Ovika, Enigma Goliath is one of the many cards featured in Magic: The Gathering’s Foundations set. The card is a reprint of one originally found in Phyrexia: All Will Be One and acts as a fantastic commander for new players thanks to its more straightforward game plan and effects. However, it’s just as good a choice of a commander for those who’ve been playing for a while.
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An Ovika, Enigma Goliath Commander deck is best for those who love casting as many spells as they can. The entire deck is built around casting noncreature spells and payoffs, all while being in Izzet (blue/red) colors, which are the best for spellslinging strategies.
Decklist
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Commander: Ovika, Enigma Goliath |
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Agate Instigator |
Chrome Host Seedshark |
Coruscation Mage |
Enduring Curiosity |
General Kreat, the Boltbringer |
Goblin Electromancer |
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Junk Winder |
Krekno, Mob Boss |
Magnus the Red |
Purphoros, God of the Forge |
Skirk Prospector |
Solemn Simulacrum |
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Storm-Kiln Artist |
Stormcatch Mentor |
Talran, Sky Summoner |
Third Path Iconoclast |
Veyran, Voice of Duality |
Witty Roastmaster |
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Young Pyromancer |
Apex of Power |
Blasphemous Act |
Brass’s Bounty |
Calamity of Cinders |
Explosive Singularity |
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Jeska’s Will |
Mana Geyser |
Mnemonic Deluge |
Rousing Refrain |
Treasure Cruise |
Artistic Refusal |
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Battle Hymn |
Big Score |
Brightstone Ritual |
Chaos Warp |
Complete the Circuit |
Dig Through Time |
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Frantic Search |
Meeting of Minds |
Seething Song |
Snap |
Transcendent Message |
Unexpected Windfall |
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Arcane Signet |
Ashnod’s Altar |
Coat of Arms |
Eldrazi Monument |
Fellwar Stone |
Izzet Signet |
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Lightning Greaves |
Mindsplice Apparatus |
Obelisk of Urd |
Skullclamp |
Sol Ring |
Strixhaven Stadium |
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Swiftfoot Boots |
Talisman of Creativty |
Wayfarer’s Bauble |
City on Fire |
Goblin Bombardment |
Impact Tremors |
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Kindred Discovery |
Metallurgic Summonings |
Shard Animosity |
Shark Typhoon |
Sunbird’s Invocation |
Cascade Bluffs |
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Castle Vantress |
Command Beacon |
Command Tower |
Desolate Lighthouse |
Exotic Orchard |
Fiery Islet |
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Fountainport |
x9 Island |
Izzet Boilerworks |
x11 Mountain |
Mystic Sanctuary |
Shivan Reef |
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Spirebluff Canal |
Stormcarved Coast |
Sulfur Falls |
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The decklist contains 19 creatures, ten sorceries, 13 instants, 15 artifacts, eight enchantments, and 34 lands. Most of the deck consists of noncreature spells as they are required to get the payoffs on your creatures.
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Key Cards
Ovika, Enigma Goliath
The commander of the deck, Ovika, Enigma Goliath is the primary payoff for casting your spells with high mana values. The tokens it creates are 1/1, but with how many you can create, you can quickly flood the battlefield with Goblin tokens.
The tokens have haste when they enter the battlefield, allowing them to attack the same turn you create them. While Ovika has a high casting cost (especially for a color combination that’s hard to ramp with), the ward it possesses makes it harder to remove with its built-in protection.
Agate Instigator
With how many tokens the deck makes, cards that deal damage when a creature enters the battlefield are great. Agate Instigator is the best for this, as you can get two creatures with this effect for one card. It only costs four mana to produce two creatures – the same price it would cost to cast two permanents that do the same thing.
If you cast Agate Instigator with offspring and the spell is countered, the offspring ability will not trigger as it never enters the battlefield.
With offspring, the token is created when the original spell enters the battlefield. As such, the original Agate Instigator will enter first, followed by the token, which will then trigger the original copy to start burning with the cards right away.
Sunbird’s Invocation
Sunbird’s Invocation is an amazing card in the deck as it essentially turns all your spells into an extra spell you can last for free. The spell revealed does have to have an equal or lesser mana value than the original, but if you cast a big spell, you’ll likely see enough cards to be able to cast at least one of them for free.
Notably for Ovika, it does not care if you spend mana to cast the spell. It only cares about the mana value of the spell, so if you manage to cast an expensive spell for free, Ovika will still trigger (as well as still triggering for the original spell itself that triggered Sunbird’s Invocation).
Eldrazi Monument
Eldrazi Monument is one of the primary ways to turn your many Phyrexian Goblin tokens into a win condition. It gives all your creatures flying and a small stat boost, which is minor at first, but once you have an army of 1/1 creatures it can very quickly get out of hand. Since they have indestructible, it makes them into great blockers as well.
You do have to pay a maintenance cost of sacrificing a creature every upkeep, or else you’ll lose Eldrazi Monument. However, this is very easily paid since you generate so many tokens in the deck.
Magnus The Red
Magus the Red is one of the best ways to discount your instant and sorcery spells. You make a ton of tokens in an Ovika deck, and each token will discount your instant and sorcery spells by one mana. So if you have five creature tokens, they’ll all be discounted by five mana.
Magnus the Red can create tokens on its own by dealing combat damage. It has flying, which makes it easier to connect for damage and ensure you’re able to make the token. This in turn helps discount your other spells which in some cases, helps to get Ovika out earlier if you have rituals to use.
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How To Play The Deck
An Ovika, Enigma Goliath deck is all about casting as many noncreature spells as you can and flooding the battlefield with tokens. Ovika can make a lot, but other cards can create tokens when noncreature spells are cast such as Young Pyromancer, Third Path Iconoclast, and Metallurgic Summonings.
Some cards such as Talrand, Sky Summoner will create tokens but only for instant and sorcery spells, not all noncreature spells, so make sure you always check before you cast.
You will be having a ton of creatures enter the battlefield, so burn becomes a viable win condition. This is accomplished with cards like Impact Tremors, Agate Instigator, Purphoros, God of the Forge, and Witty Roastmaster, which all deal damage to your opponents when another creature enters the battlefield under your control. You can burn even quicker with City on Fire which triples all damage dealt to permanents or players.
The primary win condition of the deck is winning through burn damage and combat damage. Ovika, Enigma Goliath can generate a plethora of creature tokens along with similar cards, allowing you to quickly flood the battlefield with creatures. Shared Animosity and Coat of Arms will give your Goblin tokens stat boosts that make them much more threatening attackers rather than simple 1/1s.
The biggest downside to the deck is its speed. Izzet cannot ramp very well, and with spells with high casting costs, this can prove problematic in the early game. It takes a while to set up, and in that time your opponents might be in a position where they’ll never have to worry about you. This is mitigated with ritual spells like Jeska’s Will and Seething Song which add more mana to your mana pool than you paid with. However, in the early game, you will likely be defenseless until you can at the very least get minor token generation going.
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