![]() But we’re 0 for 2 on slam-dunk Liliana abilities, which is worth keeping an eye on. This is more a nitpick than criticism- Liliana of the Dark Realms was a mechanically coherent monoblack Planeswalker that had absolutely nothing to do with Liliana’s powerset, while this is Liliana employing pretty bog-standard black magic. It’s reminiscent of Liliana Vess‘ ability to cast Vampiric Tutor, but distinct. Straight up drawing cards and losing life has only been used on Ob Nixilis Reignited. She’s been able to provide card advantage and selection plenty of times, but it’s always been linked to the graveyard or skillful use of discard. Yet again, this is an unprecedented ability on Liliana. Repeatable card selection and advantage is a powerful effect, even on a six mana Planeswalker. Professor Onyx‘s plus might be most recognizable as Strategic Planning, but this exact ability (okay, without the life loss) has actually been been as many black cards ( Ransack the Lab, Firja, Judge of Valor, and Underrealm Lich) as blue cards ( Glimpse the Future, Strategic Planning, and the also-black Taigam, Sidisi’s Hand). Put one of them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard. Look at the top three cards of your library. It’s not as egregious as Liliana of the Dark Realms, the card which made Wizards recognize that Planeswalkers needed mechanical throughlines, but we’re starting at a strange place. Sure, black has access to drain and Liliana’s forced life loss before, but none of her previous 12 Planeswalkers cards have gained life (and of the 20 non-planeswalker cards to bear her name or reference her, only Desiccated Naga drains life). I understand that this card demonstrates how Liliana is lying low in the wake of the War of the Spark and hiding her necromancy, but the combination of a spells-matter mechanic and lifedraining reads weirdly. She’s dabbled in self-mill (in conjunction with raising the dead), mass permanent sacrifice (in ultimates), and in her first incarnation, top-of-deck tutoring. She raises zombies, uses death magic to kill creatures, and can force both discard and life loss. Setting aside conjecture about Strixhaven the set, this static ability is a strange one on Liliana. Magecraft could be either a single house’s ability or spread across all five-I’d bet on the latter, since it’s a flexible mechanic that will require a ton of structural support and because neither white-black nor black-green copy spells as well or frequently as does blue-red. Strixhaven looks likely to have more than the usual number of instants and sorceries (perhaps on MDFCs) and may perhaps sport a fair bit of copying (perhaps even a copying mechanic akin to Conspire). Presumably, Magecraft provides a variable effect on permanents which triggers whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell. Professor Onyx sports a new ability word, Magecraft. Magecraft - Whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell, each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |