Not that we have them yet of course, they've been teased by the second-to-latest episode but we'll have to see exactly what the implementation is like. I'm imagining they'll probably only tribute from field at first like how Fusion was done.
@@moipessoa7145 If I had to guess levels vs specific materials. And you may be able to do a 2 card ritual where fusions you'd need a contact fusion for a 2 card fusion. My gut feeling is they could be used in decks that rely on a higher quantity of higher level monsters like certain maximum decks where you may have a duplicate maximum in hand that could make for decent ritual fodder.
@@BasicLee_ i mean links are just powercrept synchros, one of the worst fucking designed cards ever, even pendulums at least had uniqueness, i was waiting for monster trap merges but instead got master rule 4 trash that banned all extra deck monsters other than links
Honestly i love that ritual monster is in the main deck. While by all means it is a detrument to their playability, it really adds an unique flavor to the mechanic that the other summon methods don't have
One fun thing I found was to use Nekroz Kaleidoscope to summon multiple Ritual monsters. All I need is any lvl 12 monster in my extra deck, and I usually can summon at least 2 Nekroz. Get out another one, and bam. The setup is right there to unleash a Nephtys, the Sacred Flame, with all 3 terrifying effects. Sure. It's not invincible. But can't be destroyed by battle, card effects, and can't be targeted with card effects, while coming out swinging with 4800 atk. There absolutely are better cards out there, but it has surprised a few people already due to how out of nowhere it comes in a non Nephtys deck.
@@lusterlessnova3199 id say they also don't expect It in nephthys, but they still get surprised when the ritual spell that I just told them can pop a card, pops a card
Ritual monsters are some of my favorites, too. It's unfortunate that the two worst mechanics - Fusions and Rituals - are also the ones that Kazuki Takahashi himself made, with decks of those types generally only being good if they circumvent some mechanic or another. The tradeoff there is that they're also fairly intuitive, flavor-wise, and that vaguely occult like tinge to them is exactly why I like them. For Fusions you make an unholy abomination by, well, fusing two of your monsters. For Rituals you call forth a powerful monster by offering weaker ones as sacrifices. On that last point, Ritual monsters might never have existed in the first place had tribute summoning been a rule in Duelist Kingdom. Thematically the two are kind of redundant.
I keep having to remind myself that modern Yugioh is _not_ the one we played back in the day. They even took Takahashis name off the reprints. Something is wearing yugioh's skin.
Relinquished has always been one of my favourite cards. The whole unsettling aura it gives off, combined with killing your opponent using their own monsters makes it so cool to use. The fact that it is a 1-star monster is also a nice bonus.
If you like the spooky vibe, there's some crazy jp trailers with thousand eyes idol showing all the eyes opening. Og duel monsters had some great horror themeing.
Still play it as my main deck on masterduel. You would be surprised how easy it is to bait out negates from a board. Danger! Kaiju relinquished. Kaiju clears omninegates like Barrone and Appolusa, base relinquished can bait out negates, then use danger to spam summon and draw to get to either relinquished fusion or verte for the thousand eyes. And its ability to negate ALL copies of a card it absorbs can shut down many major decks by negating all its starters and extenders.
Just ban the hand traps, cause going for the rituals means you’ll probably add impcantations to the deck, then you’ll probably need to add cyber angels, oh and don’t forget about non engine, and… the deck list is full, damn
Maybe not, but Paladin of White Dragon makes Blue Eyes decks awesome, they're the fastest way I've ever been able to summon a Blue Eyes in one turn from scratch, even on first turn. Too bad Galaxy Eyes and XYZs make Blue Eyes decks look like a joke.
Right timing because in the side format (Rush), ritual is now introduced as an extra deck mechanic but using a specific ritual spell and face up monsters on field with the exact levels.
@@autobotstarscream765 reminds me of duelist kingdom, Yugi and Pegasus only ever played the spell, nowhere in their hands were the ritual monsters. I just always thought as a kid that's how rituals worked.
I will add on to the Vendread stuff. I think the main issue I see with the deck that is never really addressed is the fact that the non-ritual monsters are vanillas outside of their revival effect and inheritance effect. Unlike decks like Libromancer, the non ritual vendreads do not add any consistency when summoned and are dead cards in hand (a common design flaw in zombies), which makes deck building so difficult as you have to rely on a lot of non-engine to add vital cards which other ritual decks don't struggle with. That's why Scar is literally the best non ritual despite having no inheritance effect.
I wish they'd just give ritual decks ritual versions of contact fusion and 'branded fusion'. Just slash the need to have everything in hand, or the need for a spell in the first place.
That or effects that just summon rituals from deck like the voiceless cards. I think giving rituals non-ritual spell summoning options like quickplays, traps, monsters is a good way to help them out.
@@yuno4573 true, one of the best parts of megalith is that it has a quick play ritual *from deck*, while you tribute twice the levels that frequently helps you rather than hurts you due to how the deck was designed. It really just needs more cards to help it do more with all the fodder it generates besides just being permanently welded together with the tally ho springans engine. I think its such a well made deck though, "cheats" the ritual summoning mechanic, but in a way that is totally fair because you must build entirely around it.
IMO I think slapping them in the extra deck is the way, all you need to do is pull a copy of the ritual spell and tribute the requirements from your hand or field like normal and they're way more viable.
i love rituals, theyre also my fav mechanic. i think a lot of them have very unique effects but sometimes it can be very frustrating to play them because of how bricky they can be, even wirh all the support. nothing more annoying than getting pre-prep ashed and being left with no plays, or god forbid have an impcantation that only works with ritual spells in hand and having only ritual monsters
Even with pre-prep, they can struggle. Voiceless voice is my main deck, and honestly, even when it resolves you have nothing to tribute. Often times I WANT them to ash pre prep, so that something more important can resolve, or so that I can turn on talents lmao
At least Rush Duels turned the ritual monsters into extra deck monsters, so the only concern is getting the spell and enough tribute fodders, and given how Rush Duels work, the only real concern is getting the spell
The truly fascinating thing is how rituals were originally conceived pre-OCG as being even worse than they are by requiring more specific sacrifices (which we can see in some early video games like Forbidden memories).
37:55 My dear love, this is why I fell in love with Mikanko and Libromancer, introducing me to the world of Rituals I really hope we get Isolde back someday
Odd-Eyes Pendulumgraph is my favorite example of ritual design due its separation of rewards depending on if you actually ritual summoned it. A searcher, spell negate, and an Odd-Eyes Extra Deck cheat all in one. I would love to see this kind of decision making in the future.
Great video Every since the introduction of odd eyes pendulumgraph dragon, I’ve been wanting Konami to design a pendulum ritual theme. There’s a lot of potential u can do with it. Some rough ideas for gimmicks I have - pendulum summoning rituals monsters instead of ritual summoning them - using a pendulum effect to ritual summon
ryu-ge is an interesting new way of cheating the mechanic. as a scale its just added consistency, but it ritual summons itself via its own monster effect while in the face up extra. unfortunately it has no other ritual members to make use of that gimmick so for now its just gonna be a engine to get out protos and varudras.
Rank 10 Gishkis with Gustav Max saw me a lot of local and some regional success in 2013-2015. Non-targeting, non-destruction removal from a level 10 monster offered one of the few good outs to Apoqliphort Towers, and followed up with a consistent OTK. Love the deck to pieces.
I like that this video showcased the peaks and valleys of Ritual summoning as a mechanic, because I never realized how often when Ritual decks were busted vs how often theyre a joke But they have some of the coolest themes in the game
Very nice through back to old formats watchg this. Great video as always. Also love your effort in documenting the history of yugioh in book form. That is so cool and we really need to have this documented properly somewhere.
I had an idea for a new type of summoning you can make the card red since that color isn't used yet since rituals can't really use the extra deck that well make the new summoning type only available to Ritual monsters and make it like a reverse Synchro so if I have a level 8 ritual monster I can summon any number of RED CARD monsters from my extra deck to the field that equal exactly the level of the ritual used to summon it. No RED cards can be used as tribute or materials for any card. not even links unless it's stated on the card for future proof
after getting into game design, i thought monsters that say "cannot be normal, set or special summoned except by....'' could have technically been rituals, Dark Armed Dragon you can ritual summon him OR if you have exactly 3 dark monsters in grave, special summon him without ritual summoning.
To me it will never cease to be funny the first line of text Dogmatika Alba Zoa has its like you can see the game designers realizing how much of a mistake Drytron is Also Dogmatika Ritual and Vendread are the sickest ritual archetypes
Ritual decks usually fall into 2 categories. Gimmicky deck with some potential. Or the most unfair shit imaginable. The only competitive Ritual deck that isn't completely unfair is Voicless Voice, but that deck barely feels like a Ritual deck and barely interacts with the Ritual mechanic.
6:34 One of the Things we tend to Forget about the Better Ritual Spells these days, is that both: Gralandorf and Northwemko were the Proto/Testing Grounds for Future Ritual Cards! Them along with Djinns allowed for the return of Demise OTK. Sure Garlandorf. Or Northwemko saw much play, their Ritual Spells did something that EVERY RITUAL CARD NEEDED! Additional Graveyard Trigger Effects to continue playing! These Cards Stumbled so Gishki could Walk, and Help Nekroz Run!
A while back, I came up with a ritual archetype. The idea is that the ritual monsters would be able to summon themselves by tributing monsters in hand or on the field. The ritual spells would be additional means to summon these monsters without traditional means. One would send materials from deck. One would banish materials from grave. The last would banish materials from Extra Deck. (I have not played since the start of Rush Duels so I don't know if something like this exists.)
Thank you for your work on categorizing legacy formats, the community will be much healthier if we can easily delve into retro formats and organize events around them, keep the game fresh and introduce new players in a more welcoming environment lol.
i appreciate rituals and its rich history a lot more now just from this video so thanks so much. really glad to see this popped up on my home page feed so shortly after its release. sometimes being subbed isnt enough for that to happen often but i think its because i keep going back to the 2 year old vid about all the yugioh archetypes every so often
Like this video mention, the problem of Ritual Summoning mechanic is in their need to 3 key component exist at the same time: 1. The Ritual Spell 2. The Ritual Monster itself 3. The Material. While currently Voiceless Voice is strong, linear and newbie friendly, I hope in the future there is more innovation on the mechanic itself, tweaking the 3 key component as mention above. For example, treating Rank and Link Rating as the same as LV for Ritual Summon can open a new possibility. Ritual Summoning using your oppenent monster ala Super Polymerization. Instead placing it to your Extra Deck, you can banish your Ritual Monster and then you can Ritual Summon it from there.
The part of the video going over Drytons and how they assimilate all ritual support and archetypes was very interesting, I have seen people point out the same thing about Pend tendency to just become piles
Libromancers are some of the coolest cards the Ritual Mechanic has seen imo. Ill live and die on that hill (paired with Nekroz gives them a trap card Liromancer Intervention going 1st). Megalith monster's functioning like Ritual spells was neat.....except the combo lines are way too long to end on boards other decks did less to end on.
Drytron is truly absurd thing to show to new players is its ability to completely skip your opponent's turn. And it even have multiple flavors of it. And even if Beatrice is banned, there are still multiple lines to do it.
Something I can think of to improve is that once per turn you can ritual summon a ritual monster directly from the main deck, in addition to including an additional main deck where you can optionally place the ritual monsters. The additional main deck would still be part of the main deck, so the maximum number of cards would still be 60, with a minimum of 40 in the main main deck.
As a fan of Rituals too, I wanna point out the existence of the CASH deck that I used to play and love during the "Wild Era" of Rituals between Nekroz and Drytron. Cyber Angel Saphira Herald is just a loop of synergistic Lv 6 Rituals using Star Seraphs as base fodder for Herald of Nope and the eventual R4nk Toolbox. Saphira recurred one of the Fairies discarded for Herald per turn. It was rogue at best iirc, but it was really fun to pilot. It was like having a MTG Counterspell machine gun.
Looks like the next rush anime is gonna be extra deck ritual focused(?) We just introduced contact fusions a few months ago i swear synchro should have been next but i guess extra deck rituals are cool too,cause so far the only ritual we have "seen" (the monster was obscured) is a level 11 that used 3 monsters on the field to play it, and he had no ritual monster in his hand So its probably going to be the most "generic" extra deck mechanic in rush cause the fusions still require accurate names
only at 9min but fusing rituals with xyz sounds so cool but of course the fact you need the ritual monster in hand with the spell and 2 level fours makes it like you need to draw a lot during that turn you wanted to do it
The problem with rituals is how unlike every other type they dont go off with single card starters. Fusion spells can search their materials, synchros only need a single tuner and xyz and links reward you for doing exactly what you already want to do wich is building a board and then they can be summoned easily
One thing that might help is allowing ritual spell cards to work on ritual monsters in your deck, that way while you'd still risk having a brick at least you wouldn't need both at the same time.
Great video man! Honestly, playing Drytrons always gives this type of underdog feeling against the ever evolving modern decks. It makes it even better when I win! I just hope that Komani will continue expanding the ritual monster pool and drag up somthing unique and cool
In DuelingBook, I made a deck of custom cards, that use Ritual Summons in a new way, here's how: You play the custom Ritual Spell "Fate Magic of Summoning", then you reveal a "SevenLands" Ritual Monster in your hand, then reveal any and all cards in your hand, that are mentioned in that monster's text. You summon the monster, and discard the other revealed cards. All but one of the "SevenLands" Ritual Monsters mention exactly 1 "Fate Magic" spell or trap (the one monster that doesn't, mentions no cards, and thus can be summoned by the Ritual Spell alone) - This way I tribute spells/traps instead of monsters to summon Ritual Monsters. Also, I made a card that lets you reveal a total of 3 Ritual Spells and Ritual Monsters, to draw 2 cards. Basically a Pot of Greed that can only be played if you're almost certainly bricked. On top of that, I also made an insane XYZ monster, that uses 2 Level 8 Ritual Monsters as material, because funny
Demise is still one of my favorite cards in the game. I remember running it against my friends who had a bunch of meta or more modern decks at the time and feeling like god when demise came out and wiped the field.
Although I personally love Synchros more than any summoning mechanic, I honestly feel sorry for Ritual monsters. One of my all-time favorite monsters is Black Luster Soldier (along with his variants), but his Ritual versions haven't learned anything from their very first non-Ritual brother, who himself was one of the most powerful cards ever, if not his best to this date. At least BLS - Super Soldier lets you summon a Gaia monster if he's destroyed and inflicts burning damage, but his other skills, like banishing any card or attacking twice, should be included in his card itself instead of being given to him as a lackluster support. Three of my favorite Ritual Monsters are DARK: Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon (my favorite Blue-Eyes card ever), the original Demise, and Borreload Riot Dragon.
It's sad to see Fusions be streamlined so much to the point where fusion spells are optional, or non-existent. It sucks flavor out of the summoning mechanic, but it's what needs to occur in the modern era of Yugioh...
Ritual is my favorite summoning mechanic as well, but not because of how it works, because of how it COULD work. I remember when Ritual cards first came out and I was so excited because of the possibility space that was available to design in. But sadly, those possibilities were never used, never realized. (Also, the monster cards should have been in the Fusion deck from the start. I get that they didn't because that was still for only fusion cards, but man the mechanic would have been better right out of the gate if they had) For me, I see Rituals as a more interesting way to expand what a person is trying to do in a game. You are trying to complete a ritual, and rituals don't HAVE to be limited to just sacrificing. There are so many other things that could be parts of a ritual. Discarding cards, attacking, beating other monsters with an attack, drawing cards, summoning, and so many more. Think of the possibilities that are on the table here: You could put a Ritual Spell card down that says "Destroy 1 monster from battle and discard 1 card. Special summon 1 [Insert Ritual Card Name]". Now in order to special summon that card, you don't just tribute materials (like every other summoning mechanic in the game) you are trying to complete tasks. Now there's a reason to get into combat! And you still have to sacrifice a card. And Ritual cards are uniquely perfect for this kind of mechanic since there's a ton of space to list out all the requirements, whereas other cards are limited in space. With a system like this the game could have opened up so much more by making powerful cards that players can get, once they complete a series of tasks. But unfortunately, Ritual cards have been treated like every other summon mechanic, just tribute monsters.
Maybe in a new master rule for the ocg/tcg they could place rituals in the ED. All searchers can still add them from ED to hand, in case they have in-hand effects (nekroz/mikanko) but you could just summon them from the ED with a ritual spell
Want to make a few timeline corrections, Dawn of the Herald beat Aquamirror to the punch as a recursive ritual spell, interesting for fueling herald some more. Second, Hymn of Light was released before machine angel ritual as a spell with an in grave protection eff, though I don’t blame anyone for forgetting about saffira
I don't know. If we're counting all the different effect monster supertypes, then gemini and their on-field tribute summon is a million times worse. At least ritual monsters have good support, and some ritual monsters today aren't even bricks (such as Ohime or Illusion of Chaos). Its about on par with synchros in terms of modern day support, and both of those are a lot better than pendulum (since every pendulum deck that isn't some weird gimmick archetype like Vaylantz combos for half an hour and ends on the same generic bosses; hell, even Vaylantz ended on stuff like Apollousa when she was still a legal card). Like, i happen to enjoy ritual archetypes a lot because building decks around that sort of restriction is a lot of fun. Its a pretty healthy mechanic for the game, even if it isn't always great from a competitive standpoint. Also, when the fuck is Lo going to get reprinted? They already reprinted Poplar in the 2024 tins.
I think you should've at least mentioned THE Ritual Deck off 2010, Herald Control. It's often overlooked because it came out right after Edison, but it actually got some YCS tops! Jeff Jones got 5th with it at YCS Chicago for example.
Rituals are my second favorite summoning mechanic, and Nouvelles is my favorite ritual deck. Nouvelles is extremely fun to play, especially when you eat away at your opponent's board going second. I definitely think it could get 2-3 more support cards, though, since they only got 1 wave with 2 support cards
when I found out Link Monsters where blue I wondered if they where related to rituals / a replacement? Then I found out they are not and had the thought of "wow they care so little for Rituals that they dont care about reusing their color" TBH I kinda think Link Monsters should have been red. Rituals could probably work better in rush duels as the amount of cards you can keep drawing and the smaller deck size, it is already much easier to make rituals work in duel links as a Cyber angle deck in Duel links u can have a good 6 cyber angle ritual cards in a 20 card deck so already you have more than a quarter of your cards being the ritual cards
My personal favorit attempt at rituals was megalith They have a unique summoning style, can easily ritual summon from the deck, and can have generic rituals splashed into it Its kinda sad that they got overshadowed by drytron, and not really expanded uppon more, forcing them to exist in a state where they need external help spashed in to even have a good enough win con
I have theorized if they would print double sided cards such like cards in MTG that transform. They could implement ritual spells that given its effect resolve you flip the card from the sleeve and reveal its ritual monster. If the monster is sent to the gy or anywhere it is still considered a monster. At least its another way to avoid bloating the main deck with ritual and ritual monster
Fantastic video as always! Its a treat to see you in my subscription feed. To add my perspective, Id argue that ritual is an unfortunate victim of Konami's early approach to 1999-2004 Yugioh. Yugioh was originally handled like a toyline. Rather than selecting cards that fit your strategy, the advantage came in owning the best cards. Rituals were introduced in Japan as particuly rare cards that allowed you to special summon a strong monster quickly. While the method was complicated and required you to get your hands on two cards, its speed would give you a leg up on the competition. Imagine being a kid and opening the duel with black luster soldier while your opponent was summoning Celtic Guardian. Remember, special summoning was a luxury when the game first came out. Rituals had a mystique in that you needed a matching monster and spell. The idea was that you would pull one of the cards and desperately search for the other. Remember, this was 20+ years ago, so the Internet wasn't the same. In the anime,manga, and video games, rituals were a little different. You needed a ritual spell and a certain recipe of monsters that would transform your monster into its ritual form. They were presented as a technique that only true experts knew and even fewer could pull off. While we cant magically conjure a ritual monster in real life, Konami tried to replicate the feel by having rituals be something truly special.
Question: What is Okt.2023 "Overlord" format with S:P Little Knight as a thumb nail? Was that when a lot of different decks were viable and the meta was too diverse to give it a good name?
I've never been a huge fan of rituals. However, I should probably mention the new Ryu-Ge ritual that goes to the Extra Deck in order to search a card and then can ritual summon himself from the Extra Deck when the certain conditions are met.
Eagerly awaiting that Shinobird list! I learned about them after opening the recent legacy support and went "oh my god winged beast spirit rituals, right in my wheelhouse!!!!" lmao
I wish they had the foresight to make ritual spells more interesting. Like, use the field grid and make you have to, say, have a spellcaster in one square, than a warrior one square apart in order to ritual summon a monster. Like, make your monsters arrange themselves in a specific pattern in order to fulfill the ritual.
I really want modern day playable Guardian retrains, Yugioh's worst archetype and yet my favorite (archetype) ever since I first saw Rafael play them in Waking the Dragons, I'm still building Guardian Eatos and Dreadscythe deck variants to this day. Although I grew up as "The Kaiba/BEWD player" in my friend group as a kid (we had a Pegasus fanboy, a Yugi fanboy etc who all played decks focussed around those anime protags when we were kids, ah fond memories) as soon as Guardians appeared they've lived rent free in my head as my all time favorite cards which really hurts that they are straight up also the worst in the game.
It's interesting how every competitive ritual deck prior to Voiceless was trying to do something degenerate. Then VV rolled around and Konami said "what if we turned rituals into a control strategy?"
Blue Eyes, Megalith, Nekroz, Drytron, Herald....the list of meta cards is short and generally hated when good. Ritual decks need recursivity, but can't have too much blowout potential without the right cards.
I didn't play back when the Gustkraken Handloop was popular but I've enjoyed the Deck in Duel Links, Master Duel, and paper. I *LOVE* Gishki Nekromirror for giving helpful removal but Christ man it gets rough paying 3200 for Zielgigas.
I think if Ritual monster going to the extra deck and you can ritual summon with the ritual spell cards and monster in your hand or table, that would make ritual viable. They just need to limit the ritual spell search cards to balance it out.
If I were to create a new ritual archetype, I would use the core limitations as combo pieces. Ritual Monsters need 3 things: The Monster itself in hand, the Ritual Spell and sufficient material in hand or on board. It makes them inherently bricky. SO: 1) Ritual Monsters. Besides having unique effects, I would make them pull double duty as material. Meaning: Each ritual monster has an effect, that says: If you use this card as material for a ritual summon, you may search for one other Ritual monster and add it to your hand. They should also reinforce each other. Smaller ritual monsters giving protection to the larger ones, which draw focus onto themselves, instead of going the lazy "lets slap a negate on" approach. 2) Ritual Spells. These should give you unique benefits if you go for a larger minus and reward you for being precise. If you ritual summon using material which level adds up precisely to the ritual summoned monster: You may use the following effects in sequence depending on the amount of monsters used as material. 1+: Draw a card. 2+: The ritual summoned monsters attack doubles until the end of the turn. 3+: The ritual summoned monster can not be targeted or destroyed by an opponents card effect as long as this Ritual Spell is in the GY. 5+: Destroy all opponents monsters and spells. Only the Ritual summoned monster can attack this turn. 3) Ritual Material. To add onto the Ritual Monster double duty: The regular effect monsters should act as fodder that gives you just straight up advantage. Make them draw, search or destroy an opponents card if they were used as Ritual Material. Amplify the effect if this card was on the field. (Example: A draw 1 from the hand becomes a draw 2 on the field. Or special summon a effect monster of lower level from the deck if it was used as ritual material.) And if I were to use a theme, I would go the Kozmo route of mixing different media (Star Wars and Wizzard of Oz in the case of Kozmo). I would use a Warhammer Adeptus Mechanicus mixed with the Machine King line from old Yugioh. The main monsters are psychic. Humans augmented with technology. Think tech priests. While the Rituals are Machine-King esque old looking machines. Not cyberse Cyberdragon Number 400. More Ancient gear, less Drytron. The Goal of this would be: Do go for one big smash. The Boss monster gaining attack from other machines (Machine-King esque) on the field and GY. Perhaps gaining additional effects like piercing, double attacking or Battlephase effect nulification based on the amount of ritual machines on the field. The smaller ones grant destruction protection or tribute protection. They should also have GY effects that help you extend the game for a bit. Like preventing battle and effect damage for a turn. So if you can not go for the big smash yet, you will have to extend the duel for 1 or 2 turns to set up your big beater. And once you do: You summon a 4-5k protected beater that then doubles and goes for game.
I think the most crucial thing hurting any potentially viable ritual deck is just how unbelievably bad they are into targetted hate that already covers meta matchups. Droll is and always has been an FTK against ritual strategies. D-barrier is already good for other matchups yet also has to let you call ritual too. Shifter hoses every ritual deck. They need to figure out a way in which to make ritual function *without* searches being so mandatory. The only way I can think to do this is to just totally cheat the mechanic with "summon X ritual ignoring the summoning conditions" printed on all the cards, or some sort of absurd extra deck monster that is functionally megalith phul for the archetype. And of course the ritual boss monsters in the main deck need completely absurd effects like herald of perfection to even be considered worth the trouble. Either that or design more decks like mikanko where the ritual is just a part of the engine that is only a ritual monster for the sake of making it super searchable.
They should add some mildly overpowered generic ritual monsters that people can use like the famous generic synchro and Xyz monsters a lot of decks use, make it similar somehow to the power level of Baronne de flour, appaloosa, and the super poly fusions
Rituals have to balance filling their deck with A+B bricks and negative card advantage vs. absurd recursion and being stepping stone slaves to other Extra deck summon types. Wonder if we'll ever see Ritual Monsters that make you put them into the Extra Deck, but prevent you from putting any non-ritual monsters in the extra deck.
I think rituals can be way to broken if unchecked. Rituals have some type of boss like effects now imagine if they had more genetic effects like search, add, draw, and discard to apply effects like negating with extra etc effects without using a ritual spell as cost. is like having a deck made of only side deck monsters if rituals were truly unleash with freedom of effects. Ritual have another strength that rituals can be considered as archetype and they are not restricted to 15 card limit like those in the side deck.
I remember when Vandreads came out and I thought they were so cool. Buuuuut they suck so freaking bad. Ever since then, I’ve really been loving Cyber Angels. Getting Vrash out with a board of Special Summoned monsters on my opponent’s field means a possible 6000+ damage at maximum and a possible 3000 at minimum
Kinda why I see synchros as an evolution of ritual, instead of both a spell and monster it's usually a tuner that can start a combo with a search You still get the cool level sum condition and the monster comes straight from the extra, solving the cost/dead card issue
Impcantations and Blue Eyes Chaos Max can pretty easily OTK with spells that force a monster into your opponent's field, like Shien's Spy, or spells that swap your monster with your opponent's. That's my most successful deck in Master Duel.
Me who played relinquished in 3rd grade as kid, chaos maxed dragon as teen and now mikanko and voiceless voice are my loved decks for tournament just trolling and fun easy 2 understand
The only ritual deck I really like is Megalith, with a very small light angel engine and 7 Impcantation cards it is stupidly consistant, have pretty ok recovery and easily put good monsters on both player's turns. For more casual duels it is fine and budget
The big issue I see with Rituals is the main thing that distinguished them from Fusions (and now the rest of extra deck mechanics) since the beginning, which is them being main deck monsters. This is what makes the mechanic so search demanding in my opinion, and the main design point which Konami struggled to build around or in spite of, something that ultimately led to the current Ritual theme taking a hit in the banlist every time they become meta until the release of Voiceless Voice. I feel like the way they have to design Rituals going forward is to basically do Voiceless Voice 2.0, 3.0 and so on, if they don't want to end up in another Nekroz/Drytron situation. Or finally bend the rules and make Rituals an extra deck mechanic at the cost of neglecting the mechanic's core identity and gimmick among special summon gimmicks.
Ritual monster summons are actually a huge advantage if you use them right and have a deck equipped to shortcut them. They have very powerful effects alot of the time, and there are many cards like Manju, Senju, and Sonic Bird that when summoned can allow you to reach into your deck to add the ritual monster or its spell to your hand, and as an added bonus, if you're ritual summoning a level four or lower monster, you can use the manju, senju, or sonic bird you just normal summoned to ritual summon in the same turn. I went the extra mile back in the day and made a deck that shortcut summons Blue Eyes White Dragon in one turn. The strategy is to summon manju, senju, or sonic bird the second i draw a Paladin of White Dragon or its spell card, ritual summon Paladin, use it to instantly erase a set defense monster to the grave if there is one, then tribute Paladin to use its effect and special summon Blue Eyes all in one turn. Its not the worst mechanic, its a mechanic with a learning curb in deck construction to pull off to make use of their full potential. Now ritual monsters with no effects...those are garbage.
Sources:
Hungry Burger Gameplay
th-cam.com/video/9kEREJhyMGA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=8pdYmisdsqYgzSqj
2015 NAWCQ Quarterfinals
th-cam.com/video/2VUEG4bBKkw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=1-GMas3BIsF44MeL
Demise OTK Deck Lists
yugiohtopdecks.com/decks/Demise+OTK
Modern Demise OTK Gameplay
www.formatlibrary.com/events/YFZ20
Historical 2008 Demise OTK Gameplay
th-cam.com/video/zrEWqZ11xXw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=eeGL1RpQBbnYkJT_
Demise OTK Cross Banlist Cup 2016
th-cam.com/video/hCS-d7t-bKk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=OveAI0KbAJGnRgjR
Spellbook Vs Gishki 2012
th-cam.com/video/LN3Jj_IaohU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=CccEk3yXnIsFGyX6
How to Gishki Handloop
th-cam.com/video/x_x3QVMkx0I/w-d-xo.htmlsi=QYEHJksEALXhspUI
2013 Gishki FTK Gameplay
th-cam.com/video/xG4fDQFUJXc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=X7wRb2kVTSL6Art0
Gishki FTK Deck List
yugiohtopdecks.com/deck/589
Rank 10 Gishki Gameplay
th-cam.com/video/SiXp5NaCeNY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=iOeo_c7axCXV3NM3
HAT Format Rank 10 Gishki
th-cam.com/video/GNz4pGLYaQw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=PF-bTnL7QSeMXKZY
Herald Of Perfection Deck List
th-cam.com/video/lsn40lMqecM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ldGW8pJSrtu5iV_b
Herald of Ultimateness Isn’t Broken
th-cam.com/video/h1UpXd82HIU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=rl4bR-br7lKmLMEU
Nekroz Vs Yosenju
th-cam.com/video/aHOxfHIJOks/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-VhE177lv3P91OOX
Nekroz Vs Satellarknights
th-cam.com/video/FVVQ2WzumtI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=hUlJY_W5dmv61wEX
Nekroz Deck List
yugiohtopdecks.com/deck/4281
Nekroz Vs Nekroz
th-cam.com/video/bgqumGITF9M/w-d-xo.htmlsi=2Jr2xcF92sd5oerQ
Why You should Play Prediction Princess
th-cam.com/video/mHMNdvT2FjY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=H4AnUN9_E-ybOs7X
Ritual Dogmatika Combos
th-cam.com/video/VdeXUBzzX9c/w-d-xo.htmlsi=WJt07r2CMgmzRFNt
Rituals in Duelist of the Roses
th-cam.com/video/IZGpN-uUgtk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=OY_qdUkFhNXaPYgY
Shinobird Vs The World
th-cam.com/video/85DuPpUMbGU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=gOMcOdYY-_wwVCmO
Team Samurai Cyber Angel
th-cam.com/video/7fOusYUvn5I/w-d-xo.htmlsi=At4cwvsodQkhnkJd
Why Konami Banned Drytron
th-cam.com/video/-qj7nLXA2r0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=AUCEyYwUDdCO6bF0
Shinobird Kaiju Gameplay
th-cam.com/video/2kBleqX16vs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=h41-wTFukQhZJnTj
Shinobird Phantasm Coaching
th-cam.com/video/pdKPQKyKEH0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=TsP5NXZbhdZFREYM
Blue-Eyes Chaos Max List
yugiohtopdecks.com/tournament/YCS+-+Pittsburgh+Pennsylvania
ttps://yugiohtopdecks.com/deck/5901
Blue-Eyes Chaos Max Gameplay
th-cam.com/video/OdyMwmFlf4Q/w-d-xo.htmlsi=JO5zMuor4WNVeD7w
Vendread Gameplay
th-cam.com/video/gjciI4abVh0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Peb9tMhVK4nLrQNN
Knightmare Vendread Combo
th-cam.com/video/L7FjEnguex0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=kj5PzzJvGWf9jxy1
Vendread Link spam Deck Lists
th-cam.com/video/LfPqVl2fUe0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=loj0rAZKAdx_vXft
yugiohtopdecks.com/deck/8327
Impcantation Demise
th-cam.com/video/Y27gvxGmX8c/w-d-xo.htmlsi=wjKwru8i280mAjBn
Impcantation Relinquished
th-cam.com/video/UrSnivLqC7g/w-d-xo.htmlsi=FNbKeiyrMNAFSq-a
MonkeyFight Nekroz Deck Profile
th-cam.com/video/SsotQoF6sHY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=j8x07itS6MN8v9FK
Nephtys Spright Deck Profile
th-cam.com/video/RGcGFXqR4Fw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=bu-9rLzGEOm6R3Li
Nephthys Turbo
th-cam.com/video/9hM3PID5G7A/w-d-xo.htmlsi=95TO5I3XUbMis_nh
Megalith Deck List
yugiohtopdecks.com/deck/8996
Megalith Gameplay
th-cam.com/video/cz9EQqjpiSc/w-d-xo.htmlsi=HpBu63nuuzUfhtsG
Release Drytron Gameplay
th-cam.com/video/Ra4kIjIu1AU/w-d-xo.htmlsi=70CXZfvKu4SeghhM
Drytron Regionals
th-cam.com/video/Gpe5EaeWGMo/w-d-xo.htmlsi=eKc1R76NrWkkLMNl
Remote Duel Drytron Profile
th-cam.com/video/Xxg51sc62B8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=J4rIv1FLs24u5kod
Drytron Deck Lists
ygoprodeck.com/deck/drytrons-132932
ygoprodeck.com/deck/drytron-196150
ygoprodeck.com/deck/dragoon-drytron-197967
ygoprodeck.com/deck/enforcer-megalith-drytron-254789
ygoprodeck.com/deck/magikey-drytron-302079
ygoprodeck.com/deck/amorphactor-drytron-324691
ygoprodeck.com/deck/voiceless-voice-drytron-505704
Drytron Combos
www.reddit.com/r/masterduel/comments/seihds/drytron_turn_1_combo_for_people_trying_to_learn/
Drytron Herald Profile
th-cam.com/video/D9ZNi-4ue0c/w-d-xo.htmlsi=y1TJwYFZxA3uVU_-
Drytron Vs Eldlich
th-cam.com/video/JbuIiEizJns/w-d-xo.htmlsi=f9thPwHn5RATs_3i
Master Duel Meta Season 1
roadoftheking.com/yu-gi-oh-master-duel-season-1/
Goat Format Paladin of Blue Eyes
th-cam.com/video/6Yl0P9mM4hw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=bsUfPAcDFlbXYBLJ
Burning Abyss Profile
th-cam.com/video/66J02prHsnM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=3lo5D2UWRNXrm01
Cimooooo Budget Burning abyss Deck Profile
th-cam.com/video/tx093ur0cMY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=xdUCeg-HekqFMEHL
Lord of the Red Deck Profile
th-cam.com/video/7LXIfXlsq-w/w-d-xo.htmlsi=d6avh_emfgdbXJrj
Ritual dogmatika Deck Profile
th-cam.com/video/nb16Kv1NiVw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=F5hPrwHHJxwmnSYq
Libromancer Vs Punk
th-cam.com/video/LCAchTZIKpk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-Odi4CPSnGklDZjZ
Libromancer Deck Lists
ygoprodeck.com/deck/libromancer-286603
ygoprodeck.com/deck/adventurer-libromancer-289737
Libromancer Deck Profile
th-cam.com/video/kY9hBRvPSKo/w-d-xo.htmlsi=wlgWTRhrgW58Shpq
Libromancer Combos
th-cam.com/video/qVNNqVPhy3I/w-d-xo.htmlsi=C3be__-vMXUVSwCB
Illusion of Chaos Combos
th-cam.com/video/MGg3cY5GVwQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=yaxUYwXRWdzhdPBg
Mikanko Deck List
ygoprodeck.com/deck/mikanko-395860
Gen and Ken Mikanko
th-cam.com/video/Wn8w_1aXPo4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=z2fcd43UaOMW5JLK
Jeff Lenard Exodia
th-cam.com/video/v-YviA5KOzg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=L9Kuuyivp6rGwROQ
Nouvelles Combos
th-cam.com/video/jFlRc8DJ828/w-d-xo.htmlsi=4Bvy2i4lt9TjKBlb
Nouvelles Gameplay
th-cam.com/video/abwXUErZw7c/w-d-xo.htmlsi=KtneFC3tr15UUKcf
Voiceless Voice Deck List
ygoprodeck.com/deck/voiceless-voice-506991
I am surprised no VCY mention for the Vendread side.
Can I have the name of the song playing at 3:23 it sounds familiar, and the curiosity is killing me.
@@royalgreed4499 Risk of Ran 2 OST - Terra Pluviam - by Chris Christodoulou
Forgets about Gemini summoning
@resphantom you missed the point of the video.
Fun fact, in rush duels, Rutials are in the extra deck, basicly fixing the biggest problem with them.
Not that we have them yet of course, they've been teased by the second-to-latest episode but we'll have to see exactly what the implementation is like. I'm imagining they'll probably only tribute from field at first like how Fusion was done.
But if that is the case what is the difference with fusions?
@@moipessoa7145 They're Blue, completely different
@@moipessoa7145 If I had to guess levels vs specific materials. And you may be able to do a 2 card ritual where fusions you'd need a contact fusion for a 2 card fusion. My gut feeling is they could be used in decks that rely on a higher quantity of higher level monsters like certain maximum decks where you may have a duplicate maximum in hand that could make for decent ritual fodder.
@@BasicLee_ i mean links are just powercrept synchros, one of the worst fucking designed cards ever, even pendulums at least had uniqueness, i was waiting for monster trap merges but instead got master rule 4 trash that banned all extra deck monsters other than links
Honestly i love that ritual monster is in the main deck. While by all means it is a detrument to their playability, it really adds an unique flavor to the mechanic that the other summon methods don't have
Waiter, waiter, more bricks please!
@@illseeyaonthedarksideofthemoon hell yeah i love eating bricks🧱
Same ngl, though tbh kinda wish that more of them had effects while they're waiting in the wings like hand traps or graveyard effects
It is kinda to say the weird kid in the family is not weird but ✨ special ✨
@@jakett2216 Cool idea.
Dont let the blu cards fool you, nephthys are a link spam deck. It just so happens that it starts the combos by ritual summoning a lv2 monster
So it's still a blue card deck. Just a different shade of blue.
One fun thing I found was to use Nekroz Kaleidoscope to summon multiple Ritual monsters. All I need is any lvl 12 monster in my extra deck, and I usually can summon at least 2 Nekroz. Get out another one, and bam. The setup is right there to unleash a Nephtys, the Sacred Flame, with all 3 terrifying effects. Sure. It's not invincible. But can't be destroyed by battle, card effects, and can't be targeted with card effects, while coming out swinging with 4800 atk.
There absolutely are better cards out there, but it has surprised a few people already due to how out of nowhere it comes in a non Nephtys deck.
@@Stinkoman87 Fair enough
@@lusterlessnova3199 id say they also don't expect It in nephthys, but they still get surprised when the ritual spell that I just told them can pop a card, pops a card
Ritual monsters are some of my favorites, too. It's unfortunate that the two worst mechanics - Fusions and Rituals - are also the ones that Kazuki Takahashi himself made, with decks of those types generally only being good if they circumvent some mechanic or another.
The tradeoff there is that they're also fairly intuitive, flavor-wise, and that vaguely occult like tinge to them is exactly why I like them. For Fusions you make an unholy abomination by, well, fusing two of your monsters. For Rituals you call forth a powerful monster by offering weaker ones as sacrifices. On that last point, Ritual monsters might never have existed in the first place had tribute summoning been a rule in Duelist Kingdom. Thematically the two are kind of redundant.
I keep having to remind myself that modern Yugioh is _not_ the one we played back in the day. They even took Takahashis name off the reprints.
Something is wearing yugioh's skin.
Relinquished has always been one of my favourite cards. The whole unsettling aura it gives off, combined with killing your opponent using their own monsters makes it so cool to use. The fact that it is a 1-star monster is also a nice bonus.
If you like the spooky vibe, there's some crazy jp trailers with thousand eyes idol showing all the eyes opening. Og duel monsters had some great horror themeing.
Still have mine from over 20 years ago
Still play it as my main deck on masterduel. You would be surprised how easy it is to bait out negates from a board. Danger! Kaiju relinquished. Kaiju clears omninegates like Barrone and Appolusa, base relinquished can bait out negates, then use danger to spam summon and draw to get to either relinquished fusion or verte for the thousand eyes. And its ability to negate ALL copies of a card it absorbs can shut down many major decks by negating all its starters and extenders.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that because of herald, we can never have a full on LIGHT Fairy ritual archetype
A solution would be to have the archetype name lock summons, "Can't ritual summon except [insert archetype name] monsters for the rest of the turn."
Just ban the hand traps, cause going for the rituals means you’ll probably add impcantations to the deck, then you’ll probably need to add cyber angels, oh and don’t forget about non engine, and… the deck list is full, damn
Cyber Angel is literally a full on LIGHT Fairy ritual archetype
Maybe not, but Paladin of White Dragon makes Blue Eyes decks awesome, they're the fastest way I've ever been able to summon a Blue Eyes in one turn from scratch, even on first turn.
Too bad Galaxy Eyes and XYZs make Blue Eyes decks look like a joke.
@@Loku242 I'm pretty sure modern Blue-Eyes deck can spit out BEWD without needing a clunky ritual.
Rush Duels only got their Rituals last week, this video missed the timing
OF COURSE LMAO
Rush duels don't count though
@@Lucario1121 They count, dummy
@@Lucario1121 Yes they do
👍
Right timing because in the side format (Rush), ritual is now introduced as an extra deck mechanic but using a specific ritual spell and face up monsters on field with the exact levels.
So basically a middle ground between Rush Fusions and Synchros with the Spell requirements instead of the Tuner + non-Tuner requirements.
@@autobotstarscream765 reminds me of duelist kingdom, Yugi and Pegasus only ever played the spell, nowhere in their hands were the ritual monsters. I just always thought as a kid that's how rituals worked.
This sounds like the way it should be.
I will add on to the Vendread stuff. I think the main issue I see with the deck that is never really addressed is the fact that the non-ritual monsters are vanillas outside of their revival effect and inheritance effect. Unlike decks like Libromancer, the non ritual vendreads do not add any consistency when summoned and are dead cards in hand (a common design flaw in zombies), which makes deck building so difficult as you have to rely on a lot of non-engine to add vital cards which other ritual decks don't struggle with. That's why Scar is literally the best non ritual despite having no inheritance effect.
Imagine explaining the 60 card libromancer Mikanko pile that ends on savage trap kristya to an old school ritual player
Mikomancer piles were so cool, really versatile depending on what you start with, and really fun to come up with combos on the go
They'd laugh at you. Then ask if your prescription is filled.
I wish they'd just give ritual decks ritual versions of contact fusion and 'branded fusion'. Just slash the need to have everything in hand, or the need for a spell in the first place.
That or effects that just summon rituals from deck like the voiceless cards. I think giving rituals non-ritual spell summoning options like quickplays, traps, monsters is a good way to help them out.
@@yuno4573 true, one of the best parts of megalith is that it has a quick play ritual *from deck*, while you tribute twice the levels that frequently helps you rather than hurts you due to how the deck was designed. It really just needs more cards to help it do more with all the fodder it generates besides just being permanently welded together with the tally ho springans engine. I think its such a well made deck though, "cheats" the ritual summoning mechanic, but in a way that is totally fair because you must build entirely around it.
Or at the very least allow you to add the spell to your hand if you have the monster in your hand (and vice versa)
IMO I think slapping them in the extra deck is the way, all you need to do is pull a copy of the ritual spell and tribute the requirements from your hand or field like normal and they're way more viable.
i love rituals, theyre also my fav mechanic. i think a lot of them have very unique effects
but sometimes it can be very frustrating to play them because of how bricky they can be, even wirh all the support. nothing more annoying than getting pre-prep ashed and being left with no plays, or god forbid have an impcantation that only works with ritual spells in hand and having only ritual monsters
also, one day were gonna ge a card that tributes from the extra deck and summons from deck and it will be the branded fusion for rituals
Even with pre-prep, they can struggle. Voiceless voice is my main deck, and honestly, even when it resolves you have nothing to tribute. Often times I WANT them to ash pre prep, so that something more important can resolve, or so that I can turn on talents lmao
At least Rush Duels turned the ritual monsters into extra deck monsters, so the only concern is getting the spell and enough tribute fodders, and given how Rush Duels work, the only real concern is getting the spell
so they are blue fusion monster.
@@XxjeffersonDkidxXwell no, fusions are specific whilst Ritual is generic.
The truly fascinating thing is how rituals were originally conceived pre-OCG as being even worse than they are by requiring more specific sacrifices (which we can see in some early video games like Forbidden memories).
37:55 My dear love, this is why I fell in love with Mikanko and Libromancer, introducing me to the world of Rituals
I really hope we get Isolde back someday
Odd-Eyes Pendulumgraph is my favorite example of ritual design due its separation of rewards depending on if you actually ritual summoned it. A searcher, spell negate, and an Odd-Eyes Extra Deck cheat all in one. I would love to see this kind of decision making in the future.
Correction: Megalith Och summoned Black Chaos MAX, not Phul.
and now we have dyna mondo so we don't have to run the bad megalith anymore 🙂
Great video
Every since the introduction of odd eyes pendulumgraph dragon, I’ve been wanting Konami to design a pendulum ritual theme. There’s a lot of potential u can do with it.
Some rough ideas for gimmicks I have
- pendulum summoning rituals monsters instead of ritual summoning them
- using a pendulum effect to ritual summon
ryu-ge is an interesting new way of cheating the mechanic. as a scale its just added consistency, but it ritual summons itself via its own monster effect while in the face up extra. unfortunately it has no other ritual members to make use of that gimmick so for now its just gonna be a engine to get out protos and varudras.
Rank 10 Gishkis with Gustav Max saw me a lot of local and some regional success in 2013-2015. Non-targeting, non-destruction removal from a level 10 monster offered one of the few good outs to Apoqliphort Towers, and followed up with a consistent OTK. Love the deck to pieces.
I like that this video showcased the peaks and valleys of Ritual summoning as a mechanic, because I never realized how often when Ritual decks were busted vs how often theyre a joke
But they have some of the coolest themes in the game
Very nice through back to old formats watchg this. Great video as always. Also love your effort in documenting the history of yugioh in book form. That is so cool and we really need to have this documented properly somewhere.
I had an idea for a new type of summoning you can make the card red since that color isn't used yet since rituals can't really use the extra deck that well make the new summoning type only available to Ritual monsters and make it like a reverse Synchro so if I have a level 8 ritual monster I can summon any number of RED CARD monsters from my extra deck to the field that equal exactly the level of the ritual used to summon it. No RED cards can be used as tribute or materials for any card. not even links unless it's stated on the card for future proof
after getting into game design, i thought monsters that say "cannot be normal, set or special summoned except by....'' could have technically been rituals, Dark Armed Dragon you can ritual summon him OR if you have exactly 3 dark monsters in grave, special summon him without ritual summoning.
To me it will never cease to be funny the first line of text Dogmatika Alba Zoa has its like you can see the game designers realizing how much of a mistake Drytron is
Also Dogmatika Ritual and Vendread are the sickest ritual archetypes
Fantastic video, your editing style and presentation always makes these kinds of videos a joy to watch
Legendary video as always, sir.
Ritual decks usually fall into 2 categories.
Gimmicky deck with some potential.
Or the most unfair shit imaginable.
The only competitive Ritual deck that isn't completely unfair is Voicless Voice, but that deck barely feels like a Ritual deck and barely interacts with the Ritual mechanic.
6:34 One of the Things we tend to Forget about the Better Ritual Spells these days, is that both:
Gralandorf and Northwemko were the Proto/Testing Grounds for Future Ritual Cards! Them along with Djinns allowed for the return of Demise OTK.
Sure Garlandorf. Or Northwemko saw much play, their Ritual Spells did something that EVERY RITUAL CARD NEEDED! Additional Graveyard Trigger Effects to continue playing!
These Cards Stumbled so Gishki could Walk, and Help Nekroz Run!
A while back, I came up with a ritual archetype. The idea is that the ritual monsters would be able to summon themselves by tributing monsters in hand or on the field. The ritual spells would be additional means to summon these monsters without traditional means. One would send materials from deck. One would banish materials from grave. The last would banish materials from Extra Deck.
(I have not played since the start of Rush Duels so I don't know if something like this exists.)
Megalith kinda?
Elemental Mistress Doriado remains my favorite card in the entire game, and I still can't fucking use it worth a damn.
Thank you for your work on categorizing legacy formats, the community will be much healthier if we can easily delve into retro formats and organize events around them, keep the game fresh and introduce new players in a more welcoming environment lol.
i appreciate rituals and its rich history a lot more now just from this video so thanks so much. really glad to see this popped up on my home page feed so shortly after its release. sometimes being subbed isnt enough for that to happen often but i think its because i keep going back to the 2 year old vid about all the yugioh archetypes every so often
Like this video mention, the problem of Ritual Summoning mechanic is in their need to 3 key component exist at the same time: 1. The Ritual Spell 2. The Ritual Monster itself 3. The Material.
While currently Voiceless Voice is strong, linear and newbie friendly, I hope in the future there is more innovation on the mechanic itself, tweaking the 3 key component as mention above. For example, treating Rank and Link Rating as the same as LV for Ritual Summon can open a new possibility. Ritual Summoning using your oppenent monster ala Super Polymerization. Instead placing it to your Extra Deck, you can banish your Ritual Monster and then you can Ritual Summon it from there.
The part of the video going over Drytons and how they assimilate all ritual support and archetypes was very interesting, I have seen people point out the same thing about Pend tendency to just become piles
Libromancers are some of the coolest cards the Ritual Mechanic has seen imo. Ill live and die on that hill (paired with Nekroz gives them a trap card Liromancer Intervention going 1st).
Megalith monster's functioning like Ritual spells was neat.....except the combo lines are way too long to end on boards other decks did less to end on.
Drytron is truly absurd thing to show to new players is its ability to completely skip your opponent's turn. And it even have multiple flavors of it. And even if Beatrice is banned, there are still multiple lines to do it.
10 negates is the same thing, it's yugioh, you better Nibiru that shit or go first
True same reasons yugioh bad now @@sepheiba
Something I can think of to improve is that once per turn you can ritual summon a ritual monster directly from the main deck, in addition to including an additional main deck where you can optionally place the ritual monsters. The additional main deck would still be part of the main deck, so the maximum number of cards would still be 60, with a minimum of 40 in the main main deck.
Would be fun, but honestly I'd like that as more an archtype specific thing
As a fan of Rituals too, I wanna point out the existence of the CASH deck that I used to play and love during the "Wild Era" of Rituals between Nekroz and Drytron.
Cyber Angel Saphira Herald is just a loop of synergistic Lv 6 Rituals using Star Seraphs as base fodder for Herald of Nope and the eventual R4nk Toolbox.
Saphira recurred one of the Fairies discarded for Herald per turn.
It was rogue at best iirc, but it was really fun to pilot. It was like having a MTG Counterspell machine gun.
Looks like the next rush anime is gonna be extra deck ritual focused(?)
We just introduced contact fusions a few months ago i swear synchro should have been next but i guess extra deck rituals are cool too,cause so far the only ritual we have "seen" (the monster was obscured)
is a level 11 that used 3 monsters on the field to play it, and he had no ritual monster in his hand
So its probably going to be the most "generic" extra deck mechanic in rush cause the fusions still require accurate names
only at 9min
but fusing rituals with xyz sounds so cool
but of course the fact you need the ritual monster in hand with the spell and 2 level fours makes it like you need to draw a lot during that turn you wanted to do it
Great video. I hope to see more! Highlight some Neo Spacian Grand Mole for us! Love and miss that card.
Thanks for the mention 29:09 ❤
Keep up the good work with the best worst mechanic
The problem with rituals is how unlike every other type they dont go off with single card starters. Fusion spells can search their materials, synchros only need a single tuner and xyz and links reward you for doing exactly what you already want to do wich is building a board and then they can be summoned easily
A once per a turn generic ritual spell card with Guardian Chimera effect to draw and destroy card(s) depending on the tributes location.
loved this video! (wish you mentioned the photon hypernova wave of gishki support but still incredible work
One thing that might help is allowing ritual spell cards to work on ritual monsters in your deck, that way while you'd still risk having a brick at least you wouldn't need both at the same time.
Great Video. Life-Changing. TH-cam put this thing in the boosting algorithm!
Great video man! Honestly, playing Drytrons always gives this type of underdog feeling against the ever evolving modern decks. It makes it even better when I win! I just hope that Komani will continue expanding the ritual monster pool and drag up somthing unique and cool
Ngl, i read the name before the thumbnail loaded and completely expected pendulum, but Im surprised.
Banger video though
In DuelingBook, I made a deck of custom cards, that use Ritual Summons in a new way, here's how: You play the custom Ritual Spell "Fate Magic of Summoning", then you reveal a "SevenLands" Ritual Monster in your hand, then reveal any and all cards in your hand, that are mentioned in that monster's text. You summon the monster, and discard the other revealed cards. All but one of the "SevenLands" Ritual Monsters mention exactly 1 "Fate Magic" spell or trap (the one monster that doesn't, mentions no cards, and thus can be summoned by the Ritual Spell alone) - This way I tribute spells/traps instead of monsters to summon Ritual Monsters. Also, I made a card that lets you reveal a total of 3 Ritual Spells and Ritual Monsters, to draw 2 cards. Basically a Pot of Greed that can only be played if you're almost certainly bricked. On top of that, I also made an insane XYZ monster, that uses 2 Level 8 Ritual Monsters as material, because funny
Demise is still one of my favorite cards in the game. I remember running it against my friends who had a bunch of meta or more modern decks at the time and feeling like god when demise came out and wiped the field.
Although I personally love Synchros more than any summoning mechanic, I honestly feel sorry for Ritual monsters. One of my all-time favorite monsters is Black Luster Soldier (along with his variants), but his Ritual versions haven't learned anything from their very first non-Ritual brother, who himself was one of the most powerful cards ever, if not his best to this date. At least BLS - Super Soldier lets you summon a Gaia monster if he's destroyed and inflicts burning damage, but his other skills, like banishing any card or attacking twice, should be included in his card itself instead of being given to him as a lackluster support. Three of my favorite Ritual Monsters are DARK: Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon (my favorite Blue-Eyes card ever), the original Demise, and Borreload Riot Dragon.
It's sad to see Fusions be streamlined so much to the point where fusion spells are optional, or non-existent. It sucks flavor out of the summoning mechanic, but it's what needs to occur in the modern era of Yugioh...
Ritual is my favorite summoning mechanic as well, but not because of how it works, because of how it COULD work. I remember when Ritual cards first came out and I was so excited because of the possibility space that was available to design in. But sadly, those possibilities were never used, never realized. (Also, the monster cards should have been in the Fusion deck from the start. I get that they didn't because that was still for only fusion cards, but man the mechanic would have been better right out of the gate if they had)
For me, I see Rituals as a more interesting way to expand what a person is trying to do in a game. You are trying to complete a ritual, and rituals don't HAVE to be limited to just sacrificing. There are so many other things that could be parts of a ritual. Discarding cards, attacking, beating other monsters with an attack, drawing cards, summoning, and so many more. Think of the possibilities that are on the table here: You could put a Ritual Spell card down that says "Destroy 1 monster from battle and discard 1 card. Special summon 1 [Insert Ritual Card Name]". Now in order to special summon that card, you don't just tribute materials (like every other summoning mechanic in the game) you are trying to complete tasks. Now there's a reason to get into combat! And you still have to sacrifice a card. And Ritual cards are uniquely perfect for this kind of mechanic since there's a ton of space to list out all the requirements, whereas other cards are limited in space.
With a system like this the game could have opened up so much more by making powerful cards that players can get, once they complete a series of tasks. But unfortunately, Ritual cards have been treated like every other summon mechanic, just tribute monsters.
my brother in christ, yet another banger. *chef's kiss*
Maybe in a new master rule for the ocg/tcg they could place rituals in the ED. All searchers can still add them from ED to hand, in case they have in-hand effects (nekroz/mikanko) but you could just summon them from the ED with a ritual spell
That Demise OTK was so iconic, they dropped it on one of the NPC's of Tag Force, Wisteria. It's one of the reasons I liked her a lot.
Want to make a few timeline corrections, Dawn of the Herald beat Aquamirror to the punch as a recursive ritual spell, interesting for fueling herald some more. Second, Hymn of Light was released before machine angel ritual as a spell with an in grave protection eff, though I don’t blame anyone for forgetting about saffira
I don't know. If we're counting all the different effect monster supertypes, then gemini and their on-field tribute summon is a million times worse.
At least ritual monsters have good support, and some ritual monsters today aren't even bricks (such as Ohime or Illusion of Chaos). Its about on par with synchros in terms of modern day support, and both of those are a lot better than pendulum (since every pendulum deck that isn't some weird gimmick archetype like Vaylantz combos for half an hour and ends on the same generic bosses; hell, even Vaylantz ended on stuff like Apollousa when she was still a legal card).
Like, i happen to enjoy ritual archetypes a lot because building decks around that sort of restriction is a lot of fun. Its a pretty healthy mechanic for the game, even if it isn't always great from a competitive standpoint.
Also, when the fuck is Lo going to get reprinted? They already reprinted Poplar in the 2024 tins.
Awesome video.
Thoughts on current Cardfight vanguard? maybe a video on it?
I think you should've at least mentioned THE Ritual Deck off 2010, Herald Control. It's often overlooked because it came out right after Edison, but it actually got some YCS tops! Jeff Jones got 5th with it at YCS Chicago for example.
Rituals are my second favorite summoning mechanic, and Nouvelles is my favorite ritual deck.
Nouvelles is extremely fun to play, especially when you eat away at your opponent's board going second. I definitely think it could get 2-3 more support cards, though, since they only got 1 wave with 2 support cards
when I found out Link Monsters where blue I wondered if they where related to rituals / a replacement? Then I found out they are not and had the thought of "wow they care so little for Rituals that they dont care about reusing their color"
TBH I kinda think Link Monsters should have been red.
Rituals could probably work better in rush duels as the amount of cards you can keep drawing and the smaller deck size, it is already much easier to make rituals work in duel links as a Cyber angle deck in Duel links u can have a good 6 cyber angle ritual cards in a 20 card deck so already you have more than a quarter of your cards being the ritual cards
My personal favorit attempt at rituals was megalith
They have a unique summoning style, can easily ritual summon from the deck, and can have generic rituals splashed into it
Its kinda sad that they got overshadowed by drytron, and not really expanded uppon more, forcing them to exist in a state where they need external help spashed in to even have a good enough win con
I have theorized if they would print double sided cards such like cards in MTG that transform. They could implement ritual spells that given its effect resolve you flip the card from the sleeve and reveal its ritual monster. If the monster is sent to the gy or anywhere it is still considered a monster. At least its another way to avoid bloating the main deck with ritual and ritual monster
Fantastic video as always! Its a treat to see you in my subscription feed. To add my perspective, Id argue that ritual is an unfortunate victim of Konami's early approach to 1999-2004 Yugioh.
Yugioh was originally handled like a toyline. Rather than selecting cards that fit your strategy, the advantage came in owning the best cards. Rituals were introduced in Japan as particuly rare cards that allowed you to special summon a strong monster quickly. While the method was complicated and required you to get your hands on two cards, its speed would give you a leg up on the competition. Imagine being a kid and opening the duel with black luster soldier while your opponent was summoning Celtic Guardian. Remember, special summoning was a luxury when the game first came out.
Rituals had a mystique in that you needed a matching monster and spell. The idea was that you would pull one of the cards and desperately search for the other. Remember, this was 20+ years ago, so the Internet wasn't the same.
In the anime,manga, and video games, rituals were a little different. You needed a ritual spell and a certain recipe of monsters that would transform your monster into its ritual form. They were presented as a technique that only true experts knew and even fewer could pull off. While we cant magically conjure a ritual monster in real life, Konami tried to replicate the feel by having rituals be something truly special.
Unions and Fusions early on also demanded specific monsters to get the most out of them.
i love how at the start of the video he straight up ignores Pendulums (as he should)
Question: What is Okt.2023 "Overlord" format with S:P Little Knight as a thumb nail? Was that when a lot of different decks were viable and the meta was too diverse to give it a good name?
You baited me with the title. Great video.
I've never been a huge fan of rituals. However, I should probably mention the new Ryu-Ge ritual that goes to the Extra Deck in order to search a card and then can ritual summon himself from the Extra Deck when the certain conditions are met.
YGO format history book sounds like an awesome idea!
2:35 As well as it could use Sinister serpent or treeborn frog as tribute, making its summon a -1 instead of a -2.
Eagerly awaiting that Shinobird list! I learned about them after opening the recent legacy support and went "oh my god winged beast spirit rituals, right in my wheelhouse!!!!" lmao
I wish they had the foresight to make ritual spells more interesting. Like, use the field grid and make you have to, say, have a spellcaster in one square, than a warrior one square apart in order to ritual summon a monster. Like, make your monsters arrange themselves in a specific pattern in order to fulfill the ritual.
I really want modern day playable Guardian retrains, Yugioh's worst archetype and yet my favorite (archetype) ever since I first saw Rafael play them in Waking the Dragons, I'm still building Guardian Eatos and Dreadscythe deck variants to this day. Although I grew up as "The Kaiba/BEWD player" in my friend group as a kid (we had a Pegasus fanboy, a Yugi fanboy etc who all played decks focussed around those anime protags when we were kids, ah fond memories) as soon as Guardians appeared they've lived rent free in my head as my all time favorite cards which really hurts that they are straight up also the worst in the game.
I love ritual cards myself and played a blue eyes deck maining blue eye chaos max dragon. That deck wouldn’t be relevant now but for time very good.
Can you continue the Tier lists videos please 🙏 ?
It's interesting how every competitive ritual deck prior to Voiceless was trying to do something degenerate. Then VV rolled around and Konami said "what if we turned rituals into a control strategy?"
Blue Eyes, Megalith, Nekroz, Drytron, Herald....the list of meta cards is short and generally hated when good. Ritual decks need recursivity, but can't have too much blowout potential without the right cards.
36:14 Libromancer looks very COMPLEX
I didn't play back when the Gustkraken Handloop was popular but I've enjoyed the Deck in Duel Links, Master Duel, and paper. I *LOVE* Gishki Nekromirror for giving helpful removal but Christ man it gets rough paying 3200 for Zielgigas.
I think if Ritual monster going to the extra deck and you can ritual summon with the ritual spell cards and monster in your hand or table, that would make ritual viable. They just need to limit the ritual spell search cards to balance it out.
If I were to create a new ritual archetype, I would use the core limitations as combo pieces.
Ritual Monsters need 3 things: The Monster itself in hand, the Ritual Spell and sufficient material in hand or on board. It makes them inherently bricky. SO:
1) Ritual Monsters.
Besides having unique effects, I would make them pull double duty as material. Meaning: Each ritual monster has an effect, that says: If you use this card as material for a ritual summon, you may search for one other Ritual monster and add it to your hand. They should also reinforce each other. Smaller ritual monsters giving protection to the larger ones, which draw focus onto themselves, instead of going the lazy "lets slap a negate on" approach.
2) Ritual Spells.
These should give you unique benefits if you go for a larger minus and reward you for being precise. If you ritual summon using material which level adds up precisely to the ritual summoned monster: You may use the following effects in sequence depending on the amount of monsters used as material.
1+: Draw a card.
2+: The ritual summoned monsters attack doubles until the end of the turn.
3+: The ritual summoned monster can not be targeted or destroyed by an opponents card effect as long as this Ritual Spell is in the GY.
5+: Destroy all opponents monsters and spells. Only the Ritual summoned monster can attack this turn.
3) Ritual Material.
To add onto the Ritual Monster double duty: The regular effect monsters should act as fodder that gives you just straight up advantage. Make them draw, search or destroy an opponents card if they were used as Ritual Material. Amplify the effect if this card was on the field. (Example: A draw 1 from the hand becomes a draw 2 on the field. Or special summon a effect monster of lower level from the deck if it was used as ritual material.)
And if I were to use a theme, I would go the Kozmo route of mixing different media (Star Wars and Wizzard of Oz in the case of Kozmo).
I would use a Warhammer Adeptus Mechanicus mixed with the Machine King line from old Yugioh. The main monsters are psychic. Humans augmented with technology. Think tech priests. While the Rituals are Machine-King esque old looking machines. Not cyberse Cyberdragon Number 400. More Ancient gear, less Drytron.
The Goal of this would be: Do go for one big smash. The Boss monster gaining attack from other machines (Machine-King esque) on the field and GY. Perhaps gaining additional effects like piercing, double attacking or Battlephase effect nulification based on the amount of ritual machines on the field. The smaller ones grant destruction protection or tribute protection. They should also have GY effects that help you extend the game for a bit. Like preventing battle and effect damage for a turn. So if you can not go for the big smash yet, you will have to extend the duel for 1 or 2 turns to set up your big beater. And once you do: You summon a 4-5k protected beater that then doubles and goes for game.
I think the most crucial thing hurting any potentially viable ritual deck is just how unbelievably bad they are into targetted hate that already covers meta matchups. Droll is and always has been an FTK against ritual strategies. D-barrier is already good for other matchups yet also has to let you call ritual too. Shifter hoses every ritual deck. They need to figure out a way in which to make ritual function *without* searches being so mandatory. The only way I can think to do this is to just totally cheat the mechanic with "summon X ritual ignoring the summoning conditions" printed on all the cards, or some sort of absurd extra deck monster that is functionally megalith phul for the archetype. And of course the ritual boss monsters in the main deck need completely absurd effects like herald of perfection to even be considered worth the trouble. Either that or design more decks like mikanko where the ritual is just a part of the engine that is only a ritual monster for the sake of making it super searchable.
The old video games had Rituals even more difficult via very specific ritual materials, ugh.
We need an archetype like megalith but with ritual pendulums where they're all ritual spells in the pendulum scale
They should add some mildly overpowered generic ritual monsters that people can use like the famous generic synchro and Xyz monsters a lot of decks use, make it similar somehow to the power level of Baronne de flour, appaloosa, and the super poly fusions
Rituals have to balance filling their deck with A+B bricks and negative card advantage vs. absurd recursion and being stepping stone slaves to other Extra deck summon types.
Wonder if we'll ever see Ritual Monsters that make you put them into the Extra Deck, but prevent you from putting any non-ritual monsters in the extra deck.
I think rituals can be way to broken if unchecked.
Rituals have some type of boss like effects now imagine if they had more genetic effects like search, add, draw, and discard to apply effects like negating with extra etc effects without using a ritual spell as cost.
is like having a deck made of only side deck monsters if rituals were truly unleash with freedom of effects.
Ritual have another strength that rituals can be considered as archetype and they are not restricted to 15 card limit like those in the side deck.
I remember when Vandreads came out and I thought they were so cool. Buuuuut they suck so freaking bad. Ever since then, I’ve really been loving Cyber Angels. Getting Vrash out with a board of Special Summoned monsters on my opponent’s field means a possible 6000+ damage at maximum and a possible 3000 at minimum
Kinda why I see synchros as an evolution of ritual, instead of both a spell and monster it's usually a tuner that can start a combo with a search
You still get the cool level sum condition and the monster comes straight from the extra, solving the cost/dead card issue
ROR2 ost ✅
Ritual video ✅
some good fucking food
stuff to watch at 3:20 am EU
the one deck I kept from back when I played Yugioh is my Herald of Perfection deck.
That's how much I love ritual summon.
Impcantations and Blue Eyes Chaos Max can pretty easily OTK with spells that force a monster into your opponent's field, like Shien's Spy, or spells that swap your monster with your opponent's. That's my most successful deck in Master Duel.
Me who played relinquished in 3rd grade as kid, chaos maxed dragon as teen and now mikanko and voiceless voice are my loved decks for tournament just trolling and fun easy 2 understand
The only ritual deck I really like is Megalith, with a very small light angel engine and 7 Impcantation cards it is stupidly consistant, have pretty ok recovery and easily put good monsters on both player's turns.
For more casual duels it is fine and budget
The big issue I see with Rituals is the main thing that distinguished them from Fusions (and now the rest of extra deck mechanics) since the beginning, which is them being main deck monsters. This is what makes the mechanic so search demanding in my opinion, and the main design point which Konami struggled to build around or in spite of, something that ultimately led to the current Ritual theme taking a hit in the banlist every time they become meta until the release of Voiceless Voice. I feel like the way they have to design Rituals going forward is to basically do Voiceless Voice 2.0, 3.0 and so on, if they don't want to end up in another Nekroz/Drytron situation. Or finally bend the rules and make Rituals an extra deck mechanic at the cost of neglecting the mechanic's core identity and gimmick among special summon gimmicks.
Ritual monster summons are actually a huge advantage if you use them right and have a deck equipped to shortcut them. They have very powerful effects alot of the time, and there are many cards like Manju, Senju, and Sonic Bird that when summoned can allow you to reach into your deck to add the ritual monster or its spell to your hand, and as an added bonus, if you're ritual summoning a level four or lower monster, you can use the manju, senju, or sonic bird you just normal summoned to ritual summon in the same turn. I went the extra mile back in the day and made a deck that shortcut summons Blue Eyes White Dragon in one turn. The strategy is to summon manju, senju, or sonic bird the second i draw a Paladin of White Dragon or its spell card, ritual summon Paladin, use it to instantly erase a set defense monster to the grave if there is one, then tribute Paladin to use its effect and special summon Blue Eyes all in one turn.
Its not the worst mechanic, its a mechanic with a learning curb in deck construction to pull off to make use of their full potential. Now ritual monsters with no effects...those are garbage.
I think you'd enjoy watching the video
BZZT! gemini monster were printed at one point in time, she should be thoroughly laughed at