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Drafting With Olivier - M10 #8

Olivier Ruel

By Olivier Ruel
09/04/2009

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:


  Pack 1 pick 2:

  My Pick:

1) Howl of the Night Pack
2) Seismic Strike
3) Negate
If I’m able to play many copies of a non-blue land, both cards are about as easy to cast. However, UR is not a combination of which I’m a huge fan, and the Howl simply is a better card. I put Negate in third place over Giant Spider because there is no reason to pick the 2/4, even though it’s the second or third best card here, over the wolf generator.


  Pack 1 pick 3:

  My Pick:

1) Deadly Recluse
2) Centaur Courser
3) Nightmare
Can I get a better signal that black is wide open? Probably not. However, a Black deck, and in particular one using Nightmare, should have Black as a dominant color, meaning having Nightmare makes Howl bad and Djinn so-so. I could see myself picking the big horse if there was no real good UG card in the pack, but there happens to be one, if not two. I like Recluse more than Courser when I have a control deck, and my first two picks don’t exactly want to make me go aggro.


  Pack 1 pick 4:

  My Pick:

1) Prized Unicorn
2) Terramorphic Expanse
3) Windstorm
I don’t like Windstorm much when I run flyers, which is very likely to happen here. Prized Unicorn is good when you have many tricks, but pretty bad otherwise, while Expanse is a decent fixer, but shouldn’t really be needed if I stick to two colors. I think the 2/2 has better chance to be good.


  Pack 1 pick 5:

  My Pick:

Not a card I like so much, but a good combo with the Unicorn.


  Pack 1 pick 6:

  My Pick:

I'm already regretting I didn’t pick the Nightmare. I don’t feel like Cancel would make the cut in a deck which has any one blue card so far, plus Howl of the Night Pack.


  Pack 1 pick 7:

  My Pick:

Sometimes it is good to stick to what you’ve opened, and sometimes it’s better to follow signals. Apparently, we’re the latter here, and my deck would be better if I had picked Nightmare in the first place. However, I’ve the feeling that splashing wouldn’t be good for now as I won’t have any return from pack 2, when I can decently hope for a nice UG fill.


  Pack 1 pick 8:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 9:

  My Pick:

I like Cloak a lot in Sealed, and only as a sideboard card in draft.


  Pack 1 pick 10:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 11:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 12:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 13:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 14:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 15:

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 1:

  My Pick:

1) Air Elemental
2) Awakener Druid
I have actually been thinking about that one. The more I play/face the Druid, the stronger I think it is. However, I’m not so aggro yet, so I’d rather go for the big and safe flyer.


  Pack 2 pick 2:

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 3:

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 4:

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 5:

  My Pick:

1) Essence Scatter
2) Sage Owl
3) Craw Wurm
Sage Owl and Craw Wurm are interesting as creatures to pump with Overrun, but I’m calling my deck control and still have no way to stop guys. Maybe is it time to eventually get one.


  Pack 2 pick 6:

  My Pick:

Double Oakenform would be great with the Unicorn, but it’s not a card I like unless I’ve a lot of two-drops, and if possible Elvish Visionary. Entangling Vines is a true removal spell too, and even though I don’t like the card, I must admit it’s quite decent in the format.


  Pack 2 pick 7:

  My Pick:

Worse than Flashfreeze, but I need guys and playables in general right now.


  Pack 2 pick 8:

  My Pick:

I like Unsummon about as much, but once again Overrun is a better card when you have guys.


  Pack 2 pick 9:

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 10:

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 11:

  My Pick:


  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:


  Pack 3 pick 2:

  My Pick:

1) Earthquake
2) Illusionary Servant
3) Any Growth
Right now, I can’t really play Earthquake. However, if I receive Expanse, Rampant Growth, or Borderland Ranger in the next six picks, it will be my deck’s MVP, so definitely not a card I would consider picking Servant or Giant Growth above.


  Pack 3 pick 3:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 4:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 5:

  My Pick:

1) Stampeding Rhino
2) Elvish Visionary
The pick would be close if my curve was not already so low. Oakenform, and the fact to draw into my top cards (Overrun, 4/4 flyers, Earthquake, Howl) make the 1/1 pretty good, but I already have infinite two-drops.


  Pack 3 pick 6:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 7:

  My Pick:

Negate is better in many matchups, but Rod of Ruin wins games by itself. The next pack is my final chance for the fixer unless Rampant Growth wheels!


  Pack 3 pick 8:

  My Pick:

Nope! I have enough guys not to have to pick the Creeper here, even though I’ve played worse cards in the format


  Pack 3 pick 9:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 10:

  My Pick:

And no, Rampant didn’t wheel... but that’s quite a good pick 10. Pack 3 pick 11:


  Pack 3 pick 11:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 12:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 13:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 14:

  My Pick:


  Pack 3 pick 15:

  My Pick:


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10 Forest
8 Island
1 Mold Adder
2 Runeclaw Bear
1 Deadly Recluse
1 Merfolk Looter
2 Sage Owl
1 Elvish Archdruid
1 Centaur Courser
2 Giant Spider
1 Prized Unicorn
1 Stampeding Rhino
1 Djinn of Wishes
1 Air Elemental
1 Negate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Divination
1 Rod of Ruin
1 Entangling Vines
1 Overrun
1 Howl of the Night Pack

Sideboard
1 Earthquake
1 Fog
1 Naturalize
1 Coral Merfolk
1 Mountain
1 Jump
1 Regenerate
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Flashfreeze
1 Plains
1 Panic Attack
1 Unsummon
4 Serpent of the Endless Sea
1 Deathmark
1 Zephyr Sprite
1 Duress
1 Oakenform
1 Dragon's Claw
1 Hive Mind

I chose not to run Earthquake, which would have cost me two Mountains and therefore gave me a pretty bad manabase. Facing a blue deck without many flyers (UR, UB), I may consider switching my land proportion to board in some of my Serpents.

My first round WB opponent takes one game with double Unholy Strength on Dread Warlock, but his deck is really really bad and I take the other two and advance to the semis. It still took him 12 minutes (4:30 gone on my side) to die, causing me to literally fall asleep several times in the match.

When the semis start, I fall asleep again. As he wanted to let me have some sleep, my brother took my computer and finished the match. He apparently won one game to a 9/9 Mold Adder versus UR, lost one because the guy had a pretty good deck, and it all came to a third game. Antoine was dead next turn, but could attack for the win if his opponent didn’t have Negate nor Unsummon, two cards he hadn’t seen in the previous games. The spell resolved, so no Negate. Antoine then attacked for the win, and when the opponent left for over three minutes, Antoine assumed his opponent was just making him wait for 10 minutes via a disconnect. When he eventually came back, the opponent DID play Unsummon on tapped-out Antoine’s big Unicorn, sealing the win. [Ultimate slowroll! - Craig, amused.]

Until Monday...

Oli


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