Dark Ritual

Deck Clinic Story

Here is a story.For a while I was the only level 2 judge in central Connecticut and I would at a local store occasional run deck clinics that included how to play for newer players/ less experienced players usually one or two players would show up unless there was a qualifying tournament comming up. I remember having to explain to one person that Llanowar Elves do not tap to fetch Forests out of your deck or Dark Ritual gets three Swamps. They said its how they played at school. So long story short, I got them down on the rules, and helped with deck construction (it was an elf deck so I helped. The next weekend I had 11 people all from the school show up wanting help with their decks. As it turns out cutting a deck from 100 cards and 20 lands to 60 with 23 and giving a deck some focus made his deck unbeatable lol... and this continued for nearly a month. There were like locust abd bought out nearly every card from the stores binders all trying to one up eachother. A few years later I was judging side events at Protour Boston and one of those kids, was playing in the Protour and found me and thanked me it turned out he was really bad a math but when teaching him about his deck I helped him find the fun in it. A couple decades later I meet him again as he is now a doctor in the Emergency room (I was visiting my aunt who worked there). Its amazing how little things, like effort, spending some time, mentoring or even just listening can ripple out to be big things that help many other people. And Magic was a catalyst for it.

Thanks for sharing that story.

Dark Ritual Doctor Elf Lands Llanowar Elves Ripple Rules Story / Lore Tap / Untap

Returning Dark Ritual to Standard

Do you ever want cards like Dark Ritual legal in standard again?

I do not. I think it accelerates mana too quickly.

Dark Ritual Format Legality Mana Standard

Evolving Color Pie View

I understand why you have some regrets for Planar Chaos, but it seems to me that sometimes you judge color pie breaks (PC and elsewhere) with a contemporary perspective. You're very regretful of Planar Chaos cards that are now color pie breaks, but they weren't always breaks then. The color pie has been an evolving thing for a long time. I think you should give more slack to old cards made with old definitions. Eg dark ritual is not a break, fast mana was black for years. Ditto pongify, etc

I’m way less harsh about cards that weren’t breaks when they were made, but have since become breaks. That’s not what happened with Planar Chaos though. We pushed things we shouldn’t at the time. And yes, I was part of that decision. I just believe with hindsight it was the wrong decision.

Bend / Break Black Color Pie Dark Ritual Mana Planar Chaos Pongify

Black's Color Pie and Dark Ritual

Did dark ritual used to make more sense in Black's slice of the color pie when mana burn existed?

Early Magic was more focused on making each card flavorful in a vacuum. This led to systems like rules or color pie that were inconsistent in larger execution. We spent a lot of time in the early years creating a larger sense of consistency. Dark ritual existed for the concept and name. Sure, mana burn helped some with flavor, but black wasn’t supposed to be the “spend resources quickly for short-term temporary gain” color, so we shifted “fast mana” to the color that was, red.

Black Color Pie Colors Dark Ritual Flavor Mana Red Rules

Giant Growth's Potential Standard Reprint

Is Giant Growth the only boon that could be reprinted in standard? (Healing Slave too weak, Ancestral Recall & Bolt too strong, Dark Ritual too out of colour pie)

Yes, I believe so.

Ancestral Recall Colors Dark Ritual Giant Giant Growth Power Level Reprints Standard

Green Dark Ritual Possibility

Since Green can make temporary mana, can I get an If/When on a Green Dark Ritual? :)

If. We barely do red rituals these days.

Dark Ritual Green If/When Mana Red

Relevance of Dark Ritual

Is Dark Ritual a break?

It wasn’t when it was created, but it isn’t how we do black mana generation any more. It now requires the payment of a resource beyond mana, usually a creature sacrifice, and it’s not something we do often.

Bend / Break Black Creatures Dark Ritual Mana Sacrifice

Scaling the Boon Cycle

You've talked about scaling the boon cycle to Ancestral Recall before! Quoting a previous answer:
"This is a little out of my area of expertise, so I texted Donald Smith and he talked with a number of the play designers. Here’s his text:
"So the answers I’m getting right now are Lightning Bolt between 5 and 6, Dark Ritual between 4 and 5, Giant Growth between 7 and 10, Healing Salve between 20 and 100 (or infinite). There are also reasonable arguments being made for Bolt needing to be 7 or 10 and Giant Growth needing to be 20 (especially since a 100 point Healing Salve counters these two directly).¿¿My personal answer is Bolt is 6, Dark Ritual is 5, Giant Growth is 10, and Healing Salve at 100. I’m closer to Bolt and Giant Growth needing to be higher rather than lower too lol.”"

FYI

Ancestral Recall Dark Ritual Giant Giant Growth Healing Salve Lightning Bolt

Potential for Dark Ritual

I think black might pay a set amount of life for a set amount of mana, but I doubt it would be open-ended.

In that case, could Dark Ritual be printed in the modern color pie if it had a life payment attached?

Maybe, although probably not for B.

Black Color Pie Dark Ritual Mana Modern

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

Modern Dark Ritual Portrayal

Using modern design standards, how would you portray a "dark ritual" within the color pie while keeping the flavor of an occult ceremony to summon a big bad demon?

Black can sacrifice a creature to get mana.

Black Color Pie Creatures Dark Ritual Demon Flavor Mana Modern Sacrifice

Power Level of Dark Ritual

Would Dark Ritual be a bend today, or would it instead be an outright break? If it’s a break, is that because of its power level?

Rituals have moved from black to red. Doing one in a black at a higher power level than we’d do in red is a break.

Bend / Break Black Dark Ritual Power Level Red

Scaling Alpha's Boon Cycle

If the rest of the Boon cycle in Alpha was scaled up to the power level of ancestral recall, what could that look like?

This is a little out of my area of expertise, so I texted Donald Smith and he talked with a number of the play designers. Here’s his text: “So the answers I’m getting right now are Lightning Bolt between 5 and 6, Dark Ritual between 4 and 5, Giant Growth between 7 and 10, Healing Salve between 20 and 100 (or infinite). There are also reasonable arguments being made for Bolt needing to be 7 or 10 and Giant Growth needing to be 20 (especially since a 100 point Healing Salve counters these two directly).¿¿My personal answer is Bolt is 6, Dark Ritual is 5, Giant Growth is 10, and Healing Salve at 100. I’m closer to Bolt and Giant Growth needing to be higher rather than lower too lol.”

Ancestral Recall Dark Ritual Giant Giant Growth Healing Salve Lightning Bolt Power Level

Possibility of Red-shifted Dark Ritual

Would you ever consider printing a red-shifted Dark Ritual in a non-Standard product like Commander or Modern Horizons? Or is it just outright too powerful for the game to handle?

It’s too powerful for today’s power level.

Commander Dark Ritual Modern Horizons Power Level

Tempest Block Color Shifts

What cards (if any) in Tempest block would be major color pie violations today?

There just things that have shifted color since then like Dark Ritual.

Color Pie Colors Dark Ritual Tempest

Dark Ritual Modification

If Dark Ritual required a life payment, would it be doable in black?

Black can do life payment for mana, but not necessarily at the rate of Dark Ritusl.

Black Dark Ritual Mana

Dark Ritual Variant

Could black get a dark ritual where you had to sacrifice a creature as an additional cost?

As an effect? Sure. Three mana from a one-drop? Less likely.

Black Creatures Dark Ritual Mana Sacrifice

Shades and Black Mana

I've always been a big fan of shades, what are your opinions on them power wise and thematically, additionally, Black has always had a variety of cards like dark ritual and cabal stronghold, but they always seem to be few and far between, Shades seemed to have been designed around that specific strength of Black, also seen in cards like Crypt Ghast, What is the name of this feature and will it continue to see longterm support?

Rituals long ago moved from black to red. Black still gets the infrequent turn resource into black mana though.

Black Cabal Stronghold Crypt Ghast Dark Ritual Keyword Actions Mana Red Shade Stronghold

Red Dark Ritual Possibility

If or when - a red Dark Ritual (presumably in a supplemental product)?

Straight-up color shift? An if and not a likely one. A tweaked version? More likely, but still not super likely.

Colors Dark Ritual If/When Red

Color-Specific Rituals

Can Red get a "dark ritual" that produces Black mana? Or vice versa?

Theoretically, but unlikely.

Black Dark Ritual Mana Red