good to see dark ritual, as always. i'm especially pleased to see the original (and best) artwork as well.
Kryptnyt
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(6 votes)
Always a part of Black's color pie. Why? because it was there when we started. Flavorfully it makes sense, especially when you think of multiplayer. The player who rituals out a gigantic demon on turn one risks becoming the enemy of the entire table. Its fun to imagine the world inside of magic with a malleable color pie though. A young and brash red planeswalker comes across a wizened black one, but they find that they are not so different.
SIlverSkyz
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(10 votes)
Rated higher than Black Lotus! YAY
VampireCat
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Fast mana is always good and this is one of the better (not to mention cheaper) fast mana cards printed. 'Nuff said.
pzfreez7
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(4 votes)
They need to reprint this in M12
apollogod
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(5 votes)
I really can't figure out why this isn't at least rated a 4.8.
Best black mana accelerator. A staple of the game since the beginning.
5/5
Ihateworking
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Don't be cheap, buy the Alpha/Beta versions of these, it deserves it being that it is one of the five pillars of vintage.
rhcjrtoon
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Almost every mono black deck needs this guy. What makes him more fun is when you bring along Dark Ritual's best friend yawgmoth's will :D
Dark Ritual is one of my favorite cards. Black can't do to much to artifacts or really anything to enchantments so I think Dark Ritual should be reprinted in M12 but I doubt that will happen. I like this Dark Ritual artwork the best
Ava_Adore
★☆☆☆☆ (1.7/5.0)(3 votes)
@MtFrostM FINALLY someone who understands the flavour of cards in magic, so many people who are just starting magic look at cards like prodigal sorcerer and tell me it makes no sense in blue, damage is a red ability etc and im like its a wizard how does it not make sense?
gasimakos1
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
swamp, dark ritual, duress, hymn to tourach.
Max_Glycine
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(9 votes)
I'm not normally one to hate on cards. Everything has it's place, in some deck (even if it's only in limited- I'm looking at you, Armored Cancrix). But I hate Dark Ritual. Three Dark Rits in your opening hand to accelerate something expensive out isn't clever, it's just cheap. 0.5 stars for this piece of luh-suh.
And to those trying to say it's in flavor- it's not. Remember, your cards in hand are your knowledge, and red is the color that will waste knowledge to do more damage. That's why, flavor-wise and mechanically, Rituals are in red. The reason this was printed in black wasn't flavorful, it was because of the deck archetypes that involved black at the time, namely "suicide black".
rinoh20
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(5 votes)
the thing is, this has a downside. it's card disadvantage, a very black thing from cards like hidden horror. you do get power, but you've used a card.
@MtFrostM: I stand corrected; your post was very insightful and made huge sense. Of course they would relate flavor to nature - they didn't have other cards as references. Anyway, thanks for your reply :)
I'm leaving the old post just for reference if anyone wants to read it. (though it's probably mostly just rubbish).
@Kryptnyt: I know I'm gonna cause a lot of Hatred, but flavorfully, Dark Ritual doesn't really make sense. I say this because black has always been about gaining power at a cost, yet Dark Ritual doesn't do anything bad in exchange for massive power. Dark Ritual is more of a red card, because red decks tend to be very powerful with the disadvantage of running out of steam quickly.
If Dark Ritual was to be in sync with its color, it should have some sort of disadvantage that involved loss of life (actually, Channel's flavor is pretty black). A life loss of 3 would be fair, taking into consideration cards like Demon of Death's Gate and Sign in Blood. I know people might argue that "Dark Ritual has been in Magic since the beginning of time", but in that case Dark Ritual has been out of color this whole time. BTW I do know that Demon of Death's Gate and Sign in Blood are recent cards, and that it's hard to compare them to the old cards, but the fact remains that the definition of the black color really hasn't changed, and that those two cards, while still being powerful, succeed in being more in-sync with their color than Dark Ritual.
I will admit though that in spite of being slightly off-color, I still enjoy using Dark Ritual in many of my decks. It's a powerful card, however I can't imagine a (functional) reprint of this being made anytime soon, at least not without some kind of disadvantage.
Fenizrael
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This card makes me all kinds of upset. 5/5 =(
Paleopaladin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This should definitely be reprinted. Not unbalanced at all if you think about the fact that if played wrong it's possibly brutal card disadvantage as rino20h pointed out. If you toss two of these out there on turn one to cheat your abyssal persecutor into play, you risk very bad strategic positioning when it gets bounced or removed because your opponent just one-for-two or one-for-three'd you in cards. Not cool!
It would be SO AWESOME to see this come back! Maybe sometime in the Innistrad block? In a game where white's getting hyper-efficient fatties and green is getting draw power and removal, what's the big deal about this? It's fun, nostalgic, and takes skill to play correctly!
001010011100101110
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Arguably the second best boon. 5/5
MtFrostM
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(8 votes)
The old comment was lost because I didn't understand the comment form of this site, oh well. Let me try to reproduce the main points from my memory.
Gist of the old comment: Back in 1993 when this card was printed it made sense because by then cards were designed according to card flavor, not mechanics or the color pie. This is why there exists three cards that all say "Destroy target land" Ice Storm, Stone Rain and Sinkhole, because their color represent the origin of the terrain these things are found on. Similarly, Prodigal Sorcerer deals direct damage because it's a wizard, and Psionic Blast is blue because it originated from the mind, and Channel is green because it uses life energy to power your spells. Also, this is part of the boon cycle of 1-for-3's which were designed with parity of design in mind, not power level.
@MacBizzle Do you really need to insert your inane opinion about how a card printed in 1993 and has been out of print for more than 10 years doesn't fit modern design philosophy and flavor? There's a REASON why this card WAS printed and is NOW out of print, ever thought of that?
Captain Obvious called, he wants his job back.
@Max_Glycine Yes, because a card depicting an occult ritual that's the cliche of so many gothic horror fiction clearly isn't black, and sucide black was a viable strategy in alpha when this card was printed.
Shows how little you know about the history of the game.
If you don't think Dark Ritual is good, you haven't tried it.
MacBizzle
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(6 votes)
Yeah, no, Dark Ritual is NOT in flavor. I wholeheartedly agree with Max_Glycine, and you suicide black players shouldn't vote his honest tidbit of truth down so low.
For M13, they need a black boon for a single (B) that says "Choose one- target player loses 3 life or target creature gets -0/-3 until end of turn" and they need a red boon for a single (R) that says "Add (R)(R)(R) to your mana pool". Of course, if they think that red ritual is too powerful, they should continue printing Pyretic Ritual.
EDIT: To whomever voted my comment at .5 stars, to hell with your opinion. Look up Infernal Plunge from the Innistrad spoilers. I will NOT be surprised if they start doing that black bolt that I described.
DarthParallax
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Ok, about the 'flavor debate' here.....
Max_Glycine's conclusion is right, but his reasoning is wrong:
Conclusion- Dark Ritual isn't black
Reasoning: (Max's): Rituals are red because wasting CA for dmg is Red. Also, this card wasn't made for flavor it was made for a deck archetype 'suicide black'.
Debunks: 'Suicide' Black IS a flavorful deck :p And this was printed in Alpha, before any archetypes were established. And Evil Rituals are a mainstay of Fantasy. Being Powerful is Black Flavor (it's kind of a stupid flavor to design cards around, but there it is), and Mana is Power.
MY Reasoning for why this isn't Black: As printed, and thinking about the Color Wheel according to Alpha, this looks like a misprinted Green card to me. It makes energy. ok. What am I paying? Why is this all upside?
The only thing Dark Ritual needs to be truly perfected in my book is some kind of rider: 'discard a card', or 'lose 1 life', or 'sacrifice a creature', or something of that sort. Black is supposed to PAY for undercosted power like this. Where is the part where I sever my limbs and throw them in a bubbling pot to summon the Dark Master or something?
If Black's Flavor of Being Powerful and Doing Anything to Win leads naturally to this, then Jace the Mind Sculptor is really a Black card. No. Black has to Pay A Price. There is no real price or payment involved in getting the mana here. That's the one quibble I have with Dark Ritual. It doesn't feel evil enough. It feels like anyone who wants to make mana would just cast the Mana Triplication Ritual, and then Filter the mana into whatever color you want.
This isn't really black enough. Even though it's wierd to say, it's also true.
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
With green ramp stuff you get something that will permanently increase your mana capability's. With this your getting something out much sooner then it should, making it extra valnurable of loosing 2 for 1. You loose your dark ritual and the thing you casted only to have your card swords to plowshares or shatter or counterspell or something
This fits blacks flavor perfectly. The black mage is desperate to win, and will do so at any costs. And this thing has a cost, making the thing you just casted to early a target for a 2 for 1 situation.
Justin133Nivmizzet1
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Da dream hand is 4x dark rituals 1x phage the untouchable 1x lightning greaves and a swamp. T1 swamp, this, lightning greaves, this again, this, this then play phage the untouchable and equip the greaves
atemu1234
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Dark Ritual: In every set since A
MANABURNWASGOOD
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Time to reprint this....it's been waaaaay to long.
Bogmire
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Dark Ritual is amazing. Moving on.
mikeymillz
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Turn one Swamp. Pay one, Dark Ritual. Pay one, Entomb. Discard Jin-Getaxis. Pay two animate dead.
OrangeAir
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
What I find most impressive about this card is that it's only a common.
Xineombine
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I got one of these with a white border. IDK what that means for me, but this card is broken, but I love using it to summon O.p. cards such as Nicol Bolas,Planeswalker
alfnzo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
turn 1: 4 dark rituals, 1 swamp, quicksilver amulet, emrakul, the aeons torn do you wish to concede now
Anzu-chan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Such a classic card. It's not a must have, but it's always good to have a playset in a black deck.
Buderus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Combos with Magic!
Red-White
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not sure how this is so much higher rated than black lostus, since its probably worse, giving you monocolor mana, and making you unable toplay 4 cmc things on turn 1. This however, gives you ability to cast cmc 3 instant with 1 swamp, which is an amaizing scare factor for your opponent and also some power in your hand ;)
Niflheim
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Actually, Red-White, you can play something with a cmc of up to 9 if you have 4 Dark Rituals in your hand by playing a Swamp, tapping it, playing a Dark Ritual, then using the mana from that Dark ritual to cast 3 more. There. 9 mana.
pedrodyl
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Fast mana is bad, mmk. And you shouldn't use it, mmk.
TheAj
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is a black lotus.
Get it? A BLACK lotus?
playyourcardsright
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This is obviously a 5/5; too many games have been won because this card was played for that to be questioned. But there is a downside: this burns up fuel faster so that if what you're planning in the beginning of the game doesn't take off....you're just that much less likely to succeed. It's like auto-mulling to 6 and tapping a land to add an extra 3 mana to your pool on any one phase.
enjoy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
ub storm =D
Blackhawk9000
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@pedrodyl Saying mmk isn't good mmk. So you shouldn't do it, mmk?
Lifegainwithbite
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is as bad as the moxen in my opinion... you need to get a swamp out first. What a great balancer.
azure_drake222222
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This is referenced in a lot of cards. It's probably the most referenced common on Gatherer, not counting jokes.
Smoke_Stack
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If you play mono black and don't run a playset, there is something wrong with you.
LegionRat
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have a copy that reads mana source instead of interupt. Does it stay in play?
Comments (51)
Flavorfully it makes sense, especially when you think of multiplayer. The player who rituals out a gigantic demon on turn one risks becoming the enemy of the entire table.
Its fun to imagine the world inside of magic with a malleable color pie though. A young and brash red planeswalker comes across a wizened black one, but they find that they are not so different.
Best black mana accelerator. A staple of the game since the beginning.
5/5
Step 2) ?????
Step 3) PROFIT!
Round 1: swamp, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Yawgmoth's Will, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Tendrils of Agony, Tendrils of Agony.
Only requires the perfect hand for a round 1 win xP.
But on the plus side It works well for multiplay as well xD
And to those trying to say it's in flavor- it's not. Remember, your cards in hand are your knowledge, and red is the color that will waste knowledge to do more damage. That's why, flavor-wise and mechanically, Rituals are in red. The reason this was printed in black wasn't flavorful, it was because of the deck archetypes that involved black at the time, namely "suicide black".
I'm leaving the old post just for reference if anyone wants to read it. (though it's probably mostly just rubbish).
@Kryptnyt: I know I'm gonna cause a lot of Hatred, but flavorfully, Dark Ritual doesn't really make sense. I say this because black has always been about gaining power at a cost, yet Dark Ritual doesn't do anything bad in exchange for massive power. Dark Ritual is more of a red card, because red decks tend to be very powerful with the disadvantage of running out of steam quickly.
If Dark Ritual was to be in sync with its color, it should have some sort of disadvantage that involved loss of life (actually, Channel's flavor is pretty black). A life loss of 3 would be fair, taking into consideration cards like Demon of Death's Gate and Sign in Blood. I know people might argue that "Dark Ritual has been in Magic since the beginning of time", but in that case Dark Ritual has been out of color this whole time.
BTW I do know that Demon of Death's Gate and Sign in Blood are recent cards, and that it's hard to compare them to the old cards, but the fact remains that the definition of the black color really hasn't changed, and that those two cards, while still being powerful, succeed in being more in-sync with their color than Dark Ritual.
I will admit though that in spite of being slightly off-color, I still enjoy using Dark Ritual in many of my decks. It's a powerful card, however I can't imagine a (functional) reprint of this being made anytime soon, at least not without some kind of disadvantage.
It would be SO AWESOME to see this come back! Maybe sometime in the Innistrad block? In a game where white's getting hyper-efficient fatties and green is getting draw power and removal, what's the big deal about this? It's fun, nostalgic, and takes skill to play correctly!
Gist of the old comment:
Back in 1993 when this card was printed it made sense because by then cards were designed according to card flavor, not mechanics or the color pie. This is why there exists three cards that all say "Destroy target land" Ice Storm, Stone Rain and Sinkhole, because their color represent the origin of the terrain these things are found on. Similarly, Prodigal Sorcerer deals direct damage because it's a wizard, and Psionic Blast is blue because it originated from the mind, and Channel is green because it uses life energy to power your spells. Also, this is part of the boon cycle of 1-for-3's which were designed with parity of design in mind, not power level.
@MacBizzle
Do you really need to insert your inane opinion about how a card printed in 1993 and has been out of print for more than 10 years doesn't fit modern design philosophy and flavor? There's a REASON why this card WAS printed and is NOW out of print, ever thought of that?
Captain Obvious called, he wants his job back.
@Max_Glycine
Yes, because a card depicting an occult ritual that's the cliche of so many gothic horror fiction clearly isn't black, and sucide black was a viable strategy in alpha when this card was printed.
Shows how little you know about the history of the game.
If you don't think Dark Ritual is good, you haven't tried it.
For M13, they need a black boon for a single (B) that says "Choose one- target player loses 3 life or target creature gets -0/-3 until end of turn" and they need a red boon for a single (R) that says "Add (R)(R)(R) to your mana pool". Of course, if they think that red ritual is too powerful, they should continue printing Pyretic Ritual.
EDIT: To whomever voted my comment at .5 stars, to hell with your opinion. Look up Infernal Plunge from the Innistrad spoilers. I will NOT be surprised if they start doing that black bolt that I described.
Max_Glycine's conclusion is right, but his reasoning is wrong:
Conclusion- Dark Ritual isn't black
Reasoning:
(Max's): Rituals are red because wasting CA for dmg is Red. Also, this card wasn't made for flavor it was made for a deck archetype 'suicide black'.
Debunks: 'Suicide' Black IS a flavorful deck :p And this was printed in Alpha, before any archetypes were established. And Evil Rituals are a mainstay of Fantasy. Being Powerful is Black Flavor (it's kind of a stupid flavor to design cards around, but there it is), and Mana is Power.
MY Reasoning for why this isn't Black: As printed, and thinking about the Color Wheel according to Alpha, this looks like a misprinted Green card to me. It makes energy. ok. What am I paying? Why is this all upside?
The only thing Dark Ritual needs to be truly perfected in my book is some kind of rider: 'discard a card', or 'lose 1 life', or 'sacrifice a creature', or something of that sort. Black is supposed to PAY for undercosted power like this. Where is the part where I sever my limbs and throw them in a bubbling pot to summon the Dark Master or something?
If Black's Flavor of Being Powerful and Doing Anything to Win leads naturally to this, then Jace the Mind Sculptor is really a Black card. No. Black has to Pay A Price. There is no real price or payment involved in getting the mana here. That's the one quibble I have with Dark Ritual. It doesn't feel evil enough. It feels like anyone who wants to make mana would just cast the Mana Triplication Ritual, and then Filter the mana into whatever color you want.
Cabal Ritual is graveyard-powered mana. THAT'S black.
Culling the Weak is sacrifice-mana. THAT'S black, too.
This isn't really black enough. Even though it's wierd to say, it's also true.
With this your getting something out much sooner then it should, making it extra valnurable of loosing 2 for 1. You loose your dark ritual and the thing you casted only to have your card swords to plowshares or shatter or counterspell or something
This fits blacks flavor perfectly. The black mage is desperate to win, and will do so at any costs. And this thing has a cost, making the thing you just casted to early a target for a 2 for 1 situation.
Moving on.
do you wish to concede now
This however, gives you ability to cast cmc 3 instant with 1 swamp, which is an amaizing scare factor for your opponent and also some power in your hand ;)
Get it? A BLACK lotus?