Culling the Weak

Culling the Weak Card

Is Culling the Weak a colour break, bend, or in pie? (Obviously it's very strong.)

Mana rituals moved from primary black to primary red many years ago. Black can still occasionally sacrifice creatures for resources, including mana, but probably not quite as efficiently as Culling the Weak.

Bend / Break Black Colors Creatures Culling the Weak Mana Primary Red Sacrifice

Shift in Black's Rituals

Why did magic move away from rituals for black? Dark ritual was absolutely as iconic for black as lightning bolt is for red or counterspell for blue when I was younger and I still have a deck with dark ritual cabal ritual and culling the weak but recently there have been few to none in black and it seems to have moved more into red, is there a specific reason for this?

Yes, black had too big a piece of the color pie, so stuff was moved to other colors. Red’s all about short term gain, so rituals made sense there.

Black Blue Cabal Ritual Color Pie Colors Culling the Weak Dark Ritual Lightning Bolt Red

Mana Symbol Guidelines

What's the threshold beyond which you write "Add number [one mana symbol]" instead of "Add [certain number of symbols]" ? e.g. would a theoretical reprint of Seething Song say "add five R"? A theoretical reprint of Pyretic Ritual, "add three R"? Culling the Weak, "add four B"? Would that be decided at time of printing?

I think we use the number for four or more of the same mana symbol (in rules text).

Card Printing Culling the Weak Mana Pop Culture Pyretic Ritual Reprints Rules Seething Song Threshold

Black Mana Rituals

Would "ritual" (fast mana) effects come back to black eventually? Not the original DR of course, but effects like Culling the weak/Burnt Offering are pretty much in flavour for black and temporary mana is still a part of the black's color pie...

Black gets a little “pay resource for mana”, but rituals (the little we do them) are staying red.

Black Burnt Offering Color Pie Colors Culling the Weak Flavor Mana Offering Red

Red Sacrifice Ability

You say Culling the Weak effects are not red, but Infernal Plunge was printed in Innistrad, and Satyr Hedonist also has a similar effect activated by red mana.

I misspoke a little. The ability can be done in Black or Red.

Black Card Printing Culling the Weak Infernal Plunge Innistrad Mana Red Satyr Satyr Hedonist

Rituals and Color Identity

So, you would say that Dark/Desparate Ritual is solidly red, but something like Culling the Weak would still be black, correct?

Culling the Weak is Black not Red colorpiewise. I will not speak to what power level such an effect could be on current Standard.

Black Culling the Weak Power Level Red Standard

Black's Fast Mana

Re: fast mana. Shouldn't sacrificing a creature as a cost give black access to most of the color pie? By nature, killing and discard, graveyard shenanigans. By sacrifice, draw cards, deal damage, grow creatures... why not fast mana? So ritual, no, but Culling the Weak, yes. (Good to have something it just can't do, like enchantment or artifact removal.)

We have to be careful not justifying something that just lets any color do anything.

Artifacts Black Card Draw Color Pie Colors Creatures Culling the Weak Deal Damage Discard Enchantments Mana Sacrifice Shenanigans The Graveyard

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