Ritual monsters: yet another remake

[Valkhon]

While recent Ritual monsters and archetypes are designed to overcome the fundamental flaws of the mechanic, I still want to hear some thoughts about my personal version of Rituals. Note that this could be a completely new monster type, I just reused the flavour (and the colour). This approach renders Rituals extremely generic, somewhat taking Xyz's place.

 

1) Ritual monsters become Extra Deck monsters.

 

Nothing too unexpected so far.

Now, what is a Ritual monster? To me they are spirits of creatures, maybe exiled, maybe from a different era, that are no more capable of assuming a form in the "real" world; they could do so only by means of a medium, a body that hosts them.

 

2) During your Main Phase, you can activate a monster you control as a Ritual spell.

 

Things start getting interesting.

The process of recalling a Ritual monster requires the host to enter a special state, in which they free their body from consciousness, waiting for the spirit to reshape them. You can activate as many "monsters" as you want. A monster/Ritual spell used to Ritual Summon is a Ritual Material. A Ritual spell behaves as follows.

 

3) This card (the Ritual spell) remains on the field after activation. During your next Main Phase (1 or 2) after the turn this card is activated: Send this card to the Graveyard (mandatory), then Ritual Summon 1 Ritual monster from your Extra Deck whose Level is equal to the Level of this card as a monster.

 

TL;DR: You move a monster you control to a Spell & Trap Zone, and the next turn you send it to the Graveyard to Special Summon 1 Ritual monster with the same Level from the ED.

 

Basically you give up a monster for a turn, and in exchange you have an extremely generic Summon mechanic. Obviously, the Ritual spell can be destroyed by your opponent. They can also plan ahead knowing the Level of your Ritual monster, providing counterplay. If this mechanic seems too slow for the actual game I don't care much. Read this like: "Would you find this mechanic amusing in a game environment that was created with it in mind?"

 

A couple of examples:

 

 

The Ritual Material used to Ritual Summon this card must be a Normal monster. If this card battles: At the end of the Battle Phase, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of the Ritual Material in your Graveyard used to Ritual Summon this card.

 

 

If this is the only monster you control, it gains 2000 ATK. When this card in Attack Position is destroyed or Tributed: You can banish this card; immediately after this effect resolves, activate from your Graveyard 1 LIGHT monster as a Ritual spell.

 

Obviously, we can enhance the idea we are performing a Ritual in Decks that does it often, with support cards. For instance:

 

 

If you control a Ritual spell, this card cannot be destroyed, and you take no Battle Damage from a battle involving this card as the attack target. You can Ritual Summon monsters with up to 1 Level more than the Ritual Material for each "Flame Carrier of Rituals" you control in your Monster Zones. If a Ritual spell you control would be destroyed: You can Tribute this card instead.

 

And that's pretty much the idea. Refinement is surely needed, but the principle is there. Opinions?

[ChampionZero]

Definitely a viable concept, in fact it reminds me of Petit Moth and Cocoon of Evolution in a way. A brief state of inactivity that results in a more powerful monster. It's a fresh view on how Rituals work, and it doesn't seem like it'd be all that bad if the game had done this in the first place. I actually think this could be a good mechanic, but maybe not for ALL Ritual monsters. I could see an Archetype of Ritual Monsters that work like this.

 

That being said, there is the issue of you using a monster instead of a Ritual Spell makes summoning them more difficult. Before, you got the monster as soon as you lost any, but this way leaves your field potentially wide open. Also, the original mechanic requires that you tribute at least the level of the Ritual Monster, but this scenario requires a monster of the same level. The concept is overall good, but I feel like it's more restrictive than the previous one. If you dropped the "Same level" and instead you could summon a viable monster with an equal or lower level than the monster you lost, that would be better, and allow for a wide range of monsters to be used.

[Valkhon]

Thanks for your reply!

I always thought Rituals the way they are now feel out of place. Not because of the unreliability of the mechanic (an approach that is debatable but not inherently wrong), but because I don't see the need for it. Rituals monsters and spells could be a big super-archetype, and would still function in the same way without requiring any change.

That's way I think it's better to have a mechanic that has "hidden rules" on its own, instead of my version being just a subset of the current one. I'm talkative, I know.

 

Now, about the requirement of having the exact same Level. What I thought is the game can be in a state in which monsters are a cheap resource. This ends up in having weaker Rituals at low Levels, and that renders impossible to make Rituals a toolbox in place of Xyz (in my strange world). Forcing the same Level requirement means your opponent can guess what's coming in advance and prepare for it; being "counterable", Rituals can once again be strong!

 

Does it make sense? I might be plain wrong xD