Ritual Summon

For the list of cards that can Ritual Summon monsters, see Ritual Summons.

Ritual Summon
A Ritual Summon in Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS.
Japanese	儀（ぎ）式（しき）召（しょう）喚（かん）
Japanese (ruby)	ぎしきしょうかん
Japanese (base text)	儀式召喚
Japanese (romanized)	Gishiki Shōkan
English	Ritual Summon
Other names French: Invocation Rituelle Verb: Invoquer Rituellement German: Ritualbeschwörung Verb: beschwören als Ritualbeschwörung Italian: Evocazione Rituale Verb: Evocare tramite Rituale Korean: 의식 소환 (儀式召喚) Uisik Sohwan Portuguese: Invocação-Ritual Verb: Invocar por Invocação-Ritual Spanish: Invocación de Ritual Verb: Invocar por Ritual Traditional Chinese: 儀式召喚 Yíshì Zhàohuàn / Ji4 sik1 Ziu6 wun6

A Ritual Summon (儀（ぎ）式（しき）召（しょう）喚（かん） Gishiki Shōkan) is a method of Special Summoning a Ritual Monster which normally uses the effect of a Ritual Spell Card.

Ritual Summons usually require Tributes (from your hand or field) greater than or equal to, or sometimes strictly equal to, the Level of the Ritual Monster that is being Summoned. These Tributes are performed as part of the Ritual Spell Card's effect resolution, rather than as a cost.

Performing a Ritual Summon

A player can Ritual Summon a Ritual Monster by activating a card or effect that performs a Ritual Summon (usually a Ritual Spell Card). When that effect resolves, the player must satisfy the requirements of the card or effect performing the Ritual Summon (usually Tributing monsters from their hand and/or field). After that, the player Summons the Ritual Monster from the hand (or other specified location) to an unoccupied Main Monster Zone in face-up Attack or Defense Position.

When a card or effect that Ritual Summons resolves, if the requirement cannot be met or the Ritual Monster cannot be Ritual Summoned, no Ritual Summon occurs, nor is any action taken for the Ritual Summon's requirement. For example, if a player cannot Special Summon when resolving a Ritual Spell Card that Tributes monsters, no monsters are Tributed.

Tributing monsters for a Ritual Summon

If the card or effect that Ritual Summons does not mandate an exact total Level (e.g. "You must also Tribute monsters from your hand or field whose total Levels equal 6 or more."), the player cannot Tribute additional monsters if they already met the minimum Level requirement.

Monsters that do not have Levels, such as Xyz Monsters and Link Monsters, cannot be Tributed for a Ritual Summon.

A player can activate a card or effect that Ritual Summons even if all of their Main Monster Zones are used, but only if they Tribute one of their monsters on the field when that card or effect resolves (if all their Main Monster Zones are still occupied by that point).

Face-down monsters can be Tributed for a Ritual Summon, unless the card text specifies otherwise (such as "Forbidden Arts of the Gishki"). If a face-down monster has an effect that allows it to be used as the entire monster requirement for the Ritual Summon, such as "Ritual Raven", that effect can be applied if it is Tributed for the Ritual Summon of an appropriate monster. If the player can Tribute an opponent's face-down monster due to a card effect (such as "Soul Exchange"), it cannot be used for a Ritual Summon because its Level is unknown.

Atypical cases

• While most cards that perform Ritual Summons are Ritual Spell Cards, there are some other cards and effects that can perform Ritual Summons; for example, the Trap Card "Urgent Ritual Art", the Field Spell Card "Amorphous Persona" and the Monster Effect of the Pendulum Monster "Zefrasaber, Swordmaster of the Nekroz" can perform Ritual Summons. In fact, "Urgent Ritual Art" can perform a Ritual Summon outside of the Main Phase.

• While most cards and effects can only Ritual Summon from the hand, some effects can also Ritual Summon from the Graveyard, such as "Nekroz Cycle" and "Odd-Eyes Advent".

• While most Ritual Spell Cards require monsters to be Tributed, some Ritual Spell Cards have requirements that do not involve monsters, such as "Gishki Photomirror" which requires the player to pay LP.

Ritual Summon support

• Some monsters have effects that allow them count as the entire Tribute for a Ritual Summon, regardless of their Level and the required Level; for example, "Ritual Raven" and "Gishki Shadow" have this effect.

• Some monsters have effects that allow them to be banished from the Graveyard instead of Tributing a monster for a Ritual Summon; for example, the Djinn of Rituals series of monsters all have this effect.

Ritual Monster Summoning conditions

• A Ritual Monster cannot be Special Summoned from the Graveyard or while banished (except by Ritual Summon), unless it was originally Summoned by Ritual Summon.
  • As long as the monster is not returned to the hand or Deck, it is considered to have been originally properly Special Summoned, so it can still be Special Summoned from the Graveyard or while banished.

Example

• 

  Ritual Spell Card

• 

  + A Level 7 Tribute

• 

  + A Level 4 Tribute

• 

  = the corresponding Ritual Monster

Manga

In the original manga, besides the needed tributes, Ritual Summon also requires a proper monster to become the vessel for the Ritual Monster. For example, when Yugi used "Black Magic Ritual" and "Black Luster Ritual", he used "Gaia The Fierce Knight" and "Dark Magician" to summon "Black Luster Solider" and "Magician of Black Chaos", respectively. Similarly, Maximillion Pegasus used "Dark-Eyes Illusionist" to summon "Relinquished".

Anime

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is the only Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime that did not feature any on-screen Ritual Summon whatsoever. Before Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, there were no common animation patterns for Ritual Summon.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, when a Ritual Card is activated, the altar depicted on it appears on the field, and then the Tributed monsters turn into flames (a number of flames equal to the their individual Levels) before positioning themselves on the altar. A pillar of fire rises from the altar and explodes in the sky, after which the Ritual Monster descends from the sky.

In Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, a circle is formed and the tributed monsters turn into flames and disintegrate into the sky before entering the circle and after entering the circle, an explosion is created, therefore creating a Ritual Monster.