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Drafting With Olivier – ME3 #2

SCG 10K Philadelphia... the first major event featuring Zendikar!
Friday, September 25th – Hall of Famer Olivier Ruel takes us through an 8-4 draft queue on Magic Online. He shares some comprehensive thoughts about both the picks and the games, and talks us through each step of the way! If you’re looking to improve your Limited game, this is the article series for you!

Pack 1 pick 1:

















My Pick:

Stangg is pretty good but in the few drafts I’ve done in the format I’ve been surprised not to be passed any good Green nor have I faced any good Green deck. Chain Lightning is very good and safe; it will do.

Pack 1 pick 2:
















My Pick:

Not fantastic in this format but still another cheap removal spell.

Pack 1 pick 3:















My Pick:

The best card here is Tracker but I like Blue a lot so I’d rather go with the pinger.

Pack 1 pick 4:














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Pack 1 pick 5:













My Pick:

Not a card I love but a very decent filler.

Pack 1 pick 6:












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Pack 1 pick 7:











My Pick:

Wrong pick here I have no idea how I possibly passed Knowledge Vault.

Pack 1 pick 8:










My Pick:

Pack 1 pick 9:









My Pick:

I pick it to have a combo with my Red removal and my Blue pinger. Yes I am now aware none of these combos do actually work and luckily realized it before I had to submit a deck.

Pack 1 pick 10:








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Pack 1 pick 11:







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Pack 1 pick 13:





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Pack 1 pick 15:



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Pack 2 pick 1:

















My Pick:

As I’m not afraid of three-color decks in this quite slow format; I’m pretty sure I’ll manage to build a good deck around it!

Pack 2 pick 2:
















My Pick:

A Thieving Magpie for my three-color control deck. M10 actually made me forget for a few weeks how much fun drafting could actually be.

Pack 2 pick 3:















My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 4:














My Pick:

I like Wu Warship a little more from what I have seen when I played and faced it. However the Pinger seems better for my deck as I can use it in combo with his twin and my Red removal.

Pack 2 pick 5:













My Pick:

I love the card in the format. It is slow enough so you can always catch a big fish. I’ll have to beware the two Famine I’ve passed and play around it.

Pack 2 pick 6:












My Pick:

I am now building a pretty good defensive deck but I’ll have to think about a way to win.

Pack 2 pick 7:











My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 8:










My Pick:

Combo with the pingers and after I lost a game to Voodoo Doll in the format I decided to always have one in my Blue sideboards!

Pack 2 pick 9:









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Pack 2 pick 10:








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Pack 2 pick 11:







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Pack 2 pick 15:



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Pack 3 pick 1:

















My Pick:

In a first pick I’d have picked the Lightning but I’m already pretty confident in my ability to handle small guys. Now I’m more worried about how I’ll deal with the fatties which is why I pick the white removal.

Pack 3 pick 2:
















My Pick:

I didn’t even know that card actually existed. It’s just perfect for my deck! Now that I’m not losing because with this many removal spells I’m not planning on losing I have to figure a way I can win games! I should also try and get a second mana artifact.

Pack 3 pick 3:















My Pick:

That looks very much like a winning condition.

Pack 3 pick 4:














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Pack 3 pick 5:













My Pick:

Ivory Guardians could be good combined with Burning of Xinye and Crimson Manticore is by far the best card here. However I’m probably going for a 8 Island 5 Mountain 5 Plains manabase. In which case I want my only non blue double colored mana spells to be the very best.

Pack 3 pick 6:












My Pick:

Should help fixing for my Wrath effects.

Pack 3 pick 7:











My Pick:

Too bad for the Spiny Starfish/Wildfire combo I can’t say no to this.

Pack 3 pick 8:










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Pack 3 pick 9:









My Pick:

During the deck construction I’ll actually read the card and realize it was not worth picking nor even rare drafting.

Pack 3 pick 10:








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Pack 3 pick 11:







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Pack 3 pick 15:



My Pick:

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8 Island
5 Mountain
5 Plains

1 Wall of Light
1 Wu Warship
2 Wu Longbowman
1 Lu Xun Scholar General
1 Corrupt Eunuchs
2 Benthic Explorers
1 Shu Soldier-Farmers
1 Lu Meng Wu General

2 Force Spike
1 Chain Lightning
1 Immolation
4 Remove Soul
1 Sol Grail
1 Misfortune’s Gain
1 Brilliant Plan
1 Guan Yu’s 1000-Li March
1 Burning of Xinye

Sideboard
1 Swamp
1 Crimson Kobolds
1 Island
2 Strategic Planning
1 Heavy Fog
1 Tor Wauki
1 Wu Elite Cavalry
1 Tobias Andrion
1 Forest
1 Infuse
1 Amrou Kithkin
1 Jerrard of the Closed Fist
1 Ivory Guardians
1 Riven Turnbull
1 Fire Drake
1 Trip Wire
1 Ghosts of the Damned
1 City of Shadows
1 Demonic Torment
2 D’Avenant Archer

I kill and counter all the guys my opponent plays in the first game. As he’s a little flooded my two Benthic Explorers don’t have much trouble dealing him 20 damage (along with a Longbowman).

In the second he has a much better start but he just ends up running into Guan Yu’s 1000-Li March. As my guys didn’t die and as my Wrath allowed me to keep many removal spells and counters in hand I take the match without much trouble.

In game 1 of the semis he is unable to deal with my early Magpie and I manage to counter most of his guys and to kill the few annoying ones which actually hit the board. As he’s not White or Red my 2 Benthic Explorers can’t even fix my mana and I rather take them out. He takes game 2 as I never find my second Red for my Wildfire but it’s okay as I know these things will happen with my deck. In the third history repeats as I draw three Islands but only one Mountain and one Plains despite having both of my mass removal spells in hand.
On turn 9 the turn before I die I eventually topdeck my second Mountain and clear the board. He has three lands left I have only two but my hand is full of spells when his is empty. We both start drawing countless lands which makes sense as we had drawn about one third so far but this situation can’t be better for me. Three turns later I’ve the board totally in control and he can’t come back.

Before the finals start I look at my next opponent’s semis replay. He’s RG with almost nothing but one toughness guys and a Red splash for at least one Chain Lightning. Then the final starts and I choose to play first for the first time in this event as his deck seems very fast. I open with by 2 Longbowmen Plains Mountain Guan Yu’s 1000-Li March Immolation and Brilliant Plan. This hand won’t do much if I can’t find the Island but from what I’ve seen of his deck I’m pretty sure he’ll die instantly if one of my 1/1 stays on the board for one turn. My chance to draw the Island within two turns is pretty much 50% and a mulligan would probably make my odds to win drop to slightly less than 50%. I’ll take the risk.

My second draw is an Island Chain Lightning kills my first pinger but the second stays on the board and wins the game all by itself. I take out 1 Island and 2 Force Spike for 1 Plains and 2 Archers. In the second game I lose as I can’t deal with his fast start. In the very last game of that tournament I open with a hand of 5 lands Longbowman and Wall of Light. Two turns and two lands later I cast my pinger. “Even with my best card in hand how am I winning this game?” I wonder. That’s when a message pops up. My opponent has conceded the game. Yeeees!

ME3 is not only more fun it’s also a lot more skill intensive than M10. I don’t even feel like it’s the same game. Every time my opponent makes a big mistake it actually has an impact on the game. For the last three months I had actually forgotten how that felt.

Until Monday…

Oli