Travel Preparations MTG Card
2011-09-30 - Number 206
2018-12-07 - Number 188
2022-07-08 - Number 162
2023-03-21 - Number 57
| Card sets | Released in 4 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Sorcery |
| Abilities | Flashback |
Key Takeaways
- Travel Preparations offers card advantage by spreading +1/+1 counters across multiple creatures.
- The card’s flashback ability adds strategic depth, utilized at instant speed for surprise plays.
- While valuable, its green-specific flashback cost and graveyard reliance require careful deck construction.
Text of card
Put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to two target creatures. Flashback (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
Visiting a shrine at the start of a journey makes the traveler more likely to finish it.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: With Travel Preparations, you can distribute up to two +1/+1 counters across your creatures. This built-in versatility can provide the equivalent of drawing into multiple creature buffs, enhancing the value you get from a single card.
Resource Acceleration: By placing +1/+1 counters on your creatures early in the game, Travel Preparations accelerates your resource development on the battlefield. This can lead to quicker, more threatening attacks that outpace your opponent’s defenses.
Instant Speed: Although Travel Preparations is a sorcery, its flashback ability means you can cast it a second time from your graveyard. This granular control over when you deploy your resources can catch opponents off-guard, ensuring you maximize your strategic options throughout the game.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: While Travel Preparations doesn’t directly require you to discard, its flashback feature does necessitate a strategic approach to your graveyard resources. Incorrectly managing graveyard content could leave you at a disadvantage, particularly if you’re relying on its flashback to optimize your creatures’ performance.
Specific Mana Cost: The initial casting cost of Travel Preparations is color-flexible, appealing to multi-color decks. However, its flashback cost is green-specific, which may not align well with decks that don’t heavily invest in green mana or lack mana-fixing capabilities.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although two mana for a +1/+1 counter on two creatures can be efficient, its flashback cost is also two mana. This means you’re investing a total of four mana to fully utilize its potential. There are other cards that might provide more immediate and versatile boosts to your creatures for a similar or lower mana investment.
Reasons to Include Travel Preparations in Your Collection
Versatility: Travel Preparations is a unique addition to your arsenal, adept at boosting your creatures’ power and toughness across various deck types, especially those centered on +1/+1 counters.
Combo Potential: The card excels in synergizing with proliferate mechanics or any strategy keen on maximizing the value of counters, potentially turning even the weakest of creatures into formidable threats.
Meta-Relevance: In environments where creature-based strategies prevail, this card emerges as a pivotal piece, capable of tipping the scales and transforming an even board state into one of overwhelming advantage.
How to beat
Travel Preparations is a unique card in Magic: The Gathering that offers a versatile buffing strategy. Much like other cards that grant +1/+1 counters such as “Strength of the Tajuru” or “Juniper Order Ranger,” which bolster multiple creatures or enhance a single target, Travel Preparations can split its blessings. The difference lies in its flashback ability, which can be utilized from the graveyard, adding to its strategic advantage.
Navigating around this card requires preemptive measures. Players should consider employing removal spells that can clear multiple creatures simultaneously, such as “Day of Judgment” or “Blasphemous Act.” These are effective because they negate the utility of spreading out Travel Preparations’ counters. Alternatively, pinpoint removal like “Path to Exile” is effective post-buffing to exile key creatures enhanced by Travel Preparations.
Counteracting Travel Preparations’ long-term potential might involve graveyard disruption. Cards like “Bojuka Bog” or “Relic of Progenitus” can exile it from the graveyard, preventing its flashback activation. Consistently assessing the field and managing threats can help mitigate the boost Travel Preparations provides, maintaining control of the game’s pace and creature dominance.
Cards like Travel Preparations
Travel Preparations stands out as a versatile card in MTG, enabling players to distribute +1/+1 counters among creatures. This card echoes the mechanics of spells like Strength of the Tajuru, which also allows the spreading of counters. What makes Travel Preparations unique is its flashback ability, providing players a second chance to cast the spell from the graveyard, a feature Strength of the Tajuru lacks.
Comparatively, Juniper Order Ranger is a creature that can repeatedly bolster other creatures as they enter the battlefield. While it doesn’t provide the instantaneous buff that Travel Preparations does, its ongoing presence offers a lasting advantage. Conversely, Increasing Savagery boasts a higher number of +1/+1 counters but without the distribution flexibility or the flashback option.
Analyzing these alternatives, Travel Preparations holds a valued position for those seeking an efficient way to strengthen multiple creatures at a low cost while maintaining the capability to reapply its effects later in the game, emphasizing its strategic adaptability in MTG.
Cards similar to Travel Preparations by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Travel Preparations MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad and Ultimate Masters, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.
For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.
Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.
Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Travel Preparations and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Printings
The Travel Preparations Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2011-09-30 and 2023-03-21. Illustrated by Vincent Proce.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2011-09-30 | Innistrad | ISD | 206 | 2003 | Normal | Black | Vincent Proce | |
| 2 | 2018-12-07 | Ultimate Masters | UMA | 188 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Vincent Proce | |
| 3 | 2022-07-08 | Double Masters 2022 | 2X2 | 162 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Vincent Proce | |
| 4 | 2023-03-21 | Shadows of the Past | SIS | 57 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Vincent Proce |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Travel Preparations has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Travel Preparations card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2018-12-07 | If Travel Preparations targets two creatures, and one of them is an illegal target by the time Travel Preparations resolves, you’ll still put a +1/+1 counter on the other creature. |
| 2018-12-07 | You can’t target the same creature twice to put two +1/+1 counters on it. |
