Olivier Ruel (born 24 July 1981Olivier Ruel 2006 Pro Player card (from the Magic: The Gathering

Time Spiral Time Spiral is a Magic: The Gathering expert-level block consisting of the expansion sets ''Time Spiral'' (October 6, 2006),

expansion) in

Aubervilliers Aubervilliers () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, Île-de-France region, northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Albertivillariens'' or ''Albertivillariennes''. Geography Localisati ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

) is one of the most successful professional ''

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...

'' players. He holds the record for most Grand Prix Top 8’s, and is one of twenty players with five or more Pro Tour top 8’s. After Pro Tour San Juan 2010, Olivier surpassed

Kai Budde Kai Budde (born 28 October 1979),Kai Budde 2005 Pro Player card (from the Magic: The Gathering Ravnica expansion) is a semi-retired professional Magic: The Gathering player, who holds the record for Pro Tour victories, and for a long time hel ...

as the leader in lifetime Pro Points. However, Budde regained that title later that season.

Career

Born in

, Olivier and his brother Antoine started playing Magic in 1994. Olivier won the first Pro Tour Qualifier he attended and thereby qualified for Pro Tour Rome 1999. After a mid-table result there he teamed up with his brother and Florent Jeudon for Pro Tour Washington D.C., going under the name of "Phenome J". They finished eleventh at the Pro Tour and quickly followed that up with a victory at Grand Prix Cannes, now going as "Black Ops". These achievements were rewarded with a ranking-based invitation to the Masters Series at Pro Tour New York 2000. Again Black Ops prevailed defeating Game Empire consisting of Alan Comer, Brian Selden, and Kurt Burgner as well as the Antarctica-team of

Jon Finkel Jon Finkel (born May 18, 1978)Jon Finkel 2006 Pro Player card (from the Magic: The Gathering Time Spiral expansion) is an American ''Magic: The Gathering'' and poker player. Finkel is one of the most decorated players in the history of profess ...

, O'Mahoney-Schwartz brothers. Their first major individual success came several months later when the Ruel brothers met in the final of Grand Prix Porto where Antoine defeated Olivier. Another few months later in May 2001 Olivier secured himself a place on the French national team by finishing third at French Nationals. His first Pro Tour Top 8 followed in March 2002 where he finished second at Pro Tour Osaka. Olivier has since racked up an unprecedented 28 Grand Prix Top 8 finishes, winning five. He also has five Pro Tour Top 8 finishes and won the French Nationals in 2004. In 2008, Olivier was voted in the Hall of Fame and was inducted at the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Accomplishments

Top 8 Appearances

Other accomplishments

* Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruel, Olivier Living people French Magic: The Gathering players People from Aubervilliers 1981 births