Season 18, Episode 15: Brew Session (Omen Hawker + Training Grounds)

The dream of Sol Ring is alive and well thanks to March of the Machine’s astonishing blue mana dork, Omen Hawker. This little one drop taps for stunning amounts of mana — but only to pay for activated abilities. It’s the kind of unique effect that promises so much power, but at the expense of consistency. Outside of oddballs like Zirda, Biomancer’s Familiar, Powerstone tokens and Renowned Weaponsmith, specialized mana producers like Omen Hawker were mostly going it alone.

Enter Training Grounds. This slick little reprint from March of the Machine: Aftermath suddenly doubles our options for a deck full of activated abilities, and opens up combo loops besides. It’s not an exact parallel: not every Omen Hawker deck will be a Training Grounds deck, but every Training Grounds deck can potential benefit from the Omen Hawker. This is a brewing space that has barely been touched in three decades of competitive Magic, so it’s all the more exciting to finally see what activated abilities can do.

Cavedan and David are brewing up a storm with eight new decklists featuring Omen Hawker, Training Grounds, or both. We’ve got Pioneer Drafna combo decks, Shark Typhoon control decks, pump knight aggro, Nykthos devotion, and even turbo Urza’s Saga. If that sounds far fetched, consider that Omen Hawker has already notched a 12th place Challenge finish in Modern, using Wizardcycling of all things! And the synergies in Pioneer keep getting better and better. It’s a great time to be a blue creature brewer, so head on down to The Training Grounds and Activate Your Game (TM).

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Timestamps

[0:00] Manacymbal presents: Activate Your Game

[8:06] Brew Session: Omen Hawker + Training Grounds

[10:36] Key synergies

[16:41] Key similarities and differences

[21:05] UW Hawker Control by Pascal Maynard

[22:23] David’s UW Lotus Hawker

[29:59] David’s Simic Drafna Combo

[39:05] David’s Sultai Tome Diviner

[43:30] Dan’s Dimir Captive Weird

[47:38] David’s Dimir Wizard Class Combo

[52:17] Article: The complete guide to Blue Nykthos Devotion (ft. Omen Hawker) by laa11

[57:59] Izzet Wizardcycling by xfile

[1:02:13] Dan’s Sultai Tyvar Kitchen