Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 6 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityMythic
TypeLegendary Creature — Human Cleric
Abilities Lifelink,Transform
Power 2
Toughness 3

Key Takeaways

  1. Liliana provides card advantage, transforming into a powerful planeswalker with added creature token.
  2. She enables resource acceleration by untapping creatures, crucial for maintaining board presence.
  3. Her instant-speed transformation offers strategic flexibility, catching opponents off guard.

Text of card

Lifelink Whenever another nontoken creature you control dies, exile Liliana, Heretical Healer, then return her to the battlefield transformed under her owner's control. If you do, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Liliana Heretical Healer offers players a unique edge by transforming into a planeswalker capable of raising the dead. Once this transformation kicks in, you not only get a loyalty ability-loaded planeswalker but also an additional 2/2 black Zombie creature token. Essentially, you’re gaining multiple utilities and threats from a single card, tipping the scales towards a card advantage.

Resource Acceleration: As a planeswalker, Liliana can untap up to two target creatures through her -X loyalty ability. This subtle form of resource acceleration can be a game-changer, allowing you to block potential threats or reutilize creatures with tap abilities, all within your opponent’s turn. It’s an efficient way to speed up your resource game.

Instant Speed: Liliana’s transformation into a planeswalker happens at instant speed, which means you can activate it right after a creature you control dies. This responsiveness can surprise opponents, potentially turning a grim situation into a favorable one in mere seconds. It also allows you to time your plays effectively, holding back until just the right moment for maximum impact.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: For Liliana Heretical Healer, transforming her into Liliana, Defiant Necromancer requires a creature you control to die, which could put you at a card disadvantage if not carefully managed.

Specific Mana Cost: Liliana’s casting cost demands one black and two generic mana, which necessitates a commitment to black mana sources in your deck and could restrict deck-building versatility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Despite the potential for a powerful planeswalker, a total cost of three mana for an initial three loyalty may not compare favorably with other three-mana creatures or planeswalkers in terms of impact and immedate board presence.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Liliana Heretical Healer seamlessly transitions into a powerful planeswalker, allowing her to adapt across various gameplay scenarios. Her flexible nature fits both aggressive and control decks, enhancing their resilience and strategic options.

Combo Potential: The card pairs excellently with strategies that benefit from creature death, adding robustness to sacrifice-themed decks. Her abilities can be harnessed to create chains of actions leading to substantial in-game advantage.

Meta-Relevance: Given her transformative capability and impact on deck dynamics, her presence can shift the tide in a meta that values individual card potency and tactical flexibility. She remains a formidable choice in competitive play, offering utility and power as both a creature and a planeswalker.


How to Beat

Liliana, Heretical Healer is a unique card in the world of Magic: The Gathering that transforms into a powerful planeswalker. To effectively counter this card, timing and disruption are key. Removing Liliana before she transforms is the most direct strategy. Cards like Path to Exile or Fatal Push are effective tools for dealing with her in the early game. This prevents your opponent from taking advantage of the value generated by her planeswalker form.

Should Liliana transform, graveyard disruption becomes invaluable. Since her abilities revolve around the graveyard, using cards such as Relic of Progenitus or Tormod’s Crypt can severely limit her effectiveness. Additionally, you want to avoid overcommitting to the board to sidestep her potent -X ability. Instead, opt for a playstyle that allows you to put pressure on your opponent while keeping key resources in your hand or on the battlefield protected against her targeted removal.

Ultimately, playing around Liliana, Heretical Healer demands a strategy that emphasizes preemptive removal and calculated plays. By doing so, you can minimize the impact she has on the game and keep her from tipping the scales in your opponent’s favor.


BurnMana Recommendations

Delve deeper into the art of MTG with Liliana Heretical Healer, a card that exemplifies skillful play and strategic depth. Whether you’re looking to bolster your collection or seeking to enhance your gameplay with a card that can pivot from creature to planeswalker, Liliana offers versatility and multiple angles of attack. As you consider the perfect moment to let her true power unfold on the battlefield, remember that mastering such cards is what separates the good players from the great. Embrace the challenge, refine your deck, and continue the quest for MTG supremacy. Join us to unearth more insights and strategies.


Cards like Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer

In the realm of transformative planeswalkers in Magic: The Gathering, Liliana Heretical Healer stands out beautifully. When paralleled with other metamorphic cards such as Nissa, Vastwood Seer, which also flips into a planeswalker, it’s interesting to note the discrepancies in triggering conditions and abilities. Liliana’s transformation hinges on the death of another creature, embodying the essence of black mana’s association with demise and rebirth.

Another card entering the transformational fray is Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy. While Jace leans towards card cycling and selection by allowing the player to draw and then discard, Liliana emphasizes resource advantage through creature resurrection. Both card abilities are powerful, yet they cater to distinct strategic goals within a player’s deck framework. Kytheon, Hero of Akros provides a contrasting path to becoming a planeswalker, requiring the player to attack with multiple creatures to unlock his potential.

Ultimately, the intricate tapestry of these transforming cards enhances the strategic depth of Magic: The Gathering. Each offers a gateway to alternate abilities and resources, but Liliana Heretical Healer’s link to the undying nature of creatures cements her unique position in a player’s arsenal.

Cards similar to Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer by color, type and mana cost

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Nettling Imp - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
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Plague Rats - Foreign Black Border (FBB)
Frozen Shade - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
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Sorceress Queen - Rivals Quick Start Set (RQS)
Wall of Bone - Rivals Quick Start Set (RQS)
Lost Soul - Introductory Two-Player Set (ITP)
Mindstab Thrull - Masters Edition (ME1)
Mischievous Poltergeist - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Strongarm Thug - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
Razortooth Rats - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Ghastly Remains - Legions (LGN)
Lord of the Undead - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Deepwood Ghoul - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Dross Prowler - Mirrodin (MRD)
Nim Lasher - Mirrodin (MRD)
Nim Abomination - Darksteel (DST)
Vesper Ghoul - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer MTG card by a specific set like San Diego Comic-Con 2015 and Magic Origins Promos, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer Magic the Gathering card was released in 6 different sets between 2015-07-09 and 2023-05-08. Illustrated by 3 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12015-07-09San Diego Comic-Con 2015PS15 1062015transformblackWayne Reynolds
22015-07-17Magic Origins PromosPORI 106s2015transformblackKarla Ortiz
32015-07-17Magic OriginsORI 1062015transformblackKarla Ortiz
42017-11-24From the Vault: TransformV17 142015transformblackKarla Ortiz
52022-01-28Commander Collection: BlackCC2 12015transformblackBastien L. Deharme
62023-05-08From Cute to BrutePCTB 172015transformblackKarla Ortiz

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2015-06-22 A Magic Origins planeswalker that enters the battlefield because of the ability of its front face will enter with loyalty counters as normal.
2015-06-22 A double-faced card enters the battlefield with its front face up by default, unless a spell or ability instructs you to put it onto the battlefield transformed, in which case it enters with its back face up.
2015-06-22 Each face of a double-faced card has its own set of characteristics: name, types, subtypes, power and toughness, loyalty, abilities, and so on. While a double-faced card is on the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of the face that’s currently up. The other set of characteristics is ignored. While a double-faced card isn’t on the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of its front face.
2015-06-22 If a double-faced card is manifested, it will be put onto the battlefield face down (this is also true if it’s put onto the battlefield face down some other way). Note that “face down” is not synonymous with “with its back face up.” A manifested double-faced card is a 2/2 creature with no name, mana cost, creature types, or abilities. While face down, it can’t transform. If the front face of a manifested double-faced card is a creature card, you can turn it face up by paying its mana cost. If you do, its front face will be up. A double-faced card on the battlefield can’t be turned face down.
2015-06-22 If multiple nontoken creatures you control die, then Liliana, Heretical Healer’s ability will trigger that many times. However, since Liliana can be exiled and returned to the battlefield only once, only the first ability to resolve will create a Zombie token. The other abilities will resolve but won’t do anything.
2015-06-22 In some rare cases, a spell or ability may cause one of these five cards to transform while it’s a creature (front face up) on the battlefield. If this happens, the resulting planeswalker won’t have any loyalty counters on it and will subsequently be put into its owner’s graveyard.
2015-06-22 The back face of a double-faced card (in the case of Magic Origins, the planeswalker face) can’t be cast.
2015-06-22 The converted mana cost of a double-faced card not on the battlefield is the converted mana cost of its front face.
2015-06-22 When Liliana, Defiant Necromancer’s first ability resolves, first you choose a card to discard, then each other player in turn order chooses a card to discard, then all those cards are discarded simultaneously. No one sees what the other players are discarding before deciding which card to discard.
2015-06-22 You can activate one of the planeswalker’s loyalty abilities the turn it enters the battlefield. However, you may do so only during one of your main phases when the stack is empty. For example, if the planeswalker enters the battlefield during combat, there will be an opportunity for your opponent to remove it before you can activate one of its abilities.
2016-04-08 The back face of a double-faced card doesn’t have a mana cost. A double-faced permanent with its back face up has a converted mana cost equal to the converted mana cost of its front face. Each back face has a color indicator that defines its color.
2016-07-13 For more information on double-faced cards, see the Shadows over Innistrad mechanics article (http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/shadows-over-innistrad-mechanics).
2017-09-29 You can control two of this permanent, one front-face up and the other back-face up, at the same time.

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