So, one of the new planeswalkers in M15 is . . .
one of the oldest ones. I don't mean there's
something wrong with that - I think it's great.
I think the original five remain very
well-designed, fun to play with, and just all
around cool.
I reviewed
Liliana Vess for this site when she was new.
I can't believe how long ago that seems now. But
she's held up amazingly well all these years.
Her +1 ability looks like minor disruption at
best, but in practice is very difficult to stop,
and picks opposing plans apart piece by piece
while often setting up for a devastating
ultimate. Her -2 mimics one of the strongest
cards in Magic (albeit at sorcery speed),
meaning your plays will always be relevant or
even backbreaking.
I don't know what the future holds for Liliana,
but this version of her remains my personal
favorite. Liliana of the Veil is undeniably
powerful, but I feel that it's a little too
singly focused on killing things, making it hard
to use in a black deck that's trying to do more
complex things. Liliana of the Dark Realms also
has a narrow focus, this time on a strategy that
didn't really need any help. But classic Liliana
is versatile, relevant in most black control and
midrange decks, and has amazing synergies with
cards from Jace Beleren to Courser of Kruphix.
Welcome back readers today's card of the day is
Liliana Vess one of my absolute favorite cards.
It seems like only yesterday the planeswalker
card type was introduced with much speculation
and fanfare in Lorwyn. Liliana Vess has seen
multiple incarnations over the years but the
original is back in black. In constructed she
has some applications, in Standard mono black
decks are a thing and this card can provide tons
of value while also adding two black to devotion
which is relevant, the ability to tutor and
whittle down your opponents hands are
competitive she just has a slightly higher mana
cost but I think this card will see play even if
its fringe play. In modern this card has not
made a splash so a reprint is unlikely to change
that. In legacy and vintage absolutely not as
well. In casual and multiplayer this card is
amazing being able to white down hand sizes as
well as its potential to be combined with
Lilianas Caress style effects makes it
attractive. The ability to tutor is also
devastating and finally the ultimate in
multiplayer can gain you a plethora of
creatures. In limited all planeswalkers are
playable this one can fetch other important
cards and put pressure on your opponents hand
and a powerful ultimate rounds out the package.
Overall a solid planeswalker that still has
competitive and casual value years after its
first printing.
Today's card of the day is Liliana Vess which
is a five mana Black planeswalker with five
loyalty. The +1 of target player discards
a card works well with a Black discard theme and
feeds into the ultimate with use on your own
hand a reasonable choice for a large creature.
The -2 is a tutor effect to the top of the
library, which is excellent in Commander and
quite playable otherwise as even without the
other effects it equals the mana cost if used
twice. The -8 puts all creatures from all
graveyards into play under your control, which
is hugely devastating in Multiplayer and still a
serious threat one on one if supported.
Self mill, library destruction, or just
discarding from the hand can all make this
stronger with a Blue/Black mill possibly working
best in the quantity of cards sent to the
graveyard. Overall this is a solid
planeswalker, but the support needed to maximize
the -8 and the indirect nature of the other
effects will continue to keep this from being a
popular inclusion in competitive decks.
In Limited the -2 is a huge benefit when your
most wanted cards are often single copies and
the +1 is serviceable, but can be weakened by an
opponent keeping a spare land in hand. The
-8 can win a game if reached and only requires a
few targets to really impact the game.
Like most planeswalkers this is a decent first
pick in Booster and well worth building around
in Sealed, though she is likely to be working
without support unless other discard effects are
aggressively drafted into your pool.
