This guide will cover everything you need to know about Link Summons, including how to Link Summon and how to find Link Summon requirements.

A Link Monster is a Monster card with the Link tag. Link Monsters, just like Synchro, Fusion and XYZ Monsters, are stored in your Extra Deck. This means that you won’t put them into your Main Deck or draw them during your Draw Phase. These monsters can then only be summoned from the Extra Deck by using other monsters on the field as Link Material. Link Monsters do not have a defense value. As a result, Link Monsters cannot be summoned in defense position, forced into defense position as the result of a card effect, or be flipped into face-down defense position.

In order to summon a Link Monster, you must use monsters on the field to summon it equal to the Link Rating of the Link Monster you wish to summon from the Extra Deck. Each non-Link Monster is equal to 1 Link Rating in the context of a Link Summon, while each Link Monster is the equivalent of whatever Link Rating is listed on the card, or 1 Link Rating. Whichever Rating is used is based on player choice. You must also follow the summoning requirements listed on the card, and Link Monsters must be summoned either to the Extra Monster Zone, or a zone to which a Link Monster is pointing towards. For example, Accesscode Talker is a Link-4 Link Monster with a listed requirement that it must be summoned using 2+ Effect Monsters. Since Accesscode Talker is a Link-4 Link Monster, one method of summoning it would be to use 4 effect monsters on the field as material for the summon. Alternatively, a Link-3 Link Monster and one other monster would also allow you to summon Accesscode Talker. In this instance, the Link-3 Link Monster used as part of the summon would count as 3 materials towards the 4 material requirement to summon it. If the choice was made to have this Link-3 Link Monster count as just 1 material, another 3 monsters would be required in order to summon it. However, if you already had another Link-4 Link Monster and wished to summon Accesscode Talker, this would not be possible using only your Link-4 Link Monster already on the field as material, due to the requirement that Accesscode Talker was summoned using 2+ Effect Monsters. In this instance, the Link-4 Link Monster on the field would have to be classified as 1 material, therefore 3 more materials would be needed in order to meet the summoning requirements of the card. Alternatively, a Link-1 Link Monster like Salamangreat Almiraj can be summoned to the field immediately using just a single monster, provided that monster was Normal Summoned with 1000 or less attack as listed on the card’s summoning requirements. Generally, Link-1 Link Monsters are easier to summon but are generally weaker, while Link-4 Link Monsters are more powerful. Although Link Summoning is one of the more complex mechanics in Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel, it is a vital mechanic to the game and is crucial for victory in many decks. From here, you could play decks such as Lyrilusc Tri-Brigade. If this didn’t take your interest, you could check out our guide to the best meta decks and pick which one is right for you.

How to Link Summon in Yu Gi Oh Master Duel - 9