Trap
NormalRitual Beast Ambush
Archetype:
Ritual Beast
View:
3348
Target 1 of your "Ritual Beast Tamer" monsters and 1 of your "Spiritual Beast" monsters that are banished and/or in your Graveyard; Special Summon them in Defense Position. After this card is activated, you cannot Special Summon monsters, except "Ritual Beast" monsters, for the rest of this turn. You can only activate 1 "Ritual Beast Ambush" per turn.
Ritual Beast Ambush — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 66 ± 5 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 59 · Deck: 67 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Recovery/Recursion · Secondary: Combo enabler
Why it scores here
Ritual Beast Ambush scores as a core recovery tool that converts GY filling and banish zones into a net +1 resource (2 monsters for 1 trap), enabling further fusion summons in a dedicated Ritual Beast deck. The card's strength derives from its role in the archetype's recursion loop, where Tamers and Beasts are constantly cycled, making recovery reliable and targets plentiful. However, its value is almost entirely archetype-locked: it has no offensive interaction (negation/removal), does not generate card advantage beyond the basic +1 recovery, and its restrictive Summon lock prevents flexibility outside RB. The absence of combo evidence prevents confirmation of how reliably the recovered bodies translate into disruptive end-boards, keeping the score moderate despite universal inclusion in RB.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 72 | Ritual Beast Ambush's targets (Tamers and Beasts) are guaranteed to accumulate in GY/banish through RB's natural fusion-summon cycling, and all 183 decks running it include 100% co-presence with Elder, Cannahawk, and Ulti-Apelio, ensuring reliable activation conditions in dedicated RB (observed). |
| Combo & Conversion | 65 | The card recovers 2 bodies in Defense Position that can be used for fusion summons, extending RB's combo line, but without combo evidence we cannot verify whether these recoveries consistently convert into a full, disruptive board (inferred). |
| Resource Economy | 78 | Activating Ambush costs 1 trap card and recovers 2 monsters from GY/banish, yielding a net +1 resource; in RB's recursion-heavy gameplan, this refuel is consistent and allows repeated activation per turn limits (verified). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | Ritual Beast Ambush provides no negation, removal, or hand-trap interaction; it is purely a recursive resource-recovery tool with zero opponent-facing disruption (verified). |
| Material Utility | 8 | As a trap card, Ritual Beast Ambush itself has zero material value; the Tamer and Beast it recovers gain utility as fusion material, but this is combo conversion, not the card's intrinsic body value (verified). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 58 | As a set trap, Ambush cannot be activated immediately if drawn mid-combo, and the Summon lock (no non-RB summons rest of turn) limits flexibility outside dedicated RB; however, multiple decks run 2–3 copies and RB's natural recovery cycles provide redundancy (observed). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 82 | All 183 decks run Ambush at an average of 1.19 copies (158 at 1x, 25 at 2–3x), with no reported garnet risk (targets are guaranteed in RB) and the Summon lock acceptable in a mono-archetype deck, indicating near-free deckbuilding efficiency (verified). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Recovery/Recursion + 0.3 Combo enabler. Intrinsic ≈ 59, Deck ≈ 67, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: core necessity in dedicated archetype (2). Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Universal inclusion in Ritual Beast decks (183/183, 100% co-presence with all core pieces)
- Consistent +1 net resource (1 trap → 2 monsters from GY/banish)
- Guaranteed targets in RB's recursion loop; no garnet risk
- Aligns perfectly with RB's fusion-summon gameplan (Tamers + Beasts for Ulti-fusions)
- Redundancy valued: 25 decks run 2–3 copies, suggesting reliability
Weaknesses
- Archetype-locked to Ritual Beast; negligible spillover to other decks
- Trap activation is passive/delayed; cannot be activated immediately if drawn mid-combo
- No opponent interaction: no negation, removal, or hand-trap capability
- Restrictive Summon lock (no non-RB summons rest of turn) prevents flexibility outside RB
- Recovered bodies in Defense Position are vulnerable and require another monster/effect for further offense
- No combo evidence; real board output cannot be verified
Counters / choke points
- Trap negation (e.g., Solemn Strike, Solemn Judgment before activation)
- Effect negation on the recovered monsters (e.g., Infinite Impermanence, Effect Veiler on a recovered Tamer)
- Graveyard evacuation prior to activation (prevents targets from existing)
- Banish effects that remove RB pieces before they accumulate
- Disruption of RB fusion lines (e.g., Veiler on Elder, negation of Ulti-Beast effects)
Best use
Recursion engine; enables repeated fusion summons via Tamer/Beast recovery. Decks: Ritual Beast, Ritual Beast Control.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Card text: recovers 1 Tamer + 1 Beast from GY/banish, +1 net resource (1 trap → 2 bodies); 100% of 183 decks run Elder, Cannahawk, Ulti-Apelio, Ulti-Cannahawk alongside Ambush; HOPT: once per turn activation limit; Summon lock: no non-RB Special Summons for rest of turn after activation; Recovery position: both bodies summoned in Defense Position
- Observed: 183/183 decks run Ambush; 100% inclusion rate in sample; Average 1.19 copies per deck; range 1–3 (158 decks at 1x, 25 at 2–3x); 85.8% of decks are Ritual Beast variants (IDs 625 57.9% + 19 27.9%); 14.2% spillover to 13 other archetypes; 1 guide lists Ambush as core RB tool in Core section with Tamers/Beasts
- Inferred: Combo conversion: recovered Tamer + Beast can fuse into Ulti-Apelio/Ulti-Cannahawk for search/recursion (from RB fusion mechanics + card text; no combo evidence); Trap activation is delayed vs. hand traps, but RB's natural GY filling ensures targets and recovery windows (from RB gameplan + trap timing); Archetype-locked: 90%+ in RB variants limits generic utility proxy to ~50 (from distinct archetypes 15 + concentration data); Redundancy rationale: multiple decks run 2–3 copies because recovery windows repeat across turn (inferred from RB multi-fusion design)
- Data gaps: No combos supplied — combo conversion is text/mechanics inference; cannot verify real board output No banlist token — assumed 3 copies unlimited (no format-specific restriction found) No usage statistics (StatisticsCard) — archetype inclusion % inferred from 183-deck sample only No metagame sample — Meta power is null/provisional; cannot assess performance vs. other decks in current metagame