You already guessed it, we have another Planeswalker Deck to talk about. As you might have noticed, I am using Blaugust 2026 to publish some deck reviews and the total amount of Planeswalker Decks just so happened to fit nicely into the schedule. So, for today I have an almost mono-Black deck that has a tiny amount of Green to work with due to the theme of the deck. Liliana is the token Black planeswalker, but while she does revive creatures eventually her real target in Planeswalker Deck “Liliana, Death Wielder” is spreading -1/-1 counters to weaken and eventually kill the opposing creatures and then work towards a slow and methodical victory. Now, whether this actually works remains to be seen, but I have an article down below in which I at least look at the cardboard provided by the deck; as is normally the case. Here we go: Here is the decklist for the Planeswalker Deck featuring “Liliana, Death Wielder”: Creatures (20): 1x Festering Mummy (B) 2x Dune Beetle (1B) 4x Tattered Mummy (1B) 1x Channeler Initiate (1G) 2x Baleful Ammit (2B) 3x Desiccated Naga (2B) 2x Gravedigger (3B) 1x Crocodile of the Crossing (3G) 2x Giant Spider (3G) 2x Decimator Beetle (3BG) Spells (15): 2x Trial of Ambition (1B) 1x Edifice of Authority (3) 1x Luxa River Shrine (3) 2x Cartouche of Ambition (2B) 2x Splendid Agony (2B) 2x Cartouche of Strength (2G) 1x Gift of Paradise (2G) 1x Oracle’s Vault (4) 2x Liliana’s Influence (4BB) 1x Liliana, Death Wielder (5BB) Lands (25): 9x Forest 11x Swamp 4x Foul Orchard 1x Grasping Dunes Your start into the game comes in form one copy of the one-drop you have a your disposal which is “Festering Mummy“, a 1/1 creature that places a -1/-1 counter on target creature when it dies. This means that it can take on creatures with two toughness due to giving them the counter after damaging them, but -1/-1 counters also happen to be the theme of the deck; and are given plenty of opportunities to be used. The two-mana options start with “Dune Beetle“, which is a vanilla creature but actually a pretty passable one with 1/4 as its stats. There is also a playset of “Tattered Mummy“, which are 1/2 for two mana and cause each opponent to lose two life points when dying, an effect that I feel is kinda decent. As the last creature for two mana, we actually have the first Rare slot: “Channeler Initiate” is a 3/4 creature, but enters the battlefield with three -1/-1 counters. This alone would be pretty terrible but the creature can be tapped while removing a -1/-1 counter from it to produce one mana of any color, which speeds up your game plan by a bit while obviously also causing the creature to become more powerful. “Baleful Ammit” is a creature that would probably cause confusion if introduced to other decks, but has potential here due to the -1/-1 synergy. It is a 4/3 with Lifelink for three mana that places a -1/-1 counter on one creature you control, which cards like “Channeler Initiate” can actually turn into something beneficial. “Desiccated Naga” is normally just a 3/2 for three mana, but with a Liliana planeswalker on the field it can also drains two life points from the opponent for four mana per pop, which is actually quite nice all things considered. “Gravedigger” is a 2/2 for four mana that returns a creature from your graveyard to your hand and therefore gives creatures like “Tattered Mummy” another spin. “Crocodile of the Crossing” is similar to “Baleful Ammit” in that it gives a -1/-1 counter to one creature you control upon entering the battlefield, but is otherwise a 5/4 with Haste for four mana and therefore a pretty formidable beater. “Giant Spider” serves as a boring way to keep creatures with Flying in check, being a 2/4 with Reach for four mana. And then there is “Decimator Beetle“, which is a 4/5 for five mana that also gives a -1/-1 counter to one creature you control upon entering the battlefield but can take one -1/-1 counter from one of your creatures and place it upon an opposing creature when attacking, therefore making use of the mechanic in another way. In terms of planeswalkers, there are good news and bad news: “Liliana, Death Wielder” definitely supports the -1/-1 counter strategy, but costs even more than the planeswalkers of other decks in the Planeswalker Deck product line. So, “Liliana, Death Wielder” is a Black planeswalker for seven mana that enters the battlefield with five loyalty counters. In terms of effects, you can place two loyalty counters on Liliana to put a -1/-1 counter on any target creature, while removing three loyalty counters allows you to destroy a creature with a -1/-1 counter on it. Effect number one seems fine, but for seven mana and losing three loyalty counters she could have just destroyed any one creature in my opinion. And then there is the big one: For -10 loyalty, you get to return all creatures from your graveyard to the battlefield, which is certainly a good effect but one that I would assume you never get to see since you play the card even later on curve while needing to stack loyalty for three turns at the very least to even get to the necessary amount. “Liliana, Death Wielder” is probably best for her first effect, simply providing a slow source of -1/-1 counters without requiring any additional mana after being played. The non-creature spell selection in Planeswalker Deck “Liliana, Death Wielder” is certainly interesting, albeit not really straightforward. “Trial of Ambition” is a potent removal effect if you know how to use it since forcing the opponent to sacrifice one of their own cards obviously works around protection and indestructibility; but is very much countered by them having enough options to sacrifice, which means that you need to get rid of the fodder first. The card also has in-built synergy with “Cartouche of Ambition” since it can be bounced and then replayed again for the removal effect, while the “Cartouche of Ambition” itself is an interesting mix of effects on an enchantment, giving one creature a -1/-1 counter while the enchanted creature gains +1/+1 and Lifelink. “Edifice of Authority” is definitely one of the most interesting pieces of cardboard in the deck in my opinion, being an artifact for three mana that at first can only keep creatures from attacking while also stacking brick counters. Well, at three brick counters it gets an upgraded effect, being able to keep one creature from attacking, blocking, and activating its effects which is pretty solid in my book. The “Luxa River Shrine” works in a similar fashion to “Edifice of Authority“, albeit with less interesting effects. It costs three mana to play and paying one and tapping it gives you one life point and gives the card a brick counter; and at three brick counters you can simply gain two life points for tapping it without the need of paying any extra mana. “Splendid Agony” is probably as good as -1/-1 counter spread gets, placing two -1/-1 counters on either one creatures or one of the counters on two creatures each; which normally makes it less helpful as removal and more workable as setup for other effects. “Cartouche of Strength” is an enchantment for three mana that provides the fight effect as the go-to Green removal option, while giving the enchanted creature +1/+1 and Trample; also, it allows you to bounce “Trial of Ambition” to reuse the sacrifice effect. “Gift of Paradise” seems pretty random, being an enchantment that targets a land which gives you three life points and the land an effect that produces two mana of any color, which would be good for ramping but it inconsistent at only one copy. We have one Rare with “Oracle’s Vault“, another brick counter-stacking card that either exiles the top card of your deck and allows you to play it for the turn (while getting a brick counter) or exiles the top card of your library and allows you to play it without the need of paying any mana if three or more brick counters are on “Oracle’s Vault“, which is definitely a great card if you get to that sweet spot. And lastly, we have “Liliana’s Influence” which for six mana places a -1/-1 counter on every creature you do not control while searching a copy of “Liliana, Death Wielder“. The Intro Pack era really put me off Preconstructed Decks from WotC, but a surprising amount of Planeswalker Decks seems to be alright; and Planeswalker Deck “Liliana, Death Wielder” is definitely one of the good ones. I like the idea of slow-playing with a counter-heavy strategy which might not be as flashy as some other strategies but definitely provides some interesting cardboard to work with. And in my opinion, it should be pretty easy to make this deck a hit, even without necessarily going for some of the crazier pieces of -1/-1 counter interaction. One word: Proliferate. Since your deck already provides three types of counters (-1/-1 counters, brick counters, and loyalty counters) you can absolutely gain from using cards with Proliferate to speed up things and make everything much more deadly. The only thing standing in the way of making this idea an reality is the price. Sure, there were more expensive decks I have looked at in the past, but I would not pay 35€ for a package of this Planeswalker Deck. But while the price does not get a thumbs up from me, the overall deck build definitely does.