Magic has paired its planeswalkers against each other in flavor-first products before, most famously the Garruk vs. Liliana Duel Decks that depicted the characters' in-story rivalry. That same pairing instinct works just as well in reverse, building a Commander deck where two planeswalkers fight alongside each other instead.
Liliana and Sorin Markov are a natural match for this kind of deck. Both are black-aligned planeswalkers built around similar themes - the graveyard, sacrifice, and relentless attrition - and both have crossed paths in Magic's actual story more than once.
This guide walks through why the pairing works mechanically, how to build a deck that lets both planeswalkers pull their weight, and which supporting cards tie their strategies together instead of just stapling two good cards into one deck.
None of this requires a rare or unconfirmed product - it's a deckbuilding approach you can assemble yourself around cards that already exist.
Both characters are rooted in black's core themes of death, sacrifice, and card advantage through loss, which means their abilities naturally support the same underlying game plan rather than pulling the deck in two directions. A creature dying is useful fuel for both a Liliana and a Sorin card in the same deck.
Their in-story connection adds a flavor layer too, since both have appeared as major antagonist-turned-ally figures across different story arcs, giving the pairing narrative weight beyond pure deckbuilding synergy.
For Liliana, a card like Liliana, Dreadhorde General pulls double duty as both a card-advantage engine and a removal piece, making her a strong anchor for this kind of deck. Her passive card draw rewards exactly the creature deaths a sacrifice-heavy build generates.
For Sorin, a vampire-tribal or lifegain-focused printing complements Liliana's graveyard themes well, since many Sorin cards reward aggressive, sacrifice-friendly creature strategies that overlap naturally with what Liliana wants.
Sacrifice outlets are the backbone of this deck, since they feed both planeswalkers' strongest abilities simultaneously - Liliana's card draw and most vampire or aristocrats synergies Sorin cards tend to reward. Cheap, recurring creatures that want to die repeatedly outperform expensive, one-time threats here.
Graveyard recursion rounds out the shell nicely, letting you reuse your best sacrifice fodder multiple times across a single game rather than running out of material partway through.
Early turns should focus on establishing cheap creatures and sacrifice outlets, since both planeswalkers get stronger as the game progresses and your graveyard fills up. Rushing to deploy an expensive planeswalker before you have support in place often leaves it exposed to immediate removal.
Mid-game is where the deck's engine really starts compounding, as sacrifice triggers, card draw, and recursion all start feeding each other across multiple turns.
A mono-Black or heavily black-based two-color mana base keeps this deck's curve consistent and avoids overcomplicating the manabase with a splash that doesn't support the core sacrifice theme. Simplicity here pays off in consistency.
If you do splash a second color for Sorin's specific card, prioritize fixing that supports early plays over late-game flexibility, since this deck wants to establish its board state as early as possible.
The biggest mistake with any multi-planeswalker deck is treating both cards as standalone bombs rather than building genuine synergy around them. Two good cards stapled together without a supporting shell underperform compared to a deck built intentionally around their shared themes.
Overloading on expensive cards is another common issue, since a deck anchored by two planeswalkers already has a higher curve than average and needs cheap, efficient support to function on time.
A two-planeswalker deck needs enough individual resilience to survive a four-player pod's typically slower removal pace, since you're protecting two high-value permanents instead of just one. Running a slightly higher density of protective instants or combat tricks than a single-planeswalker deck would need helps offset that added exposure.
Table politics also play a bigger role here than in a one-on-one matchup, since opponents may prioritize removing whichever planeswalker looks more immediately threatening, leaving the other to keep generating value. Leaning into that dynamic by sequencing your plays to always have at least one planeswalker that looks less urgent to answer can meaningfully extend both their lifespans.
Both are black-aligned planeswalkers built around death, sacrifice, and attrition, giving them natural mechanical overlap.
Yes, Magic has depicted planeswalker rivalries and alliances in products like the Garruk vs. Liliana Duel Decks.
Cheap, repeatable sacrifice outlets that feed both planeswalkers' abilities.
Only if your mana base can reliably support it without slowing down your early turns.
Keep both planeswalkers protected and your deck organized with a magnetic deck box from EVORETRO's Magic the Gathering Collection.
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