Torment , where Cabal Ritual originally appeared, was heavily weighted toward black and contained a lot of graveyard-related abilities, making the card a perfect intersection of story and gameplay
If an Adventure spell leaves the stack in any way other than resolving (most likely by being countered or by failing to resolve because its targets have all become illegal), that card wont be exiled and the spells controller wont be able to cast it as a permanent later
This means that any benefits you might gain from Lands entering, such as Landfall, are fair game
Black does get First Strike and used to get Protection, but they werent as common as in white, for which First Strike is primary and Protection used to be
This is a 5 mana card that essentially draws you two cards, so one card less than something like Jace's Ingenuity or Precognitive Perception, both of which were already playable
"Origins Awards 2009"