Ritual of Soot MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityRare
TypeSorcery

Key Takeaways

  1. Clearing low-cost creatures, Ritual of Soot tilts the game in your favor, establishing a potential card advantage.
  2. Sweeper effects make it essential against aggro decks and useful for setting up game-winning combos.
  3. Being a versatile card, it’s crucial to anticipate and adapt plays to mitigate its potent board-clearing impact.

Text of card

Destroy all creatures with mana value 3 or less.

Only the patrol's armor was found, so tainted with the acrid smell of sudden death that it could never be worn again.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Eliminating multiple creatures with Ritual of Soot can lead to a shift in the balance of the game. Being able to clear the battlefield of numerous low-cost minions with a single card disrupts your opponent’s board presence, allowing you to maintain or gain card advantage.

Resource Acceleration: While Ritual of Soot doesn’t directly accelerate resources in the form of mana or tokens, it does provide a form of tempo acceleration. By removing creatures, you slow down your opponent’s aggressive strategies, effectively giving you more time to develop your own board and access to bigger, more impactful spells.

Instant Speed: Although Ritual of Soot is a sorcery, the strategic impact it has at the beginning of your turn can be as pivotal as an instant. By casting it right before your main phase, you ensure the path is clear for your high-value creatures to hit the board with minimal resistance.


Card Cons

Specific Mana Cost: Ritual of Soot requires both black mana and generic mana in its casting cost, which can restrict its inclusion to mainly black or black-heavy decks. This limitation can make it less desirable for players running multi-color decks that have a lighter black mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost of four mana to cast, including two black, Ritual of Soot may arrive too late against very aggressive decks that deploy numerous threats early in the game. This can result in taking significant damage before being able to clear the board.

Discard Requirement: While Ritual of Soot does not have a discard mechanic, its condition of destroying all creatures with converted mana cost 3 or less may inadvertently force players to consider discarding their own low-cost creatures from hand pre-emptively, knowing they won’t survive the sweep. This can lead to a disadvantage as it diminishes the player’s options and board presence.


Reasons to Include Ritual of Soot in Your Collection

Versatility: Ritual of Soot can be a game-changer, clearing the board of multiple creatures at once. It’s especially effective in decks that face off against aggro strategies or those employing numerous low-cost creatures.

Combo Potential: This card works well in conjunction with strategies that capitalize on a cleared board, setting the stage for big plays without opposition on the following turns.

Meta-Relevance: Given the prevalence of creature-heavy decks in many metas, Ritual of Soot can serve as an essential catch-up mechanism, keeping pace with the most commonly employed tactics in player versus player matchups.


How to beat

Ritual of Soot is a versatile and potent board wipe in Magic: The Gathering that can reset the playing field by destroying all creatures with converted mana cost 3 or less. To navigate around this card, players can focus on building a deck with creatures that have a higher mana cost, rendering Ritual of Soot ineffective against them. Indestructible creatures present another viable strategy, as they can withstand the destruction effects of such removal spells.

Another angle is using counter spells to prevent Ritual of Soot from resolving in the first place. Also, it’s important to note that this spell doesn’t affect planeswalkers or enchantments, so diversifying threats beyond just low-cost creatures will reduce the card’s potential impact. Implementing instant-speed effects that can save your creatures, such as giving them temporary indestructibility or bouncing them back to hand, are additional tactics to counteract the sweeping effect of Ritual of Soot.

Ultimately, adapting your gameplay strategy and maintaining awareness of the opponent’s mana pool can help anticipate and play around this powerful control tool, ensuring that your creatures survive and continue to bring you closer to victory.


Cards like Ritual of Soot

Ritual of Soot stands out as a powerful board sweeper in Magic: The Gathering. It finds its company among cards like Languish, which also offers a sizeable decrease in creature strength, potentially ridding the board of smaller threats. Ritual of Soot, however, has a different approach by targeting creatures with converted mana cost 3 or less, thereby eliminating them regardless of their toughness levels.

Additionally, we have Damnation, another formidable wipe that clears the field of all creatures, with no constraints on their mana costs. This offers a more universal solution but comes with a higher mana price tag. On the other hand, Cry of the Carnarium is a more cost-effective spell that also exiles the creatures it kills, a valuable asset against decks that rely on graveyard interactions.

Taking into account the specific needs of deck-building, Ritual of Soot serves as a strategic choice for controlling the board early on. Its ability to selectively remove smaller creatures while potentially sparing your own higher-cost ones enables savvy players to structure their play for a decisive mid-game advantage.

Languish - MTG Card versions
Damnation - MTG Card versions
Cry of the Carnarium - MTG Card versions
Languish - Magic Origins Promos (PORI)
Damnation - Planar Chaos (PLC)
Cry of the Carnarium - Ravnica Allegiance (RNA)

Cards similar to Ritual of Soot by color, type and mana cost

Stench of Evil - MTG Card versions
Mind Warp - MTG Card versions
Fatal Lore - MTG Card versions
Final Strike - MTG Card versions
Persecute - MTG Card versions
Ancient Craving - MTG Card versions
Stream of Acid - MTG Card versions
Unmask - MTG Card versions
Reprocess - MTG Card versions
Befoul - MTG Card versions
Agonizing Memories - MTG Card versions
Mutilate - MTG Card versions
Extinction Event - MTG Card versions
Terisiare's Devastation - MTG Card versions
Damnation - MTG Card versions
Profane Prayers - MTG Card versions
Endemic Plague - MTG Card versions
Zombify - MTG Card versions
Cranial Extraction - MTG Card versions
Devouring Greed - MTG Card versions
Stench of Evil - Ice Age (ICE)
Mind Warp - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Fatal Lore - Alliances (ALL)
Final Strike - Portal (POR)
Persecute - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Ancient Craving - Crimson Vow Commander (VOC)
Stream of Acid - Starter 1999 (S99)
Unmask - From the Vault: Lore (V16)
Reprocess - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Befoul - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Agonizing Memories - Tenth Edition (10E)
Mutilate - Warhammer 40,000 Commander (40K)
Extinction Event - Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (IKO)
Terisiare's Devastation - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Damnation - Double Masters 2022 (2X2)
Profane Prayers - Onslaught (ONS)
Endemic Plague - Onslaught (ONS)
Zombify - Masters 25 (A25)
Cranial Extraction - Champions of Kamigawa (CHK)
Devouring Greed - Modern Masters 2015 (MM2)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Ritual of Soot MTG card by a specific set like Guilds of Ravnica Promos and Guilds of Ravnica, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Ritual of Soot and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Ritual of Soot Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2018-10-05 and 2018-10-05. Illustrated by Dimitar Marinski.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12018-10-05Guilds of Ravnica PromosPGRN 84s2015normalblackDimitar Marinski
22018-10-05Guilds of RavnicaGRN 842015normalblackDimitar Marinski
32018-10-05Guilds of Ravnica PromosPGRN 84p2015normalblackDimitar Marinski

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Ritual of Soot has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Ritual of Soot card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2018-10-05 If a permanent has in its mana cost, X is considered to be 0.
2018-10-05 Tokens that aren’t a copy of something else don’t have a mana cost. Anything without a mana cost normally has a converted mana cost of 0.

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