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Drafting With Olivier – M10 #11

Draft with Olivier Ruel... at StarCityGames.com!
Tuesday, September 15th – 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!

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Pack 1 pick 1:

















My Pick:

1) Tendrils of Corruption
2) Harm’s Way
3) Pacifism
The best card in this pack is Harm’s Way. However there are three cards which should be the first three picks no matter what and two of them are White. As I like Black and as I think Tendrils is better than Pacifism and less good than Harm’s Way but close to it I go for the Black removal.

Pack 1 pick 2:
















My Pick:

The only good Black card and probably the best card in the pack anyway.

Pack 1 pick 3:















My Pick:

Once again only one Black playable and once again it’s a good one.

Pack 1 pick 4:














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Pack 1 pick 5:













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Pack 1 pick 6:












My Pick:

One of the top 3 commons (with Bolt and Doom Blade) is still here; it’s gotta mean something.

Pack 1 pick 7:











My Pick:

1) Snapping Drake
2) Drudge Skeletons
Black usually lacks two-drops. I already have two three if I count Looter and they are all better than the Skeletons.

Pack 1 pick 8:










My Pick:

Pack 1 pick 9:









My Pick:

1) Ignite Disorder
2) Sage Owl
I’d rather have a good sideboard card if I’m Mono Black than a mediocre card if I’m UB.

Pack 1 pick 10:








My Pick:

Pack 1 pick 11:







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Pack 1 pick 12:






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Pack 1 pick 13:





My Pick:

Pack 1 pick 14:




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Pack 1 pick 15:



My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 1:

















My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 2:
















My Pick:

1) Howling Banshee
2) Looming Shade
I don’t know for sure if I’m Mono Black or UB yet. Looming Shade is better in Mono Black but Banshee is a lot better in UB and still good in Mono Black. Therefore it seems like a safest pick here.

Pack 2 pick 3:















My Pick:

The Turtle may be a little better in UB than Sign in Blood but I may end up short on playables if I want to go Mono Black while Horned Turtle will be only a filler in UB.

Pack 2 pick 4:














My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 5:













My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 6:












My Pick:

A card I actually like a lot in Mono Black. As most guys cost three mana sometimes two you usually have to choose on turn 5 between casting Vampire Aristocrat and Kelinore Bats. In this case it is better to have the mediocre five-drop than a random three-drop.

Pack 2 pick 7:











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Pack 2 pick 8:










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Pack 2 pick 9:









My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 10:








My Pick:

Okay now I’m Mono Black for sure.

Pack 2 pick 11:







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Pack 2 pick 12:






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Pack 2 pick 13:





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Pack 2 pick 14:




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Pack 2 pick 15:



My Pick:

Pack 3 pick 1:

















My Pick:

1) Doom Blade
2) Bog Wraith
3) Rise from the Grave
Rise is quite good when you have lots of removal and Mind Rot but this doesn’t apply to me yet and it’s less good than Doom Blade anyway. Bog Wraith may both be an excellent creature and a card I fear facing it’s still worse than a two-mana spell which kills pretty much anything.

Pack 3 pick 2:
















My Pick:

Pack 3 pick 3:















My Pick:

Pack 3 pick 4:














My Pick:

1) Drudge Skeletons
2) Vampire Aristrocrats
I like Aristocrats a lot less than Nantuko Husk because of the new rules and I actually now think for curve reasons that Drudge Skeletons is if not a better card at least a better pick.

Pack 3 pick 5:













My Pick:

Pack 3 pick 6:












My Pick:

My deck got reaaaaally good in two packs.

Pack 3 pick 7:











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Pack 3 pick 8:










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Pack 3 pick 9:









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Pack 3 pick 10:








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Pack 3 pick 11:







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Pack 3 pick 12:






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Pack 3 pick 13:





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Pack 3 pick 14:




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Pack 3 pick 15:



My Pick:

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18 Swamp
2 Child of Night
1 Drudge Skeletons
2 Warpath Ghoul
1 Dread Warlock
1 Vampire Aristocrat
2 Looming Shade
2 Howling Banshee
2 Zombie Goliath

1 Weakness
1 Sign in Blood
2 Doom Blade
1 Magebane Armor
1 Diabolic Tutor
2 Tendrils of Corruption
2 Consume Spirit

Sideboard
1 Snapping Drake
1 Shatter
1 Yawning Fissure
1 Fiery Hellhound
2 Coral Merfolk
1 Centaur Courser
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Mountain
1 Ignite Disorder
1 Panic Attack
1 Cancel
1 Convincing Mirage
1 Horned Turtle
1 Lava Axe
1 Soul Bleed
1 Kraken’s Eye
1 Merfolk Looter
2 Tome Scour
1 Wurm’s Tooth

This draft was “fun.” It was one of those draft which makes you want to take a short break from Magic. I didn’t get unlucky. I didn’t face great cards. No I just faced pure idiocy for two rounds in a row.

In the first I played against a Blue-splash-Black deck which we ran for two close games. He drew great in the second and I would probably have won if he had been playing a little better.

For some reasons he decided to tell me what he thought of me (“noob” and other more sexist insults) and my mom (I won’t repeat this for reasons you will I am sure understand). After a 10-minute wait I advance to the semis. Weeee…

How could I know that my next round opponent would be a lot worse?

I understand that people can get mad and act unsportsmanlike when they lose. I surely disapprove this kind of behavior but I can understand it. What amazes me is when people kick your ass and still can’t stop yelling at you.

The second game against his WG deck is quite interesting. I have Tendrils in hand and pretty much the only way I can win is if he attacks me with his entire troop. Therefore after thinking for a while I decide not to play it during my turn even if that gives him an extra draw to find Safe Passage (which he didn’t have in hand two turns earlier). He attacks me I play Tendrils and he has Passage. That’s when we trade the first words of the game.

“Did you just draw it? Just curious.”
“YA GOT NOTHING”
“Well sure but I was just wondering.”
“I DID. NA YA GOT NOTHING”

So game 3 starts and he doesn’t stop.

“NOTHING. DIE.”
“Excuse me?”
“I WANT YOU TO DIE.”

I’m trying not to get mad from this and from my double mulligan.

“Play the game idiot or I’m going to report you for stalling.”

Etc etc.

In the meantime I’m trying to report him to the adepts and ask them to do something about it but it won’t happen. I think ORCs are actually bots; they detect key words in your sentences and redirect you via links to forms when you would like an answer. It’d actually be nice if they could be real people with some power.

My opponent’s self confidence makes me suppose he must think he is a great player so I ask him if I’ll have the chance to meet him at Pro Tour: Austin.

“BurnsOrBoourns” as that’s his MTGO name highly encourages me to ask for Mike Hunt while I’m there. He will apparently be easy to recognize as he’ll be the guy with the baseball bat. Brilliant.

I lose the game report him and don’t draft for another two days as I’m disgusted by such a high level of idiocy and by the fact that this kind of behavior seems to be permitted.

Therefore I’ll ask all the people who will read this article to do one thing for me and for Magic in general. If you play against BurnsOrBoourns on Magic: Online please report any inappropriate behavior which must occur in most games considering his behavior when he’s winning. And the same applies to any opponent behaving this way in general.

One final question: would you like me to draft ME3 online? I’ve tried it a couple of time and it was surprisingly enjoyable compared to ME1 and ME2 so I thought maybe I could do something like one a week in place of an M10 draft. Feel free to give your opinions on the forums!

Until tomorrow…

Oli