This must be so beautiful in foil. The card is ran as an almost-guaranteed 4-of in every legacy or vintage deck even splashing black. Black is splashed *just for this card* sometimes.
The number of game winning strategies this card enables by itself via storm, reanimator, chaining them into fatties, dropping game-breaking artifacts or enchantments T1 or T2, etc.. is a testament to it's power. Card disadvantage being worth it at it's finest.
Brutal and common play? This into Duress into Hymn to Tourach, and blue players can rarely have an answer that's worthwhile. Many a black deck has been based around that possible hand.
Posted By:
blurrymadness
(8/20/2013 6:09:28 PM)
they celebrate magic 20 years by reprinting iconic cards.
this card is so iconic, playing magic in my school is prohibited back in the early 2000. it was a kind of a conservative school. when a person over hears you play cards like terror, dark ritual, organ grinder, they may get the wrong idea like:
Kid1: dark ritual... organ grinder...
Kid2: ...blabla.. summon demon hordes
Staff: what are these kids up to?
Posted By:
chainsmoker
(8/23/2013 1:50:08 AM)
How many arts does this card have now? Regardless, this card earns it. There are few cards I will truly rate five, but Dark Ritual is literally just a straight up staple.
Posted By:
NARFNra
(8/20/2013 8:58:00 PM)
So they printed this 17 TIMES at common and NOW they have the sensibility to print it at mythic and it's in a FROM THE VAULT?
WHAT
Posted By:
SirLibraryEater
(11/26/2013 12:57:50 PM)
This card will never, EVER, be reprinted/modern legal. We're talking about a format where seething song, and dark ritual is a lot better than seething song, this thing would break storm in half.
5/5 every time.
Posted By:
Lazrbeams
(2/28/2014 4:48:54 PM)
Dark ritual is kind of an overrated card. I mean in the right deck it is absolutely killer. It is iconic and has been in amazing plays since alpha. It enables potent vintage strategies with cards like Yawgmoth's Will or Tendrils of Agony. So I will first say that this card is amazing, overpowered and part of devastating reanimation, recursion and storm strategies. Many a tournament has been won on its back.
However, it is hardly an auto-include in all black decks. Most of what I see in gatherer comments are horrible strategies. The same is true for most times the card is linked from other gatherer pages. A lot of what I see are the kind of strategy that showed up pre-card advantage theory, or the kind of plays that are fun kitchen table stuff but not very good ideas. (Also, shame on you for playing 4 dark rituals in casual.)
Firstly, chaining two dark ritual into a Phyrexian Obliterator or similar is a horrible strategy.... (see all)
Posted By:
Enelysios
(3/11/2014 4:43:55 PM)
Only fool would vote this below 4.5...
By the way, it comboes with Dark Ritual...
Posted By:
TheZombifier
(8/20/2013 9:34:00 PM)
BlurryMadness' hand is nice, but there's a better one:
Necropotence.
Whatever the crap you are doing, from splurging on Black for Phyrexian Obliterators, to going kind of Sneak-and-Show with Griselbrand, to playing a nearly Mono BLUE deck with a bunch of Artifacts, to a WHITE-RED-GREEN base deck that is just being a bit SILLY AND GREEDY,
Dark Ritual can result in T1 Necroptence.
T1 Necropotence can result in T1 Win.
The Channel-Fireball-Ancestral Recall-Mystical Tutor combo deck is not made any better or simpler by exchanging Blue cards for Black cards. BUT the point is that Black Cards CAN be used for Blue Cards if you so desire!
Dark Ritual, Necropotence, Demonic Tutor. Respect Them or Die
Posted By:
DarthParallax
(8/21/2013 11:34:10 AM)
Not gonna lie, as awesome as it is to see it here its a little depressing at the same time. Not even in the best art, no less. (Best art is masques In my opinion.) seeing it here means that we won't be getting a reprint of this for modern purposes any time soon, and that saddens me. As a heavy black player, a reprint for standard/modern is ALL I want to see nowadays. But much like counterspell and nature's lore, that isn't likely to ever happen.
And @Blurrymadness, I've had that hand. It is a glorious feeling.
Posted By:
ShatterPalm
(8/20/2013 9:31:00 PM)
There are many cards in this set that do not yet have a Modern-legal printing.
Dark Ritual, Jace, the Mind Sculptor (LOL!), Fyndhorn Elves, Thran Dynamo, Tangle Wire, Chainer's Edict, and Swords to Plowshares.
Of these, I am not sure if Jace, TMS will ever be unbanned in Modern, but I almost hope that happens.
Of the rest, I believe Dark Ritual is a Good Card to NOT change where it is legal. Swords to Plowshares would be perfectly fine for Modern without really harming anyone except Vorthos. With a 20-year History, and lots of concerns Balance-wise to consider first, it MAY* be very legitimate for Vorthos to have a hand in shaping the Color Wheel for Block Constructed, Standard, Limited, and Commander.
But when it comes to the question of what should be allowed into a non-rotating format, there are a great number of Legacy Staples that Modern deserves some equivalents of, and even some cards it just should get a straight reprint of.
Thran Dynamo, Tangle Wire, and Dark Ritual,... (see all)
Posted By:
ParallaxtheRevan
(9/3/2013 11:12:39 AM)