Special Summoning condition

Special Summoning Conditions refer to specific conditions under which certain monsters much be Special Summoned.

This card cannot be Special Summoned

This is a blanket Summon Condition, and forbids the card to be Special Summoned by any means, be it from the hand, Deck, Graveyard, or Removed from play pile.

This card cannot be Special Summoned from the Graveyard.

A less harsh restriction than above, this enables cards to be Special Summoned from the hand, Deck, or removed from play pile, but not the Graveyard. That said, you could use "Monster Reincarnation" to move cards with this limitation to your hand from your Graveyard.

This card can only be Special Summoned by...

This places a restriction on how the card must be first Special Summoned. The card cannot be Special Summoned by an external effect until the summoning condition has been properly fulfilled, after which, the monster in question may be Summoned with cards such as "Monster Reborn". If the card was sent to the Graveyard before being Summoned correctly, it cannot be Special Summoned; likewise, if the card was Special Summoned correctly the first time, but is then sent from the field or the Graveyard back to the Deck, the summoning conditions are then reset. These cards are referred to as Special Summon-only monsters or sometimes incorrectly referred to as Semi-Nomi monsters.

This card cannot be Special Summoned except by...

This is much like the first example, but this time, it allows the card to be Special Summoned by one effect or conditions only, and cannot be Special Summoned by cards such as "Monster Reborn". LV Monsters support cards such as "Level Modulation" get around this by including Ignoring the Summoning Conditions in their card text. However, even with this restriction lifted, such cards can only Special Summon monsters from the Graveyard that have been properly Summoned first. "Level Up!" is able to bypass this completely, since it Special Summons directly from the Deck. These cards are referred to as Nomi monsters. Many cards including "Dark Armed Dragon" and "Gigantes" are Nomi monsters and can only be Special Summoned with its Summoning Condition from the hand.