There are two groups of summons: the ones you can only do once per turn, and the ones you can do as often as your cards allow. Most of the game’s big plays come from the second group.
Once per turn: Normal Summon or Set
Normal Summon: play a monster from your hand face-up in Attack Position. All Normal Monsters and most Effect Monsters can be summoned this way.
Normal Set: play a monster from your hand face-down in Defense Position instead. A Set monster is not considered “Summoned”.
You get one Normal Summon or Set per turn, not one of each. You can never play a monster from your hand in face-up Defense Position.
Tribute Summons (Level 5 and up)
Bigger monsters need you to Tribute (send to the Graveyard) monsters you control first:
| Monster Level | Tributes needed |
|---|---|
| 1–4 | None |
| 5–6 | 1 |
| 7 or higher | 2 |
A Tribute Summon uses your Normal Summon for the turn. Tributing face-down Defense Position is called a Tribute Set.
Flip Summon
Turn one of your face-down Defense Position monsters to face-up Attack Position, without a card effect. You can’t Flip Summon a monster the same turn you Set it, and you can’t flip it to face-up Defense. Flip Summons have no limit per turn.
Special Summons
A Special Summon is any summon that isn’t a Normal Summon or Set, and there’s no limit on how many you can do in a turn. Special Summoned monsters go to the field in your choice of face-up Attack or Defense Position, unless the card says otherwise.
Special Summons come from two places:
- Card effects, like “Special Summon 1 monster from your Graveyard”.
- Summoning methods built into the game: Fusion, Ritual, Synchro, Xyz, Pendulum and Link Summons.
One catch: Fusion, Synchro, Xyz, Link and other “Special Summon Monsters” must be properly summoned first before another card can bring them back. If a Synchro Monster goes from your Extra Deck to the Graveyard without being Synchro Summoned, you can’t revive it with a card effect.
Fusion Summon
Fusion Monsters live in your Extra Deck. To summon one, you need the specific Fusion Materials listed on it, in the places your summoning card allows, plus a summoning card like Polymerization.
- Activate the summoning card.
- Send the Fusion Materials to the Graveyard.
- Summon the Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck in face-up Attack or Defense Position.
Ritual Summon
Ritual Monsters live in your Main Deck. You need the Ritual Monster, its matching Ritual Spell, and the Tributes the Ritual Spell lists.
- Activate the Ritual Spell.
- Tribute the required monsters from your hand or field.
- Summon the Ritual Monster from your hand.
Synchro Summon
Synchro Monsters live in your Extra Deck. You need 1 face-up Tuner monster (it says “Tuner” next to its Type) plus any number of other face-up monsters, whose Levels add up exactly to the Synchro Monster’s Level.
Example: a Level 3 Tuner plus a Level 2 non-Tuner makes a Level 5 Synchro.
- Check the total Level.
- Send the materials from the field to the Graveyard.
- Summon the Synchro Monster from your Extra Deck.
Xyz Summon
Xyz Monsters live in your Extra Deck and have a Rank instead of a Level. You need face-up monsters of the same Level, as listed on the card. For example, a Rank 4 that asks for “2 Level 4 monsters”.
- Stack the materials on top of each other.
- Put the Xyz Monster on top of them.
The materials stay attached under the Xyz Monster. When a card tells you to “detach” a material, move one of them to the Graveyard. Tokens can’t be used as Xyz Materials.
Pendulum Summon
Pendulum Monsters can be played as monsters or activated as Spells in your leftmost and rightmost Spell & Trap Zones (your Pendulum Zones). Each has a Pendulum Scale number.
Once you have a Pendulum Monster in both Pendulum Zones, you can Pendulum Summon once per turn during your Main Phase: Special Summon as many monsters as you like whose Levels are between the two Scales, from your hand and face-up from your Extra Deck. With Scales of 1 and 8, you can summon Levels 2 to 7.
When a Pendulum Monster on the field would go to the Graveyard, it’s placed face-up in your Extra Deck instead, so you can Pendulum Summon it again later.
Link Summon
Link Monsters live in your Extra Deck. They have a Link Rating instead of a Level, red Link Arrows, and no DEF.
- Check the materials line (the “recipe”) on the card.
- Send face-up monsters from your field to the Graveyard. The number of materials must match the Link Rating.
- Summon the Link Monster.
A Link Monster you use as material can count as 1 material or as a number equal to its Link Rating. So a Link 3 that needs “2+ monsters” can use three monsters, or a Link 2 monster plus one more.
Link Monsters can never be in Defense Position.
Where Extra Deck monsters go
Since the 2021 rules update:
- Fusion, Synchro and Xyz Monsters can be summoned from the Extra Deck to any of your Main Monster Zones, or to the Extra Monster Zone.
- Link Monsters, and Pendulum Monsters summoned from the Extra Deck, must go to the Extra Monster Zone or a Main Monster Zone that a Link Monster points to.
Each player normally uses one Extra Monster Zone. That’s why Link Monsters are so important: their arrows open more zones for Link and Pendulum plays.
Actions your opponent can’t respond to
Summoning a monster, Tributing, changing battle positions and paying costs aren’t activations, so they can’t be chained to directly. Your opponent can still respond to an effect that triggers because of a summon. See How chains work.
Next: How chains work.