Hello awesome readers! I hope that today is your best day you've ever had or at least Top 100 if not! Today I have a different take on a leader introduced back in Phyrexia: All Will be One.

A 7-drop 6/6 with flying, which is a bit pricey. Then when you cast any spell that's not a dork you make 1/1 dorks with haste equal to that spell's mana value. Note that those creatures do not die at the end of the turn. Many builds of Ovika, Enigma Goliath focus on instants and sorceries to trigger things like Guttersnipe and Young Pyromancer. Sure, Ovika can work with that too! But I have a different build.

Planeswalkers! You cast your planeswalker, and then you have enough 1/1s to block attacks by your three enemies onto your buddies. Nice way to keep your team alive! Ready for my planeswalker brew? Let's do it to it!

Key Planeswalkers of Note

Let's start with a Chandra and a Dack! Her best version for play is generally considered Chandra, Torch of Defiance. This can +1 to exile and cast the top card of your deck and if not, shoot your foes for damage, or +1 to make mana. Then she can -3 to Lightning Blast any creature. Nasty card flow and removal and ramp in one card. Dack Fayden costs one fewer, has one less loyalty and one less ability. His +1 draws two and then discards them, so looting card flow. Then he can -2 and steal an artifact permanently, even after he dies.

Check out Jaya and Saheeli. This iteration of Jaya can +1 to make a Monk with prowess of the 1/1 variety! That's why she's here - prowess in this deck is nasty. Then she can -1 to cast from the top of your library this turn and -2 to shoot an opposing dork equal to your attacker count - quite a bunch here with your token hoard from Ovika and friends. Nasty removal, dork making, and card flow.

Saheeli is another four-loyalty, four-cost drop, but just three abilities. Her initial +1 also makes a 1/1 dork, this time a Servo artifact dork. Her other +1 will drop the cost of your next spell by your artifact count, so she's ramp. She's here for the initial ability but don't sleep on getting Ovika on the fifth turn after you drop her with her Servo token on turn 4 and then any mana rock or dork like Solemn Simulacrum.

Teferi and another Chandra! The mono-Blue one is a bit low loyalty-wise, but his first ability will more than make up for it! His first loyalty ability is 0 to draw a card, so that's +1 loyalty thanks to Teferi's unique ability. His second loyalty ability will -2 to make a 2/2 Spirit that also grows with drawing cards, making Teferi a draw engine and winning condition in one card.

Chandra is a very fast three-drop with a high 4 loyalty. She has three abilities that can all be used immediately on arrival to the battlefield. Her first 0 ability places a loyalty counter on each Red planeswalker you control, so that's really a +1 just like Teferi's 0. I have around 10 planeswalkers that will get a loyalty counter from her first 0. Her second 0 will make two 1/1 hasted dorks which can swing now, but die at the end of the turn, so that's pretty strong in this token-based brew. Her -2 can cast a cheap instant/sorcery from your graveyard and then exile it! That's most of our card draw, removal, and counters. All three are very strong here!

Synergies and Winning Conditions

Now let's turn to synergies and winning conditions! The creature is a 2/2 uncommon with a noncreature cast spell just like Ovika that in this case proliferates. That will add loyalty counters to each of your 20 planeswalkers or other things which we'll look at in later sections. We only have 8 non-Commander creatures in here, and I pulled five basics for 5 modal spell/lands to ensure plenty of triggers.

The Gauntlet was added from the same set as our leader. This three-drop gives your planeswalkers two abilities, the first is 0: proliferate, so that has all of the proliferate value mentioned above. Then the second loyalty ability is -12: Time Walk. Nasty, especially with the proliferating happening here. Then when you cast a non-dork spell you get a trigger. You can put another counter on any permanent, so it's a lesser proliferate on one thing only. Note not on players, just on permanents.

The artifact here is a key four-drop with a four mana tap ability that's heavily played in planeswalker brews. In this case after activating, your planeswalkers can use their loyalty abilities a second time this turn. Then if you haven't used a loyalty ability this turn, you lose two life, a minor cost in a 40-life format. The creature is a two-drop 2/1 on-curve Standard card. Did you cast a non-dork spell? Gotcha! Make a 1/1 artifact Soldier token. Good pair!

Now let's turn to an enchantment and a planeswalker in the same color. Impact Tremors says when a dork arrives to the party under your control your foes take a damage each! That's a lot when your Ovika triggers. Then that works for all of your other token making too. Chandra, Awakened Inferno can't be countered but can immediate +2 to have your foe's gain an emblem to get scorched each turn for 1 damage. It's a ticking clock and that puts her at 8 loyalty and made six 1/1 tokens to block with Ovika. Along with the removal options on her other abilities, Chandra can do it all!

Check out this pair of non-creature cast triggers! The mythic is a four-drop Dragon with a 4/4 flying size - nicely on curve! The rare is a six-drop enchantment that triggers your things. Then it also makes an X/X equal to the mana cost of your spell, this time without flying and haste, but permanently unlike the Hellkite token. Nice! This can also cycle and make an X/X out of nowhere to kill an attacker to save your planeswalker about to die. Nice pair!

Let's finish this section with a pair of planeswalkers. Sarkhan the Masterless is a five drop five loyalty dork. He can +1 to make each planeswalkers you have into a flying 4/4 and then you swing out of nowhere with enough to win the game while growing in size. He can also -3 to make a 4/4 Red Dragon with flying, once with his starting loyalty, more with some proliferation here. Then you can static kill smaller things that attack you and your friends equal to your Dragon count, with his token and the Manaform Dragon we just looked at.

Mordenkainen is a six-drop, five-loyalty 'walker. Then you can +2 to draw two, and put one from your hand on the bottom of your library - key card flow. Then his -2 makes a 2/2 Dog that's power and toughness are equal to twice your hand size. Nasty win con there. And card flow otherwise. Love this pair loads here!

Card Flow

Now let's turn to card flow. The common is a two-cost sorcery from War of the Spark, the second time that proliferate was used in a Standard set. There it was used to pump your stuff up and loyalty counters. You can both proliferate and draw a card in one thing.

The uncommon was printed in the first time proliferate was printed in the last time we were in Mirrodin/New Phyrexia. In that set, proliferate was used to kill with poison counters and hurt with -1/-1 counters. This is a Phyrexian Blue then three generic, so it could be three or four mana. Then you can draw two and proliferate too, nice synergy with what the deck is doing here.

Just like proliferate was used in the planeswalker set and the first Mirrodin/New Phyrexia one, we have proliferate here in the next Phyrexia: All Will be One too! Experimental Augury is a two-cost instant that digs three, puts one into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library - so one fewer dig than Impulse for the same cost. Then proliferate. Good stuff! Prologue to Phyresis will give your foes a poison counter and then draw a card. As you may have noticed, this is not a deck loaded with toxic and infect, so why is it here? Great question! With all of the proliferate, we can get a poison win out of nowhere.

Check out this creature pair in my colors. The Wizard is a one-drop 1/2, on-curve. Then as you cast non-dorks put an oil counter on this. You can sacrifice it for seven mana to discard and draw four, very strong card flow, but pretty costly. But that cost is reduced equal to your oil counter count. The Sphinx is also an on-curve 4/4 with flying that adds oil counters for the same cast triggers. Then you can spend one Blue to remove one to draw and then scry 2. Nice card flow over time on a beater.

Now let's turn to two Jaces! Jace, Cunning Castaway is a three-drop with 3 loyalty. You can +1 him to draw cards equal to the damage dealt to a foe this turn by your dorks, and you can -2 him to make a 2/2 Illusion that dies when targeted. Jace, Unraveler of Secrets is a five-drop 5 loyalty with the +1 to scry 1 and then draw, nice card flow combined with scrying. Then his -2 can Unsummon a dork twice with his starting loyalty, pretty nice tempo here in this deck!

Now let's turn to two modal spell/lands that draw. The first is the Awakening, a three-cost Red uncommon instant that lets you put any number of cards from your hand to the bottom of your library and then draw them plus one, so you can keep what you like. Very strong with Chandra, Acolyte of Flame's -2 we looked at earlier casting it from your graveyard. The second is the Restoration, a 7-mana draw cards equal to your hand plus one, and then no max hand size for the rest of the game, so you can really draw everything. This can really win with Mordenkainen's Dog-making.

Answers and Removal

Mesmerizing Dose is a three-drop that enchants a dork and taps it down, and then proliferates. It cannot untap. I love this on an opposing Commander that has the mana to be recast a few times, so you tap it and lock it down! It's also great on beaters and things that would be about to attack your planeswalkers, as well as tappers. And you aren't losing any mana for the Aura's proliferation, this is normally a 3-mana ability. Corrupted Conscience is a five-drop that steals an opposing dork. Nasty! And then it gets infect as well, so you can steal and then attack and turn it into a win con. This is my only stealing ability here, but it's another nice answer to Commanders. With infect and proliferating all over, that's a win con in answer clothes. Nice pair of Auras!

Let's turn to an artifact and an enchantment. The Engine is a six-drop that on arrival to the battlefield will place -1/-1 counters on every creature target player has. Note that doesn't scale up in multiplayer. Then you can tap it with four mana to proliferate twice! It'll kill quickly all dorks they own and get around indestructible. Then you can add loyalties twice for your planeswalker crew. The Oath is a two-drop that burns an opposing dork for three. Then in each end step if a planeswalker arrived to your battlefield, you can shoot each opponent for 2, so it's removal and a win con in one card.

Let's turn to a pair of pricey colorless removal planeswalkers. Karn can +4 to exile discard a card from your foe's hand. Drop it, start using it and people will typically play their hand quickly. Exile discard is loads better than normal since they cannot bring back what they choose to discard. Then the -3 will exile any permanent, even lands, with the same exiling strong hold. Nasty. Ugin costs one more, has one more loyalty, and his +2 will Bolt any target, so it's creature, planeswalker, and player removal. His -X will exile all colored permanents of that mana cost or less, so he is mass removal of an exiling persuasion, and we aren't running a bunch of recursion, so don't worry, if you need to sweep, sweep away!

Let's finish our removal and answers section with a mono-Red modal spell/land duo. Shatterskull Smashing will deal X damage to two targets, so you can deal 3 to one and 2 to another with 5, or 4 and 1. If you spent X = 6 or more, twice damage is dealt. Note that it cannot target players. Spikefield Hazard costs just one, and pings any target for one, and exile it if it dies. Good pair to finish this section.

Mana and Lands

Now let's turn to mana and lands. Because of how expensive Ovika is, most of my mana rocks won't tap for one mana like an Izzet Signet or Commander's Sphere would, only two because they are on theme. The rest are tapping for at least two mana. The Dynamo arrives on the fourth turn, taps for three, and will allow a fifth-turn Ovika without a land drop. Nice, right? Sphere is three mana, taps for any color of mana like a Manalith, but arrives tapped so there is a tempo cost in using it. But it proliferates on arrival to the battlefield, so that works well. And it has the potential to tap for three if someone else has at least three poison counters, and we have those two ways we've seen to give plus proliferate here, so that's not nothing.

Now let's turn to another one mana maker in Strixhaven Stadium. This three-drop taps for one colorless and then puts a point counter on this. Then when you are dealt combat damage by a dork, pull off a counter. Then when you deal combat damage, grab a point counter and if ten, they lose the game and pull them off. This is a win-con on a mana rock with all that token making with haste. Also, you can proliferate point counters. Then Karn's Bastion arrives untapped and taps for colorless, and can be tapped with four to proliferate. That's a powerful proliferation in the land zone.

Now let's turn to this land and mana rock. The land can arrived untapped, can be sacrificed for two and then exile all graveyards from the graveyard instantly. That's a brilliant brake on abuse, and without any recursion here save for that one Chandra's -2, that doesn't hurt you at all. The artifact is a four-drop, taps for two, and then with a land is a fifth-turn Ovika, nasty powerful. Then you can tap and sacrifice it with two mana to draw and then exile all other graveyards, so it's another form of mass graveyard answering. It's also useful ramping and card flow here.

Castle Embereth will enter the battlefield untapped sometimes. It's here to tap with three mana to pump your dorks by one power each, brilliant in a going wide brew. I can see some folks with two toughness dorks not swinging at your planeswalkers with this and your Goblin tokens for fear of losing a bunch. Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance arrives untapped and loses no tempo. You can discard it at instant speed with no more than four mana to make two 1/1 Spirits that are colorless which can be used at instant speed to block and save a planeswalker or two.

Want win cons in your land? I got ya! The Nexus taps for colorless, and for one mana turns into an artifact flyer with infect. Drop this turn one, activate and swing on turn two for a Poison counter, and then proliferate a win. The Sphere also taps for colorless and arrives untapped. On the turn you drop it, it'll tap for any color. Then for three and a tap you make a 1/1 Mite with toxic 1 and cannot block, and it's an artifact token for Saheeli's latter +1 ability. They cannot block, so they cannot be used to protect your team. But you can get in swings for poison counters all day long and unlike infect, they'll drop the defender's damage too.

Let's finish our land deep dive with this pair. The Keep is legendary, taps for colorless untapped, and then can be tapped with two to make a 0/1 for blocking. Unlike Ovika it's not a win con by going wide, but it will block an attack on one of your planeswalkers and trigger Impact Tremors if you control both. The Hall taps for colorless, will turn one mana into another with a tapping, and then will tap for four to make a tapped Powerstone token to sacrifice for mana. Don't sleep on that speeding up Ovika by a turn, and then making an artifact for Saheeli as well as adding to your ramping options and being a mana sink. Nice token making pair to finish things with!

Alright, let's turn to the decklist:

Ovika's Best Friends | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Ovika, Enigma Goliath

• Creatures (8)
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Flux Channeler
• 1 Manaform Hellkite
• 1 Serum Sovereign
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Third Path Iconoclast
• 1 Vindicative Flamestoker
• 1 Whispering Wizard

• Planeswalkers (20)
• 1 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
• 1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
• 1 Chandra, Flame's Catalyst
• 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
• 1 Dack Fayden
• 1 Jace, Cunning Castaway
• 1 Jace, Mirror Mage
• 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
• 1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
• 1 Jaya, Fiery Negotiator
• 1 Karn Liberated
• 1 Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor
• 1 Mordenkainen
• 1 Ral Zarek
• 1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
• 1 Saheeli, the Gifted
• 1 Sarkhan the Masterless
• 1 Teferi, Master of Time
• 1 Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim
• 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

• Instants (12)
• 1 Cryptic Command
• 1 Experimental Augury
• 1 Fact or Fiction
• 1 Fuel for the Cause
• 1 Jwari Disruption // Jwari Ruins
• 1 Prologue to Phyresis
• 1 Reject Imperfection
• 1 Serum Snare
• 1 Spikefield Hazard // Spikefield Cave
• 1 Steady Progress
• 1 Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge
• 1 Volt Charge

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Contentious Plan
• 1 Sea Gate Restoration // Sea Gate, Reborn
• 1 Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass
• 1 Tezzeret's Gambit
• 1 Vivisurgeon's Insight

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Corrupted Conscience
• 1 Goblinslide
• 1 Impact Tremors
• 1 Inexorable Tide
• 1 Mesmerizing Dose
• 1 Oath of Chandra
• 1 Shark Typhoon
• 1 Skywise Teachings

• Artifacts (11)
• 1 Contagion Clasp
• 1 Contagion Engine
• 1 Gilded Lotus
• 1 Glistening Sphere
• 1 Hedron Archive
• 1 Ichormoon Gauntlet
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Stonespeaker Crystal
• 1 Strixhaven Stadium
• 1 The Chain Veil
• 1 Thran Dynamo

• Lands (35)
• 6 Island
• 5 Mountain
• 1 Castle Embereth
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Emergence Zone
• 1 Frostboil Snarl
• 1 Hall of Tagsin
• 1 Inkmoth Nexus
• 1 Izzet Boilerworks
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Kher Keep
• 1 Mirrex
• 1 Molten Tributary
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Prismari Campus
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Scavenger Grounds
• 1 Silverbluff Bridge
• 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Sulfur Falls
• 1 Swiftwater Cliffs
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Temple of Epiphany
• 1 Volatile Fjord

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And there we go! What did you think of my different take on Ovkia than is common? Did you like my planeswalkers take? Any changes or things I missed? Just let me know!