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Drafting With Olivier – Zendikar #7

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Friday, November 13th – 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) 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.

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  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.

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  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.

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  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.

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  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.

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  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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  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.

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  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>

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  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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  My Pick:

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

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  My Pick:

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

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  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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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