Desperate Ritual
Desperate Ritual: Instant - Arcane, Ultimate Masters. Add RRR. Splice onto Arcane 1R. Printings, market prices, rulings, and format legality on Mana Grove.
- Mana cost
- {1}{R}
- Mana value
- 2
- Type
- Instant - Arcane
- Colour identity
- Red (R)
- Rarity
- Uncommon
- Set
- Ultimate Masters (UMA)
- Released
- 2018-12-07
- Collector number
- 127
- Artist
- Wayne Reynolds
- Commander rank
- 975 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
- Keywords
- Splice
Build around this card with Grover
About Desperate Ritual
Desperate Ritual is a Magic: The Gathering card, an uncommon red instant from Ultimate Masters (UMA), a Masters set released in December 2018. It is collector number 127 in that set, with art by Wayne Reynolds. It costs {1}{R} (one generic and one red mana) to cast, for a mana value of 2. Its colour identity is red. It is legal in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Pauper Commander and PreDH. It has been printed in 6 sets, from Champions of Kamigawa (2004) to Ultimate Masters (2018). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $5.43 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-02).
Card text
Add {R}{R}{R}.
Splice onto Arcane {1}{R} (As you cast an Arcane spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
Market price
Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $5.43 (as of 2026-11-02).
The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.
Format legality
Legality of Desperate Ritual by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.
| Modern | Legal |
|---|---|
| Legacy | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper Commander | Legal |
| PreDH | Legal |
Other printings of Desperate Ritual
Desperate Ritual has been printed in 6 sets. The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.
| Printing | Rarity | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Secret Lair Drop (SLD) #2706 | Rare | 2026 |
| Secret Lair Drop (SLD) #1984 | Rare | 2025 |
| Duel Decks: Mind vs. Might (DDS) #14 | Uncommon | 2017 |
| Modern Masters (MMA) #110 | Uncommon | 2013 |
| Champions of Kamigawa (CHK) #163 | Common | 2004 |
Official rulings
Five official rulings apply to Desperate Ritual, newest first.
- If all of the spell’s targets are illegal when the spell tries to resolve, it won’t resolve and none of its effects will happen.
- A card with a splice ability can’t be spliced onto itself because the spell is on the stack (and not in your hand) when you reveal the cards you want to splice onto it.
- You reveal all cards you intend to splice at the same time. Each individual card can be spliced only once onto any one spell.
- You choose all targets for the spell after revealing cards you want to splice, including any targets required by the text of any of those cards. You may choose a different target for each instance of the word “target” on the resulting spell.
- Desperate Ritual isn’t a mana ability. When cast, it (or the spell it’s spliced onto) goes on the stack like any spell and can be responded to.
Similar cards
Other instant cards with a red colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.