The Nekroz Ritual Monsters have effects that can be used in the hand and on the field, which gives them a lot of versatility and combo potential. In addition, they have 3 different Ritual Spells with which to Ritual Summon their monsters, and while they’re all very powerful, they all function slightly differently. Today we’ll discuss those Spell Cards and learn how to make the most of each of them!

Since your entire offense in a Nekroz Deck comes from Ritual Monsters, you’ll need a constant supply of them. Thankfully, the “Nekroz” Ritual Spells can easily ensure you have one all the time! During your Main Phase, if one of them is in your Graveyard and you control no monsters, you can it along with a ”Nekroz” monster to add a “Nekroz” Spell Card from your Deck to your hand. This gives you an easy way to get back in the game, and recover after your field has been cleared. We already discussed Nekroz Cycle, so let’s move on to the 2 new Ritual Spells!

Nekroz Mirror is about as close to a “regular” Ritual Spell as the Nekroz get – you Tribute monsters from the field or your hand, and then Ritual Summon a “Nekroz” Ritual Monster from your hand with an equal level to those monsters. Unlike other Ritual Spells though, you can even banish “Nekroz” monsters from your Graveyard to fuel the Ritual Summon! While Nekroz strategies do have some Graveyard manipulation available, you won’t be getting every card out of your Graveyard, so Nekroz Mirror will definitely make some cheap Ritual Summons off of banishing cards.

It’s worth noting the text on Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz as well – whenever you would Ritual Summon exactly 1 “Nekroz” Ritual Monster with a card effect that requires the use of monsters, you can use Shurit as the entire requirement. In the past, cards like this have only worked when they’re Tributed, but Shurit only cares about whether he is “used” for the Summon. This means that if you use Nekroz Mirror to Ritual Summon a “Nekroz”, you can banish Shurit from your Graveyard as the entire requirement! His second ability specifically requires him to be Tributed though, so don’t expect an extra search if you banish him from the Graveyard!

The second new “Nekroz” Ritual Spell is Nekroz Kaleidoscope, and this one’s a revolutionary new kind of Ritual Spell. With Kaleidoscope, you can Ritual Summon any number of “Nekroz” Ritual Monsters at the same time! The twist is that you can only Tribute 1 monster for the Summon and the total Levels of the monsters you Summon need to match the Tribute’s Level, which means you’ll need a huge monster if you want to Summon more than one monster at once. Fortunately, this card also has an alternative method of payment: instead of Tributing from your hand or field, you can send 1 monster from your Extra Deck to the Graveyard! This way, you don’t even need to have a big monster on hand to Tribute, and you can preload your Extra Deck with big monsters that add up to the Levels you plan on Summoning.

If you’re planning on Summoning multiple monsters, adding Level 10, 11, and 12 monsters (such as Shooting Star Dragon, Star Eater, and Shooting Quasar Dragon) to your Extra Deck will help you Ritual Summon different combinations of “Nekroz” Ritual Monsters!

With all this talk of having the right monsters at the right time to use with Nekroz Kaleidoscope, it would be handy if there was some way to pick and choose which “Nekroz” you’d like to Summon while leaving your Normal Summon open for Manju to grab a Spell.

You can Ritual Summon this card with any “Nekroz” Ritual Spell Card. Must be Ritual Summoned without using “Nekroz of Brionac”, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can only use each of these effects of “Nekroz of Brionac” once per turn.

• You can discard this card; add 1 “Nekroz” monster from your Deck to your hand, except “Nekroz of Brionac”.
• You can target up to 2 face-up monsters on the field that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck; shuffle them into the Deck.

Nekroz of Brionac shares a Level, Attribute, ATK and DEF with the currently Forbidden Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. This version of Brionac won’t discard your other cards though – it will discard itself instead to search for any “Nekroz” monster in your Deck and add it to your hand! You can search for Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz to make a free Ritual Summon with Nekroz Mirror, or you can search for a Ritual Monster you can bring out with Nekroz Kaleidoscope! With access to your entire Deck at your fingertips, Brionac can give you the exact monster you need.

If you do plan on Summoning Brionac, though, its on-field effect allows you to clear away monsters that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck. This is particular powerful against Shaddolls and Burning Abyss, since they rely on having their monsters go to the Graveyard to retrieve the cards used to make them. Nekroz of Brionac can do that when you need it to, while also letting you get another monster when you need a different effect.

The Nekroz are poised to be extremely powerful, and with lots of different Ritual Spells and ways to get the cards they need they’ll definitely be a force to be reckoned with. If Ritual Summoning is your style or you just want to try a powerful new Deck, look no further than the Nekroz in The Secret Forces, which is released Friday 13^th February!