One of the mainstays of Yu-Gi-Oh! is the different ways one is able to summon strong monsters, usually from the extra deck. However, one of the first special monster types, the ritual monster, doesn't use the extra deck while still having unique summoning mechanics. Despite being around since near the beginning of the game and seeing at least some consistent competitive play, they have never been able to compare to many non-ritual monsters, even though they often have extremely powerful abilities.

Ritual monsters were introduced to the TCG in September 2002, only a few months after the release of fusion monsters in March of the same year. To this day, ritual monsters are the only monster type with a unique summoning mechanic to function within the main deck, giving them a niche within the game that makes them stand out.

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Fortress Whale from YuGiOh

While there are exceptions, such as the Nekroz and Drytron archetypes, almost all ritual decks are considered a gimmick or simply for fun because of how much resources it takes to bring them out. A basic ritual summoning requires a player to have the ritual monster one wants to summon in hand, as well as a ritual card capable of summoning it -- which almost all specify a specific ritual monster or archetype.

On top of this, players must tribute monsters with a combined level equal to or greater than the monster being summoned. This means that a level seven ritual monster quite likely requires four cards including itself to hit the field without the advantage of always having access to it like extra deck monsters have. This means, for a ritual monster to see use, it needs to be borderline broken for the cost to be worth it, such as skipping the opponents next Main Phase while also negating the effects of fusion, synchro, and xyz monsters in the case of Amorphactor Pain, The Imagination Dracoverlord.

Two ritual decks that have seen competitive success in the past are Nekroz and Drytron, both of which take their place due to breaking the rules of ritual monsters. In the case of Nekroz, they run their spell card Nekroz Kaleidoscope, which allows them to send a monster from the extra deck to the graveyard to summon as many Nekroz ritual monsters as long as the combined total equals the sent monsters level. This allows them to get around the issue of using monsters in hand or on the field, allowing the deck to maintain card advantage and momentum which is one of the most important aspects of the Yu-Gi-Oh! meta.

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Drytron Meteonis Quadrantids

The other deck which is currently the most competitive ritual deck in Drytron, which uses attack instead of levels to bring out ritual monsters. Their ritual spell card even allows them to summon any ritual monster from the hand or graveyard. The archetype has cards that allow one to search out ritual monsters and other combo pieces. This allows players to get around nearly all the downsides of ritual monsters. Since Drytron monsters also tend to have 2000 attack, they can easily bring out high level ritual monsters with only two monsters, something that many other ritual decks are unable to do.

Every success of ritual monsters simply proves how bad they actually are in general. What ultimately makes certain examples good is the fact that they don't follow the rules set for ritual monsters, often mixed with effects that would get an extra deck monster nearly immediately banned. Despite this, this is likely the only path ritual monsters have going forward, as their rules were too clunky even when released, meaning there is little to no hope of them truly being used without these benefits.