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Drafting With Olivier - Zendikar #7

Olivier Ruel

By Olivier Ruel
11/13/2009

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:

1) Vampire Nighthawk
2) Sheperd of the Lost
3) Disfigure
4) Baloth Woodcrasher
The Vampire is the obvious pick here, but the pack still has three other cards I wouldn’t mind first picking. Shephard of the Lost, even though it is a bit expensive, belongs in the very small category of those creatures which can attack and block, and do both pretty well. Also, it’s not hard to deal the first 13-14 damage to your opponent with a White deck; the hardest part is to deal the final 5 to 10 damage.
Then I’d pick Disfigure over the Baloth for a matter of color preferences, even though I think both cards are about as good.


  Pack 1 pick 2:

  My Pick:

Heartbeat Mosquito is too slow for a fast deck but excellent in a control one. Eternity Vessel is excellent in sealed but too slow against most draft decks. The best card, as far as raw power is concerned, would be Kor Sanctifiers, but I don’t like the WB archetype.


  Pack 1 pick 3:

  My Pick:


  Pack 1 pick 4:

  My Pick:

It would seem like I am going for a mono color deck again.


  Pack 1 pick 5:

  My Pick:

1) Nimana Sell-Sword
2) Torch Slinger
3) Whiplash Trap
4) Territorial Baloth
5) Adventure Gear
Torch Slinger being here could be a signal, but as two uncommons and a rare are missing, nothing is definite. Also, I’d like to remain mono color, or to just splash the second color. And I don’t feel like splashing a double mana colored spell. This is also the reason why I wouldn’t pick the Trap, which is also a very good card. I won’t even consider picking Adventure Gear here, as I just don’t like the card at all in mono black, an archetype I’m more and more likely to run.


  Pack 1 pick 6:

  My Pick:

I like the crocodile in an aggro deck, which is not what I seem to be. Anyway, I think I’d still like the enchantment a little more.


  Pack 1 pick 7:

  My Pick:

There’s no way I counterdraft the Chosen when I hope so much my left neighbors will go Green, or anything beside Black at the moment.


  Pack 1 pick 8:

  My Pick:

Vampire’s Bite is a better card than the 4/2 in a very fast deck, like RB, but here I’d rather like having a great sideboard card that I don't have to face.


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  Pack 2 pick 1:

  My Pick:

If Disfigure wasn’t in this pack, I would have picked Burst Lightning, probably the common I’d be the most likely to splash.


  Pack 2 pick 2:

  My Pick:

What’s the best? A mediocre card, or a good one to counterdraft (either Boa or Boar here)? Not sure yet, but I think of my deck here and pick the Diabolist. I’d have counterdrafted anything significantly better though. ,/p>
  Pack 2 pick 3:

  My Pick:


  Pack 2 pick 4:

  My Pick:

I’m not a huge fan of this card, but I still think it’s better than the overrated Guul Draz Vampire.


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  Pack 3 pick 1:

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  Pack 3 pick 3:

  My Pick:

Still not much of a choice, but at least it will make the Diabolist playable.


  Pack 3 pick 4:

  My Pick:

The card may not be as broken as it seems, though it’s still pretty good in a mono Black deck.


  Pack 3 pick 5:

  My Pick:

I wish I could afford to counterdraft the Lightcaster, but Dross Scorpion is too good a card to consider doing this.


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This draft converter created by Benjamin Peebles-Mundy.
Visit the draft converter today!

18 Swamp

1 Vampire Lacerator
1 Surrakar Marauder
2 Blood Seeker
1 Mindless Null
1 Giant Scorpion
2 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Nimana Sell-Sword
2 Crypt Creeper
1 Hearstabber Mosquito
1 Hagra Diabolist
1 Blazing Torch
2 Soul Stair Expedition
1 Disfigure
1 Grim Discovery
1 Hideous End
2 Mind Sludge

In the first round, facing RW, I stop his beats thanks to a turn 5 Mind Sludge stopping his reinforcements the turn before I played Nighthawk. He was then unable to deal with the Vampire and had to give up. In the following game, things seemed close as we were racing with creatures of the same quality, until Crypt Ripper joined the dance and ended the match in three attacks.

In my second round I faced a GR deck, which was the perfect matchup for Mind Sludge. Taking 5 cards from my opponent won me game 1, and then Soul Stair Ascension made the difference in a long and difficult game concluded by the Nighthawk and the Ripper it had returned.

For the final, I had to face Mono-White. Not exactly the best matchup for Mind sludge in theory, but it ended up winning both games 1 and 3. In the first, it took his two last cards in hand, which were Journey to Nowhere and a lethal Windborn Charge, while in game 3, on the turn on which he had just found his third land, I took 5 cards from him.

Until Monday...

Oli


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