Ritual Monster

Ritual Monsters are Monsters that can only be Special Summoned with their corresponding Ritual Spell Card. Examples include Black Luster Soldier, Magician of Black Chaos, Zera the Mant, Crab Turtle and The Masked Beast.

When a Ritual Monster Card is Special Summoned via its Ritual Spell Card, Tributes must be offered either from your side of the field or from your hand whos combined Level is equal to or greater than the Level of the Ritual Monster in question. The Special Summon is specifically treated as a Ritual Summon.

So, for example, if Relinquished was Ritual Summoned via the Black Illusion Ritual card, a Tribute of at least 1 Level would be required, so any Monster could be offered as a Tribute, since you can't have a monster below Level 1. However, with Black Luster Soldier or The Masked Beast, 8 Levels are required, so you either need to Tribute a few low-level monsters (around level 3 or 4), or one powerful Level 8 card, such as Blue-Eyes White Dragon. In a deck dedicated to Ritual Monsters, it is not uncommon to use one Ritual Monster as Tribute to Ritual Summon another, often times a 2nd copy of the one that was Tributed.

If a Ritual Monster is discarded to the Graveyard (with cards like Delinquent Duo, or Graceful Charity), without it being Ritual Summoned with the appropriate Ritual Spell Card beforehand, it can't be Special Summoned from the Graveyard with cards such as Premature Burial, Call of the Haunted, Monster Reborn, or Fulfillment of the Contract. Magician of Faith or Dark Magician of Chaos can be used to return a used Ritual Spell Card back to your hand, while cards like Monster Reincarnation can be used to return the Ritual Monster back to your hand. Preparation of Rites, a Spell Card from Stardust Overdrive, will return a Ritual Spell from your Graveyard to your hand and simultaneously search out a Ritual Monster from your Deck.

If a Ritual Monster was Ritual Summoned successfully and destroyed in any way, or removed from play, it may be Special Summoned by cards like Monster Reborn or Return from the Different Dimension, unless it has restrictions that prevent it from being Special Summoned.

In a sense, Ritual Monsters are easier to summon than Normal or Effect Monsters of the same Level, since all you need is:


 * The Ritual Monster, its corresponding Ritual Spell Card in your hand
 * The required monsters needed for Tributes in your hand and/or on your side of the field
 * A free Monster Card Zone to Special Summon the Ritual Monster to.
 * A free Spell/Trap Card zone for the Ritual Spell Card.

This can be useful in getting a powerful monster onto the field very quickly, without needing monsters on the field to Tribute. It does, however, take a heavy toll on your hand. However, cards such as Advanced Ritual Art can forego using cards from your hand and/or field altogether, and use monsters from one's Deck as Tribute Fodder instead. The "Djinn of Rituals" introduced in Stardust Overdrive, such as "Djinn Releaser of Rituals" and "Djinn Presider of Rituals", can be removed from play while in the Graveyard for use in a Ritual Summon as well as being Tributed normally, while also giving the summoned Ritual Monster stronger abilities.

Strategies
You can Summon a Ritual Monster of any level for free if you either use Ritual Foregone (In which case they live for 1 turn and can't attack) or, if you have enough Normal Monsters, use Advanced Ritual Art. "Ritual Raven" can be used for all of the levels required for the summoning of a DARK ritual monster.