Planeswalkers that cost five or more seem to
just never quite make it to the top tier, the
golden upper echelon of power that Ajani and
Garruk first carved out, Jace 2.0 primed and
polished, and Koth put the finishing touches.
Since planeswalkers can only use one ability
each turn, and need a few turns to charge up
their ultimates, they really can't cost any more
that four if they want to hit play soon enough
to live up to their potential. Liliana satisfies
that criterion, and so fortune is smiling on her
already.
Her first ability is symmetrical yet easily
exploited, as Liliana exists in a block that
exploits graveyards. But even the most dedicated
flashback or Bonehoard deck has cards it doesn't
particularly want to discard, and Liliana can
wrench them from their grasp. Her second ability
is less symmetrical but just as hard to aim. Two
counters is a bit much considering most players
will have at least one extra permanent they're
willing to part with. Still, as a repeatable
effect, this can get mean fairly quick. The
ultimate here is incredibly fearsome, forcing a
sadistic choice of what to save and what to give
up. If you've been a good Black mage and have
been dutifuly killing creatures up until that
point, and you'd better have if you want Liliana
to survive that long, this becomes all the more
crippling, as you can ensure they're left with
embarassingly little, and with no hand besides,
so they're at the mercy of the top of their deck
for rebuilding. How deliciously dark that
Liliana leaves opponents hobbled and brought
low, but allows you to finish them off at your
own convenience.
There's something very interesting about this
week and the top five, which I'll mention on
Friday because it'll give away the rest of the
week (but you'll probably have figured out what
it is by then). Did you notice that between her
three abilities, this second version of Liliana
can destroy anything? Anything that can do so
repeatedly is always going to appeal,
particularly when it's a planeswalker. The only
possible wrinkle is that black has so many ways
to destroy so many different kinds of things
that it may be hard to fit her in. But a card
like this, with its combination of mechanical
appeal and being a popular character, begs -
nay, demands, as only a character like Liliana
can - to be in a deck.
Welcome back readers todays card of the day is
Liliana of The Veil a powerful planeswalker. In
standard this card has seen play in solar flare
style decks and I stand by my position that
reanimating this card with a Sun Titan is one of
the most spectacular plays you can manage. The
discard ability also feeds the reanimation
strategy. The other abilities are similarly
powerful sculpting the game state to your
advantage, making it one of the most powerful
planeswalkers available in standard. In extended
and modern formats this card has a similar power
level making it an excellent competitive choice.
In eternal formats this is see playing in Pox
decks as a fabulpous disruptive card taking care
of the hand and creatures. In casual and
multiplayer it comes down early and can Innocent
Blood making it an extremely powerful
planeswalker, people will aim to destroy it as
much as possible. In limited it’s a bomb card
that I would easily splash for and I would not
take much over this card at all . Overall one of
the most powerful planeswalkers available in a
variety of formats and it does everything
players need it to.
Today's number five card of 2011 is Liliana of
the Veil who has three abilities, three loyalty,
and costs a reasonable three mana. The +1
of each player discarding a card is nice for a
dedicated Liliana style discard deck or at least
can be somewhat disruptive to an opponent.
The second ability is very nice as just playing
her and having the opponent sacrifice a creature
is an excellent use of three mana, plus leaves
her in play to potentially use her +1 or take an
attack. The -6 may be a bit tricky to pull
off outside of a mono-Black sacrifice theme to
keep the field clear, but the potential for
removing threats, lands, or whatever is
impressive. Overall this planeswalker is
going to be a popular addition to Black decks
for the second effect alone while the others
effects are just a nice bonus.
In Limited this is an easy first pick as
removal, though the double Black is a hindrance,
and should work as a nice beginning for a Black
deck. The other effects may not be as
viable, but are still valuable and worth using.
A Sealed deck may have a harder time playing her
early as two colors are needed, though the two
colors for any opponents allows the ultimate to
remove one with any choice.
Welcome to the card of
the day section here at Pojo.com! Happy New Year
to our readers. We kick off the New Year with
one of the best cards from the past year,
Liliana of the Veil. Liliana of the Veil is a
mythic rare planeswalker that costs only three
mana, one generic and two black mana. She has
some seriously nasty abilities. Her first
ability is a +1, and says each player discards a
card. Her second ability, -2, makes target
player sacrifice a creature. Her final ability
is perhaps one of the meanest abilities I’ve
ever seen. You separate all permanents target
player controls into two piles, the player
chooses a pile to keep, and then sacrifices the
rest. And at only a -6, it won’t take long to
get it off.
Liliana of the Veil is mean, and that is no
understatement. I really expected that she
would’ve appeared higher on the list. Her
abilities are very impacting no matter what
format. In a limited format, she may just be
used as a creature removal, or trying to force
some discard. Her true potential becomes
realized once you get to constructed formats,
where you are able to build around her. That is
when you see what her true capabilities are.
Building a reanimation deck and discard deck is
obvious, and it becomes very nasty. Once you get
her abilities moving, the field becomes easy
pickings, and it’s even more so when you utilize
Madness with her ability to discard. Then it
truly only impacts your opponents when the
discard factor is applied. And then once her
final goes off, it can decimate your opponents
field. Make them choose whether they want their
lands or their creatures, or all their things,
or their trump card. There are many ways that
you could choose to divide their permanents, but
the fact is they loose half of them. And so long
as your deck is backed by other good removal,
you very well could handle whatever decision
they make.
A truly lethal planeswalker, no doubt. And a very
good card for a variety of formats.
