Liliana, the Necromancer MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 5 |
| Rarity | Mythic |
| Type | Legendary Planeswalker — Liliana |
| Released | 2018-07-13 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Core Set 2019 |
| Set code | M19 |
| Loyalty | 4 |
| Number | 291 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Livia Prima |
Key Takeaways
- Liliana offers card advantage through creature resurrection from the graveyard, enhancing board presence.
- Maneuvering her discard and mana requirements is crucial for maximizing Liliana’s effectiveness.
- Her versatility and meta-relevance make Liliana a noteworthy contender for deck inclusion.
Text of card
+1: Target player loses 2 life. −1: Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. −7: Destroy up to two target creatures. Put up to two creature cards from graveyards onto the battlefield under your control.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Liliana, the Necromancer has the potential to bring creatures from the graveyard back to the battlefield or hand, offering players a strategic upper hand by recycling powerful creatures for sustained board presence.
Resource Acceleration: Her ability to control the field and diminish opponent resources by forcing them to sacrifice creatures can act as a form of indirect resource acceleration, tilting the resource balance in your favor.
Instant Speed: While not an instant, Liliana’s instant impact on the game through her activated abilities can often disrupt opponent’s plans at critical junctures, much like a well-timed instant spell.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: One aspect that might deter players from utilising Liliana, the Necromancer is her need for discarding cards to trigger certain abilities. This requirement could lead to a disadvantage when you’re already tight on card options, forcing difficult decisions at critical gameplay moments.
Specific Mana Cost: Her casting cost is not only steep but also requires a specific combination of mana types, with an emphasis on black mana. This can potentially restrict her inclusion to mainly black-based decks, thus limiting her flexibility and range of synergy across various deck archetypes.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The mana investment to get Liliana on the field is non-negligible. Compared to other options available within the game, some players may find her cost slightly on the higher side without guaranteeing an immediate game-changing impact, possibly making her a less attractive choice for tight or fast-paced games where resource efficiency is paramount.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Liliana, the Necromancer can seamlessly integrate into a variety of deck archetypes. Her ability to bring creatures back from the graveyard and control the board through creature destruction makes her a powerful inclusion in many strategies, from control to midrange.
Combo Potential: With Liliana, the Necromancer, players can devise intricate combos, utilizing her abilities to resurrect combo pieces from the graveyard or continuously controlling the opponent’s threats. Her ultimate can also turn the tide by causing a substantial loss of life.
Meta-Relevance: Liliana, the Necromancer remains relevant in various metagames, particularly where long games are common. She excels in grindy matchups, where her persistent board influence and repeatable resurrection ability can dominate over time.
How to beat
Liliana, the Necromancer is a potent force in any MTG game with her ability to bring creatures back from the graveyard. This capacity makes her a continuous threat on the board. To effectively counter Liliana, consider including graveyard hate cards in your deck, like Tormod’s Crypt or Bojuka Bog, which can remove cards from graves entirely, thus hindering her ability to reanimate them.
Another strategy is to apply pressure early on. A deck that can put out aggressive creatures quickly might outpace a Liliana-focused strategy. Using removal spells or abilities that deal with planeswalkers directly, such as Dreadbore or Hero’s Downfall, are also sensible choices. Moreover, counterspells like Negate can prevent Liliana from ever entering the battlefield in the first place. These methods not only manage the immediate threat but also reduce the chances of a late-game comeback fueled by her powerful reanimation abilities.
Overall, balancing your approach between disrupting the graveyard, swift aggression, and targeted removal or counters gives you a solid game plan against a formidable card like Liliana, the Necromancer.
Cards like Liliana, the Necromancer
Liliana, the Necromancer is a potent force in MTG, renown for her ability to wield the dark arts and manipulate the battlefield with her necromantic powers. Casting her brings to mind other heavyweight planeswalkers like Sorin Markov and Liliana Vess. Sorin Markov’s impact, with his ability to set an opponent’s life total to 10, is monumental and reshapes the game’s dynamics. In contrast, Liliana Vess offers a different approach to control, providing both utility in searching your library for a card with her +1 and a compelling discard effect with her -2.
Similarly, Liliana, the Last Hope graces us with yet another flavor of graveyard manipulation and creature control, cultivating an advantage over time with her subtle yet persistent effects. Liliana, the Necromancer, with her signature skill to bring back creatures from the graveyard, speaks to the core of what black mana represents, albeit at a higher mana value compared to Liliana, the Last Hope’s lower cost and more flexible utility.
In essence, while each Liliana variant offers a unique set of abilities, Liliana, the Necromancer’s raw resurrection power feels distinctly grandiose, finding a niche among her counterparts as a formidable late-game asset in black-centric decks.
Cards similar to Liliana, the Necromancer by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Liliana, the Necromancer MTG card by a specific set like Core Set 2019, 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, the Necromancer and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Liliana, the Necromancer has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Liliana, the Necromancer card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2018-07-13 | For Liliana’s last ability, the creatures you’ll return to the battlefield are chosen after the target creatures are destroyed. No player may take actions between the time you choose two creature cards to return and the time they’re returned. The destroyed cards can be among those returned to the battlefield. |
| 2018-07-13 | If any abilities trigger on the target creatures being destroyed, those abilities won’t be put onto the stack until after you’ve put creature cards onto the battlefield from graveyards. |
| 2018-07-13 | In a multiplayer game, if a player leaves the game, all cards that player owns leave as well. If you leave the game, any permanents you control from Liliana’s third ability that came from other players’ graveyards are exiled. |
| 2018-07-13 | You may activate Liliana’s last ability without choosing any target creatures. You’ll just put up to two creature cards onto the battlefield from graveyards. However, if you choose any targets and all of those targets become illegal before the ability tries to resolve, the ability won’t resolve and you won’t put any cards onto the battlefield. |
