Only an hour before Wizards Presents kicked off, the MTG Twitter page dropped an absolute bomb. This Planeswalker has terraformed formats herself throughout MTG history, and now she’s back to change Standard and Pioneer as we know it! Were you interested in picking up a Liliana of the Veil? Now’s the time to do it!
Liliana of the Veil
Welcome to a three mana Planeswalker that has sculpted the Modern format hand-by-hand. Sure, Liliana of the Veil plays a pretty passive role in the Modern metagame nowadays, but we know just how much this Planeswalker is capable of. More importantly, Liliana of the Veil may have considerable implications in Pioneer and Standard, warping both formats entirely.
Pioneer Sacrifice and Greasefang
When thinking about Liliana of the Veil in Pioneer, the first thing that may come to many’s minds is Rakdos Midrange. Liliana will likely have a spot in any deck that can play Kroxa consistently, but she may find a more substantial home in different decks.
Rakdos Sacrifice is an archetype that is mainly targeting other creature-based strategies. Unfortunately, when Sacrifice goes up against control or combo, the deck suffers a lot. Rakdos already had Ob Nixilis, the Adversary to help here, but the opponent’s ability to choose whether Ob discards or not can sometimes dilute its effectiveness. Not only will Liliana force your opponent to discard, but Ob can now become a more reliable drain effect when partnered alongside it. Rakdos Sacrifice also has a lot of cards that like being in the graveyard. Cauldron Familiar and Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger, should help Liliana’s plus ability break parity. In the odd case where there’s a sizeable problematic creature that Sacrifice can’t deal with, Liliana can also remove it.
Abzan Greasefang may actually be the best home for Liliana of the Veil in all of Pioneer. This Planeswalker can pressure your opponent’s interaction while giving you another outlet to dump your vehicles that Greasefang can Crew. Can’t Stay Away also offers a lot of flexibility to the cards that Liliana can discard while still surpassing parity. You can revive your Greasefangs and recast the card itself with its Flashback Cost.
Liliana in Standard
Ok, so Liliana and Ob Nixilis are in the same format. Rotation will change a lot and ultimately power down the format a lot. We would not be surprised if Liliana steals a considerable portion of the Standard metagame as a result. That being said, Liliana could follow Ob Nixilis’s trend and simply not be relevant at all. We don’t know enough about what Standard will look like post rotation, but it doesn’t take much to know just how impactful Liliana could be.
Her Price Will Plummet
Liliana had a hefty price tag before this spoiling. One copy could run you between $50-60 as a starting point. It’s safe to say that Liliana’s price will take a hit due to this reprinting, but how much? Personally, waiting until Dominaria United has hit shelves and has flooded the market would be when I would consider picking some of these up. Waiting a bit longer may have merits, as Ob Nixilis had a massive price for quite a while. It only began to drop after it saw little to no play in every format for over a month. That being said, we may find her price to rise back up if Liliana dominates multiple newer formats. The true winner financially will have to watch Liliana’s market price and her playability in newer formats like a hawk. Fortunately, we will be watching alongside you!
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