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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.

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.

Example

Manga

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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 Soldier" and "Magician of Black Chaos", respectively. Similarly, Maximillion Pegasus used "Dark-Eyes Illusionist" to summon "Relinquished".

Anime

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

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 that disintegrate into the sky before entering the circle. After entering the circle, an explosion is created, therefore creating a Ritual Monster.[top]

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