With the announcement of the new Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS anime comes the implementation of a new way to summon monsters, Link Summons. However, even though the feature was revealed in the latest issue of Shonen Jump, the mechanics of what they do and how they affects the current Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG was still unknown, but Konami has released more information on Link Summons on its Japanese website.
Of course, The Organization has translated the page and uploaded a video explaining the new Link Summons mechanic and all the changes that will affect the TCG. These changes will go into effect starting March 25, when the new starter deck is released.
Check out their video on the new summoning mechanic below.
Most of what’s on the website was revealed in the Shonen Jump article, however, the Konami page delves a bit deeper and clarifies some possible misunderstandings.
First, there are two new Extra Monster Card Zones. Monsters summoned from the Extra Deck go in one of these two zones. The first person to summon from the Extra Deck gets to choose whether they have the left or right zone. Each duelist gets one zone each.
As for the Link Monsters themselves, again, they have no defense points so they can’t be put in defense mode. The red Link Markers on the card determine which monsters are affected by that monster’s effect. Link Monsters don’t have levels or ranks, but instead have Link Numbers that determine how many monsters are needed to summon it.
To summon a Link Monster, you’ll have to use ONLY face-up monsters and one monster is counted as a single Link Material, normally. Send the monsters to the graveyard to summon the Link Monster to the Extra Monster Zone.
However, a Link Monster can also be used a material. So a Link 2 Monster will count as two link materials.
A new type of monster is also being introduced in the new format. The Cybers monsters (name can change) will join the party, which is the typing of Decode Talker and a lot of the Link Monsters coming to the TCG.
Fusion, XYZ, Pendulum and Synchro monsters can only be summoned from the Extra Deck to the Extra Monster Zone. This limits how many of those types of monsters can be on the field at one time. However, one way to get around this is to special summon them from the graveyard after they are destroyed because they then go to the normal Monster Zone.
Pendulum Monsters are affected the most by this new change to the rules as the Pendulum Scales don’t have their own place on the field but are now integrated with the five spell/trap card zones.
Duelists will have to decide whether to use one scale or both. If both scales are used, then they will only have three spell/trap zones instead of the usual five.
Be sure to check out The Organization’s video on all the changes and let us know in the comments section below what you think of the changes coming to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG.
