Magic: The Gathering has printed dozens of planeswalkers over the years, but a handful of characters consistently show up in conversations about the best the game has ever produced: Liliana, Jace, Teferi, and Nicol Bolas chief among them. Each represents a different color identity and a different approach to dominating a game, which makes comparing them less about picking a single best card and more about understanding what each brings to the table.
Liliana's strongest printings lean on discard, sacrifice, and graveyard recursion - effects that disrupt an opponent's resources directly. That's a meaningfully different approach from Jace's card-selection-and-control game plan, Teferi's tempo-and-time-manipulation toolkit, or Nicol Bolas's raw multicolor power.
This comparison looks at how Liliana's best cards stack up against these other iconic planeswalkers across power level, versatility, and ongoing collector demand, rather than declaring a single winner.
All four characters have multiple strong printings, so this guide focuses on each character's most format-defining versions for a fair comparison.
Liliana of the Veil's discard-and-sacrifice plan punishes an opponent's resources directly, while Jace, the Mind Sculptor's card-selection and bounce abilities generate overwhelming card advantage over time. Both are considered among the best planeswalkers ever printed, but they win games through fundamentally different mechanisms.
Jace tends to be the pick for control decks that want to out-card-advantage an opponent, while Liliana fits decks that want to actively strip resources away rather than simply out-drawing them.
Teferi's various printings often manipulate time itself - extra turns, untapping permanents, or restricting an opponent's options during their own turn - creating a tempo advantage rather than Liliana's resource-attrition approach. Both playstyles can be devastating in the right deck, but they ask very different things of the rest of your deckbuilding.
Teferi decks tend to prioritize proactive plays that benefit from extra time, while Liliana decks prioritize cards that get better the fewer resources your opponent has left.
Nicol Bolas's planeswalker printings are typically multicolor, combining several colors' strongest effects into one powerful but harder-to-cast card, while Liliana's mono-Black consistency makes her far easier to include in nearly any Black-based deck. That accessibility is a real advantage Liliana has over Bolas.
Bolas printings tend to reward dedicated, built-around-him decks, while top-tier Liliana cards slot into almost any Black deck without requiring a complete deckbuilding commitment.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor has historically commanded some of the highest prices among all four characters' printings, largely due to its competitive dominance in multiple formats during its peak years. Liliana of the Veil and top Teferi printings trail somewhat but still carry real collector demand.
Nicol Bolas printings vary more widely in value depending on the specific card, since not every Bolas printing has seen the same level of competitive play as his best versions.
Because Liliana is always mono-Black, her best cards fit into virtually any Black deck without additional deckbuilding requirements - a real advantage over Nicol Bolas's multicolor demands. Jace and Teferi's typically Blue-based identities offer similar single-color flexibility within their own color.
If versatility across the widest range of decks is your priority, Liliana and the mono-color versions of Jace or Teferi tend to be easier to slot into an existing collection than Bolas's multicolor printings.
Players who enjoy actively dismantling an opponent's resources tend to gravitate toward Liliana, while those who prefer out-drawing opponents lean Jace, and those who like manipulating the flow of turns lean Teferi. Nicol Bolas appeals most to players who enjoy building a deck specifically around one powerful, demanding card.
There's no wrong answer here - all four represent some of Magic's most celebrated planeswalker design, and owning examples of each gives you a genuinely broad view of the format's history. Trying a deck built around each character is also one of the most enjoyable ways to understand why collectors rate them so highly.
Her top printings are widely regarded as being in the same tier of planeswalker power level.
Because she's always mono-Black, while Bolas printings are typically multicolor and more demanding to build around.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor has historically commanded some of the highest prices among the four.
Many collectors do, since each represents a different and celebrated approach to planeswalker design.
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