Doc Ock, Evil Inventor Deck Tech

Doc Ock, Evil Inventor | Art by Dan Dos Santos

We've had only a handful of Marvel's Spider-Man cards revealed to us so far, all from the bonus set Spider-Man Eternal. The preview included three of Sensational Spider-Man's villains: Venom, Deadly Devourer, Green Goblin, Nemesis, and, of course, the subject of this deck tech: Doc Ock, Evil Inventor. 

What Does Doc Ock, Evil Inventor Bring to the Table?

While I love me an artifact deck, I'm also an aristocrats guy; give me trinkets to toss away! The prospect of animating artifacts hasn't really pulled me in. But the mad lads and lasses at WotC said "What if we make 'em real big?" To that I say, "I'm listening!"

The Doc is a seven-mana, 8/8 legendary Human Scientist Villain. He's not a Doctor? Too scared of letting him have a companion, Wizards? Also, Scientist is on 21 Magic cards to date, and I think that's funny (way more than I predicted!)

Doc Ock, Evil Inventor is all about turning your noncreature artifacts into 8/8s - as you'd expect from a Villain with eight arms.

In a single, elegant line of text, Doc Ock reads "At the beginning of combat on your turn, target noncreature artifact you control becomes an 8/8 Robot Villain artifact creature in addition to its other types." What are the key takeaways?

1. This trigger comes at the combat step.
2. Only noncreature artifacts can be turned into 8/8s.
3. They're turned into Robot Villains.

Similar Commanders

Interestingly enough, the big, bad Villain has a few commander pals that can dig into similar strategies. The OG Karn, Silver Golem and Sydri, Galvanic Genius both animate noncreature artifacts but balance this strategy out by tying their power/toughness to the artifacts' mana value. This is much like Zur, Eternal Schemer with non-Aura enchantments.

Doc offers a cool twist on a similar idea. Rather than wanting big-mana artifacts like in Karn and Sydri, Doc Ock doesn't care what your artifacts cost and makes them all huge. The commander I think feels closest to it is, oddly enough, Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor, which nicely rounds out the rest of the color pie.

This deck tech for the diggy-diggy Doc is simple: play a bunch of mana rocks and turn them into 8/8s to slam face.

Is there an extra fun little bonus subtheme? Of course, there is! What kind of mana rocks have I loved but had no reason to run as a full set? Fallout's Bobbleheads! While it would have been fun to do Swords as a subtheme, they wouldn't have the abilities they'd normally grant equipped creatures, so there goes that dream.

What the Doc Prescribes

Mana rocks are where it's at for Doc Ock: Power him out and start turning your Sol Ring into a beater.

Skyclave Relic is an excellent mana rock that can quickly become three with its kicker cost and, while its mana production is nice, the real deal is that it and the copies it makes are indestructible. That's good enough reason to include a Darksteel Ingot and Darksteel Relic for good measure. Mistvault Bridge and Darksteel Citadel both fit the same brief.

Tezzeret, Cruel Captain is our back-up plan for our Doctor. Getting to that emblem shouldn't be too hard, considering the deck is over 50% artifacts. Anything you drop will make him get there quicker and then you've got your game plan on something your opponents can't touch.

You could always keep the surprise Cyberdrive Awakener to mass-animate for a nice big swing, too.

Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass in a deck with such a high rate of historic cards is almost foolish not to include. A mana rock that sits in play, allowing you to Future Sight until it's ready to get tinkered with by Doc Ock while qualifying for the unblockable condition on Bessie, the Doctor's Roadster - unintentionally creating a bit of Universe's Beyond flavor gumbo.

What I really like about Doc Ock is that he can be a Vehicle commander without needing to crew anything.

My personal favorite of the bunch is The Omenkeel. Sorry, Cosima, God of the Voyage, as cool as you are, your boat is way cooler. Make The Omenkeel an 8/8 or send it in early since it's a two-drop - either way, any Vehicle that hits exiles cards from your opponents' libraries for the damage dealt to them and you get to just play the lands exiled as long as they're there. You likely will never miss a land drop at that point, making your advantage pretty substantial.

Makes that Smuggler's Copter feel like it draws a lot more than just one card.

How to End the Doctor's Appointment

While some more enterprising combo players might use this as an excuse to run the Isochron Scepter/Dramatic Reversal combo with a dash of Phenax, God of Deception, I opted to embrace the red zone of the combat step with this deck.

Genji Glove is a great way to get the damage going and animate more than one artifact a turn. Copy that trigger or Doc's trigger with Strionic Resonator and you've got a stew goin'.

A classic finisher like Akroma's Memorial does wonders for a beefy board. Speaking of Wonder, I opted to only include its Incarnation sibling Filth in the 99, though I recommend them both for easy evasion to clamp down on life totals.

Need more? I did mention that the artifacts you animate become Robot Villains. If you plop down a Cover of Darkness naming Villain, you'll probably get through anywhere you want with your cololess artifact creatures and you can save Doc Ock's commander damage swings for an opponent outside his colors.

Heck, choose Robot and let the Doc watch the madness unfold from the safety of your board. Choosing Robot also works great with Tezzeret's emblem. The same logic Cover of Darkness runs on can be applied to Kindred Discovery to keep the cards flowing.

Finally, an alternate route for the win-con comes from a sneaky version of Karn: Karn, Living Legacy. Karn makes Powerstones which will ramp you because you're playing mostly artifacts. He can help you dig as well. But most importantly, the emblem he grants you turns all of your mana rocks and trinkets, like Blood tokens and Clues, into machine guns that can hit opponents in the face or take out any creatures that can be destroyed.

Pack an Unwinding Clock if this strategy is more up your alley, but be warned, you'll be Archenemy really quick. But by then...maybe nobody will be around to oppose you anyway. *wink*

Doc Ock, Evil Inventor Commander Deck List

The Doctor Is In!

Overall, while Doc Ock didn't appeal to my regular playstyle, I found the concentration of mana rocks and ramp to be addictive. I was often getting the Doc out early and turning my Skyclave Relics sideways as I goldfished this on Archidekt. It's no aggro deck by any stretch, but it's lookin' to put the hurtin' on your foes.

I am SO excited for the Spider-Man set coming out later this year and I have many villains from the history of the comics to look forward to. We've already got three, but I'm stoked at the prospect of a Rakdos Carnage or an Orzhov Sandman.

But who knows? Maybe Aunt May's going to be the big standout from the set! What Spider-Man character or event are you most looking forward to seeing in the set? How would you build Doc Ock? Let us know in the comments below!