"MATLAB help states that using backticks around a variable name will have it replaced with its value when its inline in a text block"
I do not see that stated in the Matlab documentation: do you have a specific reference to support your claim?
The livescript documentation does state that you can specify a monospaced font using backticks:
https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/matlab_prog/format-live-scripts.html
