Card Talk 29

Cactuar card art

Time for Card Talk! Reminder how this works:

• I go to Scryfall and select 'Random Card'
• I present and blog about the card. I could discuss any aspect: the art, abilities, cost, set, impact on the game, and so on. Stream of consciousness.

Card Talk is a fun, uncurated way to look at Magic's cards, mechanics, history, art, sets, and so on. And of course it exposes some of my own preferences, biases, and memories of the game.

Today's card is . . .

Liliana's Triumph—an uncommon instant from War of the Spark.

The first thing that jumps out to me is how variable this spell can be. Having each opponent sacrifice a creature can be amazing (if they have only powerful creatures in play) or terrible (if they have no or many creatures, and can lose one without detriment).

Controlling a Liliana planeswalker adds to the spell, though again it is variable—your opponents may not have a card in hand (or enough that they can choose to discard one of little consequence).

Released in 2019, War of the Spark was a set focused on planeswalkers, with a shocking 39 in the expansion. But only one Liliana . . . but there have been 12 versions of her produced across all sets to date.

With its focus on each opponent and need for a Liliana planeswalker for full value, this card screams 'commander' format, with three opponents (typically) and the ability to have multiple Liliana planeswalkers from across all Magic releases.

Finally, I like this art and had never before seen it. This is a promo version released for an event (I think) but don't know which. This special version goes for ~$4.33 today.

Until next time . . . keep exploring.