All 13 Liliana Planeswalker Cards in Magic Ranked

A.L. Walser January 21, 2026 Collecting, Deckbuilding, MTG Cards

Liliana, Dreadhorde General | Illustration by Chris Rallis

Few planeswalkers are as iconic as Liliana Vess. One of the first planeswalkers ever printed in Lorwyn, she’s been the planeswalker to represent mono-black and a frequent flier in the story.

One of Magic’s most infamous planeswalker cards is even a Liliana: Liliana of the Veil. But what other Lilianas are there, and are they worth playing? Let’s find out.

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What Are Liliana Planeswalkers in MTG?

Liliana of the Veil | Illustration by Steve Argyle

Liliana planeswalkers are planeswalkers (and one legendary creature that transforms into a Liliana planeswalker) that depict the character Liliana Vess, a longstanding character in Magic’s lore. Liliana is always mono-black aligned, as her cards have been since the debut of the Lorwyn Five, the first planeswalkers ever printed.

Liliana planeswalkers cover a range of abilities, but they often care about making players discard or sacrifice cards, which aligns with black’s general themes, and zombies, which relates specifically to Liliana’s prowess as a necromancer. Some Liliana planeswalkers also interact with the graveyard, but these are by far the most common abilities.

#13. Liliana, Death Wielder

Liliana, Death Wielder is an incredibly unimpressive card. It might be the most underwhelming planeswalker ever printed, with a meaningless uptick and a removal option that heavily relies on the uptick. Even in a dedicated -1/-1 counter shell, it costs far too much to do anything. Planeswalker Deck planeswalkers are, almost without fail, utterly unplayable, and this one is no exception.

#12. Liliana, Death Mage

Who doesn’t love to spend 6 mana on Murder or Raise Dead? That might be too uncharitable a take on Liliana, Death Mage, but it’s certainly unimpressive, as it bears the Planeswalker Deck curse of costing 1 or 2 mana more than it should for its effects. It almost always dies after the downtick, and the ultimate suffers from incredible inconsistency. This just isn’t it.

#11. Liliana, the Necromancer

I love to clown on Planeswalker Deck planeswalkers, and Liliana, the Necromancer is pretty meh, though I’ll give it points for not costing 6+ mana. If the uptick did anything useful or impacted the board, it could even be a reasonable card. But making a player lose life is small beans for a 5-mana planeswalker, as is the Raise Dead effect. It isn’t garbage like the other PD Lilianas, but there’s still a big gap between it and the worst main-set Liliana.

#10. Liliana, Heretical Healer / Liliana, Defiant Necromancer

Liliana, Heretical Healer is one of the stronger flip-walkers from Magic Origins, in part because its transform condition is super simple to meet, and in part because it makes a Zombie when it transforms, which goes a long way to keep Liliana, Defiant Necromancer safe.

As for Liliana, Defiant Necromancer, it’s fine. It’s a shame it doesn’t encourage you to sacrifice creatures, as that would give it reasonable synergy with the front half, but it can transform on turn 4 with lots of loyalty and strip your opponents of their resources nicely.

#9. Liliana Vess

As a whole, the Lorwyn Five haven’t aged well. The targeted discard on the first ability really holds Liliana Vess back. If it made each player discard, it could be a solid role-player in Commander to fuel Liliana's Caress and similar discard synergies; as is, it just bullies one player without doing much more. The tutor downtick is pretty decent, but it doesn’t make up for other underwhelming abilities.

#8. Liliana, Untouched by Death

Liliana, Untouched by Death is greatly held back by its reliance on zombies. The uptick isn’t terrible—milling three cards every turn could be a fine engine for a graveyard deck. But restricting the other abilities to zombies keeps it from having broad application. There’s something interesting about the downtick, at least; it’s Yawgmoth's Will for zombies, if you can do anything with that.

#7. Liliana, Waker of the Dead

Liliana, Waker of the Dead follows a similar template to Liliana of the Veil in its abilities, except it costs a mana more and the -3 is slightly worse removal. It isn’t a bad planeswalker, but I struggle to think of a reason to run it over LotV. It does work extremely well in Commander as a redundant copy of LotV to fuel discard synergies.

#6. Liliana of the Dark Realms

Liliana of the Dark Realms is super typecast. You can play it in mono-black, and that’s about it because all its abilities care about swamps. Three loyalty holds it back, though; it sucks that you lose the planeswalker if you have to deal with a must-kill threat.

#5. Professor Onyx

Professor Onyx is best known for its infinite combo with Chain of Smog, but the rest of the planeswalker does great stuff, too. The uptick is really valuable in graveyard decks, and the size-based edict lets you kill relevant threats without worrying about a random token ruining your removal. The ultimate won’t always win, but it swings the game in your favor. Altogether, it adds up to a stern yet fair planeswalker.

#4. Liliana, the Last Hope

Liliana, the Last Hope might not be the best Liliana, but it’s my favorite. The uptick provides a unique form of protection that doesn’t always kill opposing creatures but generally protects it, the minus is good card advantage, and the ultimate is well within reach since its a cheap planeswalker you can start to tick up from turn 3. It’s incredibly well-balanced for its cost.

#3. Liliana, Death’s Majesty

Liliana, Death's Majesty is the best Rise from the Grave ever printed. But it shouldn’t be restricted to reanimator decks. The uptick takes over the game, and the ultimate can win it. It works with the graveyard, with zombies, with tokens, and with reanimator. Its flexibility makes it remarkable.

#2. Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Liliana, Dreadhorde General puts in the work because its double edict warps the game in your favor, especially once you factor in that it often draws you two cards. It has one of the best planeswalker static abilities since it isn’t limited to nontoken creatures and lacks a once per turn restriction, so it’s one of the stronger sacrifice payoffs in the game.

#1. Liliana of the Veil

Liliana of the Veil isn’t just the strongest Liliana, but one of the strongest planeswalkers ever printed because of how it robs your opponent of their resources. Losing feels impossible when you cast this on turn 3 on and kill your opponent’s 2-drop, which leaves you free to chew away at their hand as you drop cheap threats. And that game-winning ultimate never feels far away. It also works as a synergy piece with cards like Liliana's Caress and Inti, Seneschal of the Sun, and anything else that wants you or your opponents to discard cards. It’s an incredibly efficient threat that’s never worse than a 2-for-1. That's classic planeswalker value.

Liliana Payoffs

While a handful of cards reward you for playing or controlling Liliana cards, few of them are actually worth a slot in your deck because they’re either over-costed or underwhelming.

Two Planeswalker Deck Lilianas have cards that tutor them specifically; Liliana, Death Mage has Liliana's Scorn and Liliana, Death Wielder gets Liliana's Influence. These are as playable as the planeswalkers themselves, which is to say not at all.

Arisen Gorgon and Desiccated Naga get additional abilities when you control a Liliana planeswalker, but they aren’t particularly good, even with the upgrades.

Liliana's Scrounger is more interesting. It isn’t amazing by any means, but this is a reasonable support piece in Oops, All Lilianas if you want to build around the planeswalker.

Liliana's Triumph is the only Liliana payoff I’d consider worthwhile, in large part because the multiplayer edict is worth 2 mana. If you make your opponent discard cards, it gets pretty nasty.

Why Does Liliana Go By Professor Onyx?

Liliana goes by Professor Onyx at the Strixhaven school on Arcavios to conceal her identity; she fled to the college after the events of War of the Spark, in which Nicol Bolas had her in a contract to help invade Ravnica by controlling his army of eternalized warriors. After Gideon sacrificed himself to save her and Bolas was defeated, Liliana went to Strixhaven to hide from the consequences of her actions and to mourn Gideon.

How Much Is Liliana of the Veil Worth?

The value of Liliana of the Veil depends heavily upon the printing, with several promotional versions of the card that cost hundreds of dollars. The most expensive version is the Japanese-exclusive planeswalker event promo, with a market price of $267 on TCGplayer.

The cheapest version is the alternate border from Dominaria United, with a $4 market price on TCGplayer. If you want to get ahold of the original Innistrad printing, it’ll set you back $9. The Dominaria United and Ultimate Masters reprints went a long way to bring the price down, as Liliana famously boasted a $100 price tag for a very long time.

What Other Liliana Cards Are There?

Liliana's Caress is one of the best discard payoffs in the game that turns wheels and discard spells into a win condition. Casual players have a great alternate win condition in Liliana's Contract, while Liliana's Defeat is an exceptional sideboard card in black-heavy metas. Liliana's Mastery is one of the strongest zombie payoffs as an anthem that comes with multiple tokens, and Oath of Liliana is among the best Oath cards because both abilities protect your planeswalkers.

Wrap Up

Liliana's Talent | Illustration by A. M. Sartor

Liliana has prestige that few other planeswalkers can manage because she’s been part of the story for so long, and her planeswalker cards are equally impressive. Liliana of the Veil leads the pack, but many iterations of Liliana have seen play in various formats over the years.

What’s your favorite Liliana planeswalker? Do you want to see more of her? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe and thanks for reading!

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A.L. Walser

A. L. Walser - also known as nissaflamecaller online - has been playing Magic since 2009 and the release of the original Zendikar set. An avid drafter with a bit of a Vorthos streak, his favorite aspect of playing Magic comes from the act of building a deck from nothing.