Summary
With the fourth Yu-Gi-Oh series, another summoning type was introduced: Xyz Summoning. These were made by overlaying multiple monsters of the same level, the new monster having "Ranks" and having an ability that could only be used by detaching one of the monsters.
But Konami wasn't satisfied just creating Xyz monsters. They added a special kind of Xyz, the 107 Numbers, which had a special significance to ZEXAL's storyline. In the anime, they couldn't be destroyed except by other Numbers, and they were some of the most powerful Xyz monsters of all.
Updated August 28th by Sage Ashford: Number monsters remain an important part of extra decks, both in casual play and the competitive metagame. We've updated this list with some powerful Number Xyz that have become a major part of Yu-Gi-Oh.
20 Number 81: Superdreadnought Rail Cannon Super Dora
The Rank 10 Xyz, Super Dora has a direct effect. By detaching a material, it can target any face-up monster and makes it unaffected by card effects other than its own for the remainder of the turn.
A card that belongs inside specific decks, Super Dora shines in the right location. It’s an excellent turn one card that sets up a 4000 DEF body that’s pretty difficult to get over for most decks. Even in attack mode, Super Dora’s attack is high enough to get over most enemies, making it a great monster to hold things down by himself for a time.
19 Number S39: Utopia The Lightning
Sometimes all that’s needed is a big beatstick. Players can summon Utopia the Lightning by overlaying it on top of a Rank 4 Utopia monster. In battle, it stops the opponent from activating cards or effects. And if it has a Utopia Xyz attacked to it, it can make its attack 5000 during damage calculation.
This card’s entire existence is about making sure its owner always wins the battle phase. Not many monsters can get over 3000 ATK, let alone 5000. Though this card has fallen out of favor in place of other big Xyz, amidst the Numbers it's hard to find monsters with more ATK.
18 Number 2: Ninja Shadow Mosquito
A Rank 2 monster made up of two or more level 2s, Ninja Shadow Mosquito has some pretty powerful abilities. For one, it’s a great wall since it can’t be destroyed by battle or take damage. When any attack is declared, it’s detach effect can be used to place Hallucination Counters on a monster the opponent controls, or to inflict damage equal to the ATK of any monster with a Hallucination Counter. Worse, any monster with a Hallucination Counter on it is negated.
Ninja Shadow Mosquito is a card that fits within very specific decks. However, within those decks it has a ton of versatility. The fact that it can’t be destroyed by battle when it attacks means it's an easy way to get to Divine Arsenal AA-ZEUS, meaning it’s an easy path to destroying a board.
17 Number 29: Mannequin Cat
Sometimes it takes some time before people realize how good a card is. Made up of two level two monsters, this Rank 2 Xyz detaches a material to target a monster in the opponent’s grave and special summon it to their field. Afterward, the player can target a face-up monster the opponent controls and special summon a monster with the same Type or Attribute from the hand, deck, or graveyard.
The clever part of Mannequin Cat is how it can be used to counter entire match-ups. Depending on the deck the player is facing, Mannequin Cat can be used to special summon out monsters that lock the game down, like Thunder King Rai-Oh against Spright decks or Testudo Erat Numen against Tearalaments. Decks that can run Mannequin Cat basically have a free path to shutting down their opponent’s plays.
16 Number 89: Diablosis the Mind-Hacker
Made up of two level 7 monsters, Number 89: Diablosis the Mind-Hacker lets players detach a monster to look at the opponent’s extra deck and banish a monster face down. It’s also capable of banishing cards in the opponent’s graveyard face down each time it destroys a monster by battle. Lastly, whenever a card the opponent owns is banished, Number 89 can banish additional cards face down from the top of the deck equal to the number of cards banished.
Number 89 was enough of a problem that it was banned in the TCG during the last banlist. Largely this was meant to go into Kashtira decks, which could use this card in combination with its own to seal off the opponent’s zones. More annoying though is Number 89’s effects could easily snowball into milling all the opponent’s cards into the banish zone.
15 Number 106: Giant Hand
At one point Giant Hand was one of the rarest Yu-Gi-Oh cards because it was a YCS prize card, meaning only tournament winners could get it. At the time it’s effect was impressive: during either player’s turn, Giant Hand could detach two materials to negate the effect of a monster on the field.
Giant Hand's shut down the opponent before they could even start. The card was easily one of the more frustrating cards to deal with when it first released, though there are tools to deal with it now.
14 Number 101: Silent Honor ARK
Made up of two level-4 monsters, Silent Honor ARK can detach a material from itself to attach one of the opponent’s monsters to it as material. If someone tries to destroy it, it can detach a material from itself instead.
Silent Honor ARK's effect is surprisingly reasonable, as it requires the player to detach both materials. The effect also targets, which is partially why Silent Honor ARK was power-crept. What made it so powerful was that it was a necessary card for Rank 4 toolbox decks. It was an easily created monster that could protect itself from all manner of destruction.
13 Number 46: Dragulon
Made of two level-eight monsters, Dragulon has a ton of effects. It can negate the effects of any Dragon-Type monsters the opponent has. It also can’t be targeted for attacks or effects if the player controls another dragon.
If the player doesn’t control a dragon, Dragulon can detach to special summon a dragon from hand. If it has no materials, the player can take control of a Dragon the opponent controls. This card wasn’t used frequently, but when it could do all this, it probably didn’t need to be.
12 Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon
The best kind of massive beat stick, this card is much like every other Galaxy-Eyes in that it strikes down other Xyz monsters. While this card does battle, it can detach a material to gain attack equal to the combined Ranks of all Xyz monsters on the field times 200.
Since it already has 4000 ATK, Galaxy-Eyes is guaranteed to go up to almost 5000. However, if the card doesn’t have Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon as Xyz material, any battle damage it does is halved.
11 Number 61: Volcasaurus
Made up of two Rank 5 monsters, Volcasaurus has an amazing effect for an Xyz monster. The player can detach a material from it to destroy a monster on the field, then make the opponent take damage equal to its attack.
The actual card forbids the player from attacking once it’s used its effect, but the anime one doesn’t seem to have that problem. Still, after using its effect, Volcasaurus can be used as material to summon other monsters which can attack. The card is designed to steal the game from the opponent with a massive amount of effect damage.
10 Number 60: Dugares The Timeless
In Yu-Gi-Oh, few things are more valuable than the ability to draw cards. That's part of why they keep making Draw 2 cards to chase the original Pot of Greed. As A Rank 4, Dugares the Timeless offers three different abilities the player can choose from, but the first is the most valuable.
By detaching both materials from Dugares, the player can choose to skip their next Draw to draw two cards and discard a card. For decks that need cards for combo pieces or decks looking for discard outlets, Dugares' effect makes it a must-play.
9 Number 11: Big Eye
Though not the cutest Yu-Gi-Oh card ever, Big Eye was a must-own at one point. Made up of two level-seven monsters, Big Eye can detach a material from the card once per turn to take control of an opponent’s monster. It can’t attack for the turn, but the best part about this effect is the player doesn’t have to return the monster.
The opponent gets to keep that monster forever, and still gets to attack the following turn, unlike other monster-stealing effects. This one card made both Mermails and Dragon Rulers into much more dangerous decks because they could easily spit out level-seven monsters to summon this with.
8 Number 38: Hope Harbinger Dragon Titanic Galaxy
Used primarily in the manga, this monster is made up of two level-eight monsters. When a spell card or effect is used, Hope Harbinger negates that effect and attaches that spell to itself as a material. That’s not even its main effect, it's just an added bonus that every player enjoys having.
Hope Harbinger's primary effect is detaching a material to make the opponent’s monster change its attack target to this card. Hope Harbinger is easily one of the most powerful Xyz monsters, and the only thing holding it back is it needs two level-eights.
7 Number 100: Numeron Dragon
The so-called last of the Number monsters, Numeron Dragon is predictably quite powerful against Xyz monsters. Made up of any two Number monsters with the same name and Rank, Numeron Dragon can detach a material to gain attack equal to the Ranks of every Xyz monster on the field x 1000. The last thing any Xyz-heavy deck will ever want to see is this card sitting across from them.
Destroying Numeron Dragon by card effect is a problem too, because it destroys as many monsters on the field as possible. With Numeron Dragon also having a resurrection effect, it's always going to be difficult to get rid of. It's also an easy summon for Numerons, one of the most annoying decks in Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel.
6 Number 65: Djinn Buster
Though Djinn Buster was out for some time, most decks weren't capable of running it. After all, not many decks run on level 2 monsters, let alone the level 2 DARK-type monsters needed to create Djinn Buster. But as Konami began diversifying the levels for main decks, Djinn Buster has made its way into more extra decks.
Djinn Buster's incredible ability makes it easy to see why: it can negate a monster effect by detaching material and inflict damage to the opponent for the trouble. Stopping the opponent's effects is always a necessity, but burning for damage can be particularly useful in a big tournament situation where matches can come down to sudden death.
5 Number F0: Utopic Draco Future
Number F0 became a popular card when it was released because of how it took advantage of the Number F0: Utopic Future card. Utopic Draco Future is supposed to only be made with 3 Xyz monsters with the same Rank, but players can also overlay it directly to Number F0: Utopic Future, bypassing the normally strict requirements.
F0 is a giant 3000 ATK body, meaning it's a monster to get rid of. It also can't be destroyed by battle or card effects, limiting the number of ways the opponent can get rid of it. Its best effect is based on detaching though; it can negate an opponent's monster effect by detaching a material, then steal that monster if it's on the field. Utopic Draco Future is the sort of card players will have to get rid of immediately.
4 Number 41: Bagooska The Terribly Tired Tapir
Bagooska is the ultimate stall card. It can’t be destroyed by card effects when it’s in attack position, and it can’t be targeted by card effects. If it’s in defense position, it forces all face-up monsters on the field to go into defense position and negates the effects of any monsters in defense position when the effect is activated.
Essentially, this is just one massive time-out. The only downside to Bagooska is every turn the player has to detach a material from it, and when they can’t, Bagooska is destroyed. That doesn't stop tons of people in real life and while playing Master Duel from including him in their deck, though.
3 Number 16: Shock Master
Shock Master is one of the few Numbers that’s actually banned, and it’s easy to understand why, it's one of the most powerful cards in Yu-Gi-Oh. Made up of three level-four monsters, Shock Master can detach a material from itself to declare a card type—monster, spell or trap.
The effects of any cards played of that type get negated for the opponent’s next turn. It’s easy enough to make three of these back-to-back, locking the opponent entirely out of the game. The anime version is even worse, locking the player out for two straight turns.
2 Number 86: Heroic Champion - Rhongomyniad
The main boss monster of Heroic Challengers, this card has been banned in the TCG for quite some time. Once per turn during the opponent’s end Phase, the player has to detach an Xyz material. Rhongomyniad can be made of two to five Warrior monsters and gains effects based on how many monsters are attached to it.
At one material, Rhongomyniad can’t be destroyed by battle. With two, it gains 1500 ATK and DEF, so it becomes 3000 ATK. At three materials, it’s unaffected by other cards, by four the opponent can’t summon monsters, and by five they can destroy all cards the opponent controls once a turn. It’s an absurd card that can shut down every deck if it gets enough materials.
1 Number 95: Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon
The big boss for the Galaxy-Eyes deck, Galaxy-Eyes Dark Matter Dragon is banned in both the TCG and the OCG. It's made up of three level 9 monsters, but can also be summoned by using any Galaxy-Eyes Xyz monster, meaning a level 8-focused deck can summon it too.
Dragon-heavy decks see the most benefit from this card, as on summon it can send three Dragons to the graveyard and force the opponent to banish three monsters from their deck. The real threat to this card though is its detach effect, which allows Dark Matter Dragon to attack twice. While it's not the highest ATK monster, Dark Matter's beefy 4000 ATK could easily bring a quick end to a game.