Be careful! This time it will be 2.0X speed, variable BPM, in reverse, and with "sudden" rules applied! (Okay, not really.)
This week, we conclude our look at special summoning monsters with a class of monsters that have the added ability to be special summoned under the right conditions or when a specific event occurs. We will also talk about Fusion monsters and their own unique characteristics.
I Can Has Special Summon?
Some monsters might look like "special summon only" monsters, but in truth they are just a regular effect monster with an ability that allows them to be special summoned for a cost, when the field conditions are 
right, or in response to a specific event. The monsters will typically have an effect saying something like "you can special summon this card" or "this card can be special summoned by . . ." This form of special summon is an optional bonus and not a requirement.
The Six Samurai monsters have two such cards: Grandmaster of the Six Samurai and Great Shogun Shien. Neither monster is what we would call a "special summon only" monster. They can be normal summoned or set just fine, and if you discard one to your graveyard, you are more than capable of reviving it with Monster Reborn. Their special summon is an added bonus the monster receives when you have enough Six Samurai monsters face up on your side of the field.
The new monster Tualatin from Light of Destruction has a special summon bonus that directly leads into its remaining effects. If you normal summon Tualatin or special summon it using another card’s effect, it’s just a body on the field doing battle. If you can special summon it according to its effect, you get an added bonus that can make it all worthwhile, destroying monsters of the chosen attribute and limiting that attribute’s ability to get into play for the duration of Tualatin’s stay on the field.
Sometimes these special summon effects start a chain . . . sometimes they don’t. The effects that look for a specific condition on the field, like our samurai friends, The Fiend Megacyber, and Cyber Dragon, tend to be closer to the "special summon only" monsters and are special summoned during your main phase without starting a chain. Monsters that can be special summoned when a specific event occurs or a specific type of card is activated tend to start a chain, like Tualatin, Van’Dalgyon the Dark Dragon Lord, Phantom Dragon, and Green Baboon, Defender of the Forest. These effects are usually trigger effects and can happen in different game phases.
Fusion Monsters
When you’re dealing with Fusion monsters, things can become a bit trickier. Some Fusion 
monsters have very specific demands that will affect how you can bring them into play and will decide if they can ever return from the graveyard. Most Fusion monsters only need to be Fusion summoned, but ever since The Lost Millennium we’ve seen a wider array of Fusion monsters with specific requirements that don’t fit the old Polymerization standard.
The Elemental Hero Fusions introduced many newer players to the concept of a Fusion monster that could not be special summoned unless you were Fusion summoning it. Those of us that had been playing since Magician’s Force can remember being held back by this same type of condition when playing with Dark Paladin. Any card that tries to put Dark Paladin or an Elemental Hero Fusion monster into play must do so using a Fusion summon only. We didn’t have many options back when Magician’s Force was released, but the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX sets swung Fusion monsters for game and weren’t shy about it.
Elemental Heroes got Miracle Fusion, Dragons got Dragon’s Mirror, and almost everything else got Future Fusion. These cards were great for getting Fusion monsters into play, but they didn’t do anything for those in the graveyard. We had received Re-Fusion in Flaming Eternity and it seemed like a great thing, but did we mention that it "special summons" and will not "Fusion summon?" Quite a tease, that one.
Starting with
Legacy of Darkness, a small group of Fusion monsters have built themselves around the rule that they must be Fusion summoned "with the above Fusion Material Monsters." This line of text is informing us that we can only use the monsters written on the card when performing a Fusion summon of the particular monster. It isn’t much of surprise to use specific monsters in a Fusion summon, but this rule is referring more specifically to the
"Fusion substitute" monsters. They have an effect that allows them to take the place of one of the required Fusion materials in a Fusion summon, acting as a substitute, but they cannot when "the above Fusion Material Monsters" must be used.
Light of Destruction has given us
Destiny End Dragoon. If you want to Fusion summon it, you will need to use Destiny Hero - Plasma and
Destiny Hero - Dogma. Fortunately for the Destiny Heroes, they have a few ways of getting to the cards they need. You can also use Elemental Hero Prisma to help speed along the process by taking on the name of one of the two monsters. You can then use it in the Fusion summon, because its name will be treated as either Plasma or Dogma (depending on who you sent) when you perform the Fusion summon.
The most unique types of Fusion monsters never use Fusion cards of any kind. I mentioned the Gladiator Beast Fusions in my "inherent" special summons discussion a few weeks ago as someone that Solemn Judgment would want to go after. These Fusion monsters, along with Kaiba’s various VWXYZ Fusions and "Neos" Fusion monsters, are special summoned through their own inherent special summon effect and do not use Fusion-summoning cards.
When this is accomplished and the monster is sent to the graveyard, you can actually special summon it back into play with an effect like Monster Reborn. If you have ever wondered why XYZ-Dragon Cannon has text saying that it cannot be special summoned from the graveyard, this would be the reason why.
Until next time, send all comments and questions to Curtis@Metagame.com.