What is the economy of Unholy Blood Ritual?

[Donovan]

Your mage receives 1 direct damage for each friendly demon creature in play. While attacking this round, friendly demon creatures gain the melee +1 trait.

So this is basically a gamble incantation right?

The average dmg on a roll is 1. So you get 1 dmg per demon and deal 1 dmg per demon. With the chance of rolling a 2 (above average)... Or the risk of rolling a 0 (below average)...

Additionally the dmg you get is direct damage. So no way around it. But the damage you deal could be avoided, or hit armor.

Doesn't that make this card a bit useless?

[iNano78]

Your mage receives 1 direct damage for each friendly demon creature in play. While attacking this round, friendly demon creatures gain the melee +1 trait.

So this is basically a gamble incantation right?

The average dmg on a roll is 1. So you get 1 dmg per demon and deal 1 dmg per demon. With the chance of rolling a 2 (above average)... Or the risk of rolling a 0 (below average)...

Additionally the dmg you get is direct damage. So no way around it. But the damage you deal could be avoided, or hit armor.

Doesn't that make this card a bit useless?

Not if you're ahead in health and in need of a finisher; e.g. if you can afford 4 damage but your opponent cannot, then cast this, take the 4 damage, then have your demons deal an extra 4 damage (on average) and finish off your opponent this round.

Also, if one or more of your demons has Demonic Link, you'll remove some of that damage taken along the way. Taking a net of 1 damage so that your demons deal out an additional 4 dice of damage is a pretty good deal.

[iNano78]

In a multiplayer team game, there might be ways to pay N mana and get N+1 demons to benefit from your Unholy Blood Ritual.  For instance, you could quickcast UBR, then full cast a demon, and then your teammate could cast [mwcard=MW1I23]Rouse the Beast[/mwcard] on your demon, which would get to benefit from UBR even though you didn't pay the damage cost for that demon.  At least, I think this would work, but I don't have UBR on me right now and I can't find it online (without watching a youtube video).

But in general, if you think of your remaining life as a resource, then UBR is just a [mwcard=MW1I03]Call of the Wild[/mwcard] with a variable cost that is paid with a different resource.

[Halewijn]

demonhide mask allows you to benefit more as well.

[LEErrr]

demonhide mask allows you to benefit more as well.

you mean when i cast the UBR i can ignore myself ? so brilliant

[Halewijn]

Indeed, you only become a demon when attacking.

Aka: You do not have to pay the blood, but you do get the benefit.

[Donovan]

There is one die of economy.

[baronzaltor]

Its also worth mentioning that the real economy to the card is the fact its only 1 mana.  So while it might not always be in your favor in the amount of damage you take vs what is dealt, its hard to beat 4 extra dice of melee damage for 1 mana in an effect-to-cost sense.