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Drafting With Olivier - M10 #2
About Olivier Ruel: Pro Tour mainstay Olivier Ruel's outstanding career includes five Pro Tour Top 8s, numerous Grand Prix Top 8s (including the recent victory at Grand Prix: Brighton), and induction in the Magic Hall of Fame class of 2008.
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Pack 1 pick 1:
My Pick:
1/2/3) //?
The three cards are extremely close. It is essentially a matter of color preferences. may be very expensive, but the format is quite slow, and by the time he reaches the board your opponent may have used all of his removal. Even if he still has one spell, he may take ten before he is able to play it (, , etc.). I pick it as it should be an instant winner but, to be honest, it may be the third best card in the pack.
Pack 1 pick 2:
My Pick:
1)
2)
3)
4) Lighting Elemental
5)
The best Red card, , is not good enough to be picked here. and are not ideal picks considering what has been passed in pack one, but the latter is pretty good with Hellkite. would be pretty good in a RB deck, but a /Ranger engine is pretty good to optimize the Dragon. is quite good, but a white deck’s curve should be pretty low and therefore quite bad with the Dragon.
Pack 1 pick 3:
My Pick:
This card has absolutely no reason to be here considering a common is missing. Except if I’m not the only one who has firstpicked a foil.
Pack 1 pick 4:
My Pick:
1) Dragon Whelp
2) Borderline Ranger
3)
Three excellent cards. I have never played the 6/4 but it seems great, and I’d love to give it a try. However, no matter how good it is, Ranger seems a little better in a /Hellkite deck, and is even stronger.
Pack 1 pick 5:
My Pick:
Shouldn’t be hard to splash, and it is a lot better than which is not good in a non aggro deck in which you’re not playing or .
Pack 1 pick 6:
My Pick:
Fantastic in a heavy Green deck. Even though I’m mostly Red now, it could become one of the deck’s best cards if I were to end up with as many Green cards as Red.
Pack 1 pick 7:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 8:
My Pick:
In M10, two-drops are far less important than in ACR, and is about 1000 times better than .
Pack 1 pick 9:
My Pick:
1)
2)
3)
is a great sideboard card versus UW decks, but it’s a little too limited to pick it over the quite good early block (which can deal with most of the format’s early drops), and even less over Expanse, which makes the deck more stable, allows the splash, and reinforces .
Pack 1 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 11:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 12:
My Pick:
1)
2)
3)
The 6/4 is nearly a first pick, it has absolutely no reason to be here. would be quite nice in the deck, which could have trouble facing early drops. is a card I like, but it wouldn’t make it to the deck as it’s too controlish.
Pack 1 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 1 pick 15:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 1:

"
tooltip="Seraph">Seraph
", "M10");'>
My Pick:
1)
2)
3)
I’m pretty sure my mana could allow me if was not in the pack. But as it would jeopardize my mana and as it’s not even much better than the Red guy, the pick is quite obvious. Counterdrafting would almost be an option here, as I’ve now passed two copies of a card I can barely deal with, but I should be able to find some answers to it by the end of the draft (, ).
Pack 2 pick 2:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 3:
My Pick:
1)
2)
3) Nature’s Spiral
Visionary would be pretty good in the deck, but the possibility to flash a flyer or a Spider when the opponent doesn’t see it coming is more tempting.
Pack 2 pick 4:
My Pick:
Pretty good sideboard card, but maybe the best call was actually to hate draft , which I fear very much at the moment, as it could catch easily my bombs.
Pack 2 pick 5:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 6:

"
tooltip="Disorder">Disorder
", "M10");'>
My Pick:
1)
2)
3)
is a quite good sideboard card, but in order to make sure I’ll end up with enough playables, I’d rather pick the 2/2. and the counters in general are pretty good cards to hate draft when you have bombs.
Pack 2 pick 7:
My Pick:
Maybe was the right call. Many people have told me the card is much better than it seems, but I’m still having a hard time not seeing it as a Green Coma Veil.
Pack 2 pick 8:
My Pick:
Not even a rare-draft; the card has some potential!
Pack 2 pick 9:
My Pick:
1)
2)
3)
I'd rather avoid facing than run . Same goes with the always annoying , which can annihilate .
Pack 2 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 11:
My Pick:
The server is super lagging, this is a random pick, and I regret not picking the which I’m going to miss.
Pack 2 pick 12:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 2 pick 15:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 1:
My Pick:
My deck is very strong, but it still feels weird not being Blue after opening three Mind Control.
Pack 3 pick 2:
My Pick:
One of the most underrated cards in the format thus far. I often receive it late when its destruction effect is actually always relevant. I see only as a sideboard card versus RG when I don’t have combos with it, and even if I did have combos I’d still pick the Slime, which fits my curve and my deck’s theme perfectly.
Pack 3 pick 3:
My Pick:
1)
2)
3)
4)
If I were to pick a sideboard card, I’d rather like Naturalize than Windstorm, as I’m getting worried I don’t have a single answer to Mind Control yet. However, the two early but big creatures are excellent for my deck. As the Courser can attack and is a little easier to cast, it’s a level above .
Pack 3 pick 4:
My Pick:
1) Pyroclasm
2) Deadly Recluse
3) Centaur Courser
4) Seismic Strike
The first pick is quite obvious, because it is great against the most annoying decks for me, because most of my guys survive it, and because I don’t want to pass the format’s best answer to .
If it wasn’t here I’d have picked the Recluse, because my deck is quite controlling, and over as I’m satisfied with my current amount of removal spells.
Pack 3 pick 5:
My Pick:
1)
2)
3)
In the early draft I would have picked the Elves, but now that I’ve advanced a lot and that I have a stable control deck, the wall just seems more efficient to stop the opponents’ attacks. is not very interesting when I don’t have that many guys.
Pack 3 pick 6:
My Pick:
1) Borderland Ranger
2)
Ranger is much better in the deck as far as synergy is concerned. It fixes the mana, makes card advantage, and makes my bombs better, while Pyromancer is “only” a great card versus UW decks.
Pack 3 pick 7:
My Pick:
Lag is back, I obviously wanted to pick , as I don’t need fixers (Expanse) anymore.
Pack 3 pick 8:
My Pick:
I’ve enough guys, and would more likely end up in the sideboard now.
Pack 3 pick 9:
My Pick:
1)
2/3) /
Another random pick by Magic Online, but I don’t mind it much as Visionary is pretty nice in my deck. is about the same level as it should be able to kill most early drops when the Visionary can stop some and, more importantly, get me closer to my bombs. The trample guy is a little better than the other too though, and it should have been my pick.
Pack 3 pick 10:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 11:
My Pick:
Magic: Online!! Stop random picking and let me pick a , I’m begging you!!
Pack 3 pick 12:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 13:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 14:
My Pick:
Pack 3 pick 15:
My Pick:
This draft converter created by Benjamin Peebles-Mundy.
Visit the draft converter today!
8
8
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1 Wall of Fire
1
2 Dragon Whelp
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1 Seismic Strike
1
I won three times, each 2-0, without much difficulty. The deck was so stable that I got very regular draws, and every time I’ve faced a bomb (Master of the wild Hunt, ) I had a removal spell to kill it. Just as importantly, I didn’t have to face a single and therefore I luckily was not threatened by any of the three s I had passed.
The most interesting play of the draft occurred during the finals, when I attacked with Centaur Courser into my opponent’s Gorgon Flailed Back Knight. After he blocked, I used to put into play and destroy his equipment, and therefore his pro white guy as well. Another relevant thing in that draft came from the Efreet, who is actually just as good as it seemed, and which is probably even better in a R/B deck with regenerators and to remove the guy you have targeted and trade it with the opponent’s non-land permanent of your choice.
Until Wednesday...
Oli
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