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Drafting With Olivier – M10 #6

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Monday, August 31st – 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:

The only common/uncommon even close to Master of the Wild Hunt is Mind Control and possibly Fireball as you can splash it very easily. None of these cards are in this pack so the pick is easy. If it hadn’t been in the pack I’d have gone for the Razorfoot Griffin without much doubt.

Pack 1 pick 2:
















My Pick:

Another fairly easy choice as Liliana may not be the strongest planeswalker but it is still a bomb punishing any slow start. Also receiving it pick 2 is a precious indication as there are very few uncommons which could really be picked over it and none of them is Black or Green. Except possibly Overrun but it’s not a pick I would have made.

Pack 1 pick 3:















My Pick:

1) Kelinore Bat
2) Sign in Blood
If my first pick had been Black I’d have gone with the card drawer to get closer to my bomb but with two bombs already. what I’ll be searching for is consistency and stability. And picking another double Black card won’t help while Kelinore Bat is a lot easier to cast even though it costs one mana more.

Pack 1 pick 4:














My Pick:

1) Deadly Recluse
2) Dread Warlock
Black is more efficient when it is a dominant color (Looming Shade Tendrils Consume Spirit and all the multiple Black spells in general) but Master of the Wild Hunt’s presence encourages me to get a better balance between my colors. And so Deadly Recluse is better in the curve (most Black cards cost 3) and more efficient that Dread Warlock in a deck I want to be defensive anyway. I don’t want to race my opponent I want to keep him from attacking until I kill him with my best cards which is usually the best strategy for a deck which owns several bombs. Therefore and even though I could be tempted to go with a strong Black base this pick is quite obvious.

Pack 1 pick 5:













My Pick:

1) Tendrils of Corruption
2) Llanowar Elves
3) Gorgon Flail
Tendrils is a great card to search for with Liliana and also my first removal so far in this draft. Even though I want to play much Green a 10/8 manabase is still enough for Tendrils to be efficient and the Master a regular turn 4 play. Gorgon Flail might be a better card than Llanowar Elves but the 1/1 is perfect in a GB deck. Black is strong Black has lots of playables but Black has an awful curve. When a normal deck opens with a two mana 2 power guy Black usually opens with Sign in Blood or nothing on turn 2. When the random deck plays its second guy black casts a three-mana two-tougness guy. Therefore any removal or trick may make the board 2 or 3 guys to 0 from there. The color basically shines when games last but its major concern is getting to that point. Turn 1 Llanowar Elves can’t be more useful than it is in a Black deck and it was close to being the first pick here

Pack 1 pick 6:












My Pick:

1) Weakness

2) Enormous Baloth
I like the Baloth in sealed deck a lot more than I do in draft in which it is often just too slow. Also I don’t worry much about long games.

Pack 1 pick 7:











My Pick:

Pack 1 pick 8:










My Pick:

Maybe Unsummon was actually more annoying; the 2/1 shouldn’t be such a big deal.

Pack 1 pick 9:









My Pick:

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) Awakener Druid

2) Guardian Seraph
3) Kelinore Bat
The Druid is better in a more aggressive deck but it is still clearly the best GB card here. Kelinore Bat is okay but I’ll get so many playables with that archetype and in particular three-drops that I’d rather hate-draft the Angel than picking the 2/1.

Pack 2 pick 2:
















My Pick:

1) Rampant Growth

2) Stampeding Rhino

3) Windstorm

4) White Knight

5) Sign in Blood

Rampant accelerates into my two bombs and helps fix my mana so I take it over my second Rhino which would be good but would also be another late drop. I don’t mind running many I just don’t want to have too many of them in the early picks. Windstorm would be a great sideboard card versus the most troublesome archetype for me (UW Flyers) and I’d pick the quite annoying White Knight over the not so good (in my deck) Sign in Blood.

Pack 2 pick 3:















My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 4:














My Pick:

1) Centaur Courser

2) Rod if Ruin
I used to like Rod of Ruin a lot and I’d first-pick it. This was in 7-7-7 8-8-8 and 9-9-9 draft. What about 10-10-10? No idea haven’t tried that. But the point is the format is now faster and more bomb oriented which lowers the importance of a card which will in the best case scenario take three turns to make card advantage. The card is good it always kills one deck at the table but the Centaur Courser is simply better. It is probably the strongest common three-mana creature in M10 and even though I talk a lot about the three-drops in this archetype I haven’t seen that many as my left neighbors don’t seem like they want to pass me any Black in pack 2.

Pack 2 pick 5:













My Pick:

I’m going to make somebody happy.

Pack 2 pick 6:












My Pick:

No way Warpath Ghoul is making the cut here. Soul Warden is a better card than Excommunicate but I fear facing that card more.

Pack 2 pick 7:











My Pick:

I’d like to pick Expanse and play it but there’s no way I pass so late a card that probably kills me.

Pack 2 pick 8:










My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 9:









My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 10:








My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 11:







My Pick:

I could counterdraft Negate but a second Rat should be coming and I guess I’ll run them if I have three to give them a try.

Pack 2 pick 12:






My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 13:





My Pick:

Pack 2 pick 14:




My Pick:

Pack 3 pick 1:

















My Pick:

As pack 2 was mostly Green I should end up running a 9-9 manabase in which case the Overrun is an obvious choice here. Howling Banshee would have been the right pick if I was Black-dominant.

Pack 3 pick 2:
















My Pick:

1) Acidic Slime
2) Giant Spider
3) Tendrils of Corruption
If I had not first picked Overrun in pack 3 I’d probably have gone for my second Tendrils as the only thing my deck needs at the moment is removal. However my previous pick incites me to go for guys. I believe Slime is a better card than Spider but I may need more ways to stop flyers. Time is running I’m about to pick the Spider then I realize one thing: I don’t mind facing the Spider at all while the Slime would be very annoying. I change my mind and go with the 2/2 but both picks seem about as good to me.

Pack 3 pick 3:















My Pick:

1) Howling Banshee
2) Llanowar Elves
3) Vampire Nocturnus
A greedy (and bad) pick but I have to see with my own eyes what the card is really worth. No matter how good the card seems to be it’s still triple Black and it will usually be a little worse than Banshee even when on the board. And Llanowar Elves was probably just a better option as well. I want to give my deck consistency and I pick a BBB spell.

Pack 3 pick 4:














My Pick:

Pack 3 pick 5:













My Pick:

1) Borderland Ranger

2) Might of Oaks
I’m not repeating twice the same mistake in a row. Rare is cool but consistency is better.

Pack 3 pick 6:












My Pick:

Now that I’ve two of these and Nocturnus I may actually simply give up on Overrun and build a strong Black-dominant deck as I had considered earlier.

Pack 3 pick 7:











My Pick:

1) Child of Night
2) Llanowar Elves
If I’m intending on having Black as a dominant color a pair of Llanowar Elves are not really wanted here. Also Child of Night is a Vampire making Nocturnus better.

Pack 3 pick 8:










My Pick:

Pack 3 pick 9:









My Pick:

1) Naturalize
2) Sign in Blood
In a real life tournament I’d have picked the card drawer. On Magic online I know I already have enough playables and it most likely won’t make the cut. Also Naturalize can be a very strong card to search for with Liliana and Tutor.

Pack 3 pick 10:








My Pick:

Pack 3 pick 11:







My Pick:

Vampire!

Pack 3 pick 12:






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Pack 3 pick 13:





My Pick:

Pack 3 pick 14:




My Pick:

Pack 3 pick 15:



My Pick:

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It wasn’t an easy decision but I decided not to run Overrun. With double Tutors and Liliana Tendrils are fantastic in the deck. With 11 Swamp Rampant Growth and Borderland Ranger they should be pretty big and easily compensate for the mana flooding this deck is meant to produce. It does have a little too many mana sources but it shouldn’t be a problem as I think this deck should win as long as I get Swamps. If I do open a hand with no Forest which could happen considering the mana I’m going for I’m very likely to mulligan it.

11 Swamp
7 Forest
1 Child of Night
1 Elvish Visionary
2 Deadly Recluse
1 Drudge Skeletons
1 Vampire Aristocrat
1 Awakener Druid
1 Borderland Ranger
1 Centaur Courser
1 Kelinore Bat
1 Centaur Courser
1 Vampire Nocturnus
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 Acidic Slime
1 Stampeding Rhino
1 Weakness
1 Rampant Growth
2 Diabolic Tutor
2 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Liliana Vess

Sideboard
1 Entangling Vines
1 Naturalize
1 Jackal Familiar
1 Viashino Spearhunter
2 Forest
1 Sleep
1 Island
1 Overrun
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Excommunicate
1 Illusionary Servant
2 Relentless Rats
1 Looming Shade
1 Craw Wurm
1 Disentomb
1 Ice Cage
1 Kraken’s Eye
1 Angel’s Mercy
1 Tome Scour
2 Forest
1 Wurm’s Tooth

My first round opponent played two Air Elementals I could barely stop despite Liliana (I drew Tendrils but 5 Forest and 3 Swamp). I went for Recluse but got killed by the second before I found my fourth Black mana. In game 2 I had turn 5 Liliana (double tutor does help) and in game 3 it’s Master of the wild Hunt he can’t deal with after I stopped one of the annoying flyers with sideboarded Entangling Vines another one with the Master and Siege-Gang with Tendrils. If I can beatthat kind of deck things should go right!

In round 2 I lose the first to a turn 1 Duress on my Rampant Growth a game in which my opponent and I both discarded to land screw. After that though I have great draws in game 2 and he can’t stop Liliana in the third.

The final is verus mono Black and after I win a close game 1 he mulligans on the play and opens with duress on a five-land two-guy hand. He never recovered from that card disadvantage.

Until Wednesday…

Oli