Link Summoning

A Link Monster has no Level, a Link Rating (LINK-1 through LINK-8), arrow markers instead of DEF (Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Top-Left, Top-Right, Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right), and is Special Summoned from the Extra Deck by using monsters that satisfy both the target's material text and its Link Rating total to the Extra Monster Zone or a Main Monster Zone a Link Monster points to on your side of the field.

Procedure

1. Confirm the proposed monsters satisfy the target Link Monster's material requirements: minimum or exact monster count, "2+" / "3+" text, Type, Attribute, archetype, "Effect Monster," "including a Link Monster," "including a Synchro Monster," and similar restrictions.
2. Confirm the materials' Link Rating total exactly equals the target's Link Rating. A non-Link Monster contributes 1. A Link Monster can contribute either 1 or its own Link Rating, but not any number in-between.
3. Confirm the actual number of monsters used is permitted by the material text. A LINK-4 monster that says "3+ Effect Monsters" cannot be Link Summoned with only two monsters, even if their Link Ratings total 4.
4. Send the materials to the Graveyard.
5. Special Summon the Link Monster from the Extra Deck to a Extra Monster Zone or a Main Monster Zone a Link Monster points to on your side of the field.

Materials text drives minimum count

The first line of a Link Monster's text lists its materials (in parentheses). The numeric prefix or "+" notation determines minimum material count, and any keyword qualifiers (type, attribute, archetype, "non-Token," "Link Monster") narrow the eligible pool.

Do not collapse these into a single math check. For every proposed target, ask two separate questions:

• Does the chosen group satisfy the target's material text?
• Can the chosen group assign Link values that exactly total the target's Link Rating?

Berserker of the Tenyi

"2+ monsters, including a Link Monster"

Berserker of the Tenyi is a LINK-3. Its material list reads "2+ monsters, including a Link Monster" — the minimum count is 2 monsters, and at least one of them must be a Link Monster. The maximum is bounded by the Link Rating (3), so you can pile in 2 or 3 monsters as materials.

Two consequences worth noting:

• At least one Link Monster is required. A summon attempt with two non-Link monsters fails the material check. This makes Berserker easier to land in decks that already deploy a low-rating Link as a stepping stone.
• The "+" syntax means flexible total. The Link Rating (3) caps materials, so you fulfill the requirement with 2 or 3 monsters as long as one is a Link Monster.

Linkuriboh — a true LINK-1

"1 Level 1 monster"

Linkuriboh is a LINK-1 that requires exactly 1 Level 1 monster. Tokens count if not excluded by text. The minimum monster count is 1. Link-1 monsters like this often act as enablers for further Link Summons because they consume only one material.

When the Extra Monster Zone is already in use

When a player already has a monster in an Extra Monster Zone and attempts to summon a Link Monster, they must use the monster they control in the Extra Monster Zone as one of the materials to summon the Link Monster, unless there's a Main Monster Zone a Link Monster controlled by either player points to on their side of the field.

When considering the legality of a Link Summon, materials are not the only criteria to consider. A legal summoning location (a Extra Monster Zone or a Main Monster Zone a Link Monster points to on their side of the field) is equally as important.

S:P Little Knight in the Extra Monster Zone

S:P Little Knight has Left and Right arrows. This means that, when S:P is in the Extra Monster Zone, in order for the controller of that S:P to summon another Link Monster (assuming there's no Main Monster Zone a Link Monster controlled by either player points to on their side of the field), they must use their S:P as one of the materials for the Link Monster because there is otherwise no legal zone for the player to summon their Link Monster to, so S:P must be used to clear the zone for the incoming Link Monster.

A monster being Link Summoned has no board position yet

The monster you are Link Summoning is not on the field — it sits in the Extra Deck, and its landing zone is the output of the Summon, computed from the rules below. It has no current zone. Never ask, and never raise a clarification about, which zone the monster being Summoned is in: you derive where it can land, you do not ask the user where it already is. Only a monster already on the field can have an unstated zone worth clarifying, and only when a different value would flip the verdict.

Deriving the landing zone

1. An Extra Monster Zone the player can use is free -> legal landing. A player may only ever use one Extra Monster Zone; if the materials include the monster sitting in it, that zone frees up as the materials are sent to the GY.
2. Otherwise, a Main Monster Zone a Link Monster (either player's) points to on that player's side -> legal landing, if empty.
3. If neither exists, the Summon has no legal location and cannot be performed.

Board position that cannot change the answer is not a missing fact

Do not ask for a board position when no value of it would flip the verdict. In particular, do not clarify when all of the player's monsters are used as material (the field empties, so the player's Extra Monster Zone is necessarily free and the new Link Monster lands there), or when every relevant monster's zone is already stated in the question.

A common shape of this mistake: a player lists exactly the monsters they control and asks which Link Monster those monsters can Summon. Every listed monster is consumed as material, the field empties, and the freed Extra Monster Zone is always a legal landing zone — so the materials' starting zones are irrelevant. Answer the material-requirement question directly instead of asking where each material sits.

A Top-arrow monster in the Extra Monster Zone forces itself in as material

Arrow direction decides whether an occupied Extra Monster Zone blocks the next Link Summon. From a player's Extra Monster Zone, a Top arrow points at the opponent's field, so a Link Monster whose only arrow is Top (for example Relinquished Anima, a LINK-1 with a single Top arrow) points to none of its controller's Main Monster Zones while it sits there.

For that controller, the landing-zone derivation then has only one way out: no Main Monster Zone is pointed to, the occupied Extra Monster Zone is the sole legal landing location, and it only frees up if the monster occupying it is used as material. Whatever the new Link Monster's material text allows, the Extra-Monster-Zone monster must be one of the materials. Downward-facing arrows (Bottom, Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right) instead point into the controller's Main Monster Zones and can open a second legal landing zone, in which case nothing forces the Extra-Monster-Zone monster in.

Worked example

"What is the minimum number of monsters required to Link Summon Berserker of the Tenyi?"

— Answer: 2. Berserker is a LINK-3 with materials "2+ monsters, including a Link Monster." The minimum material count is 2, and one of the two must be a Link Monster.

"What is the minimum number of monsters required to Link Summon Linkuriboh?"

— Answer: 1. Linkuriboh is a LINK-1 with materials "1 Level 1 monster." Exactly one Level 1 monster (Tokens included unless restricted) is needed.

"Can I summon Decode Talker Heatsoul if all the monsters I control are Transcode Talker and Mathmech Circular?"

— Answer: No. While Transcode Talker and Mathmech Circular fulfill the "2+ Cyberse monsters with different Attributes" requirement, they do not fulfill the total Link Rating requirement of 3. Mathmech Circular counts as 1 Link Rating, but Transcode Talker can only count as either 1 or 3. It cannot act as 2 Link Rating for the summon of Decode Talker Heatsoul, and you must exactly match the Link Rating of the monster you wish to summon, which is impossible for Transcode Talker and Mathmech Circular.

When the question offers several possible Link Monster targets for one fixed set of materials, run the full check separately for every target — rating math first, then that target's own material text against the actual cards:

• Rating total: each non-Link material contributes exactly 1; each Link material contributes 1 or its own full Link Rating (never in between). The candidate is only reachable if some assignment totals its Link Rating exactly. Enumerate the reachable totals before judging: a LINK-3 plus a LINK-1 can total 2 (1+1) or 4 (3+1), so a LINK-2 or a LINK-4 target passes the rating check with exactly those two materials, while a LINK-3 target does not. Do not reject a candidate whose Link Rating is among the reachable totals on rating grounds, and do not invent material constraints beyond what the candidate's printed material text states.
• Minimum count: "3+ Effect Monsters" needs three actual monsters; two materials never satisfy it even when their ratings total correctly.
• Qualifiers against real card facts: "including a Link/Synchro Monster," "same Type and Attribute," "Effect Monsters," archetype locks. Check each qualifier against the materials' printed Type, Attribute, and card kind — sharing one of Type/Attribute is not "same Type and Attribute."

Eliminating candidates one by one this way usually leaves exactly one summonable target; never declare a candidate summonable on rating math alone.

Judge calls to watch for

• Co-Linked mechanics (zone-pointing arrows) are positional, not summoning-cost. Summoning location can matter: a Link Monster whose arrow points to an Extra Monster Zone enables an Extra Deck monster to be Summoned there.
• Link Monsters cannot be used for Ritual or Synchro Summons by default unless text allows (Link Monsters have no Level).
• Tokens as Link Material: allowed unless the Link Monster's text restricts ("except Tokens").
• The monster being Link Summoned has no board position. Never ask which zone the to-be-summoned monster is in; derive its landing from Extra Monster Zone availability and existing Link arrows instead.
• An Extra-Monster-Zone monster whose only arrow points away from its controller's own Main Monster Zones (such as a Top arrow, which points at the opponent's field) gives that controller no usable Main Monster Zone, so it must be used as material to free the Extra Monster Zone for the next Link Summon.
• When all of a player's monsters are consumed as material, the Extra Monster Zone is necessarily free, so the materials' zones are irrelevant — do not request a board-position clarification that cannot change the answer.

Sources

• Konami Rulebook v10 "Link Monsters" section
• https://yugipedia.com/wiki/Link_Monster