the time Gruul list hits the glut of 3/4 drops, Gem could have Thalia out killing all the hastey doods (also when Spellquellers, Krasis, and Mages come on line). Gems list has a ton of ways to **** with tempo, making the Gruul list's higher cost threats a liability. The one thing Frostang could win on is if Gem doesn't draw Thalia and Gruul curves out perfectly with haste creatures. Otherwise I think Gem's favored here.

We both stream on twitch. It'll be sometime between 9 and midnight est I think. In the event twitch blows chunks like it does sometimes since Microsoft nerfed it, I'll beam instead.

If anyone wants to play the role of villain and play me with Vert's deck between now and then, msg me on xbox.

I wanna play too!

Round 1 predictions:


Vert (Esper Control) vs. Pure (Black Vehicles)

Vert 2, Pure 1

This match could go either way and I think it will be very interesting to watch. Pure has a lot of ways to make counterspells and removals useless (possibly one of the most difficult matchups for Vert). But Vert's playing a deck he knows like the back of his hand and is a very savvy player. For this reason alone I'm giving the nod to Vert. Won't be shocked if Pure sweeps tho.


heebee (Izzet Burn) v. Natasha (Orzhov Control)

Natasha 2, Heebee 1

I'm inclined to say the creature light deck with burn will beat the creature light deck without burn, but Izzet list is comboey (Drakes) and Orzhov list has combo breakers in instant speed removal. Plus lifegain to counteract the burn plan and plenty of Planeswalker power. The good thing for Izzet list is the glut of Orzhov list sorcery speed removals that are useless against the Drake + Battlement haste combo. Heebs could take this (a nice burn heavy draw and visions, if Orzhov list gets stuck with a fat hand of removals with no targets), but I'm leaning towards N6 having Grasps/Push-Wilds/Anguished to nope the combo and win the long game. If Heebs plan involved Flings that need to be countered to combo break, then I might feel more inclined to predict a round win for him here.


VT2WA (Rakdos Vehicles) v. Reshfuu (Orzhov Zombies)

VT2WA 2, Reshfuu 1

I'm not very high on Orzombies. Sure they did well in the pro-tour, but we're several -drops short of recreating those lists. It's rare that I lose to Orzombies on the ladder, so I don't really understand why people think it's a top tier archetype in Duels (I get that people have fun with zombies and why they're around the ladder, but not why peeps think they're particularly legit). Binding Mummies suck vs aggro decks that don't want to play defense anyways. Not sure why this Rakdos Vehicles list doesn't run Skysovereign, which would def be a huge problem for Orzombies. As is, Push/Grasp on Copters/Hearts could help Orzombies pull off a win - but my money's on Rakdos Vehicles hitting too hard and fast for Orzombies to keep up.


DCG (Jeskai Control) v. The1Dude (Grixis Control)

DCG 1, the1dude 2

This game should be one of the more interestingly boring AF matches this round. Practically guaranteed to last 2 hours. I'm giving the edge to Grixis because it runs more hard counters, more Planeswalkers, Disciple, and intimations which can be a backbreaker in this type of matchup. I'll be shocked if Enigma Drakes ever get to attack in these games. I'll also be shocked if either player gets to cast a sweeper for any value. Grixis can't answer a resolved tutelage tho, so if Jeskai can find and cast its only copy that could take a game.


GodAmongMen (Temur Drake) v. CGB (Izzet Control)

CGB 2, GodAmongMen 0

Even as just a general rule, who's going to bet against CGB? I'd love to see the goofy combo deck do well in this tourney, but CGBs running a lot of counters and Temur only has a handful of spells that absolutely need to be answered. Being so creature light, I could see magma spray being comboed with another burn spell to exile Temurs win cons. God, I want to see you succeed, but I'm not liking your chances at all this round.


Will (Jund Midrange) v. Ninja (Gruul Aggro)

Ninja 2, Will 1

If Gruul gets a good aggressive start, I don't think Jund survives long enough to start dropping bombs. I don't think I like the Towers in Jund list either. If Jund can get to delirium Ishkanah with Grapples back up, I think it can clog up the board enough for Jund to pull through. I think that happens in one game, but Gruul too fast in the others.


Sleep (RB Vehicles) v. Jam (Gruul Aggro)

Jam 2, Sleep 1

Another Rakdos Vehicles lost without Skysovereign. What's up ewe guise? I don't buy WWs argument that Glorybringer is trash, but Skysovereign is legit and with Thopter Engineers to give haste, I'd def run The Good Ship Lollipop with a single Dragon over 2 dragon 0 skyship. Anyways, this matchup looks very hard to predict. Both lists running a nice amount of haste creatures and are looking to hit hard and fast. I'm thinking Blossomings will blank UD at least once leading to a blowout. Also that Sleep seemed to fall into his list at the last minute rather than being a list he knows well and loves playing will tip this round in Jam's favor.


Frostang (Gruul Aggro) v. Gem (Bant Tempo)

Frostang 1, Gem 2

Already commented on this. I'm granting Frost can win a match with the wealth of hastey creatures if Gem can't draw/hold up Thalias/unsubs/Quellers, but my money's on Gem to take the set. I've played games against his list and I know how much of a pain it is. Suspect it's more or less the same list that rocked out in CGBs end of season best deck playoffs before AKH release. Idk how well it will do vs control decks, but folks running creature decks ought to respect it.