Ritual Monsters have appeared in Yu-Gi-Oh! since the early days of the franchise, and most of the oldest Ritual Monsters don't have effects, essentially being Normal Monsters with more specific summoning conditions. While some archetypes now focus on summoning Ritual Monsters, many of the older Ritual Monsters never got updated to be easier to play in the more modern format or to fit in better within a specific archetype they could be related to.

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Although these monsters don't have as much value as they once did, they deserve upgraded versions due to their significance to the history of the franchise.

10 Performance Of Sword

ritual spell & performance of sword
Artwork: Ritual Spell & Performance of Sword

One of the biggest issues when creating updated versions of older Ritual Monsters is that they have little to no lore associated with them besides the art of the card itself, the art on the Ritual Spell required to summon them, and the art of any other cards they appear in.

Performance Of Sword is interesting in that in the TCG; it wasn't censored at all in comparison to how the art was changed on cards like Harpie Lady and Dark Witch. An upgraded version with an effect could reference this by flipping face down monsters face up and vice versa.

9 Crab Turtle

turtle oath & crab turtle
Artwork: Turtle Oath & Crab Turtle

Crab Turtle is far from the only Water attribute or Aqua-type Ritual Monster in existence, but it was the first Aqua-type Ritual Monster to be released. In the PlayStation game Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories, it can even be summoned by fusing 30,000-Year White Turtle with the crab monster Kanikabuto, which are both Aqua-type.

The best way an upgraded version of Crab Turtle could reference these facts is by having an effect that supports all Aqua-type monsters somehow, be it increasing their attack and defense power, preventing their destruction, bringing them back from the Graveyard, or supporting them in some other way.

8 Garma Sword

garma oath & garma sword
Artwork: Garma Oath & Garma Sword

Garma Sword is another Ritual Monster with little to no lore related to it, but it does appear in the art for the Spell Cards Card Destruction and Exchange, both of which affect the cards in each player's hand.

From this, we can surmise that an upgraded version of Garma Sword would have a hand-related effect as well, maybe forcing the opponent to discard every time it successfully attacks, as if its swords were chopping up the cards in their hand. It wouldn't be the most powerful effect, but it would be better than the original and useful in certain situations.

7 Fiend's Mirror

beastly mirror ritual & fiend's mirror
Artwork: Beastly Mirror Ritual & Fiend's Mirror

The OCG version of Fiend's Mirror was originally released in Japan in 1999, while the international TCG version wasn't released until 2012. While it would be difficult to reflect this fact through an effect, maybe Fiend's Mirror could act as a more powerful Fiend-type version of Reflect Bounder instead. It could still reflects the opponent's attack but doesn't get destroyed and protects the player from any battle damage that would have occurred.

It may not be the most original effect when it comes to new versions of older monsters, but it's still a vast improvement compared to the original version.

6 Zera The Mant

zera ritual & zera the mant
Artwork: Zera Ritual & Zera the Mant

Zera The Mant is part of the Zera archetype and was the god that the Warrior of Zera worshipped before becoming either an Archlord, a Darklord, or a Fiend (Mazera DeVille). Since Zera The Mant is a god, an upgraded version should make it the strongest card of the Zera archetype.

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Zera The Mant also appeared in the original Duel Monsters anime series as a part of Bandit Kieth's deck when his mind was controlled by Marik, so maybe an upgraded Zera The Mant could reference this by taking control of the opponent's monsters and turning them into Fiend-type monsters.

5 Javelin Beetle

ritual spell & javelin beetle
Artwork: Ritual Spell & Javelin Beetle

Javelin Beetle is the first and only Insect-type ritual monster in the game, so an upgraded version would likely support other Insect-type monsters. Since its Javelin makes it seem similar to a royal guard, maybe an upgraded version would be called Royal Guard Javelin Beetle and have an effect that protects cards like Insect Princess, Insect Queen, or Metamorphosed Insect Queen.

Metamorphosed Insect Queen already protects Insect-type monsters from card effects, but nothing protects her from being destroyed by battle, so the upgraded Javelin Beetle could take on that role as the royal protector and be destroyed in her place.

4 Super War-Lion

ritual spell & super war-lion
Artwork: Ritual Spell & Super War-lion

Super War-Lion is the first and only Beast-type Ritual Monster to be released, and since it's based on the king of the jungle, it would make sense for it to support other Beast-type monsters.

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Since, like other older Ritual Monsters, its lore is near non-existent, an upgraded version could have a rivalry with the Beast-Warrior Ritual Monster Lycanthrope and have a similar effect where it deals life point damage to the opponent for every Beast-type monster in the player's Graveyard when it inflicts battle damage. It wouldn't be the strongest beast of the bunch, but it would be a decent upgrade.

3 Dokurorider

rider revival & dokurorider
Artwork: Rider Revival & Dokuro Rider

Dokurorider was the first Zombie-type Ritual Monster to be released. While it is technically considered part of the three-card Rider archetype, it doesn't share the same Attribute or defense points as the other members. To help Dokurorider fit in better with its archetype, its Attribute would have to be changed to Wind, and its defense would change to 1500, but it could still stay as a Zombie-type monster.

Since the Rider archetype is so small, maybe an upgraded version could bring back Chaosrider Gustaph or Diskblade Rider from the Graveyard since Dokurorider is the only Zombie-type in the group.

2 Hungry Burger

hamburger recipe & hungry burger
Artwork: Hamburger Recipe & Hungry Burger

With how well-known a card like Hungry Burger is to longtime Yu-Gi-Oh! players, it's rather shocking it has never received an upgraded version despite being over 20 years old. For some reason, Hungry Burger is a Warrior-type monster rather than a Fiend, but it would be weird to have it be Warrior support, so determining what kind of effect an upgraded version would have is rather tricky.

According to Hungry Burger's description in Forbidden Memories, it lures unsuspecting prey with its aroma and then eats them, so an upgraded version would probably have an effect that destroys the opponent's monsters.

1 Dark Master Zorc

contract & dark master zorc
Artwork: Contract & Dark Master Zorc

This version of Zorc isn't based on the major antagonist Zorc Necrophades from the final arc of the Duel Monsters anime series but instead is based on the character from the Monster World arc of the original manga.

While it's unclear what the effect of a new Zorc could be, it would have to be strong enough to rival the Egyptian God cards as a reference to their battle in the manga and anime series. Maybe an upgraded Zorc could specifically negate the effects of all Divine-Beast-type monsters, meaning the Egyptian God cards should still be affected despite their own effects.

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