“Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

In the early beginnings of the lock-down I slapped my knee and told myself and everyone else that would listen to me that when this is over, we shall play again but god damnit if I ever would sit in front of a computer screen and do it. It’s the company that matters! The beer! The socializing.

Then time happened and that little nerve, that little fickle magic nerve you have if you ever learn to play this game, started to prod at me. It told me of deck design ideas, it told me of gamestates, it also said that there are some people out there that actually enjoy each others company playing webcam magic. And I said NO! Shame on you, shame on me and shame on them for violating this beautiful little magical, yes- MAGICAL thing we got going on here. But then you guys kinda know what happened, or not happened.

So I have been playing ODOL during the lockdown. For those of you who dont know what ODOL is, It’s an Online Dutch Oldschool League that the TO “HW” put together after facing facts that me myself did not like to face. They usually play the Swedish ruleset in central European timezone. (if you like to know what ODOL stands for I would recommend you google it)

I have had a good run and tried some different archetypes and decks. This time around I wanted to have a go at BANT or- Arabian Aggro as it sometimes are called. Or Erhnam Geddon. The last times I played Arabian Aggro I went with a Martin Berlin build and I think I had some nice finishes with it. He played it in the Scandinavian Championship and Noobcon and tuned it to a well oiled machine.

The problem with Arabian Aggro is the first part of the deck name. If you are playing 11 threats and all of them are from Arabian Nights, there is a clean solution to that problem for some decks namely City in a Bottle. I think that City in a Bottle really made an impact a while back and even put the counterburn decks with Flying Men and Serendib Efreets in the corner. There are of course other variables that are in play here. Atog started to make a big showing in the Top8s instead for instance, but I am trying to make a point here so let us keep moving on.

I am very lucky to be friends with a lover of the BANT mid range archetype. Anton has a decent solution to the problem that is City in a Bottle. First off, we don’t play all of our creatures from Arabian Nights. Secondly white has Disenchant and that also takes care of another problem that is Abyss. Disenchant is such a good card and way more versatile than its red counterpart Shatter. Not does it only find more targets, it slips around Red Elemental Blast.

So, I wanted to play Force Spike and Armageddon. I kinda just want to delve into what I would do differently this time around. Talking with Anton I wanted to have a sideboard where I could go for more fliers and have Moat and even Wrath of God as a backup for aggressive nmatchups where Force Spike and Geddon would not be good. That kinda ruled out Svannah Lions. After a bunch of games I can say that not only, did I not take in the Moat or WoG, but I just missed early threats and many times felt that my window started closing and my opponent hadn’t even lost that much life.

What the deck does well though is playing at all cylinders. Usually artifact removal isn’t that good against it and Energy Flux can win you games outright. I will admit that Antons version is way better. He did however convince me not to play two Storm Spirits in the sideboard and in this version I wanted to have them many times. Lions is probably a better solution to that problem and I also kinda like a Sylvan Library in the sideboard. I have a hate-hate-love relationship with Sylvan but with Geddon it’s fine. You can with it, float some lands in the top for an end of the world-rainy day.

Balance should probably be in the mix somewhere in your 75. It is just such a back breaking thing to have and with Demonic Tutor all of your silver bullets are two-fold. If you decide to play four colors as I did, Anton sternly told me that four City of Brass is a must. Which actually makes the deck more susceptible to CiaB but Tutor and Mind Twist are worth it in the end. Also, alongside with the Argothian Pixies, I’d say that Mishra’s Factory are the best threat you can have since they let you go all the way. With those and the other usual suspects (Library of Alexandria and Strip Mine) you are playing six colorless sources in a four color aggresive deck with Geddon. So, four Cities it is.

I will just leave you with another way of going forward. The UW version above got Anton all the way to the Top8 spot in Noobcom 2. The big difference or evolving factor I’d say are the Mana Vaults. If you compare his BANT version of the deck from Noobcon X to this you can see that this is another way of going bigger that probably makes more sense than playing Birds of Paradise. A turn two Serra? A place where Moat is Actually good? Braingeyser? Recall? Balance? And apparently, even Geddon might be good with these enablers. Flux gets slightly worse though but sometimes those Vaults acts as colorless rituals. Maybe this is where I am venturing next.

Til’ next time!
I am Seb

PS. Here below is why you play Force Spike! DS.