Ritual Monster

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Ritual Monster

"Relinquished"
"Relinquished"

Japanese

しき(モンスター)[Notes 1]

Japanese (ruby)

ぎしき(モンスター)

Japanese (base text)

儀式(モンスター)

Japanese (romanized)

Gishiki (Monsutā)

English

Ritual (Monster)

Lists

Ritual Monsters (Japanese: しきモンスター Gishiki Monsutā), colored blue, are monsters that must be Special Summoned with a Ritual Spell Card. Examples include "Magician of Black Chaos", "Demise, King of Armageddon", and "Nekroz of Trishula".

Ritual Monsters are Special Summon-only monsters. This means that they cannot be Special Summoned from the hand or Deck except by Ritual Summon and cards like "Ritual Foregone" or "Baegriller de Nouvellez", and cannot be Special Summoned from the Graveyard or while banished unless they were first Ritual Summoned (even with a card like "Fulfillment of the Contract").

Ritual Summoning

In some ways, Level 5 or higher Ritual Monsters are easier to Summon than Normal or Effect Monsters of the same Level, since their Tributes do not need to be on the field. However, they do require specific cards to be in the hand, which can be difficult to achieve. Some Ritual Spell Cards such as "Advanced Ritual Art" can ameliorate this by using monsters from the Main Deck instead, as opposed to using monsters from the hand and/or field.

Cards such as "Preparation of Rites" and "Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands" help assemble necessary components for a Ritual Summon, while cards such as "Ascending Soul" and "Ritual Buster" help alleviate Ritual Summoning costs. The "Djinn of Rituals" monsters can serve dual purposes, by making the Ritual Spell's monster requirement easier to fulfill by banishing themselves from the Graveyard, as well as granting additional effects when used for the Ritual Summon of a Ritual Monster.

Playing style

Because Ritual Monsters are not stored in the Extra Deck, they are not immediately available to be Summoned when the player has the necessary monsters. Likewise, needing specific Ritual Spells for each Ritual Monster (with some exceptions) can limit the player's ability to Ritual Summon should they be missing the Ritual Spell Card or Ritual Monster. As a result, Decks focused on Ritual Summoning often include ways to search Ritual Monsters and Ritual Spells.

Ritual Summoning is supported by a number of Spell Cards, including "Ritual Foregone" which allows for the instant Summon of a Ritual Monster from the hand, though such a monster cannot attack and is destroyed during the End Phase.

In addition, "Advanced Ritual Art" can be used should a Deck have a sufficient amount of Normal Monsters.

No other Tributes are required if using "Ritual Raven" for Summoning a DARK Ritual Monster. Two "Gishki" archetype monsters, "Gishki Shadow" and "Gishki Vision" allow them to be the entire Tribute for any WATER monster, not just a "Gishki" Ritual Monster.

Ritual-reliant Decks benefit from having multiple copies of Ritual Spells and Ritual Monsters, to increase the chances of drawing both the Ritual Spell and the Ritual Monster. Ritual Summoning can cost the player a large number of cards in hand/field, so ways to generate hand advantage and recycle Ritual Spells are also important.

With the introduction of the New Master Rules, Ritual Monsters have the advantage in being able to be Summoned in any Main Monster Zone, unlike Extra Deck monsters.

In the anime

Ritual Monsters have appeared as a side mechanic in the anime.

In Yu-Gi-Oh, a few prominent characters used Ritual Monsters, including Yugi Muto, Joey Wheeler, Seto Kaiba, Maximillion Pegasus, Dartz, and the Rare Hunters Umbra and Lumis.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Ritual Monsters occasionally appeared; Fusion Monsters were more prominently associated with the series. Alexis Rhodes used the first Ritual Monster-focused archetype; "Cyber Angel". Bastion Misawa, Titan, and Kaibaman all used a Ritual Monster.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, a single Ritual Monster appeared, used by Kite Tenjo.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, Ritual Monsters were used by only two characters, Alexis Rhodes and Aura Sentia, both of which were supporting characters.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, Ritual Summons were the first of the non-Link Summon Special Summoning methods to be reintroduced in the anime, with Yusaku Fujiki and Theodore Hamilton using one Ritual Monster each, and Ai later using one of his own.

Examples

Trivia

  • Ritual Monsters have the fewest number of anti-support cards of all monster card types, with only 0 card specifically designed to stop them: "".

Notes

  1. The parentheses here specify what part is not shown on the cards' Type/Ability line.