Liliana Heroic Objective Guide

The_Leftist

Liliana Heroic Objective Guide

Quicknote: Liliana was even more difficult to get to drop all of her cards, but every battle has at least 7 of the 10 cards, so you should still have a very good idea what you are going up against and how to handle it. If you figure out what one of the missing cards is, or have an alternate strategy for one of the battles, feel free to comment.

Liliana Heroic Battle #1

250 Runes - Aggressive (Cast 1 or less Supports and win the match)
15 Mana Crystals - Spellcaster (Cast 9 or more Spells and win the match)

Starting Opponents Cards: Demonic Pact

Starting Opponents Hand Size: 0 Cards

Opponents Library

Creatures (4)

Despoiler of Souls
Erebos Titan
Kothoped, Soul Hoarder
Fetid Imp

Spells (3)

Dark Petition
Nightsnare
Tormented Thoughts

Supports (1)

Demonic Pact

Unknown (2)

Although Liliana starts with 0 cards in her hand, starting with Demonic Pact down will make things insanely difficult for Gideon, Liliana, and Jace. If Liliana gets Nightsnare off on her 1st turn, you will be put in a position where you only have 1 card in your hand at a time, and must play it in one turn or else Demonic Pact will force you to discard it. Nissa will want to play Conclave Naturalists in order to quickly get Demonic Pact out of the way since it will easily kill off anything Nissa plays in a few turns aside from Gaea's Wrath. Chandra has it made here, as both objectives AND the battle become incredibly easy with a few common and uncommon cards

Aggressive Strategy:

Recommended Walkers: Chandra, Nissa

Chandra can easily get both objectives done here first try with a Burn deck (60/70% Spells, 40/30% Creatures, 0% Supports). Make sure you include at least one of Demolish or Smash to Smithereens, preferably both to maximize getting one first round to destroy Demonic Pact. If Liliana summons Fetid Imp, let it be. Despoiler can be destroyed by catching Lilana without 3 mana in her hand, or 6 mana with a quick burn spell following her 2nd ability. Erebos Titan can't be hurt when you don't have creatures, so bring berserkers, particularily Iroas's Champion since she can kill him without taking damage if you can do at least 4 damage to him before she attacks. Nissa will want to draw Conclave Naturalists 1st or 2nd turn, and then proceed to attempt a Speed Objective strategy. Keep getting cards out and using her 2nd ability. Your goal is to out-damage Liliana, which should be easy given how expensive her dangerous card - Erebos Titan - is.

Spellcaster Strategy:

Recommended Walkers: Chandra

Normally, Jace is great in this area, but thanks to Demonic Pact, even Days Undoing won't help you here. Jace's creatures are too weak to take on the 2 damage per turn. Your only hope is to destroy Demonic Pact in 1-4 turns or you will have next to no hope. Chandra will want to follow the exact same strategy posted for the Aggressive Strategy in the last paragraph.

Liliana Heroic Battle #2

250 Runes - Pacifist (Kill 3 or less Opponents creatures and win the match)
15 Mana Crystals - Speed (Win the match in 7 or less rounds)

Starting Opponents Cards: Despoiler of Souls

Starting Opponents Hand Size: 0 Cards

Opponents Library

Creatures (6)

Despoiler of Souls
Priest of the Bloodright
Fetid Imp
Possessed Skaab
Fleshbag Marauder
Erebos Titan

Supports (1)

Demonic Pact

Unknown (3)

For having to start with 0 cards in her hand, she sure doesn't get a whole lot by starting out with Despolier of Souls. A 1st turn burn or bounce will ensure he dies and doesn't come back. She has a pretty scary deck in terms of cards, but Jace should be able to bounce anything dangerous, and Nissa should be able to win before anything big has time to do a lot of damage.

Pacifist Strategy:

Recommended Walkers: Nissa, Jace

Nissa is the best qualified for the 2nd Objective, so she is your best (if not only) bet at getting both objectives in one go. Take out any defenders or cards that give berserk. You are going to want to race Liliana for the win, which shouldn't be difficult at all considering she will be doing all of 5 damage per turn for at least a few turns unless you are very unlucky. Fill your deck up cheap medium hitters like Rhox Maulers, Herald, Sylvan Messenger, etc and a couple big hitters like Colossus, Woodland Bellower, etc in case you find yourself with an early massive cascade or multiple Match 5's. Don't use Nissa's 1st ability unless you have a huge creature that needs to come out early, and the board has a lot of green orbs already on it. Focus on using Nissa's 2nd ability to get 15 extra damage in a single round. It takes nowhere near as much luck beating this in 7 rounds as it does with some of the battles in Chapter 3. Jace will want to bounce (not turn to frog) anything that comes out, and hope that Liliana either doesn't get Demonic Pact out, or gets it out a turn or two before she dies to avoid her killing your creatures. Also note that bouncing Erebos and Despoiler will not allow them to activate their abilities since they are not dying.

Speed Strategy

Recommended Walkers: Nissa, Gideon

For Nissa, refer to the Pacifist Strategy section for information on how to beat this objective. Nissa will get the job done most of the time, but Gideon can get it done as well by getting an early (1st or 2nd turn) 1st striker out followed by additional creatures. Don't worry about playing Supports or Spells for this one, as the extra damage from additional creatures is likely necessary to win in 7 rounds. Once you have at least 2 creatures out, use Gideon's 2nd ability to give an additional 6-9 damage for that round as well as any extras. Again, unless you just don't like Nissa, you will find she has a much better success rate at these types of objectives than anyone else, but Gideon can get it done.


Liliana Heroic Battle #3

250 Runes - Protector (Lose 1 or less creatures and win the match)
15 Mana Crystals - Sacrifice* (Lose 10 or more creatures and win the match)

Starting Opponents Cards: Shambling Ghoul

Starting Opponents Hand Size: 5 Cards

Opponents Library

Creatures (7)

Shambling Ghoul
Nantuko Husk
Undead Servant
Returned Centaur
Fleshbag Marauder
Revenant
Possessed Skaab

Spells (1)
Consecrated By Blood

Unknown (2)

The starting Card as well as the deck itself is laughable, particularly for a Heroic battle. In MTG, Zombie decks can function rather efficiently, but in this case, it's really nothing to be worried about. Liliana has a plethora of creatures, all weak with the exception of Fleshbag, and fails to replace any creature until its dead. She can easily get stuck with 3 2/2's and a full hand until she uses her 1st ability, and even then, there isn't a big chance she will draw a card to reinforce. Since Sacrifice Objectives are still bugged, both objectives are fairly easy to complete as well.

Protector Strategy:

Recommended Walkers: Any

Since Liliana is so susceptible to locking herself with weak creatures without defender or berserk, any Walker can easily complete this. To have the best chance, you will want Nissa with a Speed Objective prepped deck (Multiple cheap creatures/big creatures if you find yourself with the mana for them, focus on using her 2nd ability to maximize damage potential), or if you have Gaeas Revenge, getting that out pretty much assures victory since Fleshbag can't target him. Alternately, you can use Chandra. Focus on getting non berserkers out like Volcanic Rambler and Abbot while using all of your burn spells on Liliana to prevent opening a space for Fleshbag to come in and screw things up

Sacrifice* Strategy:

*Remember, as it currently stands, Sacrifice Obectives do NOT work like they are supposed to. Instead of it counting creatures you lose, it counts creatures the OPPONENT loses

Recommended Walkers: Gideon, Chandra

Since we are still focusing on killing opponents creatures instead of our own, you will want to use either a 1st striker with Gideon paired with either Brawlers Plate or Gideons 3rd ability to attack creatures. You want to do this because if you always take out Lilianas creatures, she won't be able to cast Fleshbag and kill your creature. With the low cost of Lilianas cards and low attack power and defense, you should easily be able to kill 10 or more creatures with a single first striker before you deal the final blow. You can also use Chandra to have a better chance at success. All of Lilianas creatures have low health, so just about any burn spell and Chandras 2nd ability will kill anything she casts. Make sure you include creatures in the deck for when you want to end the match, but DON'T focus on filling them up because Liliana is very sneaky, and can get a match 5 that gives her enough walker points to force you to discard your 1st and last card in your hand.

Liliana Heroic Battle #4

250 Runes - Survivor (Win the match with 5 or less HP remaining)
15 Mana Crystals - Destroyer (Kill 10 or more Opponent creatures and win the match)

Starting Opponents Cards: Blightcaster

Starting Opponents Hand Size: 4 Cards

Opponents Library

Creatures (3)

Fetid Imp
Graveblade Marauder
Erebos Titan

Supports (5)

Blightcaster
Throwing Knife
Veterans Sidearm
Infernal Scarring
Brawlers Plate

Unknown (2)

At first, this deck seems to have nearly no danger to it at all. Blightcaster starts in play, but Liliana will rarely get 2 supports out, and nearly never gets more than that, so as long as your first creature has at least 5 health, Blightcaster will likely never kill it. However, with the amount of Supports that this deck has, WHEN Liliana plays a creature, especially Erebos Titan, it gets an insane buff and even Fetid Imp can become a threat to your life quickly.

Survivor Strategy

Recommended Walkers: Jace, Liliana

For both strategies, make sure you pay attention to Lilianas Walker points. You don't want her to force you to discard your 1st card when it is something you really need. Always re-arrange your hand when you see she has enough to cast her 1st ability. Due to the fact that creatures can get buffed very quickly, Jace is the logical way to go here. Fill your deck up with bounce creatures and spells. When you start the match, you are going to want to restart it to ensure you start the match with 9 health. Then, you are going to want to save up some bounce spells and then creatures. You want Liliana to play Fetid Imp. If she casts anything else, bounce it back to her hand. When she finally plays Fetid Imp, it will likely get buffed to 4-6 attack power. Let it hit you once to bring you to 5 or less health, and then bounce it back. Make sure you keep a bounce card ready and utilize Jace's 2nd ability to ensure you are always ready. Keep your control game going while playing your bounce creatures and spell buff creatures. Liliana can utilize the same strategy using death spells and creatures with deathtouch since Brawlers Plate will give the Opponents creatures Berserk. The only issue is that Lilianas cards cost more, so you are less likely to be successful than with Jace in the event the Opponent hits some big cascades.
Destroyer Strategy:

Recommended Walkers: Liliana, Jace

Liliana will need as many death spells, Berserkers, and Defenders as possible. Fleshbag helps, but be sure not to over do it and kill Liliana before you hit the mark. The opponents creatures cost quite a considerable amount of mana, so you 'should' be able to get some Death Spells ready before she casts them. Make sure you pay attention to the Opponents Walker points since she can force you to discard your 1st and last cards in your hand. Jace has it a bit easier since Erebos Titan can't use its ability if it's bounced, however, this strategy heavily revolves around Turn To Frog. The idea is to control the game while you get your Turn to Frog cards ready. When the opponent plays a creature, every time you turn it into a frog, including turning a frog into a frog, it counts as a kill. When you bounce a Frog token, it counts as a kill. You want to bounce anything you can't turn into a frog at the time to avoid taking a face full of damage. This can take a long time, but if you have the cards for it, especially Days Undoing, it is an easy way to complete the Objective.

Liliana Heroic Battle #5

250 Runes - Anti-Magic (Cast 1 or less Spells and win the match)
15 Mana Crystals - Comeback (Take 88 damage and win the match)

Starting Opponents Cards: Graveblade Marauder

Starting Opponents Hand Size: 2 Cards

Opponents Library

Creatures (7)

Graveblade Marauder
Eyeblight Assassin
Fetid Imp
Gilt-Leaf Winnower
Gnarlroot Trapper
Shaman of the Pack
Erebos Titan

Spells (1)

Infinite Obliteration

Unknown (2)

Chalk full of creatures - some scary, some not - this deck focuses on dealing direct damage with a hint of Deathtouch. Graveblade Marauder can quickly do a lot of damage if you can't get a creature out fast. Luckily, the objectives are pretty easy.

Anti-Magic Strategy:

Recommended Walkers: Gideon, Nissa

Take your spells out. You will want a lot of creatures and a few supports. Gideon can get both objectives done with a bit of luck. If you are interested, read the next Objective strategy and fuse the two together. However, it is easier to focus on one at a time. Gideon will need to get a creature out to deal damage to Graveblade, followed by a 1st stiker to kill him without taking damage. You can also save up to play a reinforced 1st striker instead. Then unload with as many creatures as you can. Be sure to buff your 1st strike creature to at least 8 power to deal with Cards like Fetid Imp and Erebos Titan. Nissa will want to play as many cheap, mid attack power creatures as possible and again out-race Lilana in terms of damage. Be sure to have creatures ready to summon if Graveblade or Fetid Imp or even that tricky Gnarlroot kill something via Deathtouch or damage.

Comeback Strategy:

Recommended Walkers: Gideon, (Jace*)

Although this can be done by any Walker if you have Orbs of Warding (even easier with Alhamerrets Archive added to it), you don't want to give Liliana time to cast Erebos Titan. If you have these cards, then it can easily be accomplished with Jace by bouncing Erebos and anything else as soon as you hit the mark. However, it is easiest with Gideon. If you have the Orbs/Archive, it will make it a lot easier. You want to include as many Lifelink creatures as possible to help ease into hitting the mark since you only need to take damage, not end with low life. Taking Graveblade Marauder out early will also likely help because he does damage a lot faster than anyone else including Erebos Titan unless Titan is reinforced (although if this happens and you aren't using Jace, you are in trouble anyways). Once you take Graveblade out, let the opponent ping you while you save up your Councils Lieutenant and Lifelinkers. Unleash everything you've got when you hit the redzone, but try not to give anything Defender to ensure the Opponent keeps damaging you while you gain life and damage Liliana. As long as Lilaian doesn't reinforce Erebos (highly unlikely due to the insane mana required to do so), nothing should stop you from getting this objective.