Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Liliana, Untouched by Death: A Set-by-Set Meta Stability Analysis

If you’ve followed MTG storylines at all, you’ve likely watched Liliana weave necromantic threads across formats, but Liliana, Untouched by Death stands out as a case study in how a card can nudge the meta differently from set to set. Released with Core Set 2019, this mythic planeswalker is black through and through: a {2}{B}{B} cost, a starting loyalty of 4, and a trio of abilities that tilt the graveyard from a mere resting place into a strategic engine 🧙‍♂️. Her +1 mills three cards, and if a Zombie surfaces among the milled cards, you punish opponents with life loss while you siphon some life back for yourself. Her -2 punishes a single foe for every Zombie you control, and her -3 lets you cast Zombie spells from your own graveyard this turn. The design invites graveyard-centric play, but its real power blooms in formats that celebrate resilience, recursion, and, of course, an unapologetic love for the undead 🔥💎.

From a gameplay perspective, Liliana’s kit embodies a delicate balance between control and aggression. Milling three cards is a tempo shift that can derail an opponent’s plan while accelerating your own strategy if you’re leaning into the graveyard. The conditional life swing in the +1 is a potent incentive to tilt the board toward a Zombie heavyboard state, especially since the lifegain interacts with the life totals in a way that rewards patient, attrition-based games 🎲. The -2, scaled by the number of Zombies you control, serves as a flexible removal tool that can wipe out a significant threat on a single turn—an anthem for players who enjoy counting their zombies like a necromancer counts his fallen minions ⚔️. And the -3? The graveyard becomes a second spellbook, enabling you to cast Zombie spells when you need that late-game surprise. It’s an elegant, self-contained package that invites both fair games and grindy, control-heavy showdowns.

Format-by-format snapshot: how stability shifts with the set cycle

• Standard: Liliana’s home is M19, and in the timeframe when Core Set 2019 rotated through Standard, she could shine in slower black decks that exploited the graveyard. As newer sets rotated in, the exact value of a dedicated mill-powered planeswalker in Standard diminished, but the design principles persisted in players’ thinking about graveyard hate and Zombie synergies. The meta grew more diverse, and Liliana’s niche role became one of several possible control axes rather than a central engine 🔮.
• Modern and Pioneer: In Modern and Pioneer, Liliana, Untouched by Death sits in a different orbit. The graveyard has always been a rich resource in these formats, and a predictable mill + zombie recursion line can be a disruptive toolkit in longer games. While she’s not a top-tier staple like some other planeswalkers in these formats, she’s a thoughtful include in Zombie or multi-theme shells that want additional graveyard pressure and resilience. Her -3 compatibility with reanimation-type lines adds a late-game wrinkle that can surprise opponents who expect only raw power from non-token Planeswalkers. 🧟‍♀️
• Commander/EDH: This is Liliana’s natural habitat. The graveyard and zombie archetypes thrive in EDH, where the deckbuilding canvas is broad and the number of turns keeps scaling. The -3 grant to cast Zombie spells from your graveyard this turn directly enables spicy combat combos and unexpected recursions, and the milling component can fuel infinite combos or simply deny opponents’ crucial draws. The card’s mythic rarity and nostalgia factor also make it a coveted centerpiece in zombie-themed builds, especially when paired with other legendary black planeswalkers or recursion enablers. In EDH, the practical ceiling often meets the thematic floor, and Liliana’s presence strengthens a deck’s inevitability, even if she’s not always the commander. 🧠🧟

From a value and collectability standpoint, the card sits in a niche tier. Non-foil copies hover around a modest price point in the vicinity of $1.69, with foil versions commanding a premium around $11.99. In Euro markets, foil and non-foil disparities echo the same dynamic. The card’s EDH rec ranking (around the mid-range for a lot of powerful black planeswalkers) speaks to a solid, if not explosive, fanbase that appreciates graveyard-focused strategies and the thematic allure of the undead. For collectors, the M19 printing—while not a blazing hot chase—offers a strong balance of playability and nostalgia, especially when paired with Bastien L. Deharme’s evocative artwork and the cold, elegant aura of Liliana in a black frame 🎨💎.

Deck-building in light of Liliana’s set-by-set meta shifts is less about forcing her into a single archetype and more about embracing versatility. If you’re leaning into the +1 milling plan, you’ll want robust Zombie and graveyard-support cards to ensure you hit at least one Zombie in the milled mix—triggering life swing and pushing toward the control edge. If you’re angling for a crowd-control posture, pairing the -2 with other removal that scales with Zombie counts creates a spine that can grind through an opponent’s board. And if you’re dreaming of late-game recursion, the -3 gives you access to a graveyard-hungry toolbox that can outlast most fair trades 🧙‍♂️⚔️.

Beyond the numbers and the formats, the art and flavor of Liliana’s card keep the myth alive. The illustration by Bastien L. Deharme frames Liliana as a sovereign of necromancy—calm, composed, and unyielding in the face of death. The title “Untouched by Death” is almost ironic, given the card’s life-bank, graveyard-symmetry, and spectral aura. It’s a reminder that in MTG, the most elegant tools are often those that appear simple on the surface but reveal deeper synergies when you lean into the theme—death as a resource, not a setback 🖤🎲.

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