Profound Journey from Dragons of Tarkir - A Magic the Gathering Card Review

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Profound Journey from Dragons of Tarkir is a sorcery card featuring a mechanic not seen since the days of Rise of the Eldrazi: Rebound. The Rebound mechanic allows you to essentially cast the same card twice, as long as you cast it from your hand. In the case of Profound Journey, it costs 5WW (5 colorless, 2 White) to cast and returns a target permanent card from your graveyard to the battlefield. While this sounds expensive, you're able to recast this card during your next upkeep. This allows you to get some serious value for that 7 mana.

Obzedat's Aid from Dragon's Maze is very similar to this card, except that it costs 3WB (3 colorless, 1 White, 1 Black). Some people have commented that they'd rather have a mono-White version of that card. But this card is better. Having Rebound is especially relevant when you consider that some cards benefit from having cards cast twice. Creature cards with Prowess, for example, gain +1/+1 each time a noncreature spell is cast. Having this card Rebound gives your Prowess creatures an extra boost before your turn even really gets started.

In Commander, a card like Profound Journey can be quite invaluable, especially where your permanents are far more precious since you can only run one copy of each non-basic land. The Commander that benefits most from a card like this is Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest. Not only does he have Prowess, but he has a second ability that gives a target creature double strike under end of turn for each noncreature spell you cast. It does cost 2 extra mana, but it's well worth it. A few other Commanders, such as Narset, Enlightened Master, have ways of casting it for free, as well.

While Profound Journey never fit into the competitive Constructed scene, there's a lot of potential value here. But it really hasn't quite found a home in the format. Obzedat's Aid is playable in far fewer decks, but is preferred at 5 mana. Profound Journey is probably one of the more underrated cards when it comes to reanimating permanents. Yes, it has a high initial cost. It's also possible that by the time it Rebounds, you may not have a target that you'll want. But getting back any two permanents from your graveyard over the course of two turns seems well worth 7 mana. It also does have some awesome artwork. This is a card worth digging out of bulk bins. In the right strategy, it can do a lot of good. No one has really found it yet.

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