Omen Hawker in U Devotion

And a primer to "build your own" U Devotion lists

As I mentioned in my previous post, Omen Hawker is the card I’m most excited for in MOM, particularly in the U Devotion shell. So in preparation for MOM going live I thought I’d write up a primer on building U Devotion lists and then using the framework in it come up with some Omen Hawker lists.

Background

U Devotion is my favorite archetype in Pioneer. Coming up with Risen Reef + Master of Waves combo for it and having Seth/SaffronOlive make a Much Abrew of my list is what got me into brewing. It was exclusively what I played for the first year or two of Pioneer.

I eventually got it to the point during Inverter where it was the best deck in the format. I won a MODO Super Qualifier with it, despite losing two matches because I fell asleep while I had lethal on the board…seriously, how did I lose back to back rounds that way! And then I had to switch to playing Standard to prep for the Set Championship, no one picked up the list, and Inverter got banned by the time I returned to Pioneer so the deck never really had its chance to shine.

Since then, the format’s curve has dropped while U Devotion’s curve hasn’t, which has made it an ok but no longer a top tier deck. It has however picked up some new combo options and with Omen Hawker I’m hoping we can deal with the lowering the curve problem.

Build your own U Devotion

There are a few different ways to build U Devotion. Taking a cue from the various build your own salad places (i.e. base, toppings, protein), I’m going to try laying out a similar framework for U Devotion.

1. Base build

2. Add a combo

3. Yorion, yes or no

Base Build

There are three base builds for U devotion I’ve found:

• CoCo

• Leyline of Anticipation

• Instant speed interactive

CoCo build

This build is creature dense to leverage CoCo. Nykthos ends up a key player in this deck because an end of turn CoCo can set up a huge devotion turn the following turn. To take advantage of this explosive potential you want to play this build as a combo deck with winning with creatures attacking as a backup plan.

Here’s an example of CoCo style list.

Leyline of Anticipation

This is probably the most common version I see, but I think is generally the worst of the three. Leyline of Anticipation is huge for both adding devotion and similar to CoCo giving your creatures flash to allow you to set up a huge turn that is not vulnerable to sorcery speed interaction.

It can be played as either a combo deck or a tempo deck. It however has the normal leyline deck problem where the deck is underpowered without Leyline in the opening hand. If you want to be running some looting/rummaging effects already could see this becoming substantially better. So if trying something like Rona + Unctus could see that being a good fit in a Leyline build.

Here’s an example of a Leyline style list.

Instant speed interactive

This is my favorite style but can barely be called a devotion list. It generally only plays one Nykthos instead relying on Mutavault. The core devotion aspect is the Risen Reef + Master of Waves combo for value. The rest is bouncing, countering, while getting a lot of lands on the board and card advantage and winning in a wide variety of ways depending on the opponent’s deck.

Here’s my Qualifier winning list with this style. My current versions leverage one mana bounce paired with Blue Sun’s Twilight as a creature interaction package that allows you to maintain tempo thanks to the bounce and make back the negative card advantage later with the control magic effect.

The Combos

The next decision is do you add a combo to the deck and if so which one? Options are:

• No combo

• Risen Reef + Master of Waves

• Master of Waves + Mystic Reflection

• Benthic Biomancer + Wizards Class

• Unctus + 2 Untappers (Kiora’s Follower or Vizier of Tumbling Sands)

• Rona + Mox Amber + Retraction Helix (or + Kinnan + Drafna)

• Multiple of the above

No Combo

A more classic devotion approach where you rely on cards that are individually strong when you have devotion going like Master of Waves or Gadwick. I do not recommend this approach, you are doing a lot of work to set up your devotion engine, it better win you the game and without a combo you lack punch in some matchups.

We can look at G Devotion for precedent here, where it was only when it added the Pestilent Cauldron combo that it became a top tier deck. Otherwise it’s too easy to put several creatures on the board and still lose (wrath, opponent combos, burns you out, etc).

Risen Reef + Master of Waves

Obviously my favorite of the combos and there are few aspects that make it strong. First, it can be played in two ways, as a value combo where you just draw a bunch of cards + get a bunch of mana that you then turn into advantage you win the game with.

Or with enough mana + devotion you draw your entire deck and play Thassa’s Oracle to win. A key thing here is Reef isn’t actually a draw trigger so once your deck is empty the rest of the Reef triggers fizzle and you play the Oracle for the win.

What makes this combo so strong is you already want to be playing MoW in many devotion builds. Reef is close to playable on its own, but with MoW in the deck it becomes a must remove. Having your opponent spend 2 mana to deal with a Reef puts you ahead. And if they don’t deal with it you copy with Glasspool or play a MoW and get way ahead.

It also shores up a hole in these decks, which is lack of card advantage and totally folding in the face of removal. Reef gives you the ability to grind through removal based counter strategies (though tough).

The obvious susceptibility in the above is if your opponent is doing something fast, particularly creature based and fast. So the deck really struggles against Humans, Spirits, and Sac.

In CoCo builds you will frequently CoCo at the end of their turn and if you hit Reef + another creature be in a position to draw your whole deck and win on your upcoming turn.

Master of Waves + Mystic Reflection

If you want to crash MODO this is the combo for you, since it creates an exponential number of tokens based on your devotion. The power is there, but I’ve never got it to work reliably. Biggest issue is that the Mystic Reflection does not help you develop your devotion or keep your opponent from killing you, which makes the deck a bit too slow/clunky. That being said, it would not surprise if there is a very good version of this combo out there or if a one of Mystic Reflection in a deck already running MoW is the way to go.

Bethnic Biomancer + Wizards Class

This seems like a silly combo, 14 mana to draw your entire deck and win with Oracle, but it plays better than 14 mana sounds. Big thing is that Biomancer and Wizards Class are both one drops to start building your devotion and lack of playable one drop permanents is probably U Devotions biggest weakness. The 14 mana can also be paid to some in installments with intervening value.

Unctus + 2 Untappers (Kiora Follower or Vizier of Tumbling Sands)

I haven’t tried this combo yet, but I’m excited for it since each of the cards are close to playable on their own in a Nykthos U Devotion build. All the cards also work with CoCo.

Rona + Mox Amber + Retraction Helix (or + Kinnan + Drafna)

The big new combo from MOM. There are enough good legends now for a U Devotion build that I could totally see there being a good Rona deck that takes advantage of leveraging Mox Amber to build up your devotion fast and then later win you the game as a combo piece.

Multiple Combos

Having multiple, synergistic angles of attack is a plus, but it is tough to find enough slots in the deck. Becomes a lot more viable in Yorion lists, like in this Biomancer and Reef list.

Yorion, Yes or No?

Honestly, I’m shocked how little this question seems to matter. I will constantly try Yorion and non-Yorion versions of my lists and the power level seems almost exactly the same between the two.

My rough heuristic at this point is if I’m already thinking of adding some Omen of the Seas to the list (since it’s a great way to build devotion that’s tough to interact with), I may as well make it 4 and make it a Yorion list.

Flash Yorion has some very nice properties from a protecting your creatures perspective, so I am also more inclined to run Yorion in Leyline builds.

Other Key Cards

I want to highlight a few of the key cards in the deck, focusing on the creatures. Obviously this is not an exhaustive list, but some of the cards I find myself playing most consistently in my builds.

One mana

• Overwhelmed Apprentice- This is seriously the best one drop currently, which I think helps explain why I’m so excited for Omen Hawker. While Apprentice is not particularly good, it does help you curve, dig for a combo piece, and sets up a 2 mana Wizard Retort on 2

Two mana

There are three main double pipped options at two. None of them are great, but the are all ok.

• Merfolk Trickster- Can do a lot of different impactful small things (tap an attacker, tap an elf in upkeep to slow them down, tap Parhelion, etc). However, it does not create card or mana advantage, so the rest of the deck needs to make up for that. In many ways its best value is being able to flash in end of turn and be two devotion higher than your opponent was expecting.

• Thassa’s Oracle- Most people are used to playing Oracle as a wincon. However, it’s true home is as a U Devotion card and it is a much more multifaceted card in these shells. It adds devotion and blocks. It can act as a tutor (particularly in the CoCo and Leyline builds). And sometimes you’ve got 10 cards left in your library and 8 devotion on the board and you cast it to win the game the way the card was meant to be played! All that being said, bad scry 2 on a 1/3 for two while not a disaster is definitely well below rate.

• Harbinger of Tides- Usually more of a sideboard card, sometimes one or two in the main. But some metas you will definitely want 4 in the main. Also in Leyline builds this is better than Trickster since the effect is so much better with flash, so will almost always run 4 there. A small trick is it combos with Gadwick to be able to bounce anything.

Three mana

• Brazen Borrower- Used to be the clear best card in the deck, now it feels a bit too slow, so I’m starting to cut them in my more combo build devotion fast builds

• Gadwick- Used to be the second best card in the deck and now again feels too slow. Against some decks it can kind of take over the game where you tap down all their creatures constantly and they can’t attack, while you hit for lethal. But that’s felt less and less common, so now use as more of a 1 of that can “tutor for” with Oracle.

• Wizard’s Retort- Most of the creatures are wizards so this tends to be the best counterspell. When you’ve got a hard counter for two mana it feels great, but it can be a little awkward in how it fits on curve, especially if your not running a high number of flash and instant cards or one drop wizards. With Omen Hawker not being a wizard could see moving this card out for some other interaction.

Omen Hawker Brews

That was a lot of preamble to get to the new card pushing me to revisit U Devotion.

This card has a few key traits that make it a potentially massive addition.

• Essentially adds 3 mana with Nykthos (the two for Nykthos activation and one devotion pip)

• U one drop, when like discussed above there is a dearth of playable U one mana permanents, which is one of the things holding the deck back

• Creature for CoCo builds

• Can be used for both Biomancer and Wizard Class activations in that combo

• Can cycle Vizier of Tumbling Sands (which is in Unctus combo) to essentially act like a Llanlowar elf for a turn (and a U llanowar elf would be the best card in the deck)

• Likely some other activated abilities to take advantage of

Given the above, let’s look at our “Build your own” menu options:

Base Build- Options: Coco, Leyline, or Instant Speed interactive

Since, Nykthos is key, we’re likely looking at the CoCo and Leyline build options, since the Instant Speed interactive is not a Nykthos deck.

Combo- Options: None, Reef, Mystic Reflection, Biomancer, Unctus, Rona

The ones I am most interested in are:

• Reef (because of its proven track record)

• Biomancer (because of its abundance of activated abilities that synergize with Hawker)

• Unctus (because it seems like it has the potential to be strong, is underexplored, and has some synergy with Hawker in Vizier)

• The Kinnan version of Rona, since there is some Hawker Kinnan synergy. I’m the least confident on this one, both its power or how to build, so will focus on the three above to start.

Yorion- Options: Yes or No

The hope with Omen Hawker is it is a unique and extremely powerful effect in these decks, so I’m going to lean towards No Yorion builds to increase the Hawker density.

The lists

Reef CoCo

I’ve got a few other build of this, but first want to answer these big questions:

Big Questions:

• Is Hawker good enough just powering Nykthos

• Do we need more hard counters in the side

• Is Referee Squad any good? Seems like it has promise as CoCo hit that slows down opponent and can be potentially played for free. But it also just may be too low impact and only provides one pip for a three drop.

  

Biomancer CoCo

Unctus CoCo

Really low confidence I got the balance right here. Big thing I’m worried about is running out of gas in the face of creature removal. But this list also looks super explosive so think there will be a lot of room to tweak while keeping the deck powerful enough.

Also things I didn’t expect to say today: “Bummer, Referee Squad’s vigilance is anti-synergistic with Unctus”

Biomancer Leyline

Think we’re relying too much on Harbinger here, but will have to play some to figure out how to fix.

Rona Ideas-

Think Rona, Unctus, Toluz seems like an interesting package.

Barrin, Gadwick, Fblthp are reasonable legendaries on their own for U Devotion that will also synergize with Mox Amber and Rona

To the Leagues!

Thanks for following along, I will report back with results and tweaks to the lists once MOM goes live and I get some leagues in.