Liliana's Shade
Creature — Shade
When this creature enters, you may search your library for a Swamp card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
: This creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Magic 2013
- Price
- $0.10
- EDHREC rank
- #17792
Liliana's Shade enters as a 2/1 lifelinker and fetches a Swamp straight to hand — relevant body plus land-grab in one card. The catch is three mana for a fragile creature, which means Liliana's Shade earns its slot almost exclusively in decks that have a specific reason to want it, and Liliana, Heretical Healer is that reason.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Liliana, Heretical Healer
Liliana, Heretical Healer flips off any nontoken creature dying, and Liliana's Shade is a named Liliana card that replaces itself with a land — so it doubles as a flip enabler and a ramp piece in the same slot, which is exactly the kind of redundancy that deck wants.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Liliana's Shade sees essentially no competitive play in Legacy, Vintage, or Modern — three mana for a 2/1 with a Rampant Growth stapled to it doesn't clear the bar in formats where the competition is Thoughtseize and Ragavan. In Pauper it's legal but outclassed by cheaper black creatures that do more. Commander is where Liliana's Shade gets its only real traction, and even there it's narrowly slotted: Liliana, Heretical Healer decks run it for the named synergy and the incidental Swamp fetch, not because the body itself is impressive.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.10 bulk tier
At $0.10, Liliana's Shade is deep bulk — you'll find it in bulk boxes or pick it up as a throw-in without thinking twice. Bulk commons and uncommons with narrow applications don't appreciate, so buy it for the deck that needs it and don't expect the price to move.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Liliana, Heretical Healer
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.