Spirit monster Spirit monsters ( スピリットモンスター " Supiritto monsutā " ) are Effect Monster s with the ability " Spirit " . Each of this type of monster has an effect that returns it to its owner ' s hand during the End Phase of the turn it is Normal Summon ed or flip ped face - up ( or the turn it is Special Summoned in case of Spirit monsters that must be Special Summoned ) . With the exception of the Special Summon Monster " Yamato - no - Kami " and the " Shinobird " Ritual Monster s , this kind of monster cannot be Special Summon ed . The Pendulum Spirit Monsters , " Yoko - Zuna Sumo Spirit " and " Kuro - Obi Karate Spirit " , are an exception to both of these typical characteristics : they can be either Normal or Special Summoned , but their effects ( including the Spirit return effect ) only activate when they are Normal Summoned . The designs of most Spirit monsters are based on icons from Eastern mythology . They all have very similar backgrounds , ostensibly the " Spirit World " . Their OCG names are in , but the is in , which normally would indicate a foreign - language word . History . Spirit monsters debuted in " Mythological Age " and received support for the first time in " The Duelist Genesis " , which was released almost 7 years later . When they are reprinted , it is usually in Structure Deck s and Tournament Pack s . There are no archetype s focused on Spirit monsters , but there is one series that does , " Shinobird " . The only two archetypes that have Spirit monsters as members are " Ice Barrier " ( " Sacred Spirit of the Ice Barrier " ) and " Gishki " ( " Gishki Natalia " and " Emilia " ) . Both archetypes are WATER - Attribute , and their Spirit monsters don ' t represent any mythological figure , instead representing revived spirits of dead characters of their storyline . All of these Spirit monsters were introduced in the " Hidden Arsenal " series . Due to the low speed of a dedicated Spirit Deck , as well as their lack of Special Summons and field presence , they never experienced competitive relevance as a Deck theme ( although individual members did ) . There are several competitively noteworthy Spirit monsters , such as " Yata - Garasu " , the fundamental part of the " Yata - Garasu Lockdown " , which has long been Forbidden ; " Tsukuyomi " , which used to be Forbidden due to its ability to Set Flip monster s again to allow them to activate their effects again , enabling powerful loops ; and " Asura Priest " , whose ability to attack every opposing monster was unique at the time of its release . In the anime . In the " Yu - Gi - Oh ! " anime , in episodes 117 and 118 , Noah Kaiba used Spirit monsters in his duel against Yami Yugi . According to him , the Spirit monsters were created by Maximillion Pegasus when he was traveling to Eastern Asia and drew inspiration from the religions and mythologies from that region . In " Yu - Gi - Oh ! GX " and " Yu - Gi - Oh ! ARC - V " , " Asura Priest " and " Dark Dust Spirit " had cameo appearances , in episodes 111 and 21 , respectively . Text . Latest effect text ( using PSCT ) reads as follow : Playing style . Spirit monsters return to the hand during the End Phase of the turn they were Normal Summoned or flipped face - up , so it is difficult to maintain field presence . This can be worked around with cards like " Spiritual Energy Settle Machine " , " Mirror of Yata " and " Izanagi " , which allow Spirit monsters to remain on the field in spite of their effects . Also , " Shinobaron Peacock " and " Shinobaroness Peacock " can Special Summon a Level 4 or lower Spirit monster ( ignoring the Summoning conditions ) , which in turn will stay on the field , since it will not have been Normal Summoned . Alternately , some cards provide positive effects whenever a Spirit monster returns to the player ' s hand : " Spirit ' s Invitation " forces an opponent ' s monster to return to the hand whenever a Spirit returns to the hand . Spirit monsters have a wide variety of effects , including searching for cards ( e . g . " Aratama " ) , allowing an extra Normal Summon ( e . g . " Nikitama " ) , retrieving fallen monsters ( e . g . " Izanami " ) , locking the opponent ' s attacks ( e . g . " Great Long Nose " ) , and destroying all monsters the opponent controls ( e . g . " Dark Dust Spirit " ) . " Shinobaron Peacock " and " Shinobaroness Peacock " Special Summon a Spirit monster ignoring its Summoning conditions while getting rid of up to 3 opposing cards in the process , and " Shinobird Salvation " destroys an opposing card once per turn when a Spirit monster returns to the hand . Two of the strongest Spirit monsters , " Hino - Kagu - Tsuchi " and " Yamata Dragon " , focus on maintaining significant hand advantage over the opponent , with their effects activating when they inflict battle damage : " Hino - Kagu - Tsuchi " empties the opponent ' s entire hand before their Draw Phase , while " Yamata Dragon " fills its controller ' s hand with up to 5 cards . Since Spirit monsters only return to the hand during the End Phase of the turn they are Normal Summoned or flipped face - up , if they fail to return to the hand , such as due to " Dimensionhole " or " Forbidden Chalice " , they will not return to the hand in subsequent turns . There are however monsters like " Dark Dust Spirit " and " Fenghuang " that shine when they can be used repeatedly . Both have the ability to level the field , " Dark Dust Spirit " destroying all monsters , " Fenghuang " destroying all of the opponent ' s set spell / trap cards . Summoning them repeatedly can be made easier by running cards like " Majiosheldon " and " The Monarchs Stormforth " . When running these cards , using " Escalation of the Monarchs " as well is advised , as it allows the player to splash either of these monsters during the opponents turn , repeatedly regaining field control . Recommended cards . Some of the generic cards that may help a Spirit Deck include :