Ritual Beasts saw sprinkled success around the mid-2010's, culminating in Ritual Beast Ulti-Cannahawk getting Limited as a result of its singular showing at a certain World Championships series. The deck is infamous for its inconsistency and hard-to-track gameplay in regards to their monsters' "once-per-turn" Special Summoning condition and odd rulings. With the new support from Terminal World, some of these weaknesses are alleviated.

Learning from your Elders

The first of the Ritual Beast deck's weaknesses is its reliance on Ritual Beast Tamer Elder as its combo starter. This is partially relieved by cards like Emergency Teleport and Ritual Beast Return, but does not solve the inherent lack of consistency, especially with a deck that requires two-card combos. While Spiritual Beast Tamer Lara now requires three cards to start a combo, its compact effect sets Ritual Beast on the path to modern deck levels of power.

Its first effect is additive to Elder; Lara does not replace it but increases the consistency and combo potency when drawn together. Its secondary effect to protect your cards isn't relevant going first but is paramount going second. Ritual Beast, with its status as a non-compact combo deck, cannot play generic staples to as great a degree as modern combo decks. Not only does Lara help Ritual Beasts break through boards, but it does so doubly by rewarding the player with a free Ritual Beast from the deck. Whether Lara is in the GY due to its first effect or part of a combo more directly by being on the field, it contributes to extension and reliability. Notably, its name includes both "Ritual Beast Tamer" and "Spiritual Beast," meaning it can be used as either part of a Ritual Beast Fusion Monster's materials. 

A Whole New Terminal World

While Ritual Beast uses its GY by way of banishing monsters to fuel its effects, it does not freely have access to its boons. Ritual Beast Ulti-Nochiudrago introduces a new resource to the Ritual Beast deck by being able to Fusion Summon by banishing its materials from the GY. Not only does Ulti-Nochiudrago contribute to the "Ulti-" Fusion Material required for Ritual Beast Ulti-Gaiapelio, but its effect restricts the opponent from using interruption such as Effect Veiler and Infinite Impermanence! Ulti-Nochiudrago stealthily solves an issue with Ritual Beast Ulti-Kimunfalcos in that the latter's Link Materials are sent to the GY. While Ulti-Kimunfalcos can somewhat solve this issue by using its effect, it forces you to choose which material is accessible on the opponent's following turn. Ulti-Nochiudrago offers an immediate follow-up while forcing opponents to prematurely use targeted negation on Ulti-Kimunfalcos, lest they lose the opportunity to Ulti-Nochiudrago's inherent Special Summon.

An Alternate Ending

The previous end goal of Ritual Beast was to amass as many Ritual Beast Steeds and Ritual Beast Ambush as possible to complicate the board state alongside tagging out fusions such as leftover Ritual Beast Ulti-Cannahawk. Ritual Beast Ulti-Reirautari provides an alternate endboard that provides recursion and extension.

In regards to Ulti-Reirautari's first effect, it doesn't seem quite relevant at the moment. However, coming in the same set is support for Infernoids, which do tribute for effect. Please note that this first condition does not prevent the effect of Nibiru, the Primal Being nor the tributing ability of cards such as Gameciel, the Sea Turtle Kaiju.

Instead, Ulti-Reirautari returns Ritual Beasts back to your hand, then allows you to Normal Summon them again, bypassing their usual "once-per-turn" stipulation. This can be used proactively with on-summon effects such as Ritual Beast Tamer Lara, resource-gaining effects like Spiritual Beast Cannahawk, or defensively by putting up walls like Spiritual Beast Tamer Winda. 

Finally, and most notably, Ritual Beast Ulti-Reirautari presents another layer of interaction. As mentioned previously, the combination of Steeds and Ambush prevents your board from being broken entirely. With Ulti-Reirautari, you can chain its effect to Ritual Beast spells or traps, and even chain it together with the splitting effects of Ulti-fusions. Due to the wording of banishing "them," Ulti-Reirautari does not care how many cards get banished for its effect.

Inherited Will

As is customary for older decks obtaining new support, Ritual Beast Inheritance provides new levels of consistency. Its primary function is to seek out either Ritual Beast Elder or Spiritual Beast Tamer Lara to start a combo. In this sense, it again functions as a playmaker and extender. Discarding a card isn't terrible for the deck, and it can find ways to banish lost pieces, but it limits the options that its extenders have access to. 

Its secondary effects may seem mild, but with a deck that can put out so many bodies at once, battle tricks are appreciated bonuses. Assuming a full board of Ritual Beasts, Inheritance can make a previously impossible OTK doable with its Attack reduction. Furthermore, opposing monsters left on the board in hopes of saving them for the next turn can become a liability, opening up the opponent to damage by being flipped into Attack Position.

Is the Ritual Successful?

The new Ritual Beast support solves the issue of consistency - in a vacuum. Having nine effective copies of their starters definitely improves their chances of having a playable hand. Having access to multiple extenders also improves their going second capabilities. That being said, the deck still loses to many a common threat.

While you could argue that Nibiru is an inherent weakness of combo decks, modern decks no longer fold to its weight completely. This hand trap isn't the only hurdle - Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring zeroes out Inheritance, and Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit destroys it! Ritual Beast as a deck had a multitude of issues, and unfortunately, being able to play the game was only a prerequisite. It will struggle less against the mentioned threats but still presents the same board without much resilience aside from Ulti-Nochiudrago's targeting protection. Overall, the deck benefits massively from the condensed effects of Spiritual Beast Tamer Lara and the out-of-nowhere nature of Ritual Beast Ulti-Nochiudrago, but failed to evolve past its initial premise.