(Ovika, Enigma Goliath | Art by José Manzanedo)

Big Mama Likes Big Mana

Greeting and salutations from what used to be Lutecia! I'm Arnaud, and I’m delighted to continue this journey with you on the path of weird commanders, budget cards, and obscure brews.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud of you. Last time, I asked you to choose between Haktos the Unscarred, Volo, Guide to Monsters, and Ovika, Enigma Goliath. Whatever the outcome, I went in expecting to have fun in building this next iteration. What I did not expect is how close the poll results would end up being. When the poll was closed, Ovika had come ahead by a single vote, standing at a proud 178, with Volo proudly following at 177 votes, and Haktos lagging slightly behind at 145. So before anything else, my utmost thanks for your commitment, this has been an exciting match to follow.

Except we're now at a crossroads. With two commanders almost tied, there's only one solution: create a Partner deck featuring both! What? No? Can't do that? Serious site and all? Awww....

Well, since the rigorous staff would not let me fly away with this crazy idea, how about this: we'll build something out of Ovika this week, and we'll brew with Volo next time. This way everyone's happy!

https://giphy.com/gifs/nostalgia-care-bears-my-childhood-11z8mwhw0jxQiI

Well, almost everyone. Sorry, Haktos lovers, I'll give him another chance some other day.

Well then, on to our commander:

I'll be honest, this pick wasn't entirely random. I've been wanting to build this lovable nightmare almost since it was spoiled, and I've been very happy with the results so far.

First off, her stats are solid. 6/6 flier with hefty built-in protection, yes please! It's a good thing that Ovika can fend for herself as she's bound to become a prime target the moment she hits the table. If she manages to stay for a round, though, things will get rough. Either by casting a flurry of cantrips or a few jankily expensive spells, you'll flood the board with gobbos to swing in for the win. There are many directions we can take this monster, but for the time being, let's focus on the unabridged list.

First Trim: The Cardboard Chainsaw Massacre

Let's get things rolling. As usual, we'll forego any card that's strictly above $1. Boy, easy cuts as these may be, they still hurt quite a lot.

Goodbye, easy mana. Goodbye, majestic boosts. Goodbye, group slug deities. Among the other major cuts, we'll also bid adieu to Shark Typhoon, Kindred Discovery, and City on Fire.

Before we get to the meat and bones of this spicy build, I'd like to point out a few honorable mentions, all below $2, that could probably make an easy entry should you be willing to update the deck without wrecking your budget. These are things like Goblin Bombardment, Magma Opus, Aminatou's Augury, Sunbird's Invocation, or Gilded Lotus. All solid spells that are bound to create sparks.

With all those expensive cuts out of the way, we're down to 160 cards.

Second Trim: Cardward Scissorhands

There's still quite a lot on our hands here. Draw spells? 30. Ramp? 25. Removal? 9. Wipes? 4. That's quite an imbalanced spread, it's almost like I really enjoy card draw and ramp spells. That's important to note, so on we go. I think I'll keep the ramp count quite high, since our commander is rather expensive and so are many of the payoffs we'll try to cast with her on the field. Card draw is important as well, but we don't need that much, do we? No, Toothy, don't give me that stink eye, it's not your deck.

Away we go then, off with:

While we're at it, I've also reshaped the mana base a bit, removing the worst taplands and adding a healthy amount of basics. With that, we're at a much more manageable 140 cards.

Third Trim: Cutting Off the Rough Edges

We've done our homework, now it's time for fun! This is where we decide the direction we want to take the deck. If you've been following me so far, you'll know I'm all about janky cards, so I'll shape the deck to keep a significant amount of big mana spells, ideally with self-reducing cost abilities, and a few additional ways to close out the game.

There are a few questions that we need to address before we get to the hard part.

First: do we need ways to copy our spells? Short answer, no. Longer answer, this isn't what we're looking for. Ovika cares for spells actually being cast, and while it might be fun to have some of most mana-intensive spells doubled, I don't really see this as an upside.

Second: do we need mana cost reduction outlets? I'm not certain. There's already a more than decent amount of ramp, and these outlets, being mostly creatures, are quite fragile while not that impactful. A case could be made for Wizards of Thay, since they also allow us to cast sorceries at instant speed, but I'm not a huge fan.

Third: what about the token-creators and other critters that care about noncreature spells? There's an argument to be made here: if Ovika is dealt with enough times, our plan risks going down the drain. That being said, I'd rather stick with her and provide protection rather than relying on jankier solutions, especially since we've undertaken the big mana route. For the same reason, I'll get rid of the cards with Storm. I'll make an exception for Balmor, Battlemage Captain since he basically doubles our army's power when casting a relevant spell.

Fourth: do we include Goblin tribal cards? Definitely no. All the best ones are too expensive to include, and I don't really think they bring enough added value to justify keeping them in here. It's certainly a path worth exploring though, if you have the cards or the means.

Fifth: what about all the oily Phyrexians? Out they go. Similarly to the token-makers, I believe they'll shine brighter in a spell-slinging deck than in here.

And with that, we're getting ever closer to our Final Iteration! Just 12 more cards to go.

Finishing Trim: Heart-Wrenching Choices

Almost done, just a few cards to remove. As always, this is the part where almost every choice makes you wish you were doing something else, like feeding a Tarmogoyf or nursing Progenitus to sleep. Still, it has to be done.

For these last trims, these are the cards that have to go:

• Dragon Fodder and Krenko's Command: these are simply not impactful enough, even when creating four Gobbos for two mana.
• Meldweb Curator: while recursion is appealing indeed, I'd rather play something that would bring the good stuff directly back to my hand.
• Guttersnipe: we're not spell-slinging, we're slug-slinging. Too little, too slow.
• Churning Reservoir: that one slipped my notice, but is quite literally useless.
• Reject Imperfection: just a Cancel with benefits, which doesn't do us any good here.
• Dramatic Reversal: infamous card when paired with Isochron Scepter, and in conjunction with the second ability of Sorcerer Class it could be fun. But it looks more like a win-more card in this case.
• Massive Raid and Goblin War Strike: I really, REALLY wanted to give these two a run for their money. But they are simply too inconsistent. Yes, you could possibly slug someone for 10 or more. But chances are that with ten Gobbos on the field, you are already winning.
• Warstorm Surge: yes, it could net you six Goblins, but that's really expensive for something that'll give you no more than Impact Tremors in the end.
• Roar of Resistance: one of the hardest cuts. While haste is redundant, the boost is all but negligible. A very close call.
• Idol of Oblivion: after much thought and consideration, this deck will not generate tokens often enough for it to provide consistent card advantage.

And there we have it! Ovika in a budget, magnificent and deadly.

What do you think? Did some of these cuts shock you? Are there any hidden budget gems that could or should have been included? Let me know in the comments!

As always, thank you so much for reading through it all. As mentioned in the introduction, no poll this week, as Volo has landed the coveted spot.

See you in two weeks!

Arnaud Gompertz

Arnaud Gompertz has been playing Magic since 4th Edition, back in 1995. He's been an assiduous EDH enthusiast since 2012, with a soft spot for unusual and casual Commanders. He'll always favour spectacular plays against a boring path to victory. Aside from mistreating cardboard, he's a dedicated board games player, loves a challenging video game and occasionally tries to sing with his choir.