In Yu-Gi-Oh, level 2 monsters are hard to find.
There aren’t many decks that can use Rank 2 XYZ Monsters well, with the exception of frogs, which have been the most popular level 2 monster for as long as Yu-Gi-Oh has been around.
But those who can (and can therefore use rank 2 XYZ monsters) have some very strong options at their disposal.
This list will help you figure out which of these rank 2 XYZ cards is the best of the best.
15. Number 96: Dark Mist
Even though you have to pay 3 level 2 monsters to get this fiend monster, it can beat almost any boss monster you can think of.
The monster’s ATK is cut in half, and then its own ATK is raised by the same amount, plus 100.
Dark Mist, card number 96, is a great card that doesn’t have to be of a certain type or have a certain quality.
14. Number 65: Djinn Buster
You can only use this monster with monsters that have a dark trait, but you’ll find it easy to use because monster effects are very common.
Just by canceling out one affect, you can cause your opponent a lot of trouble.
The negation ability doesn’t destroy, which is a small flaw, but Number 65: Djinn Buster is still a great rank 2 XYZ monster overall.
13. Shining Elf
Sometimes it’s nice to have a monster with an easy effect but a high ATK.
Shining Elf won’t be your first choice, but the combination of a fairly high ATK stat and an effect that lowers ATK can be very useful.
This card won’t be your main focus, but it’s still worth getting one or two.
12. Armored Kappa
If you can keep Armored Kappa on the field for 2 turns, you’ll have a monster with 2400 ATK and 3000 DEF, which is crazy for just a few level 2 monsters.
Even better is the card’s second action, which lets you get a Waboku by throwing away a card.
It makes sense that such a strong effect can only be used once.
If it could be used once per turn, Armored Kappa would be broken.
11. Ghostrick Socuteboss
Socuteboss is most useful in a Ghostrick deck, which is one of the best in the game right now.
However, it can be used in many other decks as well.
If it’s the only Ghostrick monster you control, you can still use its secondary affect, but it won’t work as well.
10. Daigusto Phoenix
If you’re playing a wind deck, this guy is a great way to end games.
You can remove one XYZ material from Daigusto Pheonix to make a wind monster you control hit twice in the same turn.
If you have a wind monster that can directly hit your opponent, you can do a lot of damage to them.
The biggest problem with Daigusto is that his attack stat isn’t very good. To use him well, you’ll need a stronger wind monster on your side of the field.
9. Number 64: Ronin Raccoon Sandayu
The number 64 can only be summoned by beast monsters, so you’ll have to put it in a deck that has a lot of beast monsters.
But since Melffy’s was added in Return of the Duelist, it has never been easy to make a beast deck with level 2 monsters.
You can detach an XYZ material to special summon a token. This token is almost a copy of the strongest monster on the field, since it has the same attack as the monster with the highest attack number.
This is a great way to beat your opponent’s monster. No matter how strong your opponent’s field is, Number 64’s cool little token will always meet it.
8. Cat Shark
Cat Shark is a must-have for your extra deck if you use any kind of XYZ plan in your main deck.
This is why:
You can remove an XYZ material from this card to double the attack and defense of any XYZ monster you control until the end of the turn.
There are already a lot of XYZ monsters in Yu-Gi-Oh with ridiculous attack stats.
So, look at cards like Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon or Number 99: Utopic Dragon to see how broken Cat Shark can be.
7. Number 29: Mannequin Cat
The Number 29: Mannequin Cat is one of the newest rank 2 XYZ monsters. It is a great way to stop your opponent from special summoning from the dead.
If your opponent special summons a monster from the graveyard, you can use Number 29: Mannequin Cat to special summon a monster of the same type or trait from your hand, deck, or graveyard.
Use the other result of Mannequin Cat to speed up this process:
You can special summon a monster from your opponent’s graveyard to their side of the field by removing an XYZ material from this card.
This will give them an extra monster they can use to fight, but it will also make sure you can send out your strongest monsters as quickly as possible. And that is definitely worth the price!
6. Sky Cavalry Centaurea
This guy is a great way to take care of monsters from the extra deck.
Even though this card has XYZ material, it can’t be killed in battle.
And if this card fights an opponent’s monster, you can remove an XYZ material at the end of the damage step to send the monster that was fought back to your opponent’s hand.
This is especially powerful against monsters from the extra deck, since they will be put back there and your opponent will have to call them again.
5. Number 45: Crumble Logos the Prophet of Demolition
In modern Yu-Gi-Oh, it is very important to be able to cancel out the benefits of monsters.
If you don’t have the power to cancel out the effects of these strong monsters, you’ll lose before you can say “draw for turn?”
While Number 45 is on the field, it not only stops a monster’s effect for good, but it also stops your opponent from using any copies of that monster’s effect.
If you know that your opponent needs a certain card in their deck to win, dealing with this guy can be a disaster.
4. Joyous Melffys
Melffys are the newest beast form to appear in Yu-Gi-Oh, and they are both strong and cute!
A picnic of tiny wild animals has never been so cruel before.
(At least when it comes to how cards work. I hope the lunch won’t be too rough.)
When you remove an XYZ element from Joyous Melffys, all of your Melffy monsters can attack your opponent directly.
Melffys are very good at putting a lot of monsters on the field at once. So, this impact is a great way to hit your opponent with a lot of damage.
In fact, this card has a built-in way to bring out a whole bunch of Melffys.
By sending a beast-type XYZ monster you control from the field to the extra deck, you can special summon level 2 or lower beast-type monsters (also known as Melffys), up to the number of XYZ materials that monster had.
3. The Phantom Knights of Cursed Javelin
Phantom Knights are one of the coolest types of XYZ characters. This guy is a great example of how powerful they are.
What it does is:
By taking an XYZ material off of this card, you can make a monster on the field have no attack and cancel all of its effects.
This makes your opponent’s monsters so useless that a simple Kuriboh could beat them with ease.
Phantom Knights also have a lot of magic skills that get stronger as they level up.
This means that once you’ve used this guy’s ability, you can probably use him to XYZ summon even stronger monsters.
2. Palaeozoic Opabinia
If you asked me how good a deck would be if there were no monsters in the main deck, I would say it would be pretty bad.
This idea is turned on its head by Palaeozoic, which turns out to be one of the best XYZ decks ever made.
All of their monsters look like trap cards.
When you use one of these traps, it special summons itself as a sort of fake monster that you can use to attack your opponent or call from the extra deck.
Palaeozoic Opabinia gives you a power that all Yu-Gi-Oh players have wanted: you can use trap cards right from your hand.
If this card has a trap monster as an XYZ material, you can remove an XYZ material from it to check your deck for any Palaeozoic trap card and add it to your hand.
This means that the best trap cards are the ones you can use right away.
1. Toadally Awesome
Frogs have always been a symbol of competition.
In the early days of Yu-Gi-Oh, they controlled the metagame by making tribute summoning ridiculous.
In current Yu-Gi-Oh, they make it easy to call all kinds of monsters from the extra deck. All of this is because of Toadally Awesome.
You can remove an XYZ element from this card once per turn to special summon a Frog monster from your deck to your side of the field.
Depending on which frog you call up, this can start a lot of different combo chains. With this effect, the world is your oyster.
Toadally Awesome also lets you cancel the effects of any spell, trap, or monster, and then steal that card to put it on your side of the field.
This is as close as you can get to stealing your opponent’s cards without getting kicked out of the game.
Finally, this frog boy doesn’t leave you helpless when he leaves your field.
When you send Toadally Awesome to the graveyard, you can add any water monster from your graveyard to your hand.
You could even pick up another frog and call up a whole new Toadally Awesome.
