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Pyretic Ritual

Instant

Add {R}{R}{R}.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{1}{R}
Color identity
R
Rarity
rare
Set
Secret Lair Drop
Price
$54.34
EDHREC rank
#876
Buy on TCGplayer
Pyretic Ritual card art
Pyretic Ritual nets one red mana the turn you cast it — a ritual that reads 'add RRR' for one red and two colorless is the baseline for storm and spell-chaining engines. Loop it with Reiterate or run it under Ral, Monsoon Mage and that single extra mana compounds into something that ends the game.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Ral, Monsoon Mage

75.4% of decks · synergy 0.65

Ral, Monsoon Mage flips into Ral, Ral Roused on spells cast, and Pyretic Ritual counts — every copy you fire accelerates the flip clock while bankrolling the instants and sorceries you cast after. Over 75% of Ral decks run it for exactly this reason.

02
Prismari, the Inspiration

Prismari, the Inspiration

68.5% of decks · synergy 0.58

Prismari, the Inspiration rewards high-cost spells, and Pyretic Ritual is the cheapest way to push a single spell past the thresholds that trigger Prismari's payoffs — nearly 69% inclusion rate reflects how reliably it does that job.

03
Krark, the ThumblessSakashima of a Thousand Faces

Krark, the Thumbless // Sakashima of a Thousand Faces

59.4% of decks · synergy 0.49

Krark, the Thumbless // Sakashima of a Thousand Faces wants cheap spells it can flip and potentially copy for free, and Pyretic Ritual is one of the best targets — a won flip returns it to hand and banks the mana, a lost flip still cast the spell and drew a card off Sakashima triggers.

04

Urabrask

60.6% of decks · synergy 0.47

Urabrask taxes opponents on every spell while giving you a free red mana per spell you cast, so Pyretic Ritual under Urabrask effectively reads 'add RRRR' — the asymmetry compounds fast in a storm-adjacent line.

05
Ashling, Flame Dancer

Ashling, Flame Dancer

60.3% of decks · synergy 0.46

Ashling, Flame Dancer copies noncreature spells, which means Pyretic Ritual becomes two rituals for the price of one, netting three red mana instead of one and fueling the chain of instants and sorceries Ashling wants to build.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper legal
oathbreaker legal

In Commander, Pyretic Ritual is a one-shot accelerant that earns its slot almost exclusively in storm and spell-count engines — it does nothing on an empty board and belongs in fewer than 10% of decks. In Pauper it's a staple of Grapeshot and Empty the Warrens storm, where the one-mana net is exactly what those combo turns need and the common print makes it freely available. Legacy has Pyretic Ritual legal but barely uses it, because Lion's Eye Diamond and Rite of Flame do the same job more efficiently in the formats where ritual chains are strongest. Modern storm shells historically preferred Desperate Ritual for its splice upside, though Pyretic Ritual sees fringe play as copies five through eight in dedicated storm lists. Vintage has access to Black Lotus and the Power Nine, which renders Pyretic Ritual irrelevant at that power level.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Desperate Ritual is the closest analogue — same mana cost, same net gain of one red, and it adds splice onto arcane as a ceiling Pyretic Ritual can't match, though splice rarely matters outside dedicated arcane builds. If you want pure redundancy at rock-bottom cost, Seething Song adds two net red instead of one for five mana total, which is worse in fast combo but better when you need a large single burst; it's banned in Modern but legal in Commander and costs pennies.

Price Context

Current price

$54.34 premium tier

At $54.34, Pyretic Ritual sits in premium territory that is almost entirely driven by its role in Pauper storm — it's a common, but a common that is the best or second-best ritual in a format that actually needs it. The price holds as long as Pauper storm remains a competitive archetype; Commander players who just want the effect can ignore this card entirely and play Seething Song or Desperate Ritual for cents.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.