Magic the Gathering: How does Dark Ritual work?

A common mistake among newer players is thinking that “mana” means “land” – that’s not how it works. When you tap a land, it produces mana. The best way I can think of putting it is that playing a Dark Ritual has the same effect as tapping three Swamps.

You just get 3 mana, its not land or anything, its just you get 3 mana out of nowhere that you can use.

basically, you use the card to gain 3 dark mana for a single round.
these 3 mana can be used for either dark mana, or pale mana (colorless mana).
after using the card in a turn, it will disappear to your graveyard.
But be sure to use all of those 3 mana, or you will get ”mana burned” and suffer equal damage as the mana you didn’t use.

OK, when you play dark ritual, you have to pay one black mana first, the you add 3 black mana to your mana pool.
Basically this card gives you a boost in terms of mana production.
Also, lands are NOT mana. They simply produce it.

As has already been stated, lands are not mana. Lands generally produce mana (of the appropriate colour) when tapped, which is then added to a virtual stash called your “mana pool”, but they are not mana themselves. When you play a dark ritual, here’s what’s actually happening:
You tap a land (or another mana source) to add B (1 black mana) to your mana pool.
You then spend that one black mana to play Dark Ritual, which adds BBB (3 black mana) to your mana pool.
You now have 3 black mana you can spend on whatever you like (playing Hypnotic Specter is a classic).
Note that mana in your mana pool empties at the end of each step. Also note that the “mana burn” rule, that would cause you damage equal to the amount of unused mana you had, no longer exists, so you don’t need to worry if you can only use 2 of your 3 mana.

This is one of my favorite cards in all of magic. It adds 3 black mana to your mana pool. Makes for a good first turn hippie