Limit

A Limit (Japanese: リミット Rimitto) is a property exclusive to Cascade Monsters. A Cascade Monster's Limit is not predetermined, unlike its Class, and thus it is not printed on the card. The Limit of a Cascade Summoned Cascade Monster is equal to the Level of the highest-Leveled Cascade Material used in the Cascade Summon, minus the Class of the Cascade Monster, plus 1. It can also be interpreted as the number of cards that are not sent to the Graveyard following a Cascade Summon, among both the Cascade Spell Card and the Cascade Materials. Cascade Monsters that are Special Summoned by means other than Cascade Summon, or are flipped face-up after being face-down, are Limit 0, unless a card effect specifies otherwise.

Much like how Xyz Monsters typically have effects related to detaching materials and how Link Monsters often have effects involving monsters they point to, Cascade Monsters usually possess effects related to their Limit. A Cascade Monster usually benefits from having a higher Limit; for example, some Cascade Monsters gain an additional effect with a high enough Limit (such as "Iron Claw Cascade Dragon"), or their existing effects may be augmented in some way (such as with "Tranquility Magician", whos second effect becomes Quick if it is Limit 2 or higher). Other Cascade Monsters may have effects that scale alongside their Limit, such as "Flowyrm of Roses" and "Borreload Caliber Dragon". Cards that support Cascade Monsters, such as "Renegade Cascade" or "Cascade Wave Collapse", also become more powerful or flexible with higher-Limit Cascade Monsters. Conversely, some particularly powerful Cascade Monsters like "Subterror Behemoth Congolemerate" may have negative effects if their Limit is low.

The highest Limit a Cascade Monster can naturally obtain through Cascade Summoning is equal to the number of materials required for its Summon + 1. 2-material Cascade Monsters can have a Limit as high as 3 under normal circumstances, whereas 3-material Cascade Monsters can potentially have Limits of 4. Limits can also be modified through external card effects, which may increase or decrease them beyond what is normally possible for that monster (for instance, a 2-material Cascade Monster that is Limit 4, or a Class 1 Cascade Monster that is Limit 0, which is normally impossible as the lowest Levels it can be Summoned with would make it Limit 2 at the lowest).