Yu-Gi-Oh! · Card Colors
Blue Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards: Ritual Monsters
A light blue Yu-Gi-Oh! card is a Ritual Monster. It sits in your Main Deck like a yellow or orange monster, but you cannot Normal Summon it: it arrives through a Ritual Summon, with a Ritual Spell and monsters to Tribute. It is not the darker blue of a Link Monster.
Blue is the frame of a Ritual Monster. It starts in the Main Deck. Ritual Monsters: Main Deck monsters you Summon with a matching Ritual Spell and Tributes, like Black Luster Soldier.
143 cards released in the TCG are blue, as of November 2, 2026. See the full color chart →
What a Blue Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Is
Light blue is the frame of a Ritual Monster. Two blues are in the game, so look at the shade and the corner: a Ritual Monster is a pale, bright blue with a Level in stars, while a Link Monster is a deep navy with a LINK rating and arrows around its art.
Most Ritual Monsters are Ritual Effect Monsters, with an effect in the text box. A few of the oldest, such as Black Luster Soldier and Magician of Black Chaos, have no effect at all: their text only names the Ritual Spell that Summons them.
How Ritual Monsters Play
A Ritual Monster goes in your Main Deck and counts toward its 40 card minimum, but you cannot Normal Summon or Set it. You need its Ritual Spell, a green Spell Card with the Ritual icon, and monsters to Tribute. The Ritual Spell says what it needs, most often monsters from your hand or field whose Levels add up to at least the Ritual Monster's Level. Black Luster Soldier is Level 8, so Black Luster Ritual asks for Levels totaling 8 or more.
That makes a Ritual Summon expensive: the monster, the Spell and the Tributes are all cards from your hand or field. Modern Ritual decks make up for it with Ritual Spells that use monsters from the Deck or Graveyard, or that return to the hand, and with Ritual Monsters strong enough to be worth three cards.
What to Know About Blue Cards
- Light blue is a Main Deck card. Navy blue (Link) is an Extra Deck card.
- A Ritual Monster that says it must be Ritual Summoned cannot be revived by Monster Reborn unless it was properly Ritual Summoned first.
- The Ritual Spell is green, not blue. Only the monster has the blue frame.
- A blue card with no effect, like Black Luster Soldier, is still a Ritual Monster, not a Normal Monster.
Blue Cards by the Numbers
Counted from YGOPRODeck's card database, the source of TurnZero HQ's Yu-Gi-Oh! catalog, as of November 2, 2026: every card with a TCG release, each counted once however many times it was reprinted. 143 of the 14,012 cards released in the TCG have the blue frame.
Blue Card Examples
4 cards that show what a blue frame means, chosen to explain the color rather than to rank the best ones. Each links to its card page with every printing and its price.
Black Luster Soldier
DPBC-EN006
No effect
Magician of Black Chaos
LCYW-EN047
No effect
Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon
DUPO-EN048
Ritual Effect Monster
Relinquished
DB1-EN015
Ritual Effect Monster
- Black Luster Soldier: A Level 8 EARTH Warrior with 3000 ATK. Its whole text: you can Ritual Summon it with Black Luster Ritual.
- Magician of Black Chaos: A Level 8 DARK Spellcaster with 2800 ATK, Summoned with Black Magic Ritual. Like Black Luster Soldier, it has no effect.
- Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon: Summoned with Chaos Form, and it must be Ritual Summoned. Your opponent cannot target it with card effects or destroy it with them, and it inflicts double piercing damage.
- Relinquished: A Level 1 Ritual Monster Summoned with Black Illusion Ritual. Once per turn it equips an opponent's monster and takes that monster's ATK and DEF.
The Two-Tone Version: Blue and green
A Ritual Pendulum Monster is blue on top and Spell green on the bottom: a Ritual Monster that can also be placed in a Pendulum Zone. It starts in the Main Deck, the same as a plain blue card.
Blue and green: Ritual Pendulum Monsters Ritual Pendulum Monsters: the rarest two-tone frame, Ritual Summoned as monsters and placed as Scales. Main Deck.Every Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Color
The other frame colors, each with its own page. Main Deck colors come first, then the Extra Deck, Tokens and the two-tone Pendulum frames.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a blue Yu-Gi-Oh! card mean?
A light blue card is a Ritual Monster. It goes in your Main Deck and is Ritual Summoned with its Ritual Spell and monsters to Tribute. A dark navy blue card is different: that is a Link Monster, which starts in the Extra Deck.
Do Ritual Monsters go in the Extra Deck?
No. Ritual Monsters go in your Main Deck and count toward its 40 card minimum. The Extra Deck holds Fusion, Synchro, Xyz and Link Monsters, and Fusion, Synchro and Xyz Pendulum Monsters.
Can you Normal Summon a Ritual Monster?
No. A Ritual Monster cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. You need its Ritual Spell, which tells you which monsters to Tribute, usually ones whose Levels add up to at least the Ritual Monster's Level.
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