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 Simplified Chinese: 仪式召唤 Yíshì Zhàohuàn

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.

Archetypes that focus on Ritual Summoning include "Gishki", "Prediction Princess", "Black Luster Soldier", "Drytron", "Cyber Angel", "Voiceless Voice", "Nouvelles", "Mikanko", "Megalith", "Impcantation", "Libromancer", "Vendread", "Shinobird" and "Nekroz".

Mechanics

A Ritual Summon is always performed by a card effect. When an effect that performs a Ritual Summon resolves, the player must perform the actions described in the effect, which usually involves moving other monsters from one location to another, then the player will Special Summon the Ritual Monster from a specified location face-up to an unoccupied Main Monster Zone.

Usually, a card effect that performs a Ritual Summon is a card effect from a Ritual Spell Card, involves Tributing monsters from the player's hand and/or field whose total Levels equal or exceed the Level of the Ritual Monster, and Ritual Summons the Ritual Monster from the hand.

The player cannot use more monsters than necessary to perform a Ritual Summon. If any monster among the used monsters could be removed, but the Ritual Summon's requirement would still be met, then that monster cannot be used.

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 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 when it is used for a Ritual Summon even if it is face-down. 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.

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 that Tributes monsters, no monsters are Tributed.

If the player resolves a Ritual Summoning effect when all of their Main Monster Zones are occupied, the effect can still successfully resolve if it uses at least one of the monsters in these zones in the Ritual Summon and removes it from the field, so that there is an available zone when the Ritual Monster is Summoned. If the effect is unable to do so, then it will resolve without effect.

Ritual Summoning effect variations

See also: Performs a Ritual Summon and Treats Special Summon as Ritual Summon

As Ritual Summons are always performed by card effects, the specific actions involved in Ritual Summoning are exclusively determined by the individual effects that do so, meaning that their details can vary significantly.

• Ritual Summoning effects can be from Ritual Spell Cards, or can be from non-Ritual Spell Cards. Examples:
  • "Megalith Phul" (Monster Card)
  • "Secrets of Dark Magic" (Quick-Play Spell Card)
  • "Amorphous Persona" (Field Spell Card)
  • "Urgent Ritual Art" (Trap Card)

• Ritual Summoning effects can Ritual Summon from the hand, or can Ritual Summon from other specified locations. Examples:
  • "Nekroz Cycle" (Ritual Summons from Graveyard)
  • "Renewal of the World" (Ritual Summons banished monster)
  • "High Ritual Art" (Ritual Summons from Deck)

• Ritual Summoning effect requirements can involve Tributing monsters from the player's hand or field, or can require other actions involving moving monsters in other locations. Examples:
  • "Nekroz Kaleidoscope" (Ritual Summons by sending monsters from the player's Extra Deck to the GY)
  • "Advanced Ritual Art" (Ritual Summons by sending monsters from the player's Deck to the GY)
  • "Nekroz Mirror" (Ritual Summons by banishing monsters from the player's GY)
  • "Forbidden Arts of the Gishki" (Ritual Summons by Tributing monsters on either side of the field)

• Ritual Summoning effect requirements can involve using/moving monsters with Levels to meet the Ritual Monster's own Level, or can require other monster parameters, or no monster parameters beyond the status of being a monster. Examples:
  • "Meteonis Drytron" (Ritual Summons by tributing monsters whose total ATK meets the ATK of the Ritual Monster)
  • "Gishki Nekromirror" (Ritual Summons by tributing 1 opposing face-up monster, but otherwise imposes no requirements on the monster)

• Ritual Summoning effect requirements can involve no monsters at all. The current sole example of such an effect is "Gishki Photomirror", which Ritual Summons by paying LP.

Interactions with effects

• Some monsters have effects that allow the player to use them as the entire monster movement requirement for a Ritual Summon that requires Levels, regardless of their Level and the required Level. (e.g.: "Ritual Raven", "Gishki Shadow")

• Some cards have effects that allow the player to perform alternate actions on Monster Cards to fulfill the requirements for a Ritual Summon that requires monsters, regardless of the original action specified. Examples:
  • "Djinn Releaser of Rituals" (Lets the player banish a monster from the GY instead)
  • "Drytron Mu Beta Fafnir" (Lets the player detach Xyz Materials instead)
  • "Emperor Tanuki's Critter Count" (Lets the player send 1 monster from their Extra Deck to the GY instead)

Example

• 

  Ritual Spell ("Black Luster Ritual")

• 

  + a Level 7 Tribute ("Gaia The Fierce Knight")

• 

  + a Level 1 Tribute ("Kuriboh")

• 

  = the corresponding Ritual Monster ("Black Luster Soldier")

Appearance

Manga

Yu-Gi-Oh! (manga)

In the original Yu-Gi-Oh! 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 Soldier" and "Magician of Black Chaos", respectively. Similarly, Maximillion Pegasus used "Dark-Eyes Illusionist" to summon "Relinquished".

Anime

Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V

Prior to Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, there were no common animation patterns for Ritual Summoning. In ARC-V, when a Ritual Card is activated, the altar depicted on it appears on the field, and then the Tributed monsters turn into a number of flames (equal to 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.

Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS

In Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS, a circle is formed and the Tributed monsters turn into a number of flames (equal to their individual Levels) and disintegrate into the sky, before entering the circle. Then an explosion occurs, and the Ritual Monster is finally created.

Trivia

• Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is the only Yu-Gi-Oh! anime series to feature no on-screen Ritual Summons, although one did appear in the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's manga.