How to Win a Flesh and Blood Mirror Match

April 19, 2024 by Ethan Van Sant

Mirror, Mirror

You’ve chosen a deck. Prepped for every matchup. Written pages of sideboard notes. Practiced against even the fringe heroes… Only to sit down across from the mirror match. What can you do to gain an edge when you and your opponent are representing the same strategy?

In Flesh and Blood, most mirror matches get a bad rap for being players’ least favorite matchup. If one player is clearly more experienced, it can be wildly lopsided. If the deck is prone to high ceilings, it can be wildly lopsided. If a deck vastly prefers first or second, it can be wildly lopsided. However, it’s not going to play out that way every game, so you shouldn’t mentally concede that your mirror match will be one of those games.

At the most recent ProQuest+ in Atlanta (previously known as a PTI Event), we saw three mirror matches in the Top Cut with the Viserai mirror on stream. I was fortunate enough to be able to play a Levia mirror match twice against the eventual winner Casanova, albeit with two wildly different outcomes: a solid win in a very interesting game and a near instant loss. With hindsight on my side, let’s delve into what could have best prepared me and those others in the Top Cut who had to face the mirror.

Four Factors to Consider in a Mirror Match

There are two things before a game that can help you have an edge in the mirror: having sideboard tech and more experience playing the mirror. However, these advantages are independent from the game you actually play and can be matched or exceeded by your opponent. While I favor this kind of prep, it won’t guarantee an edge, especially as you face players in Top Cuts.

There are two more factors that can swing a game: going first or second, and being able to better read your opponent. Sure, going first or second can be up to a die roll, but there are still slight changes you can make based on the turn order. Lastly, and this is a big one, is being able to read your opponent, because so many of their decisions on the deck will match your own. Their arsenal, their upcoming attack, their potential defense, etc., are all a lot easier to figure out when you’re both effectively wearing the same shoes.

Sideboard Tech

Sideboarding in Flesh and Blood tends to be built around either teching against the top meta decks or shoring up your tight matchups. Unless your deck is one of the top dogs, bringing cards for the mirror is an afterthought, but also step one to a clear advantage. More likely, however, are shared sideboard slots that also affect the mirror but are more likely to be expected by your opponent. Consider Hold the Line in your Levia, Shadowborn Abomination deck as anti Kayo, Armed and Dangerous tech. It’s a known and effective sideboard piece, so when you also side it in versus Levia, your opponent could expect to face it. However, if you run a Pummel and slyly include it versus the mirror, I guarantee you most Levias will miss-block, not expecting a discard which can be devastating. Other cards with a good amount of crossover include That All You Got?, Oasis Respite, certain poppers like Amnesia, and more.

Ample Experience

As with playing any deck, the more experience the better. Playing the mirror extensively, however, often gets skipped in tournament prep since players assume the matchup will just be 50/50. For the top end of the meta decks, the mirror definitely matters, so why not scale that understanding all the way down to even our stragglers like Besty? By simply playing a matchup more in testing, you can understand potential nuances, like what happens if you speed up the game with no blocks or slow down the game with heavy blocks. A fascinating anecdote from our recent Lexi era was the cognitive dissonance around the Lexi mirror. The top players slowed the mirror match way down, almost to a fatigue state of blocking two cards returning two cards. However, the masses mocked the strategy, especially on stream, as they clicked through two minute Lexi mirrors on Talishar that really were coinflips.

Those backseat players likely never asked themselves: What kind of hand size do you need to keep to end the game? Where is your armor best used? What heuristics should you follow (e.g., slam every power card even on nonoptimal hands? Never or always roll Scabskin Leathers?) Going into a mirror match knowing that you have unique understandings of the matchup helps it feel like just any match of Flesh and Blood instead of something left to a coinflip.

First or Second

In Swiss rounds, it will be up to a die roll to determine who picks first or second. If you pick, you’d best be prepared to know the better choice. If your opponent picks, you’d best be prepared to potentially play on the unfavored side. Generally, going first favors setup decks and fatigue decks. You can either start to build a boardstate, set up a favorable arsenal, or take free cards from your opponent’s deck. Going second favors the fabled ‘tempo’ of a Flesh and Blood game where you’re simply the first one to offer up real decisions of damage or blocks.

Let’s say you’re playing Kayo, Armed and Dangerous. You want to go second and play as the aggressor from the get go. When you go second, you have the chance to discard an Agile Windup on turn zero to go into your turn with an Agility. However, if you go first, you can try to deny your opponent that opportunity to discard. If you simply pass priority, the Kayo going second should be wary of discarding, lest they face a four-card hand now versus their three. On top of that, the player going first can play around the first five-card hand with a Tunic counter. With the right arsenal choice from the prior two turns, this can be more momentum than even going second.

The Soul Reads

There are so many rewarding moments in a Flesh and Blood match where you’ve perfectly read your opponent’s arsenal or the Snatch on the last chain link. These reads come from a deep understanding of the game, but you can actually shortcut your understanding of the game for just an understanding of your own deck when it comes to the mirror. Even if you’ve missed on all the other steps (no sideboard tech, little experience playing the mirror, and losing the die roll), I think this is still the biggest advantage you can hope to salvage at the table. Your opponent wants to play their deck to its ceiling, same as you. This means their plays are often exactly what you would do, and knowing this can alleviate the mental stress of the unknown.

What can you do with this? Well, exacting play differences and going for an unexpected line might raise an eyebrow, but don’t do it without a reason. Instead, use the predictable nature of the match to levy when you have to make the unorthodox play – when the game is just on its course unless you take a risk. As an example, if you and your opposing Dromai, Ash Artist are at low life while they have a dragon but you don’t, consider the draws so far. Oh, they haven’t played any Tome of Imperial Flame? Launching a three-wide turn at face could just end the game outright if they have the non-block. If you attack them twice and clear their Invoke Azvolai, you don’t punish their non-block hand. Make the call!

And with that, I hope to alleviate some of the sighs from players as they sit across from the mirror match. I am guilty of it myself, but you just have to understand any of the games could be a great game. It’s up to you to try to make it one rather than coinflip a la those Lexi chirpers in the YouTube chat.

Ethan Van Sant

Ethan ‘Man Sant’ Van Sant is known for his commitment to Levia and his coverage of FaB events as Savage Feats. He has a light background with Yugioh and Pokemon, but Flesh and Blood is the first TCG that has fully consumed him… As willed by Blasmophet.