This deck is an experience in roleplaying Liliana. Every card is themed around her story and character, with tactics and effectiveness playing second fiddle to theme and flavour. There are more cards built around Liliana than we can fit in a single commander deck, so we have had a measure of filtering to try and find those cards that work together best, but we have limited ourselves to cards that tie directly to Liliana's story in the lore, or that feature Liliana prominently in art, name, or flavour text.
Notable Events:
The Raven
Liliana is an ancient planeswalker who lived on Dominaria until a family tragedy saw the death of her brother as the result of Liliana administering a Tainted Remedy that drove him into a state of ravening insanity. Liliana used her powers of necromancy to resurrect his victims, and these ghouls killed the monster her brother had become, an event that ignited her planeswalker spark and sent her to Innistrad, a plane for which she discovered a great affinity and where she would hone her powers of necromancy to new heights. Throughout all this time, Liliana was haunted by a mysterious figure known as the Raven Man, who would continue to make appearances throughout her life, often taunting and tempting her, but always to inscrutable ends.
With the Mending, Liliana lost a great deal of her power and her immortality along with it. Eager to regain it, she took an offer made by the Elder Dragon and fellow pre-mending planeswalker, Nicol Bolas, who connected her with a group of demons that would grant her a measure of her old power and restore her eternal youth.
The Contract
Unfortunately, with Griselbrand being Grisel-banned we can't include all four demons involved in Liliana's contract, but we do have Razaketh, Kotophed, and Belzenlok. Standing in for Griselbrand we have Vilis, Broker of Blood as he's perfectly on theme for a contract, and has a similar ability and mana cost to Griselbrand. As a broker of deals, he's also a great stand-in (thematically) for Nicol Bolas, the actual broker of this deal, whom we are unable to include due to colour restrictions. so he's our middle man for Nicol Bolas, the real broker of this particular contract.
The Hunter and the Veil
When Kothophed dispatched her to Shandalar to retrieve The Chain Veil from Onnake ruins on the mana-rich plane of Shandalar, she ran afoul of Garruk, a fellow planeswalker. Upon retrieving the veil, Liliana was able to use its power to dispatch the hunter, unleashing a powerful curse that would turn him into a monstrous entity that sought to hunt down and kill other Planeswalkers causing no end of pain to those caught In Garruk's Wake. She then returned to Kothophed and rather than delivering the veil to him, used it to kill the demon lord, a rather Bad Deal on his part.
The Helvault
Following incidents on Shandalar, Liliana travelled to Innistrad in search of the next demon holding her contract. Her arrival coincided with an assault on the cathedral of Thraben by the siblings Gisa and Geralf and their undead army and Liliana took advantage of the situation to raise the corpse of Mikaeus, former lunarch of the church of Avacyn. Unfortunately for Liliana, the demon was imprisoned within the Helvault, far beyond her reach. Liliana managed to manipulate Thalia, a cathar leading the defence of Thraben, into destroying the Helvault, and thereby free Griselbrand, allowing the planeswalker to kill him and progress toward her freedom. The destruction of the Helvault would also release Avacyn, and unleash the hordes of demons and other evils that had been bound within.
The Eldritch Moon
Liliana spent some time after this investigating the harmful effects and mysteries of the chain veil but found she could not rid herself of it. Turning her attention to her other problem, she sought the aid of Jace Beleren in killing the two demons remaining that held her contract, but events on Zendikar drew Jace away, only to lead to him arriving on Innistrad soon after seeking Liliana's aid in investigating strange occurunces across the plane. Liliana attempted to dissuade him from seeking out Sorin Markov, whom she had previously encountered and been defeated by, but was unsuccessful with Jace departing Vess Manor for Markov's home. He returned soon after and mentally assaulted Liliana, believing her to be the cause of the disturbances on Innistrad. Liliana's Indignation was great, but despite the urgings of the Raven Man, she held back from killing Jace and actually managed to bring him to a point of sanity before the maddening influence that held his mind reasserted itself and he departed for Thraben to confront Avacyn.
The disturbances were ultimately revealed to be due to the influence of the Eldrazi titan, Emrakul who was warping the plane and driving its denizens to madness. In stark contrast to the events of the siege of Thraben, it was now the angels that were slaughtering the inhabitants of the plane, and survival was only made possible through the efforts of Liliana, the Last Hope of saving Innistrad's people. The mindless subservience of her undead horde kept them free of the madness that now infected all of Innistrad, and they surged through the streets of the city in a gristly sight that neverthless marked a Dark Salvation for the plane. With Emrakul successfully imprisoned in the moon, Liliana saw potential in gathering powerful planeswalkers to her side, and joined the Gatewatch following this confrontation, although the Oath of Liliana was not as impassioned as those made by the other members.
The Aether Revolt
With events on Innistrad seemingly concluded, Liliana travelled to Ravnica with the other members of the Gatewatch, where a Vedalken by the name of Dovin Baan attempted to hire them as security for an upcoming event on Chandra's home plane of Kaladesh. Liliana travelled there with Chandra and encouraged her to take revenge against the consulate for the murder of her parents. While there, she learned that Tezzeret, an artificer with whom she had once worked as a freelance agent on the Black Market, was still alive and was involved in some larger scheme at the behest of Nicol Bolas, the next step of which would occur on Amonkhet, the home plane of Raaketh, another of Liliana's demonic contract holders.
The Hour of Devastation
Despite Ajani's warnings that they were not ready to confront Bolas, the Gatewatch chose to travel to Amonkhet and see what was about to transpire. What they discovered was a plane inundated in strange necromantic energies known as the Curse of Wandering that caused all living creatures that died on the plane to transform into undead. The living inhabitants were all young and lived in a city called Naktamun, protected from the harsh deserts beyond by a magical barrier known as the Hekma. They were utterly devoted to the worship of Nicol Bolas in the guise of the God-Pharoah, and their society was built to produce soldiers for his undead army through the five trials. While the Gatewatch were present on Amonkhet, the Hour of Revelation arrived, marking the culmination of Bolas' millennia-long schemes as the city was destroyed in a Torment of Hailfire, it's gods and people slaughtered by Bolas' army of Eternals. Liliana was able to kill Razaketh, tearing the demon apart with a horde of undead crocodiles, but she and the rest of the Gatewatch suffered a crushing defeat at Bolas' hands, forcing them to planeswalk away, regrouping on Dominaria, Liliana's home plane.
The Return Home
Liliana had not returned to Dominaria in many years, and this trip would have a profound impact on her. The arrival of the Gatewatch was a fractured one, Nissa abandoning the group to return to Zendikar, and Jace not arriving at all. Chandra also split from the group, leaving only Liliana and Gideon to continue their mission. After meeting some local allies, the pair resolved to retrieve an ancient weapon, the card Blackblade Reforged which they believed would be capable of killing Nicol Bolas. The blade was in the possession of the Cabal, a demonic cult in service of Belzenlok, the last surviving demon holding Liliana's contract.
Part of their journey saw Liliana return to her ancestral home where she encountered her late brother, Josu, now an undead lich in service of the cabal. Liliana was able to lay him to rest with a Final Parting and the experience resonated with her. Gideon was present for this tragic reunion and was convinced that Liliana had a compassionate aspect to her personality and sought to help her grow into a kinder, more selfless person. Over the course of their time in Dominaria, Liliana would come around to this way of thinking, starting to consider other people as friends and display genuine affection and care rather than merely viewing them as potential assets or pawns.
Alongside Jhoira, Karn, Jaya Ballard, and a returned and recommited Chandra, the pair sailed aboard the Weatherlight to the Cabal Stronghold in Urborg, to confront Belzenlok and retrieve the sword. They were successful, and promptly made plans to travel to Ravnica. Gideon took the blade and left, in the belief that Liliana would be right behind him, confident that she was committed to the cause, despite many others - most vehemently, Jace - believing she was done with the Gatewatch now that she had achieved her personal goal of killing her demons and now has no further use for them all and would abandon her oath.
Liliana was about to follow, in sincere intention to join the rest of the Gatewatch on Ravnica in opposition to Bolas, when the fine print kicked in. With all four demons now dead, her contract was not annulled, but rather, defaulted to the one who brokered it, Nicol Bolas. Planeswalking to Dominaria, the elder dragon informed Liliana that she was now bound to him, and they departed together for Ravnica.
The Invasion
When Liliana finally managed to Settle the Score and kill the last of the demons holding her contract, the deal defaulted to Nicol Bolas, and
Bolas' plans were finally came to fruition with the Dreadhorde Invasion of Ravnica's Tenth District. Forced to lead Bolas' zombie army through the Planar Bridge, Liliana would Command the Dreadhorde from card: Bolas'Citadel while Bolas set the card: Elderspell in motion. At the last moment, with Gideon's attack failing to slay the dragon, and with every planeswalker trapped on Ravnica on the brink of having their sparks ripped away and returning Bolas to his pre-mending levels of power, Liliana decided that her freedom was worth more than her life. Willing to suffer the Price of Betrayal she set the God-Eternals and the Dreadhorde to attack Nicol Bolas in defiance of her pact, an act that would have torn her to shreds if not for Gideon's sacrifice, an act that cost him his own life but left Liliana free from Bolas, and from her contract.
Freedom
Having served as the general of the dreadhorde, Liliana was believed to be one of the villains of the day, with only Gideon knowing the truth of her redemption, but with his death any hope of a favourable public reception was lost. Liliana has fled, and Kaya was given the task of tracking her down and bringing her to justice. Now living on the run, Liliana must choose how she wants to live, and what values she will pursue now that her life is once again her own all with the mysteries of the Raven Man and the chain veil still looming.
