I agree with the guy above me. You're right dude... I saw this card is very potential to break the opening game by increasing your mana capabilities! In Pox deck, the first turn Dark Ritual, Thoughtseize, and Hymn Tutorach will reducing amount of opponent's hand. And in the "unknown" deck, I saw first turn Mox Diamond (discard swamp) and then Sunken Ruins... Dark Ritual (add BBB-filterization with Sunken Ruins to add BBUU) then Jace the Mind Sculptor (begin to fateseal)... Dark Ritual is very great card for me... Oh yeah, Black Lotus... indeed, but remember that Black Lotus is not legal in the legacy format and restricted in the vintage format...

  -- By Darth Vader from The Death Star II on August 17, 2010

I think the people complaining about losing card advantage are more than a little off the mark here. While card advantage is helpful, you cannot win MTG on card advantage alone. Can't you see that dropping a Vampire Nighthawk on turn 1 instead of turn 3 is well worth the slight loss of card advantage?

  -- By Jim from Madison, WI on July 20, 2010

Reaper... first you need to be lucky to get a swamp four dark rituals and the avatar of woe... that makes 6 cards so far... As easy as using a force of will in response to counter your avatar. You dumped your hand in the first turn for nothing. Fancy? OK, budget way to throw about your combo if you are lucky enough. 1st turn, island and then a Nickle priced unsummon... By the way, awesome card. Never missing on my decks or my wife's.

  -- By Fernando Albert from San Diego on December 01, 2009

Those were the days when the darkness reigned. Those were the days when 3-drops could not be restrained. Those were the days where black was good And every other color was merely food Sorry, I couldn't help myself ;P Dark Ritual has pretty much defined most mono black casual decks. If you aren't playing this, you should be - even though it isn't standart legal anymore. Dark Ritual is capable of sick plays, accelerating into first turn kill combos, powerful Consume Spirit plays, summoning big beaters both early and mid game, and acting like a giant growth on Shades.

  -- By Jens from Denmark on November 01, 2009

Great, but it gets 4 stars. You got a handful of these late game and they don't do you much use, TO me a 5 star card should be useful in most situations, one that you never mind drawing.

  -- By d/0 from NJ on August 18, 2009

This, like Magic's OTHER holy card (Counterspell) is what the game is about. To try to outline why this card is great would be to put a limitation on the power it has. Buy them. Lord knows I do every time I am able.

  -- By Casual Nihilist from Central City on July 08, 2009

I agree with the person above me. When I used Dark Ritual as a kid I thought more about the way my hand was thinning than the efficacious moves I could execute with the extra burst of mana.

  -- By Anonymous from Swidz on June 25, 2009

of course it's awesome, and people talk about getting 3 in their opening hand and throwing down something enormous, but...this just flushes your card advantage down the toilet. i could say the same thing for black lotus, but it costs nothing and gets you any color of mana. anyway, these are pretty good, especially in the right deck (turn 1 hypnotic specter is pretty painful...) but like i said. you might as well mind rot yourself.

  -- By greg from here on January 30, 2009

My bro got Reya Dawnbringer out with 3 of these, a swamp, a corpse connoisseur, and an exhume.. Then I killed her second turn :).

  -- By xdsca from asdx on December 13, 2008

I got Reya Dawnbringer out first turn with 3 of these, a Corpse Conniseur, and Exhume.. Dark Rit 3 mana. Dark Rit again 5 mana. Dark rit again, seven mana, enough to play C.C. *costs 5*, look for Reya, and exhume her... Amazing..

  -- By Anonymous from edadcxvref on December 11, 2008

Awesome card, the best luck I have ever had was one swamp, three dark rituals and I was able to turn out a turn one Coersion with Shimian Specter! Tore the opponents hand apart!

  -- By Tigger from Texas on September 08, 2008

david if you're playing with a 95 card deck mate and there is no specific reason, e.g. - it's a house rule, it's your lucky number, then you should be playing pokemon! trim your deck sunshine, to 60 cards. dark ritual is off the wall, and it's DARK too! the ice age artwok is great, and you even get Lim Dul flavour text... What is there not to bum about this card?

  -- By ben_taylor79 from UK on July 08, 2008

If you dont think this card rocks you must be a spellfire or pokemon player.

  -- By Dustin from Dacula, GA USA on August 14, 2007

Who doesnt like this card?

  -- By Collin Wiemer from NJ, USA on July 09, 2007

This card is great! I have 3 in my dark deck, that only has 5 swamps, but these with culling the weak give me 13 mana plus the 5 swamps is 18 it has saved me in mana depletions a lo. It's cheap and highly recomendable.

  -- By Anonymous from Laguna ,CA USA on June 17, 2007

Ill agree this is a good card, but like black lotus, you need to be able to have luck enough to get it in your starting hand, and my good deck is 95 cards. It works well if you have it by turn 3, but other than that it is a cheaper black lotus

  -- By David d'Aquin from New Orleans LA on November 08, 2006

The quintessential black card. Power. Instant gratification. Fleeting, but with life altering effects.

  -- By Michael Sweeney from Parkersburg, WV on October 30, 2006

whoa! awesome card, first turn hippie drop! =D

  -- By He of dark rituals from singapore! on September 13, 2006

First Turn Hyppie? I'll take one with a side of fries please. One of the best mana accel cards in the game!

  -- By Ben Reynolds from Wooster, OH on June 29, 2006

First turn Hypnotic spectre, next turn 2hp and a card... awsome! I don't know how many peels that little combo has gottem me over the years

  -- By SlickWally from The Mighty Canada! on February 24, 2006

One of the best commons in the game of magic, black decks were built around this card for years with creatures like Juzam Djinn, Hypnotic Specter, Phyrexian Negator, Nantuko Shade, and Bog Witch and spells like Drain Life, Mind Twist, Coercion, Necropotence, Yawgmoth's Will, and Hatred. Now the color pie has shifted making it red with cards like Desperate Ritual. It just isn't the same...

  -- By Galen Andrews from Iowa USA on February 16, 2006

One of the best cards there is for easy mana you can get a five cost Sengir Vampire on the first turn with two.

  -- By Anonymous from Cold Spring, MN USA on January 22, 2006

No, it's like buying THREE mana for one. Buying TWO mana for one would only profit you one; this profits two. :)

  -- By Whind Soull from USA on July 16, 2005

well, a pretty good card if that isn't an understatement. if it's legal in your format and your not playing it than you definitely should reconsider. now that that's out of the way lets talk about the awesome art. out of all the different sets the first is definitely the best. just classic. the second best would be the 'mercadien masques' foil version of this card by rebecca guay, another famous MTG artist. anyway, either version will win you kudoes as one hep kat from yours truly..........

  -- By Anonymous from gainesville, FL USA on February 05, 2005

Definitely a Great and powerful card (IF) you draw it in your first few turns.

  -- By otherwiseyourescrewed from LA, CA US on November 30, 2004

this is 1 of the best cards for puting mana in to play

  -- By yuhik from orlando, florida on November 17, 2004

lets see combos Swamp + Ritual + Hypie Swamp + Ritual + Necro Swamp + Ritual + Hymn To Tourach + Demonic Consoltation Swamp + Ritual + Royal Assassin The combos are endless just remember this Necro Summer *shivers*

  -- By Dominator from Sacromento, CA USA on November 16, 2004

Useful card sometimes.

  -- By Anonymous from Cleveland, OH USA on April 11, 2004

Great for you, bad for your opponent(s). When my dad uses his blue/black deck, he has his Royal Assassin out on his first turn. That is not good for anyone.

  -- By Shaun from the Bronx on March 16, 2004

THE ULTIMATE MANA SOURCE FOR BLACK A MUST HAVE FOR ANY BLACK CARD FAN!

  -- By CLAUDEKORN from LAFONTAINE,QC,CANADA on February 17, 2004

best mana acceleration ever (after the moxes and the lotus of course). it hasnt been printed for quite a while, since it made blacks too fast.

  -- By Anonymous from ger on January 07, 2004

Also one of the best cards ever made. Talk about mana acceleration. This card is speedy and for the most part nasty. I've seen people combine it with Buried Alive(Odyssey) to bring out some nasty creatures by the third or fourth turn.

  -- By Mario from Brownsville, TX USA on December 15, 2003

Very useful. It's like buying 2 black mana for one.

  -- By Charles Zimmerman from Orange,TX USA on November 15, 2003

One Word: COOL.

  -- By Anonymous from Indonesia on April 12, 2003

This card is a must for just about any black deck. For one you get three black mana. That is a hypnotic specter or a royal assassin right there. Doesn't get much better than that.

  -- By Rick from Pittsburgh on January 30, 2003

If you dont have one your a loser.

  -- By Cameron from Spirit Lake, ID USA on December 15, 2002

dark ritual is one of the best black cards in the game. think of it, turn one: put out a swamp play 4 dark rits off of each other you have 8 black mana, avatar of woe. simple isnt it?

  -- By the reaper from the plane of death on June 27, 2002

A staple card for almost every black deck.

  -- By nick conrad from wilson, ny USA on January 08, 2002

Watch My SPEED!

  -- By Mr. ILoveTokens from Sandy, Utah on December 22, 2001

You like speed? Well heres the best there is can you imagine a turn 1 bog witch, turning ever card in your hand into a dark ritual, then sacrifice a big ass creature of any color and play exhume...you do the math so lets put it this way ANY CREATURE IN PLAY TURN 2 ALL THANKS TO DARK RITUAL! THAT JUST KICKS ASS

  -- By ME! from Yorktown, NY USA on October 02, 2001

You like speed? Me too! If its fast mana you are looking for, look no further! What better way to make some quick mana first turn? I can't think of any. This cards great ability has no consequence. No discard, sacrifice, or any other downside. Just pure power mana production. Watch out for this card. Coming to a black deck near you...

  -- By Casey Whitaker from Kernerville, NC USA on June 24, 2001

Dark Ritual is the signature black card. This card greatly accelerates black mana, allowing for black mages to cast potent creatures early (Sengir Vampire 3rd turn) and more potent spells later on (Who knows how many points of damage a Drain Life will do with a few of these). This infamous card propelled black to its meager beginnings early in the history of the game to a powerhouse that continues to roll on. May black live on!

  -- By Mike Thiel from Stephen's City, VA USA on June 24, 2001