David Fanany
Player since
1995 |
Dark Ritual
I was very surprised to see that we've never
reviewed Dark Ritual, as it's such an iconic
card, and has great applications and great
flavor. My personal favorite flavor text is the
Mercadian Masques version - it always reminds me
of the witches from Macbeth, which is pretty
neat. You may be thinking that this card would
have fit well in Innistrad's horror setting, and
indeed it would have, but it's considered much
too dangerous for Standard. It's unfortunate,
because Dark Ritual has always been good for so
many things, and not all of them are
horrendously broken. The turn one Necropotence
has more influence on design than the turn one
Skittering Monstrosity, or the thirty-point
Exsanguinate. It's one of the few colored spells
that can rival Moxes and Lotuses in power - so
if you decide to make your fire burn and
cauldron bubble, use it wisely.
Constructed: 5/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5 |
|
Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno |
Today's card of the day is Dark Ritual which as
a one mana card to give
three mana is one of the top cards in Magic's
history when played in an
aggressive deck that can afford the card for
acceleration. A staple in
formats where it is legal and one of the best
cards to have in your
opening hand.
For a Limited format where this is available it
can be very powerful
with the right hand and is definitely worth
drafting in multiples. Even
if you aren't playing Black when it is chosen, a
copy or several of this
can accelerate most colors enough to give a big
advantage. A Sealed
build should almost always play Black if the
pool has Dark Ritual and
even a small number of other playable Black
cards, particularly removal
or three mana creatures.
Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4.5
|
John
Shultis
Phoenix
Gaming |
Happy Halloween from myself and everyone
here at Pojo.com! For this spooktacular day, we
have a special card to review, Dark Ritual. For
those who have lived under a roc (lol) and do
not know what Dark Ritual does, it is a black
instant that costs just one black mana to add
three black mana.
Dark Ritual, or Dark Rit as it is usually
referred to at my store anyways, is definitely
one of the all time greatest cards ever printed.
It is the focal point for several amazing
combos, or first turn drops. It has been greatly
utilized to drop out the Vampire Nighthawk on
first turn, which in turn causes you to have a
very efective lifelink flier dropped first turn,
and with death touch. But perhaps it is feared
more for the people who really know what it can
do. This card, this seemingly simple card, can
nearly end the game in 4 turns as part of one of
my favorite series of combos. It does require a
decent hand to pull off correctly, and since
most of the cards involved in the combo are
banned or restricted in most formats, you will
see why. First turn, Dark Rit into a Buried
Alive. You grab any three creatures, one with a
large power, and preferably flying and haste,
and then two cards that hopefully do something
while in the graveyard. Then next turn, you play
Animate Dead, and drop that big baddy onto the
battlefield, and then start swinging! Granted,
many cards have been printed, especially lately,
that can end these combos, but that does not
stop them from being extremely effective when
they do happen.
And lets face it, even if you aren’t
utilizing it first turn, a Dark Rit gets you two
turns ahead whenever you do use it.
Simply put, one of the best black spells
ever!
Constructed: 5/5
Casual: 5/5
Multiplayer: 5/5
Limited: n/a
|
