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Drafting With Olivier – Shards/Conflux/Reborn #26

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Wednesday, July 29th – 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:

Jund Battlemage is the best card but as I don’t consider Naya an option – except for a WG splash Red deck in which I wouldn’t splash for a three-mana 2/2 – it fits in only one archetype: Jund.

Kathari Screecher on the other hand may be a little worse but he can be played in UW Grixis Esper or UB. Fleshbag Marauder would be decent too but I think it’s a little worse than the 2/2.

Pack 1 pick 2:
















My Pick:

Better in any non-UW deck than a second Screecher.

Pack 1 pick 3:















My Pick:

Pack 1 pick 4:














My Pick:

I like the card less in ACR as it’s a little too slow but it’s still the best card here.

Pack 1 pick 5:













My Pick:

Not ideal with the Cascade spells from pack 3 but once again quite a weak pack.

Pack 1 pick 6:












My Pick:

Skeletal Kathari would be a good pick as well but I’d be surprised not to end up playing a third color. Not enough good cards are being passed to me for a two-color deck to be good enough here so I’d rather take my chances right now and prepare to splash Red.

Pack 1 pick 7:











My Pick:

It’s rare to see so many options in pick 7. Blightning is not a card I’d like to splash and I don’t feel like playing two Obelisks in the same deck. Therefore the last two options are Astrolabe and Reaver. The latter is okay as I don’t have many guys and as it survives Infest but I like the card drawer a little more as I’m pretty sure I’ll end up running lots of artifacts. If the M10 rules applied on MTGO I’d pick the 4/3.

Pack 1 pick 8:










My Pick:

Leviathan used to be a card I’d pick over any common/uncommon in AAA and AAC but it’s just too slow for ACR. I’d pick the Sculptor if I just had a few more artifacts but the 5/5 still seems like the best card.

Pack 1 pick 9:









My Pick:

A little better than Submersion as it belongs to my splash’s color.

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:





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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:

Absorb Vis would have been my pick if I felt like I needed fixers. With Necropolis and Obelisk of Grixis for no Red spells yet I don’t care that much about mana fixing yet.

Pack 2 pick 3:















My Pick:

Drag Down will often only be a -2/-2 and Dark Temper is a splash in a deck which doesn’t have that many Black permanents. Strix is just better here.

Pack 2 pick 4:














My Pick:

An early drop at least.

Pack 2 pick 5:













My Pick:

An artifact and my first expensive dude so I guess it’s okay…

Pack 2 pick 6:












My Pick:

… but I’m probably not running two while Molten Frame is a viable sideboard card.

Pack 2 pick 7:











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Pack 2 pick 8:










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Pack 2 pick 9:









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Pack 2 pick 10:








My Pick:

Considering how bad my curve is a second Horror won’t make it to the main deck and a second Molten Frame would have been better.

Pack 2 pick 11:







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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:

Remnant is not ideal with Cancel and Spell Snip and the Beetle is quite a decent splash anyway.

Pack 3 pick 2:
















My Pick:

Backlash is slightly better than Soul Manipulation but it’s a splash and I should be able to get cycler guys in the next packs to make it quite good.

Pack 3 pick 3:















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Pack 3 pick 4:














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Pack 3 pick 5:













My Pick:

A two-drop at least.

Pack 3 pick 6:












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Pack 3 pick 7:











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Pack 3 pick 8:










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Pack 3 pick 9:









My Pick:

I assume I’m leaving Cancel and Snip in the board now.

Pack 3 pick 10:








My Pick:

Nice combined with Astrolabe and Foundry.

Pack 3 pick 11:







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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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8 Island
7 Swamp
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Mountain

1 Grixis Grimblade
1 Sedraxis Alchemist
1 Pestilent Kathari
1 Kathari Screecher
1 Parasitic Strix

1 Architects of Will
2 Arsenal Thresher
1 Vectis Agents
1 Giant Ambush Beetle
1 Filigree Sages
2 Kathari Remnant
1 Etherium Abomination
1 Kederekt Leviathan
1 Wretched Banquet
1 Terminate
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Infest
1 Etherium Astrolabe
1 Obelisk of Grixis
1 Soul Manipulation
1 Covenant of Minds
1 Traumatic Visions

Sideboard
1 Plains
1 Cumber Stone
1 Molten Frame
1 Constricting Tendrils
1 Cancel
2 Mountain
1 Mana Cylix
1 Hindering Light
1 Double Negative
1 Forest
1 Pestilent Kathari
1 Forest
1 Demonic Dread
2 Infectious Horror
1 Shore Snapper
1 Island
1 Sludge Strider
1 Spell Snip
1 Grizzled Leotau

Card Power: 4
Many good cards but nothing brilliant and a few cards which are pretty bad when they aren’t used in their combos.

Synergy: 6
Astrolabe Foundry double Thresher and a lot of artifacts support the mediocre card pool the best they can.

Mana Curve: 3
I may have lots of good early drops but they still all cost three. Not having more than one two-drop guy is clearly a huge handicap.

Stability: 7
The mana won’t be a problem at all and the deck should have regular draws. Stability is about the only thing I shouldn’t worry about.

Round 1 : Jund

In the first game he’s screwed and plays only three Mountains in the first 4turns. Good news as I will only play three spells in the first nine turns: Grixis Grimblade on turn 2 Kathari Screecher on turn 3 and Traumatic Visions on turn 8 when he tried to play Resounding Thunder on it.

The second is much faster as I die to the Bituminous Blast/Vengeful Rebirth combo.

Game 3 was just another of those Cascade battles. While he would replay his Blast/Rebirth combo I would end up losing the game to cascading Remnant into Soul Manipulation my only way not to get two cards here. A thankful Blightning would give me a chance as it’d make me discard Leviathan but I would always be one land short from regrowing it and putting my opponent in my reach while his Putrid Leech the only survivor of the latest battles would put me down to zero.

Until Friday…

Oli