Venser's Journal MTG Card

Venser’s Journal’s lifegain scales with your hand size, making it pivotal in life-linked strategies. It accentuates combo potential in decks that value drawing and holding numerous cards. The card has a firm place in various metas, especially Commander due to its robust synergy.

Venser's Journal - Scars of Mirrodin (SOM)

Scars of Mirrodin (SOM)
2010-10-01 - Number 220

Commander 2016 (C16)
2016-11-11 - Number 279

Commander 2021 (C21)
2021-04-23 - Number 273

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Rare
Type	Artifact

Text of card

You have no maximum hand size. At the beginning of your upkeep, you gain 1 life for each card in your hand.

A Planeswalker's chronicle spans worlds and civilizations, each page a lifetime.

Cards like Venser's Journal

Venser’s Journal is a unique artifact in Magic: The Gathering, offering an intriguing life gain ability tied to the number of cards in your hand. When analyzing cards with a similar concept, we encounter the formidable Reliquary Tower. This land card also lets you have no maximum hand size, comparable to Venser’s Journal. However, the Journal takes it a step further by granting life for your extensive knowledge, a benefit the Tower does not provide.

Another potential counterpart is Spellbook, which, similar to Reliquary Tower, eliminates the maximum hand size limit but lacks the life-gaining feature that Venser’s Journal boasts. Then there’s Ivory Tower, which also turns a large hand into life points. Although it aligns with Venser’s Journal’s life gain theme, it varies in execution and does not offer the benefit of an unlimited hand size.

In terms of sheer utility and the ability to advance your game state with a comfortable hand size and consistent life gain, Venser’s Journal stands out in its category. Its combination of effects creates a unique position within MTG that blends hand management with a defensive strategy, optimizing both your grip on the game and your sustainability on the battlefield.

Cards similar to Venser's Journal by color, type and mana cost

The Deck of Many Things - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Venser’s Journal provides consistent card advantage by allowing you to gain life equal to the number of cards in your hand at each of your turns. This can lead to a significant advantage as it not only bolsters your life total but also complements strategies that thrive on having a sizeable hand.

Resource Acceleration: While Venser’s Journal doesn’t directly produce mana or accelerate resources in the conventional sense, it does indirectly facilitate resource acceleration by enabling you to maintain a large hand size. This ensures you are consistently making land drops and have more options to play spells each turn, indirectly speeding up your game plan.

Instant Speed: Although the artifact itself does not operate at instant speed, the life gain effect happens during the untap step, which can be seen as a passive instant-speed benefit. It functions as a deterrent, dissuading opponents from attacking, since your life total could potentially be out of reach with each card you draw and hold onto.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Venser’s Journal doesn’t force a discard, which is good news for players. Still, it’s important to note for any player anticipating this effect from their artifacts.

Specific Mana Cost: While Venser’s Journal doesn’t demand a specific color in its cost, it does require a hefty amount of generic mana, which can be a hurdle in mana-tight situations, especially in the early game.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The five-mana investment needed for Venser’s Journal might set you back in terms of tempo, as other lower-cost cards could be played to advance your board state or disrupt opponents more immediately.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Venser’s Journal offers a unique flexibility for any deck looking to benefit from hand size. It pairs exceptionally well with strategies that aim to draw a lot of cards, rewarding the player with no maximum hand size and life gain.

Combo Potential: This card has great synergy with effects that care about life gain or hand size, enabling combos and enhancing strategies that capitalize on these card states. When paired with cards like Psychosis Crawler or Felidar Sovereign, Venser’s Journal can be a game-changer.

Meta-Relevance: Given its ability to offer both sustenance in the form of life gain and flexibility in managing hand resources, Venser’s Journal holds its own in various metas, especially in Commander where it can efficiently capitalize on longer game formats and higher life totals.

How to beat

Venser’s Journal is a unique lifegain artifact in Magic: The Gathering, offering a consistent advantage for retaining a full hand. This card becomes potent in formats where life totals can be a deciding factor, as it allows a gradual climb in life points without the need to expend additional resources each turn.

To counter Venser’s Journal, card denial strategies are key. Employing discard effects like Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek disrupts your opponent’s hand, thereby limiting the life gained each turn. Ensnaring effects such as Pacification Array or Phyrexian Revoker can neutralize Venser’s Journal, denying its lifegain ability. Furthermore, artifact removal spells like Naturalize or Abrade can outright destroy the artifact, rendering it useless. It is essential to handle Venser’s Journal swiftly to prevent the opponent from establishing an insurmountable life total.

Overall, facing Venser’s Journal requires a proactive approach to either deplete the opponent’s hand or remove the artifact from the battlefield. By incorporating these strategies, players can negate the lifegain and card advantage potential of Venser’s Journal, maintaining pressure and advancing towards victory.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Venser's Journal MTG card by a specific set like Scars of Mirrodin and Commander 2016, 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 Venser's Journal and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Venser's Journal Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2010-10-01 and 2021-04-23. Illustrated by Christopher Moeller.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2010-10-01	Scars of Mirrodin	SOM	220	2003	Normal	Black	Christopher Moeller
2	2016-11-11	Commander 2016	C16	279	2015	Normal	Black	Christopher Moeller
3	2021-04-23	Commander 2021	C21	273	2015	Normal	Black	Christopher Moeller

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Venser's Journal has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Venser's Journal card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2011-01-01	If multiple effects modify your hand size, apply them in timestamp order. For example, if you put Null Profusion (an enchantment that says your maximum hand size is two) onto the battlefield and then put Venser’s Journal onto the battlefield, you’ll have no maximum hand size. However, if those permanents enter the battlefield in the opposite order, your maximum hand size would be two.