SEMIFINAL MATCH PREVIEWS
A Complete Breakfast
oats hit me up wanting to contribute something to the magazine and sent me a write up of previews for this round. Having written the past three magazines almost exclusively by myself it will be a nice change of pace to get a different opinion/look on the writers and matches. I’ll be giving my opinions as well, with oats going first and me second. Hopefully the more in-depth previews make up for the relative brevity of this magazine. Props to oats for helping out.
(1)dead man vs. (R)Nigma
Topic: Young Girl Smoking
Stats
dead man: 16-0 Vote Spread, 0 NS, 3 Shutouts
Nigma: 15-4 Vote Spread, 2 NS, 0 Shutouts
OATS: Intriguing matchup here, one that I've personally never witnessed before. Nigma is still largely foreign to me, though I've since gone back and checked out a couple verses. Clearly, he's top-tier to make it this far. He probably has had a slightly easier path to the semis, if only by virtue of his opponent no-showing last round (can't blame him there). Fuck you @
oXus. Before that he shut-out a game Trap in the second round, building off of his first round squeaker over Frank. Top-seeded Dead Man is easily the toughest matchup Nigma has had since that opening round, and he'll need to step up his game in order to book his ticket to the finals. Ever the smooth technician, Nigma has the writing chops to keep up with Dead Man. What I've yet to see from him thus far is that truly impressive idea, the thought-provoking insight that lingers with you after you finish reading. He'll need this to take the win here.
There's not a whole lot to be said about Dead Man that hasn't already been said. His path to the semifinals was stiffer than Nigma's, besting a solid showing from Breathless in the opening round en route to outmatching the talented Witty and Big Baby back-to-back. He's the overall number 1 seed for a reason; his rhyming is textbook, and he attacks your senses with an onslaught of unique imagery. That combination of conceptual profundity and mechanical mastery makes him a tremendous opponent. There are dents in his armor, though. He can be tangential, and at times he's played it safe and coasted to predictable conclusions. Against Nigma, he won't have that luxury, and will have to bring his A-game to secure the W.
Verdict: Dead Man wins by 2-3 votes. I think Nigma is up for the challenge, but the picture seems to favor Dead.
PANCAKE: Despite beating Frank in the First Round, Nigma has had the easiest path of the remaining four writers. He’s won via no-show twice, which is no fault of his own. Each successive verse has been better than the last and he’s earned his spot here through dedication and consistency. He’s shown he can go toe-to-toe with the best on the site by edging that win over Frank. Black has had the best performance, quantitatively, out of anyone in the tournament, period. He still has yet to have a single vote cast against him and every one of his matches has gone to votes. His wins include Witty and big baby, that latter of which was the best writer of the tournament to that point. Somehow someway black’s gone 16-0 in votes while flying under the radar, at least to me. Aside from last round he hasn’t had the best verse every round; he’s just quietly taken care of business.
Nigma is at an obvious disadvantage. In reading his collection of writing on Netcees I see someone who’s still tinkering with his mechanics. Almost everyone here, including myself, is in the same boat, but at this point in a tournament this stacked he needs to know his direction and route. At times he puts too much emphasis on rhyme, and others not enough. His last round remedied that; it was a measured verse in terms of rhymes with enough little tricks to make it interesting. My advice would be to keep that same format with maybe a few more internals and non-standard rhymes. Regardless, he needs to keep his mechanics on that level or better to even have a chance. When it comes to content, he leans towards the mysterious, ephemeral, or scientific in actual topics. I find that when he’s less vague and more straightforward his writing finds a groove. Although he often tackles esoteric topics he should do so in a standard way, if that makes sense. In regards to beating his opponent, it’s a tall order. I’m picturing his verses and style and trying to figure out a scenario wherein he can take this. While it’s difficult, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. In my estimation he’s going have to write the best verse he’s ever dropped on this site to take this. He may know that and that pressure can be a bit stifling as a writer. The topic really doesn’t do him any favors as it lends itself to the personal, human route. He works in different regions. All the galactic fractals have to align here for the upset.
dead man is the favorite of the tournament currently. He’s earned his #1 seed and after an easy First round and lack of motivation in the Second he put it all together last round. In giving Black the #1 seed there was a thought in the back of my mind that he may get upset early due to his (excellent) style only tangentially touching on topics while an opponent goes full board topical. While he has been a bit more tangential than most, the voters seem to appreciate the nuance and in turn he’s run over everybody. His highly literate, punctuated, and imagery/thought-based writing is tough for anyone to go up against. He reels the reader in, often with a non-standard, interesting opening line, and then lets loose a flurry of interconnected, well worded thoughts until you arrive at the end. Somewhere along the line you give in to the precise wording and nostalgia, and he gets the vote. He’s the favorite here, but he should write to the same level he did last round against big baby. Nigma takes writing seriously and will take advantage of a sleeping opponent, every time. He’s too consistent and dedicated, with the requisite chops, to take lightly. The topic lends itself well to his style. He mentions cigarette smoking here and there in his writing and in posts, and the tangential approach is actually very viable here.
dead man 70/30